Raise The Praise

ABOUT THIS EPISODE:   Welcome back to Raise the Praise where we choose to reclaim our joy and thrive in every area of our lives, that's physically, mentally, financially and spiritually, to do all that God is calling us to do. I'm your host, Jennifer Bell. Today's show is all about the definition of SUCCESS.   How do you define success? I submit to you that success is comprised of many things. I'm sure you've heard of some of these. No matter how you define success, as long as you can look yourself in the mirror and say TODAY was a good Day!...That, my friend is SUCCESS!    If this episode inspired you, please subscribe and leave a review. I'm always looking to improve and I'd love your feedback!         WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…   Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com EPISODE AIRED ON: June 9, 2021 

ABOUT THIS EPISODE:   Welcome back to Raise the Praise where we choose to reclaim our joy and thrive in every area of our lives, that's physically, mentally, financially and spiritually, to do all that God is calling us to do. I'm your host, Jennifer Bell.  I am so excited to have my sister-friend Bernadette Jackson on the show today.    Bernadette Jackson is a woman of faith, a mom, a fatherless daughter and a transparent truth teller. As a Relationship Engagement Strategist and your favorite Fear Investigator, she creates safe spaces for fatherless daughters to learn, grow and heal. Her safe spaces include the Bernadette Jackson Podcast where she is redefining how the world views women with daddy issues; H.E.R Coalition, her private FB community and H.E.R Way Relationship Intensive, her private coaching program. In that program, Bernadette teaches clients everything she wished she knew about attracting and maintaining amazing relationships as a fatherless daughter. This program is near and dear to Bernadette's heart as she openly shares how her own fear of abandonment cycle kept her in undesirable relationships for more than a decade and what she did to stop attracting them.    Listen in as my sister Bernadette shares her Courage2Heal story.   If this episode inspired you, please subscribe and leave a review. I'm always looking to improve and I'd love your feedback!     WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…   Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com Courage2heal Circle Waitlist: jenniferbell.biz   CONNECT WITH MY GUEST:   To learn more about Bernadette's story and how she can help, visit her website at bernadettejackson.com or follow her on IG @bernadettenjackson. EPISODE AIRED ON: JUNE 2, 2021 

When you focus on  God with a surrendered heart, you enter into what Marshawn Daniels calls a "faith adventure with God". How do you surrender to God? Realize you're human and you don't have all the control, no matter how awesome and capable you are Take a deep breath. Admit that you don't have to have all the answers, all the time Pray A surrendered heart to God is a heart in alignment with His will and direction for our lives.   If this episode inspired you, please subscribe and leave a review. I'm always looking to improve and I'd love your feedback!     WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…   Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com Courage2heal Circle Waitlist: jenniferbell.biz EPISODE AIRED ON: MAY 26, 2021   

Chinitha Johnson helps women struggling with low self-esteem and confidence as a result of childhood abuse, to kickstart going from inferior to empowered, by giving them the K.E.Y.S that opens the door that begins the healing of "little me." Listen in as my sister Chinitha shares her story in this Courage2Heal Interview.   If this episode inspired you, please subscribe and leave a review. I'm always looking to improve and I'd love your feedback!     WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…   Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com Courage2heal Circle Waitlist: jenniferbell.biz   CONNECT WITH MY GUEST: https://www.chinithajohnson.com IG: @chinithajohnson Influence Yourself 1st Podcast  FB & YouTube: Chinitha Johnson   EPISODE AIRED ON: MAY 19, 2021 

You know, the Bible says they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall Mount up with wings as Eagles Eagles, right. They should run and not get weary. They shall walk and not faint. So let's talk about waiting.    What are you doing while you're waiting? Are you continuing to pray? Are you worshiping God? Are you researching? Are you writing? And you're waiting for that thing that you're, you're waiting on God to, to manifest in your life, but we have to continue to wait. Wait does not mean it's not going to come to pass.  If this episode inspired you, please subscribe and leave a review. I'm always looking to improve and I'd love your feedback!     WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…   Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com Courage2heal Circle Waitlist: jenniferbell.biz     EPISODE AIRED ON: MAY 12, 2021   

Welcome back to Raise the Praise where we choose to reclaim our joy and thrive in every area of our lives, that's physically, mentally, financially and spiritually, to do all that God is calling us to do. I'm your host, Jennifer Bell.  I am so excited to have my sister friend Chulu Chansa, Founder of Africana Woman on the show today.    Chulu is a writer of modern African culture & lifestyle, the host of the Africana Woman podcast, a transformational speaker and mentor. She currently resides in Zambia, is the proud mother of a teenage boy and is at peace. For many years Chulu experienced success in her career, however fell short in her personal life. Eventually she managed to transform her lifestyle and lives by the principle, K.N.O.W. your Roots, Grow your Purpose where KNOW stands for Knowledge, Nourishment, Operate in Obedience, and Weakness. As a result, Chulu is on a mission to ensure African women succeed both in work and their personal life.  Listen in as my sister Chulu shares her story in this Courage2Heal Interview.   If this episode inspired you, please subscribe and leave a review. I'm always looking to improve and I'd love your feedback!     SHOWNOTES:   2:04   We've been featuring courage to heal stories recently, and I just had to have you share your story. And as we have our conversations today, I just know that you will be blessed and inspired and encouraged to heal as you hear her story. So let's just dive right into it to Chulu and talk about culture, and a little bit about health and wellness and how we blend the two. So my first question to you is, how would you say your culture has affected your overall wellness?   2:49   I think, you know, there's so many beautiful things about our culture. And I'm African, I'm from Zambia, beautiful country of Zambia, we call it the real Africa. And, you know, there's so many things from our food, our clothes, our music, all of those wonderful things. But then there's also I'd say, like an underbelly of, of things that are not necessarily talked about. And, you know, we like to refer to them as Oh, that's just the way culture is.    Now. I think one of the things that's also unique about my country in particular is that we are a Christian nation, like it's actually in our Constitution. So Christianity is something that is also very, very deeply interlinked in our  lives, right. So, you know, I think when it comes to myself, and my story, I think one of the things that really did affect me was the first thing was having a child out of wedlock, and having a child very young. I had my son when I was my senior year of college, and you know, just the shame and the, you know, the shame and the embarrassment.   9:14   So you know, they held a knife to my neck, they kicked me, they punched me in the stomach. It was a very violent experience. And at the time, I was just thinking, I really just gave it to God, because I just looked up and I was looking up at the sky, I didn't even want to look at them.    And what actually happened was the three original men that had stolen the money, like stolen my bag, they came walking back, because they know, they just threw me on the middle of the road. So they came walking back. And they saw that and they did nothing. They just dropped the bag and walked away. And I remember thinking, how does someone?    I can honestly say that therapy saved my life.   19:43   I had the job, I had a car, I had the house, like, I was okay, but then I'm trying to tell people that there's something wrong, this is not enough. I'm not okay, I'm not satisfied, I'm not fulfilled, I'm not happy, and people just didn't understand. They felt like, you know, when they're looking at the job that I had, it's one of those jobs, you know, here we say, it's kind of like, you know, you've arrived, you know, and you get a certain job, you've just arrived, and you can put your legs up and you like, everything is just jazz. But I'm just like, if this is what you guys call life, then it's not enough. And it just, it was blowing my mind.   26:14   So I actually experienced, I guess, all ranges of depression, because then I found myself depressed, and I was sitting, I wasn't sitting, I was lying in bed for three days straight. didn't eat didn't do anything, just lying, just crying there. And I think I got to the third day. And Funny enough, I wasn't, I wasn't really somebody who listened to podcasts at the time. But something told me to listen to a podcast. So I started going through the app, and then searching and I happened upon redefining wealth by Patrice Washington. And K.N.O.W. is an acronym for knowledge, k knowledge, and nourish, oh, operates in obedience, W weakness.    If this episode inspired you, please subscribe and leave a review. I'm always looking to improve and I'd love your feedback!   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com Courage2heal Circle Waitlist: jenniferbell.biz   CONNECT WITH MY GUEST: https://www.instagram.com/chulu_bydesign/ https://www.africanawoman.com/ africanawoman@gmail.com   EPISODE AIRED ON: MAY 5, 2021 

