Stories EX-POSED

I was reading the scripture in 2 Samuel 13: 1-19, where the story of Tamar was told. She was the daughter of King David, and sister of Absalom and she had a half-brother named, Amon. According to the story, Amon had developed lustful feelings for his half-sister and it eventually led to betrayal and rape.

As I continued to read how Tamar’s story unfolded, I was in such disbelief at how it ended. In 2 Samuel 13:15-19, it states, “Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, “Get up and get out!” “No!” she said to him. “Sending me away would be a greater wrong than what you have already...

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?

Have you ever had a moment when God used a situation to teach you a memorable lesson? Well, I’ve had my fair share of times, but one in particular stands out to me. My son, Xavier was in the first grade and my brother agreed to pick him up from school for me. Initially, I was a little nervous. My brother worked third shift, and I was afraid he would over sleep or forget. He assured me he would remember to pick him up. So, I decided to keep that as the plan for the day. I left trusting that he would set his alarm and everything would work out fine.

Well, time passed and after 4pm, I received a call from his school. No one had arrived to pick Xavier up, and they were wondering if I wa...

M – Motivates you to pray
A – Affirms your feelings
T – Trustworthy with your pain

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...