The Adventures In Little Rock, AR

The Adventures of Little Rock, AR

 

The Adventures of Little Rock, AR

The Adventures of Little Rock, AR

Happy Hump Day!

I was thinking about the plans for the SDAB office and going over the inspiration board I shared with all of you on yesterday,

when it hit me,

OH NO!! I NEVER told you all about my trip to Little Rock, Arkansas! Please forgive me!

Allow me to tell you about… ” The Adventures In Little Rock, AR “

Let me just tell you how ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL this trip was!!!

Disclaimer: For the sake of me typing Little Rock all throughout this post, I will be using the abbreviation LR, Ok?

Great!

Just a little history on how this came to be:

The Adventures of Little Rock, AR

My God- Daughter Sharita!

Now, I have a God-Daughter who lives in LR and she contacted me back in January to tell me about her first Girls Night Out Event. Her husband is the youth pastor at St. Mark Baptist Church in LR. So this was for young girls at the church & they have a lot!  So I said ok that’s wonderful, I want to be there to support you. She then commences to tell me that she’s prayed about a speaker and the Lord laid me on her heart.

I said WHAT?!? ME?

The Adventures of Little Rock, AR

Me packing and a perfect photo op!

She said YES YOU!! So my God daughter being the organized, planner, business woman that she is ( she gets it from her momma ha!!) commences to give me all the event details and I’m STILL trying to wrap my mind around what she says to me! Now mind you, I am out of town preparing for a wedding when she calls.  So that’s two separate things going on at once. I had a couple of months before the event in LR so when I got back in town from the wedding, I began to make preparations to go to LR.

Just to let you know how God set this entire situation up from beginning to end: The name of the church was Saint Mark Baptist Church & they’re AWESOME but I’ll come back to that. Just remember the name!

So I began to pray and ask The Lord what would he have me to say not just to the young girls that were in attendance but to the volunteers, everyone that had a hand in that event & mostly to myself.

SIDEBAR: When the Lord gives you a message to speak, ten times out of ten, the message is ALWAYS for YOU FIRST! Then once you get what you need and get filled up with what He’s saying to you, then you’re able to effectively minister out of the overflow!

Moving on…

So the Lord gave me the word #GAMECHANGER. I didn’t question it, I just simply obeyed and began to study.  The definition of a game changer is a person or thing that dramatically changes the course of something. The definition itself blew me away! I went with it though. Studied up, prayed up & ready to go! We get to the airport, our flight is delayed but I remember a scripture telling me in Romans 8:28 and WE know that ALL things work together for good, to them who love God and them who are called according to his purpose. Well that was me because I KNOW I LOVE HIM (JESUS) & I also KNOW that I’m called.

So my husband & I sat in the airport just chatting & laughing, eating doughnuts, you know the usual! We then boarded the plane. It just so happens that our connecting flight to AR was delayed as well (God again) so we were not in fear of missing the flight as we were before. We finally arrive in LR! Now from before the time we arrived in LR, until the time we left. We were VERY WELL taken care of! OMGoodness!! From everything to everything… SIMPLY AMAZING!!!

Now the theme of the event was Beautiful Girl! From beginning to end it was amazing! I can’t really put into words how awesome of an event it was. I really can’t. I’m trying to but I just feel like I’m not doing it justice!

The Adventures In Little Rock, AR

My God- Daughters Sharita & Aisha

While I was in the back of the event center getting prepared, my daughter had this commercial made for the girls and there was a guy on the commercial reciting poetry, letting the girls know how beautiful they were and how they were daughters of The Most High King. That sent me! I remembered in that moment just how big of an opportunity this really was & I was so humbled, grateful & overwhelmed with love that HE made choice of me. Mind you this was my daughters first event of her own & I was there! Also my other God daughter Aisha was there as well! She really tricked me, I didn’t know she was coming & I was talking to her about the event the entire time! She never said a word! It was a wonderful surprise to see her!

After everyone finished crying, my daughter introduces me ( EPIC again, because I remember when…) & she says, she is the reason I am the woman I am today & I want her to POUR into you all the way she poured into me when I was your age. I was no good at this point! I was totally overwhelmed! Of course Sharita (my daughter) told me I needed to get myself together & get ahold of my emotions LOL!!! She is a firecracker!!