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back to Raise the Praise where we choose to reclaim our joy and thrive in every area of our lives, that's physically, mentally, financially and spiritually, to do all that God is calling us to do. I'm your host, Jennifer Bell.  I am so excited to have my sister friend Evelyn Levasseur on the show today! Evelyn is the owner of Evelyn LeVasseur Fitness, a company that focuses on helping busy, overwhelmed moms reach their body goals without dieting or deprivation. Evelyn knows that moms can be especially hard on themselves and expect perfection, in our homes, jobs, marriages, and of course with our bodies.  Listen in as my sister Evelyn shares her story in this Courage2Heal Interview. If this episode inspired you, please subscribe and leave a review. I'm always looking to improve and I'd love your feedback!   SHOWNOTES: * When we think about health, we think about food and exercise and what our body looks like. And really, it is truly starting from the inside out. And seeing how the way you feel about yourself impacts not only your body and your mind, what everybody around you and the energy you bring, and the energy you attract, you start to see that your life as a whole is a representation of what you're feeling to begin with. And that's huge. (3:28)  * First of all, my very first step had to be detaching my value from my appearance. And that was hard work because I had to, I had to literally let go of all, all those years of being told that I was beautiful that I was this, that I was that and then finally accepting that of all the things that I am a mother, a wife, a sister, a friend, have the impact that I want to have on this world, my body is the least relevant part of me. And on top of it, you know, I remember sitting and thinking to myself, Evelyn, you are literally living the life that you prayed for, you are living the life that you prayed for. And that's what I realized that I had been living in gratitude, yes, grateful for my husband, we have an excellent relationship. We've been friends, since we were little kids. I have two healthy, strong, very empathetic daughters, that are feisty, too. Don't get me wrong. I have a home that I love in a job that I love. I was grateful for all of it. But I wasn't grateful for me. (20:06) * First, I think acceptance comes before love. I do. You know, people feel guilty because they say they feel like they should just love themselves, which Yes, I believe you should love yourself. But if you spent your whole life being told that you weren't enough, that doesn't just happen naturally. You know? You have to, just like when you get to know somebody else, you accept them first for who they are. I think there's levels to falling in love with yourself. And it starts with accepting yourself for who you are. (39:09)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com Courage2heal Circle Waitlist: jenniferbell.biz   CONNECT WITH MY GUEST: IG: @evelyn_levasseur_fitness FB: Evelyn LeVasseur Fitness website: www.evelynfit.com webinar link: www.evelynfit.com/breakup    EPISODE AIRED ON: APRIL 28, 2021

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back to raise the praise where we choose to reclaim our joy and thrive in every area of our lives, physically, mentally, financially, and spiritually, to do all that God is calling us to do.  I am so excited today to have my special guest Tiffany Moore on the podcast. It brings me great pleasure for you all to hear her story. She recently released her new book, 'Better Together Playbook' which is a resource to help you cultivate your relationship with God, yourself, and your partner. She is a transformational speaker and a certified Christian life coach. I met Tiffany through Patricia's Washingtons program.  For the next few episodes, I've invited a few of my friends, to share their courage to heal stories, because I believe we must break our silence, come from behind our ashes and live in our true beauty. Let's let our sisters know, you're not alone. My prayer is that you, my dear sister, will have the courage to heal and walk in freedom. Listen in as Tiffany shares her story in this Courage2Heal Interview.   SHOWNOTES: (1:51) How Tiffany met her husband during college as she worked at the school cafeteria. “This guy walked through the door with a green shirt, pair of blue jeans, and ugly Brown shoes. He was thin and very tall!”  (4:31) “I stepped out in marriage, It was me. During that time, it was real hard for us, because I broke his heart.” Reconciliation: But when he came back, he told me, he said, Tiffany, he said, I love you. He said, and God told me, I can't leave. Because you need me.  (7:56) “No matter how we mess up on what we do, God is always there to be there. And forgive us! (8:58) Having a Christ-centered marriage showed us what we needed to eliminate anything that will get in the way of that. And that includes some friendships and relationships. (24:37) What it means to me is to be able to own your mistakes. Take responsibility for your part, and have enough courage to admit that, and have the courage to receive the healing and the forgiveness from the pain.   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com Courage2heal Circle Waitlist: jenniferbell.biz   CONNECT WITH MY GUEST: Website: https://bit.ly/3x9Bgdn  

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: EP:27 DO YOU HAVE THE COURAGE TO HEAL?   I'm reminded of Maya Angelou's book, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, because of the 38 years that I suffered in silence,  feeling like a caged bird longing for freedom.   After speaking my truth, overcoming my trauma so that I can thrive in life, I've met some incredibly brave women who also shared their courage to heal stories on this podcast..   In this episode, my question to you is, “Do YOU have the courage to heal” so that you  too can overcome past/present trauma?    SHOWNOTES: The freedom we've experienced came from total surrender through forgiveness, faith and health (condition of a sound mind, body, and spirit). You're a high achieving, always about your business at hand for the family, career, business..only to feel trapped within your own trauma, like a caged bird. YOU ARE NEEDED sister and your story will be used to fuel your destiny!   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com Courage2heal Circle Waitlist: jenniferbell.biz

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back to Raise the Praise where we choose to reclaim our joy and thrive in every area of our lives, that's physically, mentally, financially and spiritually, to do all that God is calling us to do. I'm your host, Jennifer Bell.  I am so excited to have my sister friend Stephanie McNeil on the show today. Stephanie is a certified relationship educator, licensed in Identity and Destiny and former Women's Ministry Leader, a Forgiveness Coach and host of the The Freed 2 Love Podcast.  For the next few episodes, I've invited a few of my friends, women, who are going to share their courage to heal stories, because I believe we must break our silence, come from behind our ashes and live in our true beauty. Let's let our sisters know, you're not alone. My prayer is that you, my dear sister, will have the courage to heal and walk in freedom. Listen in as my sister Stephanie shares her story in this Courage2Heal Interview.   SHOWNOTES: • It is a simple thing, but it's complicated. So you forgive when you are unjustly hurt by another, you forgive when you give up the resentment, not by denying your right to your just desires. (6:18) • You're so right, because even my own situation, I forgive with my lips, but oh my gosh, when memories or thoughts were on the anger, the sadness, all the emotions that you go through it, those different stages of forgiveness. (10:06) • When I learned that when you hold unforgiveness, it releases hormones in your body like Cortisol and what happens, that could cause high blood pressure, cancer feeds off of it, all kinds of other illnesses and everything have to do with a simple thing of letting go. (13:53) • Look at was it I'm doing now. There's no way you can shut me up now, because once you break that silent and you feel this freedom that, Oh my god, I never knew I could feel this way and standing in my truth. (27:33)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com • Courage2heal Circle Waitlist: jenniferbell.biz   CONNECT WITH MY GUEST: • Website: https://www.freed2love.com • Free Gift: https://www.freed2love.com/freegift • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freed2love • Instagram: http://instagram.com/stephanieymcneal • Podcast: Freed 2 Love Podcast   EPISODE AIRED ON: MARCH 31, 2021

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back. We've been talking about having the courage to heal through forgiveness, faith, health and courage. Remember, courage is the ability to do something that frightened you and doing something in the face of pain or grief, and then to heal is to cause to become sound or healthy again. So, what does the courage to heal mean, even in the face of fear, pain or grief? I'm choosing to heal so that I can walk in freedom, and that freedom comes through forgiveness. That freedom comes through my faith, and that freedom comes with my health. As women of faith, we know the power of forgiveness, however, the process of forgiving those who hurt us or even ourselves is a journey. God gives us the courage to find freedom, to forgive, heal and thrive in every area of our lives. For the next few episodes, I've invited a few of my friends, women, who are going to share their courage to heal stories, because I believe we must break our silence, come from behind our ashes and live in our true beauty. Let's let our sisters know, you're not alone. My prayer is that you, my dear sister, will have the courage to heal and walk in freedom. Listen in as my sister shares her story of how she had the courage to heal and where she is with her journey. It is my pleasure to speak with my sister Jabrita Shelton in this Courage2Heal Interview. Listen in… WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com • Courage2Heal Conference: Secure Your Ticket Here. CONNECT WITH MY GUEST: • Website: https://www.jabritasheltonco.com • Facebook: @Jabrita Shelton • Instagram: @jabritasheltonco EPISODE AIRED ON: MARCH 24, 2021

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back. We've been talking about having the courage to heal through forgiveness, faith, health and courage. Remember, courage is the ability to do something that frightened you and doing something in the face of pain or grief, and then to heal is to cause to become sound or healthy again. So, what does the courage to heal mean, even in the face of fear, pain or grief? I'm choosing to heal so that I can walk in freedom, and that freedom comes through forgiveness. That freedom comes through my faith, and that freedom comes with my health. As women of faith, we know the power of forgiveness, however, the process of forgiving those who hurt us or even ourselves is a journey. God gives us the courage to find freedom, to forgive, heal and thrive in every area of our lives. For the next few episodes, I've invited a few of my friends, women, who are going to share their courage to heal stories, because I believe we must break our silence, come from behind our ashes and live in our true beauty. Let's let our sisters know, you're not alone. My prayer is that you, my dear sister, will have the courage to heal and walk in freedom. Listen in as my sister shares her story of how she had the courage to heal and where she is with her journey. It is my pleasure to speak with my sister TeNita Ballard in this Courage2Heal Interview. TeNita is a woman of God and CEO of Seasoned to a Tee. Listen in…   SHOWNOTES: • So, when I say I've been to see what my truth, that goes back to when I was 18 years old. I actually had an encounter. It was my first college party, I traveled with a couple of friends, was super excited, and we went to our first college party for dancing. I saw this guy and he started talking to me, and honestly, it would go before that too, because to me, the excitement of him showing interest in me.   (6:05) •  Later I found out that he was older, and so honestly, he was praying on young girls, so I would see him around campus and he did not go to the school, which was very weird. Going back to school and then I noticed that I was missing my period, so I called my sister, the one that I called to get me out of the situation. She and my friend took me to the doctor, and that's when I found out.  (11:13) •  But sometimes we hide behind our ashes, we hide behind our faith because we just show up, and to just see us on at the surface level, you can't see the heart, even though you've gone through what you've gone through. Over a span of 20 years, and you realize that you did not have an abortion, that was a miscarriage, it was not your fault. But yet, and still you felt that void. You still have that internal turmoil about, Well, golly, I need something, I have to continue to achieve. I needed the praises of other people, I need those accolades to value me, to give me worth. (18:02) •  If we allow the enemy to take a hold of our mind, that's why the Bible tells us to renew our minds daily, because of the things that we can see, what we hear, what we feel, but we have to word of God on the inside. That's what comes out of our mouth. It helps us to make sure that those limiting beliefs, those nasty thoughts, all of those things, who God says I am, and I started speaking what God says about me, because it doesn't go away. We're still human. It happened, right? But it no longer has a hold on me, and the beautiful part is when you have the courage to heal. (26:05)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com • Courage2Heal Conference: Secure Your Ticket Here.   CONNECT WITH MY GUEST: • seasonedtoatee@gmail.com • IG: @tenita30 • @Seasonedtoatee   EPISODE AIRED ON: MARCH 17, 2021

