The Hebrew Boys Faith

01 Jul 2020 Leave a comment

by CEOTherapist22 in #FinishStrong, Courage, Daddy and I, Daddy Daughter Faith, Daughter Attitude, Demand, Faith is..., Faith Series, Fearless, His Glory, Soul Detox, Soul Devotion, Soul Series, Soul Sessions Tags: , , ,

Listen I don’t know about you, but the weight of waiting has been heavy on me lately. The wait of waiting on the unanswered prayers and deepest cries of my heart desires. I was talking to my mentor about how I was feeling and how the weight of waiting was turning into depression. I found myself paralyzed and lame in the thoughts of my wait. After telling me the feelings I felt were ok, my mentor hit me with a question that hurt me and arrested me at the same time. She said “Shawndrika,  what if what you have been waiting on never manifest in the earth? Will you respond with the faith of the 3 Hebrew boys…Even if He doesn’t do it we still know He can?” (Daniel 3:17-18) I looked at her crazy as tears fell from my eyes to know this statement of faith could be my reality. Though I felt broken at the thought of this reality, the Holy Spirit arrested me at the same time. He reminded me that when the 3 Hebrew boys made that statement it wasn’t  from a place of doubt or hopelessness but, from a place of true surrendering. They were saying to Daddy even if we don’t see you manifest the situation in our favor like we want you to, you will still come through and get the glory out of  our lives. That’s the key…Daddy getting the glory!! What you are praying and waiting for may not manifest or come in the package you want, however, if you surrender it to Daddy…it will manifest His glory in your life and draw you closer to Him. I hope this word and revelation reminds you that the wait is worth it! Remember the weight is there for you to surrender not to hold.
Prayer: Daddy we thank you that even in our heaviest moments you wait for us to surrender that you may get the glory out of our lives. We yield to your will today as we wait for you to manifest your glory. We take heart that what we are waiting on may not come in the package we want or the time we think we want it, however, it will come on time and work in our favor. In Jesus Name. AMEN!

Emotional Seeds

03 May 2020 Leave a comment

by CEOTherapist22 in #FinishStrong, A Daughter's Heart, Crisis, Mental Health, Oh My Soul, Soul Detox, Soul Devotion, Trusting Daddy, Truth, Wise Words Tags: , , ,

This virus called Corona has truly turned our world upside down. It has no target audience, no cultural difference, no area of focus, and no economic status. When I tell you that we were and are in this together we are. We have seen many die, however, we have also seen many recoveries from this virus as well. We currently live in the unknown as many states slowly begin to open back up and try to create a sense of normalcy. We live now in a world where we have distanced ourselves to save lives, however, this same distance is causing others to die internal with the results of external symptoms. With all that being said I want to challenge us to do something that was placed on my heart to do during this time of famine and uncertainties.

During my meditation time this past week, I found myself asking the question I feel all believers have been asking… GOD, how do we end this? What do we need to do to get back to a place of normalcy? I am sure like me and others you have struggled with the inability to gather at your local church and fellowship with fellow believers, or perhaps during this time you desire to have that fellowship because you want a better relationship with GOD. There are so many things that we need answers to and have questions about. Let’s go back to what I was talking about… During my meditation time with GOD, He told me that so many people are sowing financial seeds (which is a good thing if you have it to sow. I truly encourage you to sow in this area, especially during a time of famine), however, one seed that we have yet to really address that is need during this time of famine… (Let me pause and tell you why it’s a time of famine. It is a time of famine because we are lacking the natural resources and flow of those resources to meet the needs of the people… hence why states are trying to open up that the flow of some economic wealth can come into the state and country. This is the reason I am saying this is a time of famine. Things that were once easy to obtain. (tissue, paper towels, Clorox, Lysol, etc. are no longer easy to obtain) ) Ok, no more interruptions back to the reason behind this blog. (this is why I have to start blogging more…lol) GOD told me that in this season we have to sow emotional seeds. Now I know you are wonder….What are emotional seeds? Emotional seeds are: love, joy, and peace… A.K.A. some of the fruits of the spirit. These seeds are seeds that will not only produce great fruit in the lives of others but also produce great fruit in your life. The fruit of favor, blessings, wisdom, peace, and love. See during a time of famine, no one is looking for a harvest. They are looking for produce. They want the end results, not the seeds.  So, this means that no one will mess with the soil of your seeds. No one will uproot it or cause it to die before it produces your fruit. In summary… “This is the best time to plant seeds, no one will be able to taint it.”

