Sister Patsy Douglas
I truly miss, Sister Pat, as is true for many people that she positively impacted in many countries, in many walks of life . She was killed instantly in a car crash while in Barbados on business. Click below for Sister Patsy Douglas, St. Vincent & the Grenadines; via Dominica, West Indies, reading my poem, Tell Me A Story (also the premise and opening piece for the book).
Ann-Marie Lee-Wilkins and Sistah Pat
Also, please take time to visit the Patsy Douglas Youth Empowerment Foundation (PDYEF) that was started months after her death by her best friend, Ann-Marie Lee Wilkins. Ann-Marie was herself empowered as a youth by Sister Pat and went from an academically challenged child to now a Nurse Manager at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Now, she’s paying it forward. The organization acts as a bridge between Maryland, US and St. Vincent and the Grenadines; including helping pregnant teens, stay in school, in both countries. And in the case of Caribbean girls, paying grant scholarship tuitions.
Ann-Marie Lee Wilkins, Founder PDYEF, who while born in SVG, is a naturalized citizen of the US, was given my book, I Say A Prayer For Me: One Woman’s Life of Faith and Triumph, by her neice as a Christmas present. Ann-Marie read it and then shared it with Sister Pat, both agreeing that I must come talk to the youth on the islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadine. They got together and Ann-Marie took me to her home island, where Sister Pat and a group of other Catholic sisters and members of the secular community met me upon landing.
They coordinated a whirlwind 2 week visit with talks across the island with women group high teas to which the men, after hearing their wives go on about the brilliant day they had at the talk, demanded and got their “men’s” event. Men from all walks of life came; and unlike the women; they did not exclude the opposite sex. Which was good seeing that the speaker was the opposit sex. LOL
SVG Girls' High School
Well, from there they had set up talks at every high school on the island, radio stations, including ABC and NICE Radio, SVG-TV, Methodist Hall event with the youth.
I left those islands, a changed woman. I felt connected with a sense of world community as one body and each of us necessary intregal parts of the whole. The message I’d been entrusted to take, my testimony of hope, grace, power, love, and redeption, crossed an ocean and a sea, I believe, left us all changed.
Perhaps, one day soon, I’ll share with you the story and poetry that was born during my three extended ministry/missionary trips to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Archer & The Arrow
We all have times in our lives when it seems like everything is going against us. Problems mount, illnesses come, frustrations multiply, and we feel like we can’t take one more bit of bad news and live! However, if during those times we take our focus off the horrible circumstances that are surrounding us or the feelings or despair that are welling up inside of us and focus on what God has already brought us through in the days and years gone by-we come to believe He will work it out for us again and again and again!
We have to set our faces like flint to walk by faith-to believe like my mentor, Dorine, always tells me, “Baby, it’s gonna be all right!”
I truly believe that nothing happens to us that isn’t already sifted through the hands of God first. And because of that He knows and will give us just what we need to get through it. Sometime, life is just like a master archer with a bow:
To hit the target the bow has to be stretched way back to the absolute limits, but when the archer releases the arrow-WHOOSH-the arrow goes right where the master archer aims-the target! Had it not been stretched, the arrow would have fallen to the ground, limp and defeated, having missed the mark.
Dear Heavenly Father: Thank you that you have given us the victory! Help us to not focus on the situations that face us or the circumstances that surround us; but help us to stay focused on Your love for us. Stretch us, if you must, so that we can be finely tuned instruments of Your Love in Your Hands. Amen. So be it!
Read James 1:2-5. The Lord will meet you in the reading.
This is excerpt from story, In the Cellar of Afflictions, in my book, I Say A Prayer For Me, pgs 319-320
It’s time to get excited! October is going to rock for those who love God & want not only hearers; but doers of His Word!
If we do and stop questioning, bargaining and procrastinating, by month’s end; it’s going to blow our minds how God has uses it ALL to bring about marvelous things that the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard. A new thing!!!! with a breakthrough on top!
October 31st, a/k/a Holloween will be for testimonies only!!!
That’s life in The WOW Zone.
Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone,
To have a deep soul relationship with another,
To be loved thoroughly and exclusively.
But God, to a Christian, says,
“No, not until you are satisfied, fulfilled, and content
With being loved by Me alone,
With giving yourself totally and reservedly to Me,
With having an intensely personal and unique relationship
With Me alone.
Discovering that only in Me is your satisfaction to be found,
Will you be capable of the perfect human relationship
That I have planned for you.
You will never be united with another until you are united
With Me alone,
Exclusive of anyone or anything else,
Exclusive of any other desires or longings.
I want you to stop planning,
Stop wishing,
And allow Me to give you the most thrilling plan existing,
One that you cannot imagine.
Please allow Me to bring it to you.
You just keep watching Me, expecting the greatest things.
Keep experiencing the satisfaction that I Am.
Keep listening and learning the things I tell you.
You just wait.
That’s all.
Don’t be anxious.
Don’t worry.
Don’t look at the things you think you want;
You just keep looking off and away up to Me,
Or you’ll miss what I want to show you.
And then when you are ready,
I’ll surprise you with a love far more wonderful than any
You could dream of.
