Stories EX-POSED

There are times in life when you don’t know what to do, when you don’t have anyone to talk to, and when you don’t know which way to go. It’s during these times when you must go to the Father and sit in his presence and allow him to speak to you about what he has for you to do. Many times, we are in such a rush to do what we want to do, that we fell to talk to God about whether or not it’s what he wants for us. We have to learn to take time to be in God’s presence, understand and accept that it may take a while for him to speak, but if we stay in his presence long enough, he will eventually lead us to where we need to be. Stop trying to do it on your ow...

I had the privilege of working with Christina, and she is someone that I thought you had to meet. She is creative and has the heart for helping others. Oh, let me tell you that she is oh so creative and comes up with the coolest ideas.

I thought it would be fun for you to read about her latest project. It is a reminder to each one of us to overcome any fears we have and pursue our passion.

God is with us and faithful to guide our steps!

Imani Daniel (left) and Christina McSwain (right) - Tale of 2 Thrifties

We are Imani and Chris, best friends turned business partners. We are haute hunters. Thrifter sisters. Curators of pre-loved pieces. We're the girls that make defining style moments happ...

Do you know anyone that’s experienced a traumatic event in his/her life? Or, maybe…you have? Often, I am surprised when I share my traumatic childhood experience with others and I discover that, after listening to their stories, they have suffered some type of trauma as well. Often, the person I’m speaking with is unaware of what causes trauma. Here are a few common sources of trauma:

• Rape
• Domestic violence
• Natural disasters
• Severe illness or injury
• The death of a loved one
• Witnessing an act of violence

Some of the emotional symptoms I had to work through were denial, anger, low self-worth, sadness and emotional outbursts. There would...

I love reading stories in the Bible and seeing how God uses those same stories to show us how our lives are not too different. In fact, when faced with challenges, the Bible gives us the answer to our problems and we can learn from those that have already experienced what we are going through. How cool is that?

After reading in James, I had to come clean with myself about my words, tone, and response to myself and others.

James 3:5-6 (MSG) “It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.”

This hit home for me. Let me start by saying, my name is Erika Greene, and there are times that I struggle with the “untamed tongue” syndrome. I have struggled with keeping quiet most of my life. I can remember a time in high school w...

I've shared that I was a victim of childhood abuse in my previous blogs. I can guarantee you will read or hear about it in the future as well. Why? Because it's something that caused deep wounds for me. I've had to cry, dig deep, and uncover all the ugly, so I could find the treasures buried underneath the pain.

Several years ago I complete one of Beth Moore's Bible studies, Breaking Free. I’ve completed many in my life but this one was life changing for me. She mentions generational curses and when broken, it impacts thousands later in life. I'm not sure about you, but the thought of taking a step to change my life, knowing it would help my son, his children, and years to come was my ...