My challenge to you today as we continue to find a new norm during and after this virus is to plant some emotional seeds. The need for their fruit will be in demand and is in demand as you read this. People need the connection of the human touch. However, due to the season that we are in, that same touch that use to heal now kills. Now we have to find a way to produce the same results in a new way and that’s through sowing emotional seeds. Now I forgot to tell you how you sow these seeds. You sow them through text messages of encouragement, zoom video calls of listening, phone calls of support and love, letters of hope, and laughter of memories. Listening we have enough bad news to deal with, it’s time that we pursue the heart of Daddy’s joy in this season.

Prayer: Daddy, thank you for the opportunity to sow emotional seeds into people that I am connected to and even strangers. I understand that we are living in a time of famine and uncertainty and the best thing I can do is make myself available to you. Daddy, help me be the best seed sower during this time of famine. Let me be bold enough to love hard, become grateful in all things, and check on those I think are strong. Daddy, help me be open to accept emotional seeds as I sow them. Help me to maintain balance and never pour out on empty. In Jesus Name AMEN!

I really hope this blog blesses you during these uncertain times. Please know that your physical and your mental health is truly important. If you feel like you need help in the areas of your mental health. Please text the word Villiage to 205-660-0376, to be connected to a mental health expert. This is the perfect time to get everything you put off in order. #noexcuses #mentalhealthawarenessmonth

Your Purpose is Waiting on You

21 Dec 2019 Leave a comment

by CEOTherapist22 in #FinishStrong, Oh My Soul, Purposed, Refresh, Reset, Restored, Uncategorized Tags: , ,

Have you or do you ever find yourself asking…”What is my purpose? How do I obtain my purpose”? We are sure that you answered “yes” and could relate to at least one of those questions. As a Therapist, I always find myself in conversations with people seeking a life filled and driven by purpose. We get the age-old questions “How do I find out what my purpose is”? Well, can I bust some myths and state some facts?
Myth 1: Purpose is something you seek.
Fact: The bible states that purpose was given to you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. ~Jeremiah 1:5
Myth 2: Purpose is hard to obtain.
Fact: Purpose is inside you. All you have to do is tap into it.
Today, I want to challenge you to stop seeking purpose and start seeking the Father, so He can give you the instructions to tap into purpose.
Remember this, “To gain access to purpose, you must tap into the presence of GOD”. ~Min. Shawndrika Cook
Prayer: Daddy, help us live this life with purpose, understand what you have purposed to do is already in us. Help us tab, maintain, and sustain the call on our lives. Allow us to be in a place to seek you always to gain another level of purpose. In Jesus Name! AMEN

I Became A Bride

07 Nov 2018 Leave a comment

by CEOTherapist22 in #bloglikecrazy, #FinishStrong, A Daughter's Heart, Choosen, Daddy and I, Daddy Daughter Faith, Daddy's Daughter, GOD Trust, Soul Detox, Soul Devotion, Soul Series, Wife, Wife in Training Tags: , , , , ,

Hey readers!!!

I hope you are praying for me through this #bloglikecrazy challenge. I have missed two days so far and I am already feeling like I have nothing to write about. But, I must press on and really trying to finish strong!!!
So, today while on the way to work I got a message from my cousin. Now, let me give you some background information about my cousin and why the message she sent to me was life-changing. See earlier this year she got a divorce after being married over 5 years with two beautiful girls. She had never driven before, was a full-time mom, with a part-time in-home daycare. She was super depended on her husband, and when he left her and the kids for the life he wanted, she was overwhelmed and devastated. However, she made a decision to get her license to stay where she was and make the best of things by trusting Daddy. Well, this month she got engaged to a man that worships the ground she walks on, loves her and her girls, but most importantly loves GOD. He pursued her by seeking Daddy and when he asked for her hand it was though he was an answered prayer. I sent her a message congratulating her and telling her how excited I was for her. I ended my message with “You give me hope.” Why? Because, I am divorced, no kids, and have been waiting. (sidebar: you will probably see this blog again on my DFH365 blog during #bloglikecrazy but from a different perspective. If you not following DHF365 please go to dearfuturehusband365.wordpress.com to follow) Now back to our regular scheduled program…  So, she messaged me back and said this: “Thanks girl, remember what one man throws away, becomes another man’s treasure. Any man that see the treasure in you and is willing to pursue you by seeking Daddy will be one lucky man”. I started to cry because I never see things like that. But what really got me was the revelation and my response to her message. I said: “Thank you I really needed to hear that. I am accepting the fact that even if I don’t become a bride to a man, I am a bride of Christ.” OOOOOOOOO Ok!!!! That statement blew me away!!! To even hear myself say it out loud kind of scared me a little. Because I have always desired to get married again, but the real truth is even if I don’t I am still a bride of Christ.
As I continue to meditate on my statement, Daddy spoke these words to me, “Before you were even formed and born I called you my Bride. I proposed to you a long time ago and was excited when you told me “I do”! “You are and will always be the bride I pursue until we meet in the sky. My will for you is simple. That you love me. Pursue me.  Trust me, hear me, and be open with me. I am a gentleman and will never force my way into your heart. I want to be all you need when you need it. I want to be the perfect love song for you.”
Ya’ll, those words ring in my hear as I write this. I realize that even if I never become a wife to a man, I am still a bride to Daddy. Not only am I His daughter I am His bride. I get to carry His last name and reap the benefits. I know you are wondering…What’s the moral to the blog?
The moral of this blog is simple: Don’t allow what you haven’t become detour you from what Daddy has called you to. See I know He called me to be a wife and that in my mind it meant to a man. But what if He called me to be a wife to him instead. We must be satisfied with what we have and where we are. We can’t rush the process because we feel like time is not on our side or we will miss moments. Daddy is the author and finisher of our lives and the creator of time. Even if we miss it the first time, He is capable of recreating the moment for us to get it again.
Prayer:  Daddy, thank you for reminding us that we are a bride to you. That we are your choose vessels and that in you we can find peace and comfort. That we can say I do to you over and over and your love for us will never change. We thank you for a wedding ring we will never have to take off. In JESUS Name. AMEN
P.S. Days 6 & 7 #bloglikecrazy2018

