Black Woman Redefined Blog

As if Thursday night wasn’t bad enough, Friday morning brought more bad news: unemployment is at 10.2 %, a madman murdered his fellow servicemen at Ft. Hood, another madman murdered 9 others today in Florida because he lost his job, children being raped–killed-then dumped in a landfill–foreclosures, lost hopes, lost dreams, pilfered wealth by Wall Street bandits, ANGER seems to abound, Broken Relationships, Broken promises. . .I could go on and on but you all know where we are as a human race and the question we are all asking is this:

What to do in times like this?

Well, whenever I feel overwhelmed, I pray and I go to God’s word–the Bible. I was searching this morning for answers as my mom and I prayed for the victims at Ft. Hood and many of our own family, friends and countrymen who are hurting. In Acts chapter 2 verses 42-47 Luke Tells us that the “Family of God” has a role to play. We are to be, act and live as a “fellowship of believers”. This stopped me in my tracks because if you think about it much of what is wrong right now in our world is that we have a lot of disconnected, angry, hurt, depressed people running wild. They are mostly quiet and unseen. The move in the shadows and they are filled up to the brim with pain. Our job as Children of the light (Matthew) is to help heal, love, care, and reach out to the disconnected among us.

As Christians we are to be Dependent. Connected. Related. In our individualistic culture, the intimacy and fellowship of early Christians is something I greatly envy and admire. I long for such friendships, prayer warriors, and devotion in my own life. I see the carelessness in our family–the lack of love and it saddens me.

The first century Christians were facing much greater stress and strain than we will ever know–BUT they endured because they supported each other and willingly invested their time, money, and emotional resources in one another. They fellowshipped, they were intertwined, interconnected. They fought through life’s struggles TOGETHER. See Acts 2: 42-47. They drew strength from each other; they shared in each other’s joys and sorrows. They were like family to each other. The family of God.

My point is this: In times like these we have got to return to our faith in order to save us. Someone posed the question today is it too late to save people from committing these senseless acts of violence? Of course not. But we cannot save them–only God through his Son Jesus saves us . But we can love them, we can be kind, we can show compassion, we can show concern, we can invite them to dinner, we can make them feel connected, welcomed, cared for.

That friends is our most important job as the family of God.

If I Have Not Love, I am Nothing,

Sophia

Happy New Year 2009!

Welcome officially to my new personal blog Sophiaanelson.com!

I am excited to have a special place of my own aside from politics and the iask organization sister blog to express my views, offer wide ranging social commentary, share life insights & experiences, as well as keep you all informed about what I am up to on a regular basis professionally, personally, spiritually, and relationally.

Every year I choose a mission statement to govern my life. This year as the new year was about to come in I was speaking with one of my dear sisters and special friends (we’ll call her MT) about what it was I wanted to achieve in 2009, but I was not quite sure how to narrow it down to a sentence. I am presently fasting with a few family and friends on the partial Daniel fast (based in scripture in the book of Daniel) until just before the Inauguration of President Obama and I wanted her thoughts on what I should focus on during this sacred time.

For any of you who have fasted for spiritual breakthroughs, guidance or health reasons you know it is a powerful fellowship that draws us closer to God and closer to ourselves. It is a time of cleansing, renewal, release and restoration. It is also commanded by our Lord in the New Testament as it was a critical part of the lives of those who lived throughout the Old Testament.

Last year at the beginning of 2008, I fasted for the first time for 21 days and I asked for revelation and guidance in my life professionally. God ever true to His word delivered answers and direction which both tested me and blessed me more than words could ever say. But I got to where I wanted to be by trusting and stepping out on faith.

However, for 2009, I wanted something deeper, richer, more personal. My sister friend, MT, as wise and inspirational as she wants to be did not miss a beat when she said to me: “Sophia as you are fasting and praying to God for the deepest desires of your heart ask Him what you are supposed to CONTRIBUTE–what is your contribution through the powerful platform God has provided you in such a short time.”

Then she said to me if you only had one thing you were allowed to tell your sisters in iask, your family, your readers, listeners, etc. about what has defined your life and what you want to impart to them what would it be? Without hesitation I answered:
Love. It’s all about the Love. That is why we are here. Period.

