M- Lifestyle Feature

I had the pleasure of being interviewed for the magazine to look out for in 2015, M- Lifestyle! They are all about positivity, knowledge, empowerment and spotlighting young entrepreneurs. Please check out the article and follow them as they rise! http://mlifestyle.us/bold-beautiful-business-minded/

Embracing Change.

Right around November every year things seem to move rather quickly. It feels like a transitional time frame where you begin to consider the things you wish to take into the year approaching and all that you want to leave behind. Like many people we can tend to go into control mode when we feel unsure of the changes that are happening so rapidly; consider if instead of fighting against change you embraced it and challenged the change to make you better, point you abrubtly to the direction you should be heading into and give you tools that will help you physically, mentally, spiritually, & finacially. Change happens to us multiple times a day but we don't pay it any mind because we have a comfort zone with change but when something appears as if it could threaten where we are now in life and spiritually we scatter and run & because of that we have just revealed ourselves complacent. I use the term complacent because that is how I felt spiritually during one Novemeber. I was comfortable keeping a certain distance from any and everything because I had years to retreat and just work on myself & business. But there is a certain level of business responsibility that now puts you on the level of doing Gods work.When you are in position to influence people you have the power to do anything with that influence including making it positive.  Trust that whatever changed you are experiencing at this time is a part of the BIG picture & allow yourself to work through the shift & positively apply the lessons & blessings that change brings. Peace & Love. - B.Ross

 

A year ago today...

I was so excited, nervous, anxious, & FULL of true faith when I signed a two year contract binding me to pay $232 a week for my salon studio. At the time I was leaving a TOP salon in Richmond that was paying me $15/hr plus tips (great start for a stylist) & I was working along side a team that was very talented with people I was able to learn from in a short period of time. Although all seemed to be well I still lacked fulfillment; in downtime I wasn't ok being a "maid", folding towels, replinishing product or even pretending I was busy... I wanted to do more, use my down time to work on more art & creativity so when the opportunity came to sign on with Sola I ran as fast as I could. For the FIRST time I made a huge adult decision that I consulted with no one with but Allah (God). I prayed relentlessly & literally said if the word (at the time I was studying from the Bible) is true GOD is my provider & I should walk by FAITH not by sight so let's see what happens when actually do just that. The night before my official open I cut off the lights, prayed & cried over the salon. 

When I started I had less than $1,000 in my account, no savings, my student loans were piling up, medical bills from dental work were aquiring  interest,

I had a credit card that I was working to pay off and from the outside looking in you can see I was in NO sane position to leave a steady check to make this solo commitment. Mentally I was aware that my financial situation may not allow me to prosper by doing this but spiritually I was in tune with what God was asking me to do & because I trust God I trust that the bottom line would be that all my NEEDS would be met. Once I signed on I shared my vision with everyone and announced what I was doing. I had a celebration dinner at C'est la Vin (which the owner graciously allowed me to reserve the space for FREE!), also that same week a photographer by the name of Will offered his services for FREE to capture the nights events).

The night of the celebration dinner was so special because many of my close friends & family were there & they all signed a beautiful framed poster I had put together to hang in the salon to remind me that I CAN do all things through Christ & in moments of doubt their encouraging words would uplift me. From the moment I started working for myself my higher self has been growing unbelievabley. There is no greater feeling than depending on the Lord & even in tight times having unwavering faith & watching things work out brings beauty to any pain. My first year has had MANY challenges as well, there has been times my account has been overdrawn, often I do not get paid because my business & personal expenses exceed income but each time things seem to be unbearably tough I still smile, thank GOD In advance & the trial doesn't last long. Through the toughest of times I believe in  GODS planning & purpose even more & I'm thankful for still having my rent paid for the salon, still being able to get to work, feed myself, and my clients would never know the personal hardships I faced to have the salon open & he blesses me with the spirit to make my clients feel better about themselves & sharing the word. In the beginning of the difficult financial times I started a Fundme account to raise building funds so that I could rest assure I would be able to stay open and the response from Facebook friends was amazing! They helped me raise $800! I was able to actually not touch that and I transformed that same account to a foundation fund that will act as the funds to help get materials, workshops, food, and clothing to non-profits (including the one I founded that's currently in development the Blushed Beauties Flundation). All in all this 1st year has been a test of not only my faith, but my integrity, patience, diligence, & attitude and I'm so humbled and blessed to have made it through! I went from 50 clients to over 180, I have been able to maintain my most important finances & although I still have a ways to go I KNOW this second year will be even more amazing. There are so many blessings that I could share but that would make this blog a book (which may manifest one day). I literally have something GOD sent happen to me if not every day every week so just know the Lord is REAL and waiting for you to act in complete love, humility, and courage! You can achieve all things when you think in your higher self and abandon the need for materialistic things (those things will come naturally )invest in your vision and in the vision of others. The UNIVERSE is waiting for you! Thank you for helping me make this first year a success without you all I wouldn't be able to do it by myself! Love, B

I prayed FOR you, I prayed for YOU.