Rejected But Adopoted!

06 Nov 2018 Leave a comment

by CEOTherapist22 in #bloglikecrazy, #FinishStrong, A Daughter's Heart, Adoption, Daddy's Daughter, Soul Detox, Soul Devotion, Soul Series, Transparency, Trusting Daddy Tags: , , ,

I was talking to some friends the other day about rejection. In that conversation, I realize that rejection was paralyzing some of us. That because of rejection we couldn’t enjoy the benefits of adoption. I love what Galatians 4:4-5 says about this. “4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”

Can I break those verses down for you? The first verse reminds us of the process of our adoption. That Jesus had to go through the process of saying yes to the assignment of being the ultimate sacrifice. That he had to become a man for the adoption to be legit. The last verse is about us. That after Jesus did his part (filling out the adoption papers, going through the test and interviews, and completing a background check) it was time for us to do our part. To be in the position to say yes to the name change and enjoying the benefits of the process.

But, even with the good benefits of being called son/daughter we still see ourselves as rejected. We still feel unworthy of the title. Today, I’m here to encourage us to not allow rejection to be the delay in our adoption. That we must embrace the fact that though we have experienced rejection from people, family, and self, that doesn’t mean we aren’t adoptable.

Prayer: Daddy we come asking you to forgive us for allowing our rejection to blind us from our adoption. Daddy helps us to accept the benefits of our adoption and lean on you for understanding. In Jesus name Amen!

P.S. #bloglikecrazy day 4 &5 completed!

Transition

24 Jul 2018 Leave a comment

by CEOTherapist22 in #Chapter35, #FinishStrong, Daddy and I, Daddy Daughter Faith, Daddy's Daughter, Daily Living, GOD Trust, He will, Legacy of A Daughter, Ocean Faith, Open Heart, Relentless Faith, Soul Detox, The Reality, Transition, Transparency, Transparent, Trusting Daddy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I know it’s been a while and I do apologize. I am realizing that in order for this thing to really work you all need to hear from me.  So today you, my readers are my accountability partners. That’s right I have given you the task to email me at: shawndrikaLcook@gmail.com if you aren’t getting a blog once a week. See we must realize that we are meant to do life alone, and sometimes strangers, people we don’t know are for us will hold us accountable. So welcome ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNERS!

With that being said let’s talk about transition! So for the past 4 months, I have been in a place of total transition. I went from working a full 8-5 in my field, to leaving there and doing ministry full time!! Yep, ministry FULL TIME!!!  Now I know you are wondering what causes me to make this move. I mean I just passed my licensure examine only a year ago, I have not been a private practice therapist at all, and now I am in ministry. To answer the question of why, is simple, obedience. But, in my obedience, the walk and the focus of my next has been hard.  I find myself feeling lost, confused, out of place, ill-prepared,  hopeless, distraught, and discourage. Any negative feelings that a human being can express… This girl expressed them and more. I know you are wondering why did you experience all these negative emotions. I mean you were being obedient right? Well, here is the thing with obedience comes sacrifice, thought 1 Samuel 15:22  states, “Obedience is better than sacrifice”.  There is a sacrifice that comes with obedience. Maybe I shouldn’t say a sacrifice, there is a surrendering that comes with it. To some that surrendering position can feel like a sacrifice. I mean give up everything you know just to be submerged into something you know nothing about.

