GirlTREK

REFLECTION: You know the saying. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. But what does it mean for us to be good? Is it simply obeying the rules or being nice, or is there something else? We think it means actively choosing the kindest, most loving response in any situation, and doing it without expectation of recognition or praise. We are good, because God is good to us, and God offers goodness through grace and mercy. Think back on the times where it could have been, should have been you, but you were spared.  Right now, in our living and breathing selves, we believe in God's goodness. Goodness that we haven't earned—goodness that we cannot earn—but this goodness, once we receive it, we can, through our actions of love, give away to other people. Now imagine sparing someone in your life through your own goodness. Our faith walk should bring us in union with God so that we can be living, breathing examples of His goodness on earth.  PRAYER: God, you are so good. Let that goodness run through me like a river and overflow into every area of my life. Let me actively choose to offer goodness in place of judgment, scorn, or ridicule. Let me be selfless in my offerings, not looking for praise or credit, but knowing that it is pleasing to you when I walk in accordance with your will. May goodness find me and follow me all the days of my life.  Amen. 

REFLECTION: Kindness begins with having self-compassion. Because you can't extend what you don't give to yourself. Being compassionate to yourself and understanding, I'm not perfect and I have to be able to forgive myself for things so that I can then extend that to other people. This is important, especially as women and Black women, for sure, because we give, give, give, but who gives to us?    Who gives the superhero the voice, and when does the superhero get a chance to recharge?   There's a connection between not being kind when we feel tired and depleted, and being very kind when feeling abundant and taking care of ourselves. The kindest gift we can give to ourselves is to intentionally pull away, take the time to replenish and fuel back up. Whether it is taking a nap on a Sunday afternoon, or forgiving yourself and knowing that it's okay that you don't have it all together. It may not always be the easiest thing to do, but it is always the kindest. PRAYER: God, we thank you for today. We thank you for a time of coming together and gathering in your name to intentionally seek you, to know that without you we can do nothing and with you we can do all things, including taking care of ourselves. Right now, God, we commit to renew our devotion to ourselves. We thank you for loving us with the gifts of our bodies. We ask that you would help us to be kinder to ourselves that we might radiate that kindness and love to everyone that we come into contact with.    We thank you, God, for loving us, and for demonstrating kindness to us even in your acts while you're here with us on the earth. We thank you, God, for this opportunity to gather as women, strong women, women committed to do something bigger and better than we already have. We know that you have great purpose for us and that great movements have happened through women simply moving their feet. We love you, God. We magnify your Holy and majestic name, and it's in your name that we pray and ask all of these blessings.    Amen.  Opening Song Closing Song

REFLECTION: Peace is about wholeness. It is about completeness. It is a state of being. Sometimes we think it's affected by what's external and what's happening all around us. The Hebrew word for peace is Shalom. Sometimes it can be a state of affairs, sometimes it means being concerned about the well-being of your fellow human, your neighbor. Peace or shalom signifies value. As you look at everything that's happening in our country, it's easy to be distracted and it's easy to lose heart and it's easy to lose joy and love and peace and not focus on the Fruit of the Spirit. It's easy to cry out for peace when there is no peace. There's a disconnect between what we're saying with our lips and what is actually happening internally and around us and in our hearts. One of the ways we can keep peace in the midst of all this chaos is to look to our ancestors through Sister Harriet and Sister Fannie Lou and Sister Parks and all of those who have gone on before us.    Be reminded that wherever we are today, this is not the first time we've been at the crossroads and this time will not kill us. It will not break us. It will not be the end of us.   Encourage yourself that you can continue, you can go on, you can be at peace and we will find rest for our souls that are sometimes weary. PRAYER: Lord, I thank you that you are the God of peace. That you've told us that in your Word that you can give us a peace that transcends all understanding even when we don't understand or we don't know. You know all things. You know how to guard our heart. You know how to condition and discipline us so that we can maintain a state of peace. That of wholeness, that of completeness within our own self because we are connected to you who is the source of our peace. We thank you, God, that you are faithful to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can ask or think. So I ask, Lord, that you will guard our heart, our minds, our bodies, our actions into the way of peace. Help us to know the ancient path, Lord. Help us to walk in it, for your glory.    Amen.

REFLECTION: When we think of love, and especially love as it relates to the Fruit of the Spirit in the Bible, we always think that we ourselves are taught how to love others. We're taught how to be nice to other people. We are taught how to be compassionate, to be compassionate friends, to be dedicated partners, to be great sisters and mothers. We're taught to respect other people, to be great stewards of our land and our world, but nowhere are we taught on a daily basis the practical ways in which we can love ourselves. That must be the foundation for all the love that we give to other people. It reminds us of this quote:    "If I asked you to name all the things that you love, how long would it take for you to name yourself?"    Because you cannot say I love you without the implied foundation of, "But I love myself first." If you don't love yourself first, every time you have ever said I love you, part of that love was a lie.   If our soul is fully aware that we are fearfully and wonderfully made in God's image, that He did not make a mistake, that every single thing about us is divinely ordered, then we can have love for ourselves. If we don't have love for ourselves, that means we are doubting the scripture, that we are doubting God's love for us, that we are doubting the way that He made us. Our hope is that every single woman reading this today is aware of this Truth and never doubts it.  PRAYER: Today is a renewal or new beginning. Lord, you are a God of comfort, and we send comfort right now in the name of Jesus. God, we send peace and we send hope. We pray right now especially for our mothers that are raising daughters. We pray that you will bless them to teach their daughters to have self-worth, God. You would teach them, Lord God, to have self-esteem. We would teach our daughters to know that they are beautiful and they don't have to look for validation from anyone. We want to raise strong, powerful daughters, in the name of Jesus. We pray for those of us who came from a background where we weren't loved and we weren't nurtured. Lord, we pray today a healing would go forth. We pray that women would no longer suffer in silence. God, we pray that you will go down and heal the hurt, God. Bind up the wounds. But we must uncover our wounds and we must uncover our hurt in order to be healed. As we pray today we say:    “Today, I will change. Today, I will start. Today, I will begin. Today, I'm walking in a new season. It's a new me."    Amen.