I prayed FOR you long before we met & you were chasing women following behind their behinds, when I dwelled in the smallest corner in the back of your mind, I prayed for YOU I prayed for patience when you were too young to receive me that in due time we'd align prayed infidelity would escape us & I'd never leave you to grieve me & we'd never fight over money 'cause neither one of us is greedy that was me, praying for you when I was just an idea attached to your prayers with no face, the spirit to comfort you after Jesus when you were in that lonely place it was my prayer that you would stay and I'd be blessed by your grace I prayed that you'd see me manifest beyond the spiritual existence that you boxed me into When You could only see me in your dreams I prayed for YOUR dreams to come true I prayed over your eyes so that you could see beyond myself in addition to love, patience, wisdom, health, and wealth I prayed for beauty and power so the universe would connect me and you I prayed for YOU I prayed for patience for the moments I can't get you out of a rut and in times of hardship I prayed for a satisfying makeup 'cause we make up what love is and I only want to see Love in you "my God" (I'm in awe) I prayed FOR you and MY prayers came true.

Lead by LOVE.

I FIRST want to say that this post is a reflection of my personal beliefs which happen to be influenced by MY  spiritual relationship with God. It is my prayer that the reader(s) of this respects my views if there happens to be disagreement with the following statements I make. We are all different and nothing can be perceived perfectly. This blog will be broken down in two parts, the FIRST will be my story & the second will be the message I have for followers of Christ. 

THE TESTIMONY: 

As a child my parents raised me to believe in Christ, they took me to church,  they taught me how to pray, praise, & fellowship, I was directed to read the bible, & through all of this embedded in me was the culture of what it is to be a Christian amongst Christians ... on SUNDAY. Monday - Saturday I learned what it was to be a Christian outside of church, I learned that WE go to church because we need a healing, we were imperfect, we born into sin, & as a child those things translated into we were "bad" & in order to not be bad I needed to accept Jesus as my Lord & savior and be SAVED. I'll never forget the time when my parents were urging me to be baptized. I personally wanted to wait because I didn't believe I was saved yet, God had never spoken to me, I had never been moved by him, I still didn't understand the logic of God & Jesus being ONE because they said Jesus was his son... Oh and the Holy Spirit was like Casper the friendly Ghost in my eyes but I was getting older & I wanted to honor my mother and father so I was baptized. After my baptism I felt great, THAT DAY. Realistically I was still a little girl who hadn't even had her first period yet, still thought boys had coodies, and didn't know that any other religion other than Catholic exsisted (and I thought all Catholics were just like Baptist Christians but white people, haha.) Fast Forward to my teen years when I actually was mature enough to LISTEN in church, I heard a lot of sermons that were 80% telling us everything we are doing wrong and warning us about being condemned to hell and 20% of the sermon was from the bible. Now, not only am I feeling the pressure of adolescence (boys, vanity, popularity) but I'm scared to talk to God & I fear going to hell more than being excited that one day I'll make it to heaven. I didn't LIKE how church made me feel. As a result of the church experiences that haunted me, I left the church when my parents could no longer tell me what to do and I grew into a young adult who prayed fearfully and cried constantly repenting for doing things that came naturally to me, I realized I was a sinner. I feared that although I was baptized, I read the bible, I believed, & I repented for my sins that somehow I could still end up in hell because I would never be good enough. Christians were always there with their non comfort and judgment when you did something wrong so I learned to keep secrets & to lie because I didn't want to dissapoint them, not knowing that those very people who seem to always have a word for the life of others had secrets too & told lies... Years later when the hypocrisy of it all had been made clear and the similarity of ALL people was exposed, I met people of many other religions/lifestyles & I no longer feared death but believed death for a child of God is the reward for fufiing your purpose on earth. I communicated with God outside of just prayer & God started to make his presence more and more known to me.  I was still sinning something terrible (college years... I'm sure YOU all remember those years) however I was developing a spiritual relationship with God outside of church and my concious kicked in (the beginning of discernment)  & because HE knew that nobody from my past could lead me to church  but that's what I needed he placed a woman in my life who became my mentor. How this woman and I met would be another post, but she was the FIRST Christian I had met that saw my "ugly" and never said ONE discouraging thing to me. She never mentioned me going to hell, she SHARED stories of her past with me and explained the LOVE God had for all of us despite what we've done and more than anything when I did something right she glorified me! Her acknowledging me for my right doings made me want to do more right because her silence was the equivelant of a rainy day and I desired the light of happiness more than the loneliness of darkness.  She led me back to church & I started sharing for once my LOVE of God! Eventually I FELT truly saved (and I wasn't yet in the eyes of Christians) I knew this because in order to join the ministry of this church I would have to not drink, smoke, shack up... You know all the things most of us have once done in our lifetime. And at the time although the church I was attending didn't turn out to be quite the fit for me because that application made me feel the same inadequence I felt as a child in church she STILL loved me and when I think of Christianity I think of her leading by example & love because to her it doesn't matter where I worship as long as I worship & she had faith that GOD would work on me all she had to do is love me.  I know that story was lengthy BUT I said all of that to work up to my message which is LEADING BY LOVE. 

