Black Girl/Woman Joy is REAL: Take a Walk down Nostalgia Avenue with Me

Verse of the Day:

Psalm 21:6

Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.

<3 I love this photo so much....this was me before the world dug its claws in.

I wasn't born angry at the world. I wasn't raised to see the world in Black and White (or black vs white), If I must confess anything, I had the life of a very comfortable and well-cared for little girl. My memories can attest to this, I can remember a great deal of my childhood, sometimes in such vivid details, it feels as if the moments are still happening. I was very talkative, very loud, expressive, loving and smiley....until I was told I was too loud and too much....by people who couldn't appreciate what I truly was....a happy black girl. In their minds, I wasn't suppose to exist. Little black girls with confidence and a voice were trouble in the eyes of our older counterparts....so my flame was snuffed out before I could dream of turning 11.

I won't let the world take away the light they did not give me :)

I became quiet, a shadow of the girl I was....I became shy and reserved, I disappeared so others could be seen and it made me angry...angry that I was too scared to be myself anymore, angry that other people were given space to be as loud and care-free as they wanted but Jasmine had to shut up and go away. It has been a long road to

Third grade <3

recovery. My teenage years were the worse years of my life, there will never be tears I shed that will be as bitter. I was lost, confused and hurt by who I was because I did not know and doubted I ever did. The thing is, I DID know, I was too busy rejecting her to realize that in doing so, I was giving other people permission to do the same.

The year was 2020...My life changed forever, I sat on the edge of my bed and made a choice...a deliberate choice to heal...and that meant that I had to change the way I made choices and I needed help, so I went to God and asked for it. I needed the Lord himself to intervene and make clear to me the errors of my own ways. Each and every day started with deep prayer and mediation in the Holy word. I made new discoveries about myself, I grew, I changed and I LEARNED. Yahweh brought me back to myself and made me whole in ways that I had never been before. I smiled like I used to, I laughed like I used to and I was loud about it, because now I had confirmation from the maker himself, that I was everything he needed me to be, I just needed to follow his lead. I'm okay with that. :)

I became everything I wanted and received what I needed and thus, here I am. :)

I re-claimed my joy and walked into my true purpose :)

None of this is to say that my days don't come with challenges, I've just learned how to fight my battles properly. I can't lose myself to someone else's idea of me, because Yahweh himself, created me and everything about me, I owe to him. :) So here I am, to share my joy, my triumph, my tears, my woes, my challenges, and my life....this is apart of my testimony <3 and I'm thankful to share it with you. Keep smiling my dears, we are God's sunflowers and his light brings comfort, joy and an everlasting love.

"For the love of life and the pursuit of the arts, stay prayerful and write on!"

I am a happy black woman, and I won't let anyone tell me otherwise, ever again :)