Welcome to 2026

Dear Reader,

If you are reading this, you might as well shout! You made it to another year.  (Cue shouting music). Lately, I’ve been noticing that many people still feel a sense of hopelessness, even during a new year. Today, during my quiet time, I read this scripture in 2 Corinthians 4:16: “So no wonder we don’t give up. For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day”.

After reading  this, I got this revelation:

I think hopelessness becomes strong as we end a year and start anew. It feels like a failure… that the conquer we are to be is lost somewhere, or doesn’t exist. But I think this is because our human nature wants to keep yesterday in today. Ok… let me bring clarity. We keep saying we surrender, we let go… but reality is…we just change the packaging of things. We feel like if we do enough tweaks and changes, it will make us feel better. Not realizing that we are not making room for the manifestation of GOD’S promise to do something new. He can’t do new with old. He is not in the business of refurbishing. New today is just that.  Something we have never experienced, no knowledge of, or awareness of how to move through without Him. I think that’s why He gives us new grace and mercy.  It’s an opportunity for us to trust and lean on Him.

Prayer: Daddy, help us to make room for your new by being ok with the fact that we don’t have to know or understand it to embrace it. Help us understand that trusting and leaning on you is all you need from us. We surrender our imperfections,  perfectionism, and doubt to you. You never see our mistakes and failures as we label them. You see them as opportunities for detours and recalculations to get us to your will, assignments, and perfect peace. In Jesus’ Name. Amen! 

2025 is Among Us

 Dear Readers,

You hear me say it every year… “I am going to do better”. Well, I have too many accountability partners to fail this year!

If you are new to this blog, welcome! If you are a faithful reader, thank you for being with me through the journey. Disclaimer, this is an imperfect blog. Yep, I have grammatical errors, properly misspelled words, and some thoughts that may seem unGODly. But what’s the trend…”WE Listen (read) and DON’T Judge”! (LOL)

Ok, now that the preliminaries are out way let’s talk about this year of 2025. So, I want to first say that this is going to be a year of “mind your business and drink your water”. If you didn’t know, now you do. This is a year of true focus not from a selfish standpoint, but one from where is GOD calling you. I think a lot of times we are minding our business, without action, without purpose, and without listening. We find ourselves so caught up in what we should be doing based on our own will that we forget about the will of GOD. Been there and done that so many times, I should be tired, but unfortunately, I find myself going back into the cycle.

 This year we will learn. We will take from the years past and apply the lessons, not the responses. We will do the uncomfortable things, with boldness, with grace, with joy, sometimes with tears in our eyes, and hesitation in our hearts. We will do the obedient things, trusting the plan and process of GOD. I am calling this year, the year of #outthebox. We will not do what we feel like we should be doing, or what fits the agenda of who we see ourselves to be. We will do things that make us grow with frustration, yet it births patience and peace. We will sow seeds of faith in the midst of doubt. We will meditate on joy in the midst of grief. I know these all sound like contradictions, but they aren’t. They are moments of training and reality. The reality is you will have doubt when you don’t know the outcome of the situation. You will grieve the feeling of no and rejection while finding joy in getting a bigger blessing. I mean who wants to let go of something that makes them feel good, to gain access to something they barely know if it will work. 2025 is about to be the year of “GOD you said you would, so I will too.” Listen, and read this out loud, IT WILL WORK if I COMPLETE MY PART. 

You praying to GOD to do something when maybe GOD is waiting on you to move something, do something, sit somewhere, and be still. “Faith without works”, is not about the action of faith, it’s about the obedience of your stillness sometimes. You think the work is action when the work could be surrender. As a matter of fact, the work is ALWAYS the action of surrender. GOD can’t get you what you need and ask for if you are filled and full of what you want, and won’t let go of it. You asking for healing when GOD needs your action of forgiveness. You can’t ask for wealth when you not sowing something… Maybe you are not at the place where your faith will allow you to sow 10%, but sowing something is better than sowing nothing. Let’s move beyond that maybe you struggle to say no, so GOD can trust you with his yes. The list can go on and on, but the point is you have to let GO of something to gain access to what you want to possess. 

In 2025 do me and yourself a favor, make room, let go, trust GOD, build community, sit still, become uncomfortable, surrender even if you go it handled, and tell your truth to DADDY before you do man. 