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back to part 5 and 6 of the Freedom Series. This series is all about my six steps called the THRIVE Method that I have personally used to find freedom to thrive, or prosper and flourish, through everything in my life, through forgiveness, through health to faith. So in steps 5 and 6, to summarize, is faith plus effort. It's how we occupy until He comes. Meaning whatever your talent or skills, whatever God has given you, given us, we are to be working and doing what our fingerprints were designed to do. You can find that in a Luke chapter 19, Occupy until he comes. So today we are wrapping up the Freedom series, the THRIVE method and the six steps, in finding freedom to forgive and thrive in our life through forgiveness, faith and health, and having the courage to do that. Listen in…   SHOWNOTES: •   So the recap of the THRIVE method is; how do you find freedom to thrive in your life is through these six steps? And the acronym is T-H-R-I-V-E. The first step, the T is thought. I reminded us that we have to understand our self worth. It's not tied to who we are or what we think we should be and have to be. We have to arrest our thoughts that keep us stuck in our current situations by renewing our minds. (1:48) •   One of my favorite scriptures is in Isaiah 61-3, when he says that, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto the beauty for ashes, the oil of joy, for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. My favorite reminder that God gives us those who he called out of the ashes of oppression, slavery, abuse and exhortation, He gives us beauty where destruction and hopelessness had once resided. (4:55) •   So in wrapping up the Freedom series, as far as the THRIVE method and the six steps to find freedom to forgive and thrive in our life through forgiveness, faith and health, having the courage to do that, is what I want to invite you all to do. (7:57) •   Let's build this in such a way that women are... They feel so safe to come here to listen, to share, and this won't be your average virtual conference, trust me, it's going to be engaging, it's going to be interactive and so much fun, knowing that you're in the midst of a sister circle. (9:50)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com • Courage2Heal Conference: Secure Your Ticket Here.   EPISODE AIRED ON: MARCH 10, 2021

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back to part 4 of the Freedom Series. This series is all about my six steps called the THRIVE Method that I have personally used to find freedom to thrive, or prosper and flourish, through everything in my life, through forgiveness, through health to faith. Today I have a special guest, Carmela E. Head. Carmela is a dear friend, author of Be Transformed. Carmela shares with us the power of creating a blueprint to help guide you on your path through life. She serves with passion to empower others to discover and maximize their gifts, talents, skills, and their abilities to bring forth revelation to others. To be all that God has called and created them to be. Listen in…   SHOWNOTES: •  This is why I wanted to have Carmela on because all she is truly in her zone of genius, like we like to say, when it comes to empowering you and some practical things that you can do to make sure that you are actually stepping into the right direction of your God-given talent. (4:14) •  I always think about an architect, an architect never steps forward to create any structure without a blueprint, they always have a blueprint. A pilot never steps into the plane and navigates anything without a flight plan, and we can keep going.  (7:12) •  So designing your blueprint is something like this; When you want to create a blueprint for yourself, take a look at the different areas of your life that God can develop. And how do you do that? Take the time to get still and just listen to what God is downloading into your heart. How about where you are? You can use this roadmap to go forward, it's so simple as taking out a sheet of paper and a pencil, getting still and pausing and look at all these different areas in your life. (11:30) •  So a lot of times, as we're going through this step for initiating change, understand that you can make the blueprint, you can lay it all out and if something happens, right? Not something bad or tragedy, but it can… Your plans can change. It's just the guide, like you were sharing it with the architect. So, I know some people set something in stone and they get upset because it's not flowing the way they thought it was going to go. (18:59)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com • Courage2Heal Conference: Secure Your Ticket Here.   CONNECT WITH MY GUEST: •  www.transformational-moment.com     •  transformationalmoment@gmail.com •  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeTransformedToday •  Twitter:  _BeTransformed •  LinkedIn:  Carmela E. Head  •  Instagram:  @transformationalmoment    EPISODE AIRED ON: MARCH 03, 2021

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back to the continuation of the Freedom Series. This series is all about my six steps called the THRIVE Method that I have personally used to find freedom to thrive, or prosper and flourish, through everything in my life, through forgiveness, through health to faith. Today let's dive into step three of the THRIVE Method, the R in THRIVE. The R stands for renewing your mind. Romans 12 and 2 in the new King James Version, it says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." So let's talk about this for a little bit. The R stands for renewing. The Bible says, be ye transformed by the renew-ing. And renewing means to make new like new to restore, to freshness, to make a new spiritually, we generate to reveal, to do again and again and again to repeat, renewing it. So how do we renew our minds daily?  Join me and let's find out. Listen in…   SHOWNOTES: •  I love how Joyce Meyers, she's the world's leading practical Bible teacher. She says, start reading a chapter in the book of Proverbs that coincide with the day of the month, for example, if today is the 24th, read Proverbs Chapter 24, there's a chapter for every day of the month to read in proverbs. And she says to get the word inside of you. (5:35) •  Guess what? We gotta stop talking, we have to quiet the noise in our heads. We need to hear from God. Therefore, we must listen for His voice, sometimes it's a still small voice, sometimes it could come through in our dreams, it could come through reading His word. Just listen and be on the lookout because one word from God, one word can change everything, so be sure to listen when we pray. (6:31) •   Think on the things that are true, those things that are noble, just. Those things that are pure and lovely, of good report. Anything that's praiseworthy, meditate on these things. This is how you combat those negative thoughts. These are just some of the practical examples of how to renew our minds daily, that we can start to do right now. There's also a second part to this step that has to do with self-development strategies that I have found to be imperative to renewing my mind on a daily basis, things like journaling, things like gratitude, affirmations morning routines. (7:18) •  Putting some actions, putting some works behind the faith that we have as we are finding freedom to thrive in our lives, in every area of our lives. I don't care if it's physically, mentally, financially, and of course, spiritually. So this was step three, What's renewing your mind by transforming, being transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that we can do that good and perfect will that God has for our lives. (9:30)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com • Courage2Heal Conference: Secure Your Ticket Here.   EPISODE AIRED ON: FEBRUARY 24, 2021

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back to the continuation of the Freedom Series on the THRIVE Method, that I personally used to find freedom in my own life for forgiveness, health and my faith. Understanding that God wants us to prosper, once I understood that, he wants us to prosper and be in health. Prosperity not only means personal wealth, but also includes being wealthy in all degrees such as happiness and health. Last episode, I shared a little about my journey to freedom, beginning with step one of the Thrive Method, in resting my thoughts about my own limiting beliefs against what God says about me in His word. So today, let's talk about step 2, the Heart; getting to the heart of the matter. This step is crucial on the freedom journey to thrive in life, because it literally is the center of our human lives, the heart and spiritual activity. Ready to learn more? Listen in…   SHOWNOTES: •  I had to understand the Epic center of my pain centered around my heart, that was not healed after almost 40 years, an apology is not going to heal the hurt. Only God could do that.(3:52) •  I turned it inward and suffered in silence, quietly crying myself to sleep each day. Thinking negative thoughts about how I looked and just having anger and bitterness at the little Jennifer inside of me. That's exactly when I began therapy sessions to help me get to the heart of my matter. (4:50) •  I tried my best to mask my hurt. I tried my best to mask my hurt heart with thoughts of, you're okay, you have a beautiful family, you love your job, you're not hurting for anything, you're not wanting for anything, just be happy and you're like, let it go. That's just it, although I had all those things, I was not experiencing true prosperity in my life. (5:34) •   What is that saying? Way down on the inside of that you have not addressed. I mean, it's like surgery Y'all, getting down to the heart of the matter and acknowledging that. Yeah, my heart is hard, and I really want to heal from this so I can move in freedom and do the things God's calling me to do authentically. Not hiding behind a mask, not pretending that everything is just okay. (6:49)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com • Courage2Heal Conference: Secure Your Ticket Here.   EPISODE AIRED ON: FEBRUARY 17, 2021