Our Sisterhood Saturday calls are a time for all of us to celebrate and support one another. Listen in as we open up the lines to hear what's on the hearts and minds of Black women nationwide.

Join Morgan and Vanessa in a first-ever #daugthersof Walk and Talk. Morgan and Vanessa talked with Michelle Coltrane about the wisdom and self-care secrets her iconic mother Alice passed down to her and what her mother's spiritual journey taught her about being her authentic self.

Our Sisterhood Saturday calls are a time for all of us to celebrate and support one another. Listen in as we open up the lines to hear what's on the hearts and minds of Black women nationwide.

“Everybody say Blessed." We did it y’all! We walked for 21 days, journeying through 21 Pleasure Principles. We pray that over the past 21 episodes, you have learned the liberation stories of our people and that you have been transformed in ways that make you feel more alive. Now it’s time to Claim the Victory. What better way to do that than to hear from you, our GirlTrek sisterhood, on the first day of Sisterhood Saturday this summer. Hear from women across the country sharing brave testimonies, powerful shifts, and healing moments that have occurred on this season of Black History Bootcamp. This is not the end. It’s just the beginning. Keep walking, sister. Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Zilpha Elaw    Tantalizing Trivia  One of 22 children, she was born in 1790 in Pennsylvania to free Black parents.  Her mother passed away when Zilpha was just 12 years old. Her father passed away two years later. She was sent to live in the home of a Quaker family.  Soon after she would attend a camp meeting held by the Methodist society. She embraced the teachings and became an active member of the Methodist church.  On her sister's deathbed, she had a prophecy that Zilpha would be a preacher. She rejected this message, until years later, when she fell deathly ill and in her sickness had her own prophecy of the same vision.  She was 29 years old when she preached her first sermon.  At the age of 56 she published “Memoirs of the Life, Religious Experience, Ministerial Travels and Labours of Mrs. Elaw.” The book documented her personal travels from around the world preaching.  In Britain, where she lived for more than a decade, she entered into one of the first interracial marriages with a her second husband, a white man. While living in England she had a chapel built in London to further her ministry.  She was considered to be one of the most “outspoken” women of her time.   Mirror Work: Assume a posture of prayer. Whatever feels most natural to you. You can kneel, lay, or fold yourself over in a child pose and let all of the weight you are carrying drip down onto the floor. Take three deep breaths from this place,  with each exhale, repeat quietly to yourself, “I am listening.”  Now take three more deep breaths. What do you hear? Take a few minutes to write. Don’t overthink or censure yourself. Just write.      Affirmation: My words have power. I use them to speak life.  I am walking into the greatest vision I have for myself.  I see a future that is expansive and bright.  Prophesy Over Your Life:  A Playlist  Alchemy Assignment: Create or update your vision board with 2-3 images that speak to you about the life that you dream of living.  Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Gloria Richardson Tantalizing Trivia   She was a Civil Rights activist who led The Cambridge Movement in the 1960s. Honored for her leadership, she sat on stage at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. She grew up in Baltimore but was from a prominent family - of landowners, lawyers, and politicians - from the eastern shore of Maryland, who were free before the Civil War.  Gloria's father, John Hayes, died of a heart attack due to segregation which required him to drive further for medical attention - this was a turning point in her life. She attended Howard University and started social activism against segregation. During her early activism, Richardson was arrested three times.  In 1961, SNCC and The Freedom Rides came to her hometown of Cambridge, Maryland. She and her two daughters got involved in the movement.    In 1962, Richardson was asked to help organize the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee (CNAC), the first adult-led affiliate of SNCC. She was a passionate and fiery spokesperson who never minced words and always spoke truth to power as one of the only female leaders of a civil rights organization.   She was brave: rather than asking for civil rights, she asked for economic rights, and she publicly questioned nonviolence as a tactic.  The students – including her daughter – were committed to nonviolence and were attacked by mobs of armed white people. Subsequent freedom walks and sit-ins included armed black men who surrounded the students for protection; clashes escalated. During protests in 1963, Richardson was photographed pushing aside the bayonet and rifle of a National Guardsman; the picture went viral in the media, and she became an icon of the movement    She signed a peace treaty with Robert F. Kennedy and local officials after an uprising in Maryland for civil rights.    Mirror Work:  Look at yourself and repeat 2 Timothy 1:7: “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Affirmations: I have the power to change my life.  This will pass. It won’t last.  I’m worthy of love and happiness. Fear Not: A Playlist  Self-Care Shopping List:  Sign up for a self-defense class; if you have a daughter, sign her up too. Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song