Prayer: Daddy this year is about to be different, not only because we speak and believe it, but because we understand that we must be different to get to the next level you have in store for us. We realize that surrendering is uncomfortable and out of our control. We realize that we are control freaks, and it hinders You from taking control of our lives and the situations we are praying about. Help us! Help us be still, help us be obedient not by force, but by choice, and help us see your will, purpose, and plan working for our good in the tough moments.  

In Jesus Name!

AMEN

Welcome to 2025 

2024 and More

 Happy New Year Readers!

It has been a while I know and that is because life has been lifeing. I have had so many changes and challenges while still trying to keep the faith that  Daddy says that it will all work together for my good and will bring him glory. But where is the glory in disappointment and delays? OOOO…. that just hit me like a ton of bricks.  I am sure I am not the only one who has asked that question at least once in their life. However, we are in a new year and you know the saying “new year, new me”! I don’t always agree with that, because there are some things from the previous year that I probably still need to work on in this new year. With that being said I am inviting you to come on a 21-day journey with me as I fast from personal things. I am doing something new and including a video with the blog. GOD is really creating this fast as I work on developing it. The fast will start January 22-February 12, 2024. I know you asking now Shawndrika what’s different about this fast, versus the one that I am doing with my church or small group. Well, this fast is personal. 

Let me explain, I have fasted on numerous occasions with my church, friends, and small group. Though it yielded some great fruit, it had me hyper-focused on dos and don’ts versus the GOD will and have your way. Let me be honest it didn’t feel personal. It didn’t feel like what I was giving up was a sacrifice that could move the heart of GOD to see how committed I was to making room for Him in the area(s) I didn’t trust him with. Yes, the Daniel fast is great, but because it’s one of the popular fasts it starts to feel like a cliche that we do as a church at the beginning of the year. Translation it is a routine to add to the many routines we already have. This fast creates a level of accountability and self-examination. It dives into a space of personal sacrifice on an individual level versus that of a collective, while still creating discipline, community, and consistency. This fast will make you evaluate how you trust and see GOD in this present moment and cause you to start your own record book with HIM. Listen, I am getting excited thinking about it. I am in a place where I have to take GOD out of my comfortable box of how I know Him and expand how He wants me to know Him. In other words, I can’t keep limiting my intimacy because I fear the process that comes with it. *So if you are curious about this fast join me on the 22nd and see if this is for you. If not that’s cool. However, I challenge you to check how you box GOD. Does your relationship with Daddy cause others to be curious about how to get to know Him? 

Prayer: Daddy, we thank you for this new year. Help us not to box you to our comfort level, allow us to meet you where you desire us to see you. Let us never become comfortable with our level of intimacy with you. Help us desire more of you in a world that is forever changing. In Jesus Name, AMEN

* To be a part of the fast you will have to go to my blogger page at: https://daddydaughterconversations.blogspot.com/

And It’s A New Year!

Great Day DDC Readers!!!

It’s been a while I know and every year I say I am going to do better with my blogging and engagement. Life has been somewhat a roller coaster in 2021. A lot of loss and a lot of life-changes that equate to grief. First of all, let me first say HAPPY NEW YEAR! Second, please check out season 1 of my newest project with my sister Jesus +Therapy, Sis Podcast ok, now that the announcements are out the way let’s get down to business.

The scripture that has been running through my head is something that I am sure most of you have heard and/or read “But don’t dwell on the past; don’t concentrate on what happened back then. Just look at something new I’m going to do now! In fact, it’s started already. Can’t you see it? Yes, I’m making a way through the wilderness, rivers in the desert”! FBV This bible verse speaks volumes on what our mindsets should be in 2022. For the last two years we have dealt with covid and can we be honest it ain’t going nowhere (yeah I know what I said and how I said it; however, you know the disclaimer, this blog is imperfect in grammar and open in heart thoughts). We are so caught up in trying to navigate the disappearance of it, that we are missing the moments of GOD’s newness in it. So, let’s break this scripture down so it can be a guide on how we are to navigate through 2022. 

1) We can’t allow the past to be the guide or map of our current. The past will always come up and the memories of the past may seem more powerful than present moments, however, the present is the gift we have to focus on. Let me summarize, don’t miss your growth because you think you have not learned from your past.

2) Focus on the new things that GOD is doing. Don’t allow your old to outweigh the new. 

3) Change your response and perception. Your ability to be open to a new vocabulary and to see things through GOD’s eyes will create a better perspective of what life really looks like. 