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back to my praises faith friends. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive down deeper into the Freedom Series with the Thrive Method, Step 1. Today we are exploring the T, which stands for Thoughts in the T.H.R.I.V.E. Method. Once I learned how to find freedom to thrive through forgiveness, once I learn how to find freedom to thrive in my faith, and once I learned how to find freedom to thrive in my health, my life began to change for the better, and I will never go back to that old life. See, today I am so free, I have so much joy and confidence in who God has designed me to be, although I may still struggle sometimes, I'm grateful, I'm grateful for my story, I'm grateful for my experiences, I'm grateful because what God has planned for me in my life, he is going to perfect it until the end. Ready to learn more? Listen in…   SHOWNOTES: •  I remember six and a half years ago when I believed that the only way for me to find freedom to thrive in my own life was to pretend like I was happy, I wanted to always achieve more. I love God and I serve God, and if I just did those things, all would be well. (2:09) • I was 12 years old when I started dieting. Crazy. Why can't I get this weight off? What's wrong with me? Questions like, How am I going to get past the feelings of shame, unforgiveness, bitterness and anger towards my abusers and myself... Why don't you let it happen? Blaming myself, I have a little girl on the inside, how do I forgive her? And then I would ask, Is this just the way my life is going to be? (4:01) •   We must arrest thoughts that keeps us stuck and test our limiting beliefs against what God says about who we are, what God says about what we can do, what God says about who we can be in our lives. See, the Bible says that as a man think it or a woman, so is he. In Proverbs 23-7, one of the most amazing gifts God has given us is our mind, our mind, the ability to think, to learn, to choose and to reason, our thoughts become a reflection of who we really are. (6:27) •  This is why understanding how to mind our mind is such an important first step in this method. Because when we have stinking thinking is what I like to call it, meaning, our thoughts are not aligning what God has said about us in His word and our thoughts. They keep us paralyzed by the limiting beliefs that circle around in our heads, we find ourselves in cycles of defeat, we find ourselves questioning our identity, we find ourselves short changing the gifts and talents that God has given each of us. And that we can show up and impact our world around us. (7:55)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   EPISODE AIRED ON: FEBRUARY 10, 2021

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back to my praises faith friends. Thank you so much for joining me today on this introduction to the Freedom Series. I have been blessed to be in the field of education for over 25 years. But in 2017, when God told me to walk away from public education, he also told me that my training over the years would not be in vain, I will teach again, and I believe this is what God meant, because to be able to actually teach someone the steps I personally went through to find freedom and healing on my journey to forgive, with his help and faith. I am excited to be guiding others to do the same using the T.H.R.I.V.E. method, I am so excited to see his plan come together so that I can help others find freedom too. Ready to learn more? Listen in…   SHOWNOTES: •  I finally had an aha moment. I want to help women find freedom through forgiveness, health and our fate to thrive in every area of your life that's physically, mentally, financially, and of course, spiritually, so that you can do all that God has designed your fingerprints to do. (3:19) •  Live a life of freedom. You know, the Bible says, Whom the Son sets free is free, indeed. I have never shared how I was able to find freedom in these three areas of my life, because I too have hidden behind the ashes of my own beauty and only shared surface level information about how I was able to walk in freedom. (4:49) •  The Thrive method is six steps in the acronym of Thrive that I took to find my own freedom, and I'll talk more about what that freedom looks like, what I was releasing as far as forgiveness and a little bit about my own story as we go through this series. (6:46) •  I began to say what God says about me and who I can be and what he's calling me to do. I began to write affirmations in the present for what I wanted to see in my own life, and that freedom, like the E is for effort. Now, once we make the road map and the plan, we have to work the plan. The Bible also says, Faith without works is dead, so we must work the plan until we see what it is that we speak and want in our lives. (8:21)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   EPISODE AIRED ON: FEBRUARY 03, 2021

ABOUT THIS EPISODE:   Welcome back to my praises faith friends. Thank you so much for joining me. I Read a quote that caught my attention and it said, you are presented with two choices, evolve or repeat. Personally, I want to continue to grow and develop my gifts, talents and skills to impact the kingdom of God on the earth. So on this episode, I'm going to share five ways to know if you are evolving into your higher self, and if you're not, three things you should consider in order to do so. Ready to learn more? Listen in...   SHOWNOTES: •    I know my purpose is to help women get their mind, body and spirit in alignment to thrive in life, and I do that through reminders of God's word, what he says about us and our situations. Now, this word evolved caught my attention and it means to develop gradually or to make someone or something change and develop gradually. (2:55) •  There could be, sometimes it comes through a dream, that confirmation. However you get your spiritual confirmation, that's the third thing that could possibly happen to let you know you are truly evolving into your highest self. (4:43) •  I read a passage, talks about 8 things that successful people do before 8 AM every day. One of those things is that they have an established morning routine that gets them up and going. I like the saver method. (6:29) •  So, if you're ready to evolve, meaning, you're gradually moving towards your higher self, you have to have some things in place, get the clarity that you need or what your fingerprints were designed to do. Make sure you have some form of routine morning routine to get you going. And it may be as simple as making your bed as soon as you wake up. (8:35)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…   • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   EPISODE AIRED ON: JANUARY 27, 2021  

ABOUT THIS EPISODE:   Welcome back to my praises faith friends. Thank you so much for joining me today. God wants us to be the lender and not the borrower. However, we must take responsibility for our finances, and on today's show, my guest Cleo Childress will share exactly how we can do just that. So, let me just tell you a little bit about Cleo. She is the creator of Cleo Yoga Finance, a podcast host, financial educator, yoga instructor, and transformational speaker. Cleo mixes yoga and finance to help transform mindsets and create healthier financial lifestyles. As a teen mom, she struggled with her finances, homelessness and a deep depression, however, she persevered and now she uses her personal and professional life lessons to help others. Her motto is, don't wonder what if, take a risk.  Ready to learn more? Listen in...   SHOWNOTES:   •    I'm originally from Nashville Tennessee, currently living in Dallas, Texas. I am a single mom, my daughter, she is now 17 years old, a senior in high school, and I was a teen Mom, that's where a lot of my big transformations, I really started as a first generation college student. So, single mom working, going to college at the same time... And that's when I started to go into a lot of it with the student loans back then, I just didn't really know any better. That's all everyone really talked about in my environment was, if you go on to college, nobody can afford to go, so you have to take out student loans. So I would fill out the Fafsa, but after that, it was just like a domino effect, it was a credit card to a car note, payday loans, and then that ended up being wage garnishment, it just started going downhill because in my family, no one really talked about that money. (3:31)   •  That's when I started to use the yoga and meditation, that I began to dig deeper in my finances. It helps me to acknowledge where I was in denial, it helps me acknowledge what my money habits really were and what was really holding me back financially. Listen, I really wanted to live. And that's when I connected to yoga. I realize that, Hey, it's not just doing a budget or learning how to track your expenses, you have to dig deeper to figure out how did you get where you are right now, and what habits really need to change. And you have to dig deep and really challenge your mind and your body. (6:29)   •  So the next step is I actually have to start taking action. It's not enough taking in all this information, because you don't want to be an information hoarder. You don't want to just read all these books and take all these notes and let them just sit there and collect dust. I realize I have to actually start doing something. So the first thing I did was I started looking at my credit report, I knew how much debt I had, but I never really looked at my credit report because for one, I was like, I do want to look at this. Yeah, I want to see it. But then second, I knew I wasn't borrowing any more money, because I knew I wouldn't get approved anyway. so I was like, Why do I check reports? I'm not going to be financing anything because I can't get approved because my credit history was just terrible. (11:22)   •  First, make that list of all your debts, and sometimes you'll have debts that may not necessarily be reporting on your credit report, so you have to make sure you're looking through all your financial documents. Look at your tax returns, your emails, paper documents, that you have, because you want to make sure you're accounting for anything and everybody that you owe. It's like you really will be delivered with a debt-free journey, and so you put everybody on there, even if you have a cousin that you owe money to, put them on the list as well. (15:19)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…   • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com • Cleo's Website: https://www.cleoyogafinance.com • Cleo's Email: hello@cleoyogafinance.com • Cleo's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CleoYogaFinance • Cleo's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleoyogafinance • Cleo's Twitter: https://twitter.com/cleoyogafinance   EPISODE AIRED ON: JANUARY 20, 2021  

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back to my praises faith friends. Thank you so much for joining me today.  I have a treat for each and every one of you, I have my friend Latasha Davidson, who's going to be sharing with us from the mental wellness aspect of being in good health and prospering in all things. So as we begin, I want to thank you Latasha for being on the show. And let me just say, that, she is soon to be Dr. Latasha Davidson, and has been in Human Resources and in the Social Services arena for quite some time now.   Latasha's Bio: Latasha M. Davidson, MHR, MPhil Latasha M. Davidson is currently the Integrated Resilience Office Chief at Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany. With over 18 years in federal service, Latasha's experience spans a variety of capacities; including family life educator, sexual assault program manager, and veterans service representative. In her current work, Latasha serves as a community interventionist; overseeing violence prevention efforts focused on reducing interpersonal and self-directed violence in the Air Force. Leveraging a public health approach to prevention, Latasha implements evidence-based research programming and education to a population of over 50,000 personnel. Latasha is currently a Human and Social Services Ph.D. Candidate with Walden University. Her specialization area is Community Interventions and her research explores the association between social media use, feelings of belongingness, and suicidal ideation among women. Latasha also earned a Master of Human Relations degree from The University of Oklahoma, a Master of Philosophy degree from Walden University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from the University of Maryland. Latasha's professional associations include the American Public Human Services Association, the American Association of Suicidology, the National Organization for Human Services, and the National Partnership to End Interpersonal Violence. Ready? Let's get started...   SHOWNOTES: •  Well, baseline definition for resilience with being just our ability to bounce back after we go through trials and situations that occur in life. We all on the journey of life, and so just the best line of resilience would be our ability to bounce back.  (3:21) •  Combining our faith with our mental health, and then you and I both know as women of faith that we lean heavily, and I know we can talk about that with this audience, lead heavily on our relationship with Jesus for our strength. Just as a basic foundation for our mental health. So, when we're combining that faith and mental health, there are some practical things that we can do to strengthen ourselves as far as prayer and reading scripture, surrounding ourselves with other believers, having those crucial conversations that will strengthen our mental resilience as well. (5:00) •  When we talk about women, one of the key things in research that we look at, as far as overall well-being with women, women and men have very specific differences in how they relate to each other, how they join social groups. Women, we will be in a group, but we tend to drive in those one-on-one environment. I'm talking to individuals, having that close reframe connection as you mentioned, or sister connection, and just having those close relationships. So in this environment, and you've seen that women are not as easily able to connect, and so we've seen an increase in suicide and women since from 2000 to 2016. (7:23) •  For me, when God place somebody on my heart, maybe I haven't talked to that sister friend in a while, I just want to encourage people when that happens, pick up the phone, shoot a text. It doesn't take long at all. Because here's what I do know, we are always going to be busy doing something, but taking that moment for yourself to say, reach out to someone who's been on your heart, because you never know what that sister friend may be needing you, just hearing your voice, just knowing that somebody cares. I think now more than ever, people want to know that you care. (12:22)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   • Latasha's Contact Info: ldavidsonconsulting@gmail.com   • Facebook: www.facebook.com/latasha.d.davidson   • If you need HELP: https://www.crisistextline.org https://www.veteranscrisisline.net   EPISODE AIRED ON: JANUARY 13, 2021  