You see, until you are ready and until
The one I have for you is ready
(I am working even at this moment to have you both ready at the same time), Until you are both satisfied exclusively with Me
And the life I prepared for you,
You won’t be able to experience the love that
Exemplified your relationship with Me.
And this is the perfect love.
And dear one, I want you to have this most wonderful love,
I want you to see in the flesh a picture of your
Relationship with Me,
And to enjoy materially and concretely
The everlasting union of beauty, perfection and love
That I offer you with Myself.
Know that I love you utterly.
I Am God.
Believe it and be satisfied.
(Author anonymous)
Posted at www.stanice.com
Hello Chosen Ones,
After trying a new kidney, lung, and and triple bipass heart surgery, it’s now official. My soon-t0-be-ex Volvo is in dire need of a engine valve replacement. As of noon yesterday EST, I had to pull the plug BEFORE I could get it in to a dealer trade-in lot. Consider it DOuA a/k/a Dead on UnArrival.
A moment of silence, please, as I mop up my tears and lay hands on my half-full wallet.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things, I can not change; the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen.
Back to the earthly realm, shouldn’t I be able to sell my 1999 Volvo for parts and get enuf $$$$ to buy a used car and still not have a car note? I got a kick out of not having a car note; which is why I didn’t go for the now extinct Cash For Clunkers program. Anybody got a clue as to what a sistah can do? Keep in mind I’m recently laid off. Say what? That’s a big fat “yepper.”
Life in The WOW Zone – On Days Like These 01_On_Days_Like_These
Love & Respect,
Stanice
Jaws Theme Song.
Some days my life feels like a Jaws movie. Just when i think it’s safe to go back in the water. (sound effects) du dum, du dum, du dum. SCREAM
Two days been waiting for a auto part that was sent to the wrong address. Told UPS don’t worry about rerouting to my address for delivery on Monday (are you kidding me) when I paid for and needed the part on 2 days ago. Send straight back to sender; who made the mistake anyway. I’ll get a refund and take the headache as a hit. I ordered same part, locally this time, and friend took me to pick it up. Mechanic will start working on my car in the morning–no problem. Moving on.
Woke up this a.m. to the tinkering sound of DC Parking Enforcement booting my car. Say what?
I hollered daintily from bedroom window, “what cha doing to my car?” In unison they replied, “Bootin’ yo car for non payment of tickets.”
I didn’t even know I had tix. Plus, it’s Saturday, I can’t get the boot off till Monday? (sound effects) du dum, du dum, du dum. SCREAM. I’m gonna need a bigger boat AND mo’ money!!!!!
I won’t be fooled though. This is a spiritual battle for my peace and sanity. Still I refuse to let it steal my joy. We gonna do what we can and leave the rest alone in God’s hands. We may be pressed; but we are not crussed. Greater is He that is in me that he that is in the world. One can’t fight a spiritual battle with earthly weapons.
In this battle, my part is to don the whole gear of God. The breastplate of righteousness–CHECK, the shield of faith–CHECK, shoes with the readiness to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ–CHECK, the helmet of salvation a/k/a being made right with God–CHECK, the belt of Truth tied tightly around my waist–tight 4 real–CHECK, and the magnificent Sword of the Spirit, a/k/a the WORD of God–CHECK.*
Onward!!! Pray continually and be alert. Victory is assured. Jaws ALWAYS dies at the end!
*loose paraphrase of Ephesians 6:13-17.
Tweeted less over the weekend. It’s not that I’m thought-less; but thinking less and living more. Now, that’s life in The Wow Zone.
Who I Am
I'm an author, inspirational speaker, vocalist, and performance artist. I was a heroin addict saved from myself and the lifestyle (with all the pain that comes with it) but the mercy and grace of God. Thus, I am a late bloomer; but blooming none-the-less. I've yielded every talent given me, and am now using them to encourage, inspire, and motivate others to discover and lives God's marvelous plans for their lives. My books include my latest, Walking On Water When The Ground Ain't Enuf; I Say A Prayer For Me: One Woman's Life of Faith and Triumph (Warner); 12-Step Programs: A Resource Guide For Helping Professionals; and Contributing Author of SistahFaith: Real Stories of Pain, Truth and Triumph compiled by Marilynn Griffith (Howard/Simon&Schuster). I also perform a one-woman show with comedy infused throughout. It's who I am--by God's grace--one woman on a journey toward unwavering faith.
Taste and See Stanice
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Stanice Anderson:@HuffPostRelig I died 3x after heroin overdose. Life & dreams resurrected. Now, author & speaker. May 20, I celebrate 27 yrs drug FREE.
- Stanice Anderson:
@marionbarryjr Do you remember my dad, Stan Anderson? 1st DC city councilman for our precious Ward 8. Did u initiate the street naming?
- Stanice Anderson:
#PrayerForMe: God, I treasure my Prayer & Meditation time; when I can be still, know that You are God & linger in your Presence.
- Stanice Anderson:
@WatershedCares 5/20/12 marks my 27 years clean & free from bondage of active addiction! Long-term recovery IS possible.
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thru Twitter for iPhone
RT @Lovinq_Bray: Cranking with @WPGC remembering our God father of gogo R.I.P Chuck Brown