4) Be prepared to win! Winning comes with a process, don’t allow the process to discourage you from reaching and enjoying the win.

5) Don’t get comfortable. You should maintain a posture of discomfort at all times as you go through this year. If you feel yourself getting comfortable, do something uncomfortable so you will not stop growing in the things of GOD.

Prayer: Daddy thank you for this new year. Help us to be in a place of trusting you will all things and being ok with the new things you will do this year. Help us to see things from your perspective and not our own. In Jesus Name. AMEN!

Happy New Year! Time To Apply The Lessons

DDC Readers!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I know it’s been a while and due to Corona my therapist calendar has been booked and continues to fill, as people start to realize that their mental health is not as healthy as they thought it was. Now can we have a moment of silence for 2020… Moment over!!! LOL Listen, if 2020 didn’t teach you anything it should have taught you the value of time and people. The whole world shut down as we tried to wrap our heads around this virus and the destruction it was causing on a global level. Also, we have to be aware of the time that was produced during these shutdowns. (I didn’t have that time as I worked as an at home essential work….a.k.a. “Therapy Life”). You know the time I am talking about. The time that we talked about during those busy workdays, traffic jams, and errand runs. You know the time we talked about when we said, ” I wish I had time to do__________ (you fill in the blank). Not only did we see time become more of something that we gain in 2020; we also saw the loss of valuable people in our lives. 2020, gave us the manifestation of death like never before. When I was watching the news, I heard a report refer to the death toll of 2020 as the biblical 12 plagues that the Egyptians faced while keeping the Israelites hostage. I can kinda agree. It did feel like the death of all deaths.

However, there was something that I heard in my spirit the whole time of 2020 as we endured so many losses and heartache. Are you ready for the revelation?  I heard the Holy Spirit ask me this one question… “Who ARE YOU”? I responded “A Daddy’s Girl. A Daughter of the Most High…then he reminded me of John 15:19 CEV “If you belonged to the world, its people would love you. But you don’t belong to the world. I have chosen you to leave the world behind, and that is why its people hate you. ” Despite all the losses we endured in 2020, those losses will never equate to the power we carry as children of Daddy. Even when it looks like we are losing we are winning. I need us to remember that as we go into 2021. Even when it looks like we are losing or things are not working out for our good due to the principles of the world, we can’t get fixated on it. We must realize that what the world is experiencing doesn’t apply to us. We are in this world, but not of this world. “Them principles don’t apply to us”! (LOL)

Prayer:  Daddy, we thank you for the constant reminders that no matter what happens around us, or in this world, in the end, it doesn’t apply to us. We thank you that because of your adoption we have the authority to tap into your power, favor, joy, peace, and grace. That even when the enemy thinks that we are losing, we still win, because everything works out for the good of those that trust you and follow you according to your word. In Jesus Name! AMEN

Merry New Year

It’s 2019 and I don’t know about you, but I am so excited about everything Daddy has planned for me to accomplish this year. I was really feeling lost, unprepared, and unplanned about this year.  But, during vision casting today I realize I just need to have a board meeting with Daddy A meeting to ask  Him what is it that He is requiring of me, and what I need to do in order to get those things accomplished. The answer He gave was so profound. I will share it with you.

Know this is the year of activation and cultivation. This means that you can’t hide behind the scenes anymore. I am going to pull on your gifts… Yes, gifts… You have become comfortable with one gift, and I have many more in store for you. Don’t allow constructive criticism to be seen as a personal failure. Know that it is pruning and refining you for your next. It may not feel good and yes it’s uncomfortable, but it’s necessary for this season. Here is what I need from you:

– Eradicate, the root of generational curses that have caused you to fall. Seek me for the strategy to do this.

– Place, yourself in a position where you can be used for my will, not yours. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

– Openness. Be open to hearing me, feel me, and know me at another level and realize that I am about to do something new, and you are worthy of what I have for you.

-Opportunity. Position yourself in a place to be poured into and cultivated. Be ok when people pull on your gift. Don’t be a shame of the opportunity I present to you.

-Obedience is better than sacrifice. You can’t sacrifice who I called you to be in order to fit in. This is the season that you need to learn how to be ok with sticking out. Be obedient to the crazy instructions I give. The ones that don’t even make sense.

-Press, beyond your emotions, feelings, disappointments, discouragements, and discomfort. I am a prize worth fighting for.

-Pursue, me like you never have before. Know that I seek for you to be lost in me until there is no more you, only me.