WHAT THIS EPISODES ABOUT: Welcome faith friends. Let's get ready for today's episode. So where do I begin? Well, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. So I was that little girl, that school girl who always wanted the extra workbooks. After school was out for the summer, and I would play school, and of course I would be the teacher with my friends in the neighborhood. I grew up in the Church of God in Christ and I was told by my pastor at the time that you are going to be a teacher, and I told him, I don't think so because you know teachers, they don't make any money. I'm going to be a doctor. When I was grown, I attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, entered the school to be a doctor, but changed my major to education. God has a plan, right? So this is my story. The evolution of where I came from. I'm beautifully broken and I'm working on me every single day.  Listen in...   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   SHOWNOTES: •    I grabbed a hold of this poem that my mother in-law gave me called 'I Can' by George Washington Carver. I posted that poem right above my door, so every day I walked out, I could see that I can... I can... Long story short, of course I graduated, and as I walked across the stage and I saw that particular Dean of Education sitting there, and I kind of pointed my degree, like... There you go, I did it, I did it. And he gave me this smile, I just remember, I was thinking, either he said those words to me to encourage me, or he really felt that I wasn't teacher material. Either way, I made the decision that I was going to do whatever I need to do. (3:37) •    He's not only my husband, he's my friend, he's everything. So now we go on and we're doing life and family, faith and careers, we're just doing life. And God has blessed us with three amazing human beings. Kirsten, she's married and she started her life as a nurse, and we have our son, he is in the Air Force and he's doing well, and we have our baby girl who is currently a college student at the University of Texas in Austin, so we're doing life. And, I get my dream job. (6:31) •    And that call was a call that I got from my hometown to say, You need to come home and see about your mother. You see, my mother has been challenged with Colon Cancer, and it just got really bad in about 2017. I go home, and you will hear from my mother on this podcast, that is my hope that we can get it together, so that you can hear her story. But long story short, four weeks I was there with her in the hospital, I spent the night there, staying with her day in and day out, and saw her declining. All these doctors coming in and going out.. We don't know what's wrong with her. She wasn't in pain, she wasn't hooked up to any tubes, she was just declining. She didn't know who I was, and then the doctors are saying, we've done everything we can do, so we're going to have to move her to hospice. (9:01) •   God tells me on the drive home, it's time to leave your job. And I'm like, What? If the joy was pretty much gone from doing what I did, because I always said when the joy is gone, it is time to to do something else. I did not know what that something else is going to be. But when I heard God say, leave your job, I thought, Okay, I'm going to leave my job. You all can listen to the episode 01 to get a little bit more about the whole story about me leaving my job and what God had for me next. So, I jump full speed into helping others to live healthy and well, I started to focus on faith community, to live 3 John 2, God wants us to be healthy, he says it in his word, I want you to prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. (15:02) •   I activated my faith, and one thing I do know for word, I know we're guaranteed to move the hand of God, and that is Lord, your word says, because God tells us to put him in remembrance of His word, not because he doesn't know His word. He is the word, it is for us. Get the word in our inner gate so we can get it in our heart gate. And it comes out of our mouth and we start to speak what God says, not what we see, feel or what we hear. So, long story short, I know I did a longer story than I thought I was going to share, but I just wanted you to know your faith, it's a muscle, and we have to exercise it. (19:21)   EPISODE AIRED ON: DECEMBER 02, 2020

WHAT THIS EPISODES ABOUT: Today I wanted to share with you again, my story and the birth of this podcast. _______________________ Welcome to the very first episode of Raise the Praise, I'm so glad you decided to stop by. I just want to give you a little background about the journey of this show and also its purpose. You see after leaving my job as a school administrator, which by the way, was my dream job, I found myself out of sorts, lost and wondering, what was I supposed to do next in life? Well, believe it when I tell you that I heard God speak to me ever so clearly that it was time for me to leave my job, because he had a plan for me. Leaving my job meant leaving that salary too. And surely God had something equal to, or greater than what I was currently doing. Right? Well, that's not quite how it happened, I went on a three-year journey to confront my past, deal with myself, to the point of seeking help to help me heal past hurts that were suppressed for years. I asked God, Who do you want me to be? Join me in today's episode as I share with you God's answer and so much more...   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   SHOWNOTES: •    I always believed. I have strong faith ya'll. But if I'm being truly honest, that faith was camouflaged with being a busy mom, a wife and administrator, a ministry worker, that I probably didn't even take the time. I know I didn't take the time to address or deal with my personal pain that I was soon realized, that I needed long faith to journey through this process.(1:18) •    The Bible tells us God will send signs of favor or tokens of good, that lets us know that we're on the right track. Let me tell you, he did exactly that, he did exactly what he said. He sent divine connections my way, divine relationships, and my faith was reactivated. I continued to ask God for clarity and pursue purpose even more during this pandemic. I started using my extra time for self-development to build my business and prepare for it. What's next for me?(2:22) •   I'm so grateful for my family and my friends because they encouraged me to keep on sharing, so I did. I would share gentle reminders for us to not let what we see here or feel, forget what God's Word says about us. And this is how Raise the Praise came to be. (3:31) •   I felt lost, I questioned my identity. I questioned my value, my self worth. I mean I was going through a process. And then I asked, what do I have to offer now? What do I offer after walking away from my career, what is my life going to be like as an empty nester? You know, it matters to be needed and wanted in life. So, however, through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus and choose joy, because joy really is a choice. (4:08) •  First, my prayer is for this show to encourage somebody, even if it's a one somebody, to hold on and never give up. Never give up on what God has planned for you. I speak life over the show that it will be a blessing and help you transform your physical, mental, financial and spiritual health in Christ, because that is God's will for us. It's His will for us my friends, he wants us to prosper in all things and be in health, even as our souls prosper. (5:48)   EPISODE AIRED ON: NOVEMBER 18, 2020

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome back to my praises faith friends. Thank you so much for joining me today.  Today, I want to encourage you that better days are coming, and how do we overcome what we may be feeling as being fearful, the unknown, and how to activate our faith in order to get through this pandemic? Well, let me just tell you, I've said these were hundreds of times before, maybe even thousands of times, especially during this pandemic, but I have to say, I've had so many but God moments in my life where there is no other explanation for what has happened in my life, but for God. God saved me. He spared me, he helped me to survive childhood abuse, he's brought me through a health scare while living in a third world country, high-risk pregnancies. I could go on and on, but you know, at that very moment during those times, I mean, in the midst of it all, when I wanted to give up, I wanted to give me an even said, let the chips fall where they may. You know what I'm talking about. Sometimes when we're in the middle of a crisis, we're in the middle of being overwhelmed, we're in the middle of feeling feelings of fear and things of that nature, especially during the times that we're in right now currently, sometimes on the inside, we wonder our better days coming, and then it's like our spirit diaries up and says, you know what, better days are coming, if you just hang on in there, don't give up, don't give in. Ready? Let's get started...    SHOWNOTES: •  Hello pandemic! Under the weight of real bills and real medical reports, I need the kind of faith that is not dependent on presumption, I need to kind of face that can deal with some ambiguity, I mean, a faith that can be patient with mystery, the kind of faith that's not dependent on my plans. (4:22) •  Because I know God is in control. And he has the whole world in His hands. He really does. So what am I supposed to be doing during this? What I'm calling a pandemic pause. Have you prayed? Do you know your purpose? Have you been preparing, making preparations to get into position for where God wants you to be so that you can do what He's calling you to do? (6:04) •  We shouldn't want to rush time, first of all, time is going to pass anyway, but in the midst of this pandemic pause, are you praying for God's direction? Are you leaning into your faith to know what it is you're supposed to be doing, are you in alignment with your partners, what about preparation? Have you researched how to start that business, have you taken the time to learn a new skill that's going to aid you and going to the next level in your job, or whatever the case may be, that preparation time? If you could have everything in order, just the way you want it, right? (6:55) •   During this pandemic pause, are we praying? Do we know our purpose? With clarity, are you aligned with your purpose? Right. Have you made preparations doing those things that you may not necessarily want to do, but know that it's necessary in order to get to the next place where God wants you, and then are you in position to receive and go forward with the things that God has designed your fingerprint to do. (7:55)   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   EPISODE AIRED ON: NOVEMBER 11, 2020  