I explained to the girls that in order to be a #Game Changer you have to get to know THE GAME CHANGER! That’s God, you have to make & write down, clear short term & long term goals & you have to get around other “beautiful girls” that will push you in being a #Game Changer because she herself is one! I talked to them about a lot of things, you just had to be there. It was EPIC!

I met some of the most WONDERFUL & HILARIOUS ladies in life and I would like to say that I made some long distance friends. Ladies that were talented, gifted, creative, love God, themselves, & they’re husbands & friends ( you KNOW I was all for that!! ) No one was concerned with what you had or didn’t have, no one was worried about trying to be like anyone else or jealous of anyone else because each of these ladies knew precisely who they were & more importantly, WHOSE they were! Just Beautiful!

The Adventures In Little Rock, AR

#GAMECHANGERS

In such a short time, I observed all of this. My life was FOREVER changed in LR & I won’t ever be the same! Now I told you to remember the name of the church, St. Mark Baptist Church & they’re motto & mission statement is simply… You. Grow. Here . So simple yet so profound & so true.

I think I cried almost the entire weekend because God is just simply amazing & faithful even when we’re not.

Everything came full circle for me when my daughter introduced me. I was able to pour into her because God had poured into me. I was her when I was her age & God taught me things about being a respectable lady, a virtuous wife & just a good person period. It was definitely through trial & error because I was a pistol! How dare I not take the things He’s poured into me & pour them into other young women? That would be awfully selfish of me! We’re not saved to ourselves but to help & comfort others with the same comfort that God gave & continues to give to us!

The Adventures In Little Rock, AR

Me & The Mr. at the LR River Market

 

My husband really got a kick out of this because he is the one who normally preaches & I get to be the one who helps him, prays for him & just make sure everything runs smoothly so he can deliver The Word. This time the roles were reversed, it was funny to see that! I loved the way he supported me throughout the whole event! We had a ball to & we had some of the most delicious food ever!

The Adventures In Little Rock, AR

Some of the food we ate. Oysters Rockefeller, Seafood Risotto & Ice cream with mini sugar cones!

One of my favorite sayings is Love isn’t love until you give it away! It’s also one that steps on my toes a bit because sometimes when people hurt us in some sort of way, we tend to draw back from that person, not wanting to really be bothered with them. At least I do sometimes but then I remember that I have to choose to show people Grace even when they really don’t deserve it because neither do I!

The Adventures In Little Rock, AR

My Husband Jonathan, Sharita’s husband Justin. We both affectionately call our husbands “J”. So cute!

Needless to say I had some really proud moments and some awesome God mom moments too! I am so stinking proud of the woman who my God Daughter has become because she has literally had to fight to BE her! I love her & her husband Justin SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!! I know she knows this!

The Adventures In Little Rock, AR

Justin & Sharita. The Bilson’s

I hope that you enjoyed my tales about The Adventures In Little Rock, AR! I know I said a lot of things were amazing, simply because they were! My husbands topic from his Sunday sermon was ” He’s Amazing ” and I’ve been using that word much more ever since! Especially when I KNOW when HE is involved! Everything is just that much more amazing!

Also, this trip was not stressful or taxing at all! It went right along with my 2015 word SIMPLIFY!

Needless to say my husband & I had a ball! Since no guys were allowed at the event, I think I just may have enjoyed myself just a “tad bit” more than he did ha!!

 

The Adventures In Little Rock, AR

Playing around! I LOVE to laugh!!

What are some ways that you plan to be a #GAMECHANGER? What steps are you willing to take? I really want to hear from you!!

Until next time Friends…

Be Fun, Be Fabulous, Be a #GAMECHANGER!

I am a #GAMECHANGER!

Chat with you soon!

Love, Love

Nicole

 

 

 

 

April 22, 2015

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  1. Timmi says:

    Oh wow! This was so inspiring! I can relate to what you said about pulling back from others when they have hurt you, but if we think of the grace that God gives so freely, how can I not do that for others. It’s a real hard check that I was not expecting to get when I clicked on this post! Thanks for sharing your experience!

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