If you do these things daughter I will show you my favor, you will experience a new level of joy, peace, grace, love, and your self-control will go to another level.

These instructions aren’t easy nor are they hard. They are a challenge to trust Daddy in His word, actions, and your relationship with Him. Question: How much do you trust Him?

If you aren’t new to this blog,  then you know that I have an issue with trusting Daddy with my all, but in 2019 my prayer has been… Daddy, I trust you with me and all of me !!!  I won’t worry. I won’t doubt. I won’t look back.

Prayer: Daddy this year we seek to be what you called us to be, and not what we are comfortable being. We seek to walk in your will, word, and way, trusting you all the way. We seek to fall in love with you and we know that it’s you we pursue. Thank you, Daddy, for this new year, and please forgive us for not being comfortable with being uncomfortable, as you take us to a new level. In Jesus Name! AMEN!!

Good Grief

Hey DDC Readers,


This DDC blog is something different. Today I want to address grief and the spirits that come with it. I want to help someone that is not only dealing with the grief, due to the loss of a loved one, but due to life changes. Let me put on my therapist hat and educate on grief. Grief is not the result of a loss of a loved one alone, it comes with life changes good, bad, and ugly. I always give the example of how someone that lose something like their keys goes through the 5 stages of grief while looking for them. (*the stages of grief are not in a 1,2,3 format.  The five stages of grief are: 1) Denial, 2) Bargaining, 3) Anger, 4) Depression, and 5) Acceptance  You can jump through stages and repeat them often) When you first lose your keys you may be in denial. you may make statements like ” I know left the keys right here.” We may find ourselves bargaining, especially when someone else is in the house. “Look, whoever moved my keys, please just put them back.” After, that statement we may find ourselves angry and frustrated, especially after retracing our steps. We will say things like, “I know my keys were right here, who moved them?” Because the anger can truly be overwhelming we can get depressed, especially when we have exhausted all resolution and actions. Lastly, we will get to the acceptance stage. We will make a statement like “Oh well, I guess I lost my keys.” At that moment we find the keys and the grief moment is up. We don’t realize that we have experience grief due to the fact that we bounce back so easily from it   I hope that this blog helps everyone that reads it and it helps you move from grief to good grief and healing.

Post:

“As a counselor, my job is to help those in need and remind myself to be a rock so that the person on the other side of the conversation can be vulnerable and get what they need to get out… I pray daily GOD use me to be your vessel that you may get the glory out of the gift you have given me as a counselor. Well, this month has been one of the months where I really need GOD to manifest that prayer 10x. For some reason, the holidays seem like an open door for the enemy to come in like a flood. But can I tell those that have lost a loved one, remembering a loved one, grieving, grieving over a marriage gone wrong, feeling lost, depressed, numb, distraught, discouraged, confused, in pain, bewildered, frustrated, negative, and drain something… He will… HE will remove, restore, renew, heal, protect, provide, pour out, give victory, rescue, and save you in a breath of our Yes and an action of your surrendering! I don’t care what it looks like or how you feel.. My DADDY is THE on-time GOD he says he is. Not only that, he will overtake your desires, depression, and desperation with his glory, presence, love, peace, and joy. You will survive the holidays because your purpose is not over. Pick your head up, cry your tears, scream to the top of your lungs… but take of the ashes of mourning and put on the garment of praise… If you leave it on long enough you will start to fill the effects. #gottoresponddifferently #thisishispurpose.”


What do you do when your message from 5 years ago still holds weight even now? You share it! This message has more value now than then. I have seen my friends struggle through the holidays, my married friends say goodbye to their long marriages. I have tried to encourage my friends to keep moving as they grieve the loss of their loved ones or marriage. I am here to share this message with them. Because in this season you can’t allow the enemy to take away your joy even in their physical absence. As long as you live they live!! Don’t allow your want to grief hinder you from your need to heal. I am going to say that again Don’t allow YOUR WANT to grief hinder YOUR NEED to heal. Being paralyzed in the moment of their absence will only give the enemy more room in your life. Yes, life will be hard without them, but it doesn’t make it impossible. I always encourage those that have lost loved ones to do three things. 1) create a night of memories with family and friends. This night should not be a night where you reflect on the person’s absence but on their effects. What can you do make sure that their legacy lives? What I love about great leaders that have gone on before is that even in their death they still live. You can do the same with your loved ones. 2) Create a tradition that allows you to incorporate new family memories. Creating a new norm is not easy but it’s doable. 3) Don’t fake the funk! It’s ok to grieve, cry, get mad and/or angry, but you can’t stay there. You can’t make statements like: “I am not going to make it through the holidays.” “I just want to be by myself.” or “You don’t understand.” Why? Because you can make it, one step, moment, and second at a time. (it’s an everyday process), You can’t be by yourself, because that will cause you to be paralyzed in your grief. Last, everyone may not understand, but there is someone around you that does and wants to be there for you. So, this season I need you all to grieve yes, but let’s grieve in the direction of healthy grief and not unhealthy grief. Let’s do our loved ones the justice of living because they would not want it any other way.