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Hello faith friends.  Welcome back to Raise the Praise. I've got a teaching spirit in me today. Listen, if you like the word 'Discipline', I'm telling you, I want to help you out. I'm going to help you out with five things you can do to conquer the D-word. I have a question for you. Are you on the right side? When it comes to making sure you're listening, watching, seeing and doing those things and actions that are going to lead you to the goals that you set for yourself? Think about all the stuff we allow to get into our heart gate that sabotages us from reaching our goals and moving forward. You must learn to...here comes the D word, yes, discipline. Discipline in your physical, financial and spiritual health. Ready? Let's get started...    WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   SHOWNOTES:   •  Discipline gives you the power to stick to your commitments and your decisions, it helps you to follow through with what you said you were going to do, without changing your mind based on how you feel. (2:54) •  Almost anything you can do to better yourself or improve your life, requires some form of self-discipline. Think about what you've been through over the course of your life, and you've reached whatever goal it may be. It can even be going back to school, it took some self-discipline in order to actualize that goal, right? So, let's quickly talk about the five pillars that I believe that will help us when it comes to self-discipline. (5:16) •  Will power can be short-lived, but that's okay, this is why people jump from one diet to the next and try this thing and another over here. Your willpower is a great starting point, just like motivation, but self-discipline is going to help you to get to where you're trying to go. (7:47) •   You just have to be consistent, you have to be persistent, you have to maintain actions regardless of your feelings. Get your feelings out of the way, your feelings don't get you to your goals, they don't. Think about those things, think about pressing towards your goal, even when you feel like quitting. That's what persistence is. (13:09)   EPISODE AIRED ON: NOVEMBER 04, 2020  

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Hello faith friends.  Welcome back to Raise the Praise. Man, I tell you, when God gave me that phrase, it was at the beginning of this pandemic, around March or April of 2020, I just wanted to be a voice of encouragement, inspiration, and help us all hold on to faith as we continue to grow and live healthy and dwell in the midst of it all. Let go of perfection. It doesn't exist. There's greatness in you, and it's just waiting to come out and be a blessing to so many other people.  In the midst of preparing and prepping and recording and thinking about the flow of this show. Does this go here? Does it go there? Or does it go nowhere? I became frustrated. I found myself in overwhelm, and to be honest, in spiritual procrastination, so I asked for help. I did, I reached out and I asked for help, help from my good friend, Beth Graves, and she blessed me more than she probably will ever know, but I felt such a release and I told myself after talking with her that I'm going to share what's on my heart and stop worrying about perfection.  Ready? Let's get started...   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   SHOWNOTES:   •  I think mid-life is when the universe gently places her hands upon your shoulders, pulls you close and whispers in your ear, I'm not screwing around, It's time, all of this pretending and performing these coping mechanism that you develop to protect yourself from feeling inadequate and getting hurt has to go. Your armor is preventing you from growing into your gifts. (4:47) •   So, I'm doing it afraid and letting go of the unknown fears that have nothing to do with me, it just feels good, it feels so good, and it's like a heavy burden has just been lifted off my shoulders. Have you ever felt that way about anything that you strive to do or you want to do? (6:26) •  And you know what the word says about being anxious... right? Philippians 4 and 6, as we are anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.  (6:53) •  Go ahead and Raise the Praise in the areas of your life where you've allowed fear to stop you from moving forward. Let go of perfection. It doesn't exist. There's greatness in you, and it's just waiting to come out and be a blessing to so many other people.  (8:15)   EPISODE AIRED ON: OCTOBER 28, 2020  

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome faith friends.  To Raise the Praise, where we choose to reclaim our joy and thrive in every area of our lives that's physically, mentally, financially, and of course, spiritually, to do all that God is calling us to do with a spirit of excellence. Are you in asking for those things that you can do for yourself, those things that God has already told you to do? Stop the spiritual procrastination. What is that? You've prayed about giving generously and being a blessing to someone, you don't need to pray about that, just take action. God said, to GIVE and it will be given back to you. Ready to stop procrastinating? Let's get started...   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com     SHOWNOTES:   •  What you need to do is just take action, quit praying about that program and go ahead and apply for it. Quit praying about starting a business or joining a business, and go ahead and just take action, because opportunities, they don't go away, they just go to the next person. (2:13) •    Alright, are you asking God to do something that you can already do for yourself? We can't just keep praying, we need to pray like It depends on God, we need to work like it depends on us. Think about that combination. We pray like It depends on God, but then we work, take action, put our fate to action, right, actually behind it, that faith that we're asking God for, and watch and see what the results will be. (4:23) •    Well done, good and faithful servant, go. God didn't say, well planned, well thought out, well said, or well prayed. Well done, means, you've done something, you put some action behind what it is your fingerprints are designed to do. (5:38) •    And only because of him, those are the kind of prayers that God's just waiting on us to do. But everything else... You know, God gave me the strength to do X,Y &Z. When he wakes you up in the morning, you have the strength, but you have the choice also to take action or not. (7:22) •    I'm telling you it's up to you, so stop spiritually procrastinating and start taking action on the things that you know, you need to do research. You don't need to pray about researching, you don't need to pray about learning a new skill, go and do it. Connect with me. We have mentoring, I'm going to show you step-by step how to do it. (10:13)   EPISODE AIRED ON: OCTOBER 21, 2020  

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome faith friends.  I am here today to encourage you to push, keep pushing through, don't focus on the process, keep your eyes on that promise. But, here's what I do know, sometimes we struggle with that motivation to keep going. We struggle. Everybody struggles with something, right? I just want to encourage you to keep pushing...if we do not want to be in the same place 365 days from now, then we have to keep pushing. I'm going to talk to you about what I mean by that, because if you want to see results, I don't care what it is you're doing, if you're going back to school, if you're working out, if you're learning a new skill, and it starts to get a little difficult, and you want to quit, I want to encourage you to keep pushing, push until something happens. Ready to push? Let's get started...   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com     SHOWNOTES:   •     You have to put in the effort, keep pushing. But, you have to do something. So, when those struggles come, don't just stop, it's all up to you. It's a choice. It truly is a choice. You are unique. Now, what you're going through is not unique to other people, everybody is going through something, but you have to make up in your mind that you are going to push through. (3:23) •    You're stronger than you think. Think about those times when it was so hard, you don't know how you made it, but by the grace of God, that's what you lean on when you're trying to push through where you're trying to go next. And the H says, you know what? You gotta have hope. I have this word hope right there in my office because without hope, what are you pushing for? (4:56) •     I got through six years of college and two years of grad school, I can write a book, remind yourself of what you've gone through to help you go through the next thing that you're doing right now. I have hope that one day this book is going to be written and is going to bless other people, that is my hope, so I'm going to continue to push until something happens. (6:16) •    I'll never know if I never try. Keep pushing, persistence. You are unique, you can do this as you're stronger than you think, you gotta have that hope. And I'll leave you with this my life scripture which is on my wall, For I know the plans that you have for me says the lord. A plan to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me a hope and a future that alone encourages me to push through whatever I have to get through. (10:05) •  You know how to speak the Word, I can do all things through Christ. He gave me the strength. God, you said, I'm am the head, not the tail. You said that I could speak to the mountain, and the mountain will be removed. You said in your word, for your word is guaranteed to move the hand of God. (11:01)   EPISODE AIRED ON: OCTOBER 14, 2020  

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome faith friends.  Let's get ready for today's episode. Today I am taking a nice walk around the lake, and I hesitated to come on and share this, but I feel in my heart that I need to.  I want to share with you what personally happened in my life and how I try to rise above it.  I just felt like somebody needed to know, I just need to know, that I can still choose joy, because joy is a choice, and I will continue to choose joy. I will continue to be grateful, and I'm thanking God in advance for the change, real change. Ready? Let's get started...   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   SHOWNOTES: •   I can remember feeling different, it was truly in high school, when I was the only African-American singer, the only one in the top choir. You know in high school, it's important to get that letter jacket. I went to UIL, got ones on all my solos, all of this, and you earn that jacket. That particular sophomore year, others are called during the summer to go get fitted for their letter jacket, we come back to school in the fall, and everybody gets a jacket except for me. (2:13) •   I graduated from Texas Christian University, and you know when you walk across that stage and all your professors are sitting around the stage, when I got my diploma, I walk right past him and I did just like this to show him… Now, I don't know if he said those words to me to encourage me, or that he really felt that I wasn't teacher material. (4:11) •   My calling is always to educate and to teach, but that's when I knew the joy was gone for what I was doing in that capacity, and I always say when the joy goes, it's time for me to do something else. It didn't matter how hard I worked, it didn't matter what the success is, it didn't matter the lives of children that you impacted, their families.  (6:08) •   And I know so many of us have stories, but I just felt the need to share mine, because after hearing Patrice Washington, if you don't know, just Google her, go to her IG story and hear her share her story of one incident. A very rich African-American woman, black women, impacting this earth with her calling, and her story. Broke my heart, but I know it's real because it happened to me. (8:49) •   Get educated on what's going on. Bless you all. Just walking and looking at this beautiful lake. And look at this, it's just peaceful, just peaceful. And in the midst of all of this, in the midst of all of this, my God is greater. My God is stronger. My God is higher than any other. He's higher than everything we're going through. (11:29)   EPISODE AIRED ON: OCTOBER 07, 2020  

  ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome faith friends.  Just imagine what you can do when your mind, your body and your spirit are inline with God's purpose for your life. The Bible says to occupy until He comes. Meaning we should be doing something in the earth, not just waiting for him, as if we're waiting on a bus right? What's holding you back from pursuing your destiny in Christ? Does it have to do with your mind, your body, and your spirit? Y'all, I love the Lord, I love my family, and I love encouraging the faith community to reverse the conditions of our traditions, to take back our health and live the life we deserve, and complete our purpose on this side of heaven with the spirit of excellence. My prayer is always that you will hear and or learn something that will encourage you to make the necessary changes to improve your health and your wellness, because God truly wants the best for you. Are you ready? Let's continue our conversation about being prepared to fulfill our destiny.   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   SHOWNOTES: •   My Bible says, I shall know the truth and that truth that I know shall make me free. Do you want to be free? I sure do. So that whatever God is doing in this season, I don't want anything, I don't want anything keeping me bound, I don't want anything to stop me, including my health and my wellness. (4:01) •   Americans have managed to secure a place in the top 10, obesity is now a global epidemic. Now, take a listen at this, according to an article I read in the Journal of American Heart Association, it's gonna blow your mind...By the year 2035, more than 130 million adults or 45.1% of the US population, are projected to have some form of cardiovascular disease. (5:35) •   Diabetes is the third leading killer among African Americans, 50% of Americans have a blood sugar disorder. 217,000 American have kidney failure and are on dialysis. 40 million Americans suffer from arthritis, and 35% have arthritis after the age of 35. Over 30% of Americans are obese and spend 32 billion annually trying to lose weight.  (9:00) •   Let's not be passive about our health any longer and start, if you haven't already, taking responsibility for by making healthy our choices and moving your body daily. (12:57) •   So by day 19, I realized my clothes were fitting loser, my knees weren't hurting, I was sleeping like a baby every night, and I was present with my family. I mean, I was attentive to them, I had energy and I felt amazing! Now, I have no idea what the three simple steps will do for you, but guess what? You don't either. All I know is when you couple the three simple steps with lifestyle changes, sprinkle wisdom, Jesus, honey, be prepared to look, feel and be amazing. (15:30)   EPISODE AIRED ON: SEPTEMBER 30, 2020  

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome faith friends. Let's get ready for today's episode. My goal is to educate and encourage the faith community to reverse the conditions of our traditions, take back our health and live the life we deserve and complete our purpose on this side. I am not an expert on authority or an authority on anything, but I will share with you as a witness. With attention to our health and putting actions behind it helps us enjoy a better quality of life as we pursue our purpose in God. So my prayer is that you may hear something that will help you on your health journey or learn something that causes you to reflect, revise, renew, revive, revisit. We commit all the re's, whatever that helps you to know that God is concerned about your health, and He wants the best for all of us. So I just want to start with a quick prayer because it's just on my heart to do that, so... Father, I honor you today, I thank you and appreciate you for this opportunity to share what you have laid on my heart today, I pray that hearts and minds are clear. To hear your voice through your word and what is shared during this episode, I ask this in Your son, Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, so three words I want us to focus on as you listen to this episode, are you prepared to fulfill your destiny, those words on fulfilling destiny and holy. For the sake of this episode, for Fulfilling, we're going to say it is to carry out or bring to realization as a prophecy or promise is to perform or do as duty, obey or follow commands. Fulfilling is to bring to an end, finish our complete as a period of time, the word Destiny is something that is to happen, it's that pre-determined course of events, it's God's unique purpose, His special plan for your life, and that is tailored just for you. And the word Holy, meaning dedicated or devoted to the service of God, the church, your fit, having a spiritually pure quality. Those are the definitions that I want you to keep in mind as you listen in today.   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   SHOWNOTES: •    Well, in order to fulfill our destiny as holy women, we must understand and attend to our mind, body and spirit. Our mind, that capacity to think. Our body, which is the temple, and the spirit, that which connects us with God. So let's talk about the soul, where the mind resides. What we think, believe and feel matters and plays a part in fulfilling our destiny, however, we can think and talk ourselves out of a lot of things, so we must keep our minds, which is our thoughts, and emotions in check with the Holy Spirit. So how we do that, we do that by renewing our mind. (4:47) •    Sometimes you have to encourage yourself in the Lord and whatever you are pursuing, trust me, encourage yourself, let's go on to the Spirit now. The Spirit, that which connects us to God, the way we communicate with Him, there is no other connection to you. You can't send Him a wire, you can't send Him a tack, you can't DM, God, you can't look them up on IG or Snapchat or even have a Zoom meeting. The only way for us to commune with Him is through our Spirits, we were created to do just that. (6:25) •    1 Corinthians 6, 19 through 20 says glorify God in your body and spirit. Or, do you not know that your body, this physical structure, is the temple place where God dwells of the Holy Spirit? It was in you. When you have from God and you are not your own, for you were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods. (9:10) •   This temple that houses the Holy Spirit, how I do or how can I honor value and take care of it? Well, I'm glad you ask because it all depends on how we take care of our health, let's talk about our health, what is it, what is it not? And, how we've been conditioned by tradition over the years that has impacted our help, especially those of us in the African-American communities that may be hindering or opposing challenges for us in fulfilling our destiny that God has purpose for all of us. (10:12) •  Feeling of unworthiness are undeserving, procrastination, perhaps it's fear. Maybe there's nothing controlling you, but you may have a controlling spirit, you always have to be right. You know it all, it's my way or the highway. Be completely honest with yourself. How do you write the quality of your physical and mental health? I'll leave you with that, but come back for part two because I want to present some telling facts and stats about how we sabotage our destiny. (12:30)   EPISODE AIRED ON: SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

