Desirable

Last week, I was on an ooVoo chat with my Thursday night Bible study group (shoutout to the women of "FaVa"!), and one of the members made a purely transparent statement as we exchanged prayer requests. She asked that we pray for God to increase her desire to live for Him wholeheartedly because she understood that it didn't matter how dedicated she was to Bible study if her heart and mind were not focused on abandoning the old her for a new Holy Spirit induced upgrade.

Wow!

Ok, so maybe I changed the wording a little, but that was her main point.

It's amazing how many times we belive that we can live a Christian life being half in and half out, partially in love with God and partially in love with the world, somewhat wanting to change and somewhat blissfully settling for medicrity. We complacently give God a piece of us, and then say He's abandoned us when we think He hasn't given us His all.

James 1:22-24 says,

"Do what God's teaching says; when you only listen and do nothing, you are fooling yourselves. Those who hear God's teaching and do nothing are like people who look at themselves in a mirror. They see their faces and then go away and quickly forget what they looked like (NCV)."

I'm not sure if I even understood the magnitude of that Scripture the first time I read it a few years ago. I lived so much of my life foregtting my own reflection, foregtting that I was made in the image of God. Completely satisfied with the portion of God I was getting at the result of me only giving Him a portion of me. I didn't really desire to know Him. If I did, I wouldn't have been simply listening to what my pastor was saying, and still doing something elese. I wouldn't have been reading Scriptures in text messages I got from family members, friends, and co-workers and just giving them a quick head-nod in agreeance before I closed my phone and texted whoever my current "boo-thang" was. (Yes, I said "boo-thang, lol). I wanted to reap all of the benefits that I knew God had stored up for those who followed Him, but I didn't want to make the sacrifices necessary to receive those blessings.

But I tell you now...God is so DESIRABLE! His love is like nothing I have every experienced. He is my everything. I am getting super-excited as I type right now just thinking about Him, and knowing that He's watching me right now. I am His daughter; He is my true Father...my King. Once I made the choice to go all in for Him, He increased my desire even more with every word I read. James 5 goes on to say in verse 25a, "But the truly happy people are those who carefully study God's perfect law that makes people free, and they continue to study it (NCV)." AMEN! The more I take the time to really pour myself into God's word, the more desireable a relationship with Him becomes. My eyes are opened to my shortcomings, and I am made even more aware that He is the only way I can be whole.

Plainly put, the simple fact that He desired me so much that He sent Jesus to die so I could one day spend eternity with Him is all I need to know to make Him be forever desireable in my heart.

With A Servant's Heart,

Ashley Danielle

New Year, Newlywed, New Beginning...New Blog!

I'm Baaaaaack!

I apologize for being gone for so long, but I am happy to say that Felicia's Daughter is now back up and running!

I took a year off while I completed grad school (which I did right before Christmas), and I am pleased to say that on May 12, 2012 I will walk across the stage at Liberty University and be presented with my M.A. in Executive Leadership - Christian Counseling! Whoo-hoo!

Even more exciting...I got married the same day I finshed classes! I was blessed to become the wife of the wonderful Shelton J. Flores, and I smile like a little school girl everytime I think about spending the rest of my life with him.

God has been so good to me, and I owe Him everything!

While I was completeing my master's I was introduced to some amazing people, and God poured out some almost unimginable blessings in my life. I want to make sure that I use this little piece of the Internet world to share the gifts He has given me with whoever He allows to see.

This will be a place for me to simply speak about my daily walk with Christ, and give whatever little nuggets of advice the Holy Spirit happens to lay on my heart. In no way do I consider myself to be an expert theologian or anything like that, but I am a woman who loves God and lives to serve Him. So, if my experiences can help someone else as they journey along this path, then I am more than happy (more like priveledged) to share.

With A Servant's Heart,

Ashley Danielle

Is My Black Beautiful?

Tiffany K. Daniels of ZionsDestiny.com

 

 

Growing up, I always secretly wanted to be darker. My mom always told me how beautiful she thought Black women of a darker complexion were, so I naturally wanted to look like them. Even though my mother always told me I was gorgeous and that she even wished she was my color sometimes, I still wanted to just be at least “Naomi Campbell” dark.