So my theme for 2009 is: “If I have not love, I am nothing.” It is borrowed, of course, from 1 Corinthians 13 also known as the “love chapter”. Over the next few days, weeks and months we will be talking about LOVE a lot. Not in superficial ways or in clinical ways as it is often discussed.

I want to talk about the love that changes our lives forever–the love that touches us deep in our hearts–the love that moves us to become greater beings–to forgive–to restore–to heal and to encourage others. The love that so many of us long for, that eludes us in these abrasive times of email, texting, and our ever busy–harried professional lives.

I hope you will share your own stories on this BLOG anonymously or with your name attached–tell us what you think about love and whether or not you feel our culture fosters such love anymore. If not–how can we change that together and leave a good legacy of love for the next generations to come???

If not us, who, if not now, when. . .

My companion organization iask, Inc. will also focus this year again on relationships (with ourselves, our men, our families) and the way we LOVE each other as friends, lovers, family, believers, and fellow human beings. It is going to be a powerful 2009!

Thank you for stopping by my new personal blog. I look forward to a powerful journey together!

If I have not love, I am nothing

Sophia

Like all of you I too am reflecting on the year that will pass at midnight tonight and the new one that awaits me in the morning of 2009. I will start my annual 19 day Daniel Fast (it was a 21 day fast but Obama get’s inaugurated on January 20th and I want to celebrate and eat/drink during that time) to cleanse my body of toxins, renew my relationship with God, and center myself for the wonderful year ahead. I encourage all of you to study about the biblical concept of fasting in a great book by bestselling author and Pastor Jentezen Franklin (see http://www.jentzenfranklin.com/ ) and how it can radically change your life and your faith.

January is always a special time in the Nelson family because my birthday, my maternal grandmother’s birthday and my mom’s birthday all fall at the beginning, middle, and end of the month. I am the first one out of the gate each New Year with a January 5th birthday, which has always left me feeling a little hurried and stressed.

Not so this year.

I am looking forward to a quiet day spent alone ( I hope–as she smiles) far different from the wild, fun, huge 40th birthday celebration I had in 2007 or the girls dinner out in 2008. I am grateful for the possibility of living to be 42, and I’d like to rest as I prepare for a very busy, wonderful year ahead. My birthday falling so early in a new year inevitably marks the beginning of a New Congress in Washington, the official end of the Christmas holiday season that has just passed, and the kick off of “back to work” for most of us who work in industry or for the government.

This year I am very excited about the new season in my life to come because for the first time in my entire life, I am where I am supposed to be professionally, personally and relationally. It is an interesting feeling and one that I truly embrace and feel good about. It is my hope that every living soul will get to the same place where they know who they are, what they want, what they value, and they feel comfortable with themselves. It is a process and it took me a lot of living, a lot of failing, a lot of loss, and a lot of mistakes before I finally found me again.

But I got there and I am so happy that I did.

My prayer for all of you as well as for myself in the new year is that we will all learn to value what is important in our lives and to so let go of the invaluable and unworthy things in our lives.

My mission statement for 2008 was: Keep Moving Forward.

My mission statement for 2009 is: If I Have not Love, I am Nothing.

Yes, 2009 will be all about the love (as she giggles and smiles). Love of self, love of family, love of friends, love of my fellow man, love of my sisters, love of the brothers, and love of that special someone in my life.

God bless you this New Year’s eve!

Keep Moving Forward!

Sophia

Welcome to my new personal blog. I started this blog so that I could keep all of my personal musings, thoughts, writings and quasi professional activities separate from my political commentary and professional business/legal activities.

Many of you have followed my writing, speaking & media appearances, business ventures, political activities, and charitable activities on the Political Intersection Blog, and the iask, Inc., Sister Blog for the past two years. Starting January 5, 2009 you will be able to interact with me at one convenient location, as well as make comments to my posts, articles, speaking and media appearances, etc.

My team is in the process of customizing this blog with our new domain name, photos, essays, speaking schedule, etc. Please come back after January 5, 2009 and check me out!

Keep Moving Forward!

Sophia