WHAT THIS EPISODES ABOUT: Welcome to Raise the Praise where we reclaim our joy and thrive in life! I just want to say a huge thank you right up front to my special guest Stefanie Gass. Stefanie shares her God-led calling by finding clarity through Christ and knowing the truth is what makes you free. After becoming a corporate powerhouse by 26 and realizing she needed a way to end the 60 hour workweek and travel so that she could settle down and start a family, Stefanie was introduced to network marketing. 2 years (and a TON) of hustle later, she had “made it”. I.e. The top 1% of this company, paid for cars, free trips, and even walked the stage holding a life-sized, 50K bonus check… Only to find her ego and insatiable drive to financial success wasn't sustainable. Nor was it making her happy… with all her eggs in this one crushed up little basket, and a team that was off and looking for the next best thing she was knocked to her knees. 60 pounds overweight after her second son and borrowing money from her kid's savings accounts to cover cash flow problems, Stefanie was searching for purpose, worth, and her calling. Stefanie was led to renewed spirituality and went through a massive life transformation to find her truth. Learn what Stefanie discovered, listen in to today's episode of Raise the Praise...     WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME & STEFANIE… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com • Stefanie Gass' Website: https://www.stefaniegass.com   SHOWNOTES: •     I came up with this idea of being a mom and just really embodying that, and then also being an entrepreneur, that's the word MOMpreneur plus Jesus because where else does any of this come from? The provision, the vision in our business, the spiritual gift, things that we all have. Our precious children, it's all from Jesus. And then finally, what's the final secret ingredient to living my best life? It's coffee. (2:16) •    I had climbed the corporate ladder really quickly, and I was the first, well, the youngest financial controller in the solar company, that was a global company. I was jet setting to Germany and Spain and running this finance division. It was so cool because it was just me. It was just me and myself, and I. And I didn't have a family, or I didn't have anybody to worry about, but it never felt right. What did feel right at the time, so I thought, was money, rank, raises, the corporate ladder, and I come to realize that some of my spiritual giftings are also the enemy's favorite way to control me, thank goodness for the truth being revealed. (4:47) •    I know that sounds really crazy, but the self-piece of who we are ego, the worldly Stephanie had to die in order for the Christ-like Stephanie to be born. And here's what God did, he did the shake up again, and there was a moment where I sat up at the bank account thingy on the computer and I'm looking... And like we literally have no more money. There's no more money here, and I can't work any harder, like I'm literally going to either kill myself with a nervous breakdown, or I'm just going to give up... There's nothing else I can do. And I went to my husband, I'm 60 pounds overweight, I'm like two seconds from having our second baby, there is just no money left, and I'm like, Hey, by the way, we can't pay the bills this month. (11:46) •   But I kept being brought back to the truth, and so I found that verse that I love so much, and it's, You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And that's John 8-32, it's the promise. It's the promise that when you finally find the truth, you will be finally free, and I kept going, isn't there a way to be free, free from anxiety, free from the work-aholism? Can't I be free to not work on the weekends, can I be free to just have the money that we need to just be... To give back and I wanted to tithe so badly for so many years and we just literally couldn't... And I was like, I just wish there was a way. So yes, I found her. Yes, I panicked there was... I'll tell you a hilarious story, I actually started selling t-shirts, Jennifer. Amazon Merch t-shirts, because I thought that was going to make sense. (16:17) •   Number one is living for Jesus and giving everything up for him because he gave everything up for us and trusting... I mean, true trust that God will provide everything to you... Right in John 14-6, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father, accept through me. That is the number one way that we find joy, the number two, the second way that we find joy is what are we doing with our spiritual gifting here on earth, and I don't mean how are we making money from it. That's a big issue and a mindset shift that entrepreneurs, and really anyone needs to make, but it's how am I serving with my spiritual gift. (21:23)   EPISODE AIRED ON: SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Welcome faith friends. Let's get ready for today's episode. Everyone has a story, and your story is meant to be shared because, you'll never know who it's going to touch, who it's going to bless or even possibly save. I want to tell you why I'm so driven, I'm so relentless and determined to show up each and every week on social media and on this podcast, I show up because I was given a wake-up call back in 2004 when we were living on the Incirlik Air Force Base in Adana, Turkey. First, I just have to tell you, I cried. My husband told me we were moving to Turkey. I remember so well the emotions that progressed in my body at the time I was at the BX, which is the base exchange, just kind of like a department store on the base, trying on shoes, when Jeff called me and said, are you sitting down? I just got my next PCS orders, that's a permanent change of station, and it's not back to the States. We're going to Turkey. Y'all, I started crying, I started crying because we had been living in Germany for the past ten years at the time, and our youngest was a toddler, and I just knew we were on our way back home to be around family. Now, don't get me wrong, having the opportunity to live in Europe, to travel, see so many beautiful countries like France and Italy and Czech, living in the village and getting to know our amazing neighbors and learning a little bit of Dutch here and there. I wouldn't trade it for anything. However, we missed our families and we're ready to re-acclimate to western culture. God saw fit for us to go on to Turley. So, once we processed everything, because you're not going to tell the Air Force you're not going, right? We prepared for the move. So let me just tell you, Turkey to this day is one of our favorite PCS moves. Listen to the rest of this story on today's episode...   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   SHOWNOTES: •    I started to feel a little dizzy, and even remember, I came straight from work and went straight to choir. I started to feel dizzy. And I just wanted to sit down. Well, let me just tell you, if the lady was not standing next to me, I would have fallen straight to the ground instead of leaning on her at that moment. As people were trying to help me, I'm wondering what's going on. They were fanning me, trying to give me water, one minister I remember, was praying in tongues and said, I recognize you and I command you to go in the name of Jesus. Because they called the ambulance, they called my husband. Now, I started to see this darkness. (5:03) •   Just please let me know, please let me know that my babies will be okay. I can hardly say that to this day, all these years later. But anyway, because I was rushing so much that morning, I didn't even remember if I said I love you to my babies or to my husband. I don't remember if I kissed them. (6:04) •    So from that day, I knew I needed to get my health in order, because at that time I was overweight, my youngest was four years old, and I still was carrying all that baby weight. So, I know I need to get my health in order, and I tried earnestly y'all for the next 10 years after that, I went on every diet that I could, I was not successful, meaning, you know, I just wasn't successful because it wasn't working for me.  But that God moment, that but God moment for me, was another part of my process towards my purpose. (7:50) •  This is why I want to be fit for him, I say it all the time. I want to be fit for him. On a mission to be fit for him physically, mentally, financially and spiritually, so I could help others to do the same. There's greatness inside of all of us just waiting to be released so that we can tell our story to help others, that's the but God moment that shifted things for me and starting to put my purpose in process. (8:36) •  I hope my story encourages you to stir up the gifts inside of you, use your but God moments, and I know you have them too. I know you have some. Use them to propel you into your destiny, your purpose, and get on with the business of life and impacting those around you in a positive way. (9:11)   EPISODE AIRED ON: SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

WHAT THIS EPISODES ABOUT: Welcome faith friends. Let's get ready for today's episode. So where do I begin? Well, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. So I was that little girl, that school girl who always wanted the extra workbooks. After school was out for the summer, and I would play school, and of course I would be the teacher with my friends in the neighborhood. I grew up in the Church of God in Christ and I was told by my pastor at the time that you are going to be a teacher, and I told him, I don't think so because you know teachers, they don't make any money. I'm going to be a doctor. When I was grown, I attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, entered the school to be a doctor, but changed my major to education. God has a plan, right? So this is my story. The evolution of where I came from. I'm beautifully broken and I'm working on me every single day.  Listen in...   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   SHOWNOTES: •    I grabbed a hold of this poem that my mother in-law gave me called 'I Can' by George Washington Carver. I posted that poem right above my door, so every day I walked out, I could see that I can... I can... Long story short, of course I graduated, and as I walked across the stage and I saw that particular Dean of Education sitting there, and I kind of pointed my degree, like... There you go, I did it, I did it. And he gave me this smile, I just remember, I was thinking, either he said those words to me to encourage me, or he really felt that I wasn't teacher material. Either way, I made the decision that I was going to do whatever I need to do. (3:37) •    He's not only my husband, he's my friend, he's everything. So now we go on and we're doing life and family, faith and careers, we're just doing life. And God has blessed us with three amazing human beings. Kirsten, she's married and she started her life as a nurse, and we have our son, he is in the Air Force and he's doing well, and we have our baby girl who is currently a college student at the University of Texas in Austin, so we're doing life. And, I get my dream job. (6:31) •    And that call was a call that I got from my hometown to say, You need to come home and see about your mother. You see, my mother has been challenged with Colon Cancer, and it just got really bad in about 2017. I go home, and you will hear from my mother on this podcast, that is my hope that we can get it together, so that you can hear her story. But long story short, four weeks I was there with her in the hospital, I spent the night there, staying with her day in and day out, and saw her declining. All these doctors coming in and going out.. We don't know what's wrong with her. She wasn't in pain, she wasn't hooked up to any tubes, she was just declining. She didn't know who I was, and then the doctors are saying, we've done everything we can do, so we're going to have to move her to hospice. (9:01) •   God tells me on the drive home, it's time to leave your job. And I'm like, What? If the joy was pretty much gone from doing what I did, because I always said when the joy is gone, it is time to to do something else. I did not know what that something else is going to be. But when I heard God say, leave your job, I thought, Okay, I'm going to leave my job. You all can listen to the episode 01 to get a little bit more about the whole story about me leaving my job and what God had for me next. So, I jump full speed into helping others to live healthy and well, I started to focus on faith community, to live 3 John 2, God wants us to be healthy, he says it in his word, I want you to prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. (15:02) •   I activated my faith, and one thing I do know for word, I know we're guaranteed to move the hand of God, and that is Lord, your word says, because God tells us to put him in remembrance of His word, not because he doesn't know His word. He is the word, it is for us. Get the word in our inner gate so we can get it in our heart gate. And it comes out of our mouth and we start to speak what God says, not what we see, feel or what we hear. So, long story short, I know I did a longer story than I thought I was going to share, but I just wanted you to know your faith, it's a muscle, and we have to exercise it. (19:21)   EPISODE AIRED ON: SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

WHAT THIS EPISODES ABOUT: Welcome to the very first episode of Raise the Praise, I'm so glad you decided to stop by. I just want to give you a little background about the journey of this show and also its purpose. You see after leaving my job as a school administrator, which by the way, was my dream job, I found myself out of sorts, lost and wondering, what was I supposed to do next in life? Well, believe it when I tell you that I heard God speak to me ever so clearly that it was time for me to leave my job, because he had a plan for me. Leaving my job meant leaving that salary too. And surely God had something equal to, or greater than what I was currently doing. Right? Well, that's not quite how it happened, I went on a three-year journey to confront my past, deal with myself, to the point of seeking help to help me heal past hurts that were suppressed for years. I asked God, Who do you want me to be? Join me in today's episode as I share with you God's answer and so much more...   WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME… • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007 • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com   SHOWNOTES: •    I always believed. I have strong faith ya'll. But if I'm being truly honest, that faith was camouflaged with being a busy mom, a wife and administrator, a ministry worker, that I probably didn't even take the time. I know I didn't take the time to address or deal with my personal pain that I was soon realized, that I needed long faith to journey through this process.(1:18) •    The Bible tells us God will send signs of favor or tokens of good, that lets us know that we're on the right track. Let me tell you, he did exactly that, he did exactly what he said. He sent divine connections my way, divine relationships, and my faith was reactivated. I continued to ask God for clarity and pursue purpose even more during this pandemic. I started using my extra time for self-development to build my business and prepare for it. What's next for me?(2:22) •   I'm so grateful for my family and my friends because they encouraged me to keep on sharing, so I did. I would share gentle reminders for us to not let what we see here or feel, forget what God's Word says about us. And this is how Raise the Praise came to be. (3:31) •   I felt lost, I questioned my identity. I questioned my value, my self worth. I mean I was going through a process. And then I asked, what do I have to offer now? What do I offer after walking away from my career, what is my life going to be like as an empty nester? You know, it matters to be needed and wanted in life. So, however, through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus and choose joy, because joy really is a choice. (4:08) •  First, my prayer is for this show to encourage somebody, even if it's a one somebody, to hold on and never give up. Never give up on what God has planned for you. I speak life over the show that it will be a blessing and help you transform your physical, mental, financial and spiritual health in Christ, because that is God's will for us. It's His will for us my friends, he wants us to prosper in all things and be in health, even as our souls prosper. (5:48)   EPISODE AIRED ON: SEPTEMBER 23, 2020