So, here I am in the 5th month of the transition and I am stuck! Yep, stuck like a truck in the mud. I am not writing this blog from a place of overcoming this time. This time I am writing to you while the process is still going. While I am still in the place of getting to the prize or the next that GOD has called me to. I am in that,  “I have to more trust GOD moments”, rather than “I will figure something out moments”. I’m at a place where I need the manifestation whether than being on ok with waiting for the manifestation.

I know someone who is reading this is wondering why am I telling the story as it is happening? Well. it’s because you need to know the process of transitioning. When you are in a place where the transition is not by choice, but assignment there are certain things you can’t control or deal with because you truly trust Daddy to guide your every step. For instance, I can’t control the demands that my assignment has on my life. I took a $2500 pay cut, yet I have not wanted for anything for real. I have tried to apply for a second job with the conviction that I couldn’t because of the demands of this assignment.

Why tell you the now of my transition for real?!? Because you need to know that transition is worth it!!! It’s worth leaving something that you do know for something you don’t know. It’s worth moving beyond you to get to Daddy. It’s worth the process… OOOOOO!!! That’s a word PROCESS!!! The process will be the foundation of your transition. How you see your process will determine how long you will stay in your transition. If you see your process as a burden, then your transition will last longer, because you are not able to receive the benefits of the process. But, if you see the process as a purpose, that it pushes you to your next, stretches you to another level in GOD, and betters your faith and trust in Daddy. Then the transition will be short and one that you can talk about as part of your testimony. Let me say this I don’t care what kind of transition you experience good or bad, no one likes the discomfort that comes with it. No one likes being in limbo where you aren’t sure what’s going on, but you know where you are going. No one likes looking at the preview of their promise and wondering when they will get there. These are the feelings of transition.

Today, I want to encourage someone to keep pressing in their transition!!! Keep enjoying the process no matter how uncomfortable it gets. Remember this transition is not about you, but about those who are looking at you. You are the only manifestation of GOD they may see! This is about your legacy, your future, your next…DON’T FORFEIT IT!!!

Prayer: Daddy transition is not easy. It can be uncomfortable and stressful if we don’t allow You to guide us. Today we say guide us!!! Open our ears to your instructions. Open our minds to the thoughts that you have towards us. Remind us that your thoughts towards us are good and they have the outcome of your perfection. Open our eyes that we don’t see things in the natural but in the spirit. Let us see the manifestation of the prayer that the Prophet Elisha prayed for his servant in 2 Kings 6:17, where he said: “LORD open his eyes so he can see”. Daddy open our eyes so we can see. Let us see your hand of protection and provision on us. Let us see your wisdom, knowledge, and understand. Let us see that your plan is great than our process. Daddy, help us with our words. Help us speak the words that line up with your will, word, and way. Let us not get so frustrated in this transition that we forget the power of our tongue. That we speak life when we feel like death is trying to overtake us. We respond to situations and people with a soft answer. Daddy, be our Jehovah Shalom and let us experience your peace like never before. Be Jehovah Jierha so we can know that you will provide and meet our needs and wants. Daddy, we thank you that we will be the examples we need to be during this time of transition. In JESUS name AMEN!!!

Declaration of A Daughter

27 Dec 2017 Leave a comment

by CEOTherapist22 in #FinishStrong, A cry, Daddy and I, Daddy Daughter Faith, Daily Living, Oh My Soul, Open Heart, Trusting Daddy Tags: , , , ,

I speak wholeness in your life now… We will not wait until 2018…you will finish strong… You will face the dark, hidden, and broken place in your life with boldness and walk into your God given calling in his strength. No longer will you down play the greatness in you or settle just to be love. You will prepare for your king like a queen… You are Royalty….. You stand strong because of the intercessors that pray for you. Life will no longer be the same as of today!! It’s over… Depression is sent to a dry place no longer keeping you in silent isolation. Joy is your strength, peace is your portion, and love is your life. You will never have to want for anything for the father will, has, and shall supply your needs and you will call him Abba and he will answer yes Daughter… No longer will you wait for moments you will create them with your worship and record them with your praise… You will hear the songs that the Father sings over you and you longer feel unworthy of his love. In Jesus Name! Amen!

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