From my grandmother telling me not to stay out in the sun too long or I’d get “black,” to magazines and music videos casting light-skinned, long-haired beauties as the focal points of their imagery, I began to be socially brainwashed to believe that my mocha complexion would never be as attractive as my caramel colored friends.

None of these ideas are new, however. The stigma associated with Black women and their skin complexion goes back to slavery when lighter-toned slaves were allowed to work inside the home and darker-toned slaves were forced to work in the fields. Mulatto slaves were also often sought after by slave masters for sexual favors. After slavery was abolished, it was acceptable for white elitist to take a Black woman in as a permanent mistress. These mistresses were sometimes very well taken care of financially (by standards of that time) and often given a home and monthly living expenses by their “patrons,” making them the envy of many dark-skinned Black women and giving them a sense of superiority. This might all sound archaic, but women today are still struggling with the issue of wanting to look lighter. Even while I was doing research for this article, I found an article titled “How Black Women Can Lighten Their Skin”!

The My Black Is Beautiful Campaign was started by Proctor & Gamble Multicultural Brand Manager, Kisha Mitchell Williams, and Assistant Multicultural Brand Manager, Pamela Rhett, a couple of years ago in hopes of celebrating African American women of all complexions and shapes. The company has actively taken a stand against what has become known as “colorism” by showcasing the many different beautiful shades African American women embody.

TO READ THE REST OF THIS INTERVIEW, VISIT  - BeautyGirlMag.com

Your Birthday Wish Could Save Millions

Well you guys, my birthday is coming up and this year, I want to do things a little differently!
All of my birthdays have always been about me. I always felt like my birthday was the most important day of the year next to Christmas and my mom’s birthday (hey, I can’t compete with the birth our our Lord and Savior and the most spectacular woman to ever walk on this earth, lol).

This year, I don’t want it to be about me so…I’m giving up my birthday.

I’m turning 24 years old, and instead of asking for gifts, I’m asking for $10, $24 (for my age) or more from everyone I know as well as my loyal BeautyGirlMag.com readers. But I’m not keeping a dime of it. Every penny will be used to help build freshwater wells for people in developing nations.

I’ve set my goal for $100 just because my birthday is coming up so soon, but my campaign will be open until December. I may even switch it over later and ask for donations instead of Christmas presents because I would love to raise the entire $5,000 needed to fully fund a well.

According to the charity: water web site, a billion people in the world are living without clean water – but how much are they really living? Millions contract deadly diseases from contaminated water. 45,000 people will die this week alone. The lucky ones won’t, but still walk hours each day to get dirty water to give to their families. In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking for water. It is common for women and children to bear the burden of water collection, walking miles to the nearest source, which is unprotected and likely to make them sick.

My birthday wish this year is not for more gifts I don’t need; it’s to give clean and safe drinking water to some of the billions living without it. I want to make my birthday matter this year.

 TO READ THE REST OF THIS INTERVIEW, VISIT  - BeautyGirlMag.com

Never Too Late to Remember: How 9/11 Changed My Life

On September 11, 2001, the world seemed to stop turning as people watched in horror as what we soon learned were terrorist crashed planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We continued to be amazed as we got word that a fourth plane had crashed into a field in the rural farmland near Shanksville, Penn. after passengers attempted to stop a hijacking that is believed to have been scheduled to crash into the White House.

Shock, anger, sadness and disbelief were the initial reactions as the death toll was reported. Over the next few days before finally capping off at approximately 3,000, reactions to the event varied. Some people felt the need to secure their homes; others wanted an immediate reaction from the government to secure the nation from another attack, but then high school freshman Shanta Westry of Mobile, Ala. saw it as the beginning as the next chapter of her life.

E5/CDT Shanta Westry, 24, joined the United Stated Army National Guard on Sept. 27, 2004, and just a couple of weeks after her graduation from John L. LeFlore High School of Communication & Arts, Westry left for Basic Training. As a member of the 690th Chemical Company, she was deployed in 2006 and served her country in Iraq for 18 months.

Now back in the States, Westry is attending school at the University of South Alabama while still maintaining her dedication to the Army.In honor of our servicemen and women who so dutifully serve our country, I decided to sit down and have a chat with Ms. Westry about what the nine-year anniversary of that tragic September morning means to her.

TO READ THE REST OF THIS INTERVIEW, VISIT  - BeautyGirlMag.com