THE MESSAGE: 

Did YOU know? A Christian who makes it their business to magnify a sinners sin, or act as if through their personal relationship with God they have attained the right to order the steps of others does more to turn people off from God & church than lead them to it? Remember the things you've done in the darkness while exalting him in the light before you break down the terms of what being "saved" is or is not, we all felt the embarrassment of feeling like the preacher was talking to US.  Part of being a Christan is being tested, failing sometimes, learning, & literally giving life to the phrase that "there is no testimony without the test" and guess what? We are never done testing until we are resting at least I'm not.  Like anything else in order for things to manifest we must SPEAK it. So when I see people posting or preaching about HOW God wants people to be, how people who believe in Jesus should or shouldn't act, & mocking the level of where people who exhault his name are at I immediately feel pitty for the one "condemning" more than the one that "should be" condemned. A persons habits & immaturity doesn't take away from THEIR personal relationship with God so if one minute they are posting about the goodness of God and the next they are cursing people out remember they are still being tested and you were not always where you were. The fact that they KNOW God is a blessing and organically they will change because GOD is in control.  If instead of criticizing we celebrated EVERY time the Lords name was mentioned, perhaps people would want to say it more & live it more.  We must learn to mind our business, turn our cheek to the small immature things and GIVE LOVE and represent The Lord by being that example, and it takes not a finger pointed to do so. I'm guilty of judging & I believe we subconsciously all do but I'm not going to verbally discredit a persons belief because they are growing in Godliness. I won't acknowledge them when they do bad, that does more. If we are ALL imperfect what good is it to point out specific imperfections of others as if our sin is less than theirs.  Let's be encouraged to lead by LOVE. 

Thankfulness.

Every single day I am amazed by how God truly loves me. The faithfulness of The Lord despite the many complexities of my being gives me a peace that allows me to be WELL with things. I still experience every human emotion, I still have bad things happen to me, I still make mistakes BUT I'm in a constant state of growing and my life is fruitful (& I'm not talking about materialistic things) Pam made a great statement tonight that she tells her children so nobody feels jealous, she said "Every child gets what they NEED" & the same applies to us as adults. We don't always get what we WANT but look at how God has always provided you with the tools to have what you NEED. Don't tally up the THINGS people have (the car, the clothes, the friends, the house, the relationship), you don't know what that person has been through to have those things social media is an illusion, nobody truly post EVERY detail of their life. I PRAY seriously that everyone can just mute their own thoughts, assumptions, opinions & be still enough to let God comfort you & continue to provide you with what you NEED. ❤️ Love.

((NEW POEM))

Sleepless nights Scattered thoughts Broken images "truths" untaught 

Angry voices inside my head the man that haunts me beneath my bed Darkness surrounds me blinds my view morning light the sky is blue 

Slaves of day the field is green No such thing as the American dream 

False idols new religions history aligning them all  

Jesus mocked guns cocked the kings crown falls off 

Black power black hate black cards black clothes the new black hoarse men riding by on dirt roads 

Silent cries Long goodbyes Or no good bye at all 

Pretty girl Little girl Whose dream to be queen still lives on 

Barely living Getting by 

Fairytales were all lie 

Now she wishes she could live beyond what's up in the sky ... she desires to fly She reads books & gets high 

Then delivers a message to the world "Wake up it's time to rise"