When it comes to other life-changing events apply the same three steps but add one, let yourself heal. Don’t be a shame of your brokenness, remind yourself that you are in the process towards your wholeness.

Prayer: Daddy, I thank you for every reader that will read this blog. I thank you that you will heal them in the area of grief and brokenness. That you will manifest your peace, joy, love, and comfort in their lives as they continue to deal with the life changes that cause them to experience the process and emotions of grief. I pray that when they read this, they will become free and that everything that was holding them back from experiencing good grief is loose off of them and sent to a dry place. I thank you that as of today, they will experience the healing process of good grief. In JESUS Name. AMEN!!!

 

Good+Grief+Logo+FOR+REAL+REAL

I Expect The New Now

DDC Readers,

We are weeks away from 2019 and I am still trying to get into 2018. I know that’s bad, but I still feel like Daddy has something that He needs to do in 2018. With everything going on in the world, I really feel like He is waiting for someone to expect something from Him without waiting for the new year to arrive. I am that someone. In a message that I ministered at my church, I told the people that we get so caught up in waiting for the words “Happy New Year”, that we missed the newness that Daddy is doing in our present. I love how he put it in Isaiah 43:18-19 (I am paraphrasing) He says. “forget all that I have done because I am doing a new thing”… Then He asked the question, “Don’t you see it”? So let me go back, to give you the background of what is going on before we get to verses 18 and 19. So, in verses, 1-17 Daddy is telling the children or Israel what He has done for them, what they have done to Him, and the consequences of their actions. In other words, He is listing the history of their relationship with each other. By verse 18, He tells them to not dwell on the past because, in verse 19,  He is about to show them something new. From verse 19 until the end of the chapter He speaks of the new things that He is going to do and how they should be in a place of expecting, preparing, and experiencing the new now.

That’s where I am when I say I am trying to get into 2018. I want to leave the first part of 2018 behind and enjoy the new that Daddy is doing now. I want to be in a place where I am not stuck on what He did that I miss what He is doing. But, can I be honest that’s where a lot of us are. We love the fact that we have a track record with Daddy, but we forget that He is just like the energizer bunny… “He keeps going and going”.  I know you are wondering… What’s the moral of this blog? Well, good Question… The Moral of this blog is this: Dwelling on what He did will place us in three positions: 1) The looking back position. Looking back causes paralyzation. Genesis 19:26 we see that Lot’s wife turn into a pillar of salt when she looked back. Which resulted in her being paralyzed in that position for life. 2) The Reminder position. This position tells us to remember what GOD has done but never expecting Him to do anything else. That’s why in Isiaih 43:19 He says, “Do you not see it”? which brings me to the last position 3) The blind position. There are times where we can be so blinded by the new that we can’t see the now. When it comes to this position I am reminded of Sarah and Abraham.  How when Sarah got the word that they would be pregnant and it did not happen when she wanted it too, she took matters into her own hands and created something new.  But, she missed the opportunity to trust Daddy and  His timing. Had Sarah not been so blinded by timing then she would have enjoyed the process of the new.

Prayer:  Daddy, thank you that you allow us the opportunity to enjoy the new things that you are doing in our lives. We pray that you will help us to never look back on your past track record with us that we aren’t able to move forward in what you doing through, too, and for us. We pray that you will help us to remember that you do something new daily and we can’t get stuck on yesterday’s new in our now. We pray that you will help us to wait and enjoy the process of the now, that we don’t become blinded by the new things we are expected from you later. In JESUS Name…AMEN!!

P.S.  I flunked #bloglikecrazy2018. Between motivation and schedule, it was not going to work. But guess what? It taught me that I need to pass myself and maybe even start my blogs in October and have them ready in November… I don’t know but it was fun while it lasted. Maybe next year!

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