ThatTimeJuls...

  When I was a freshman in high school, I found out I had a brother and sister. I wasn’t devastated, I wasn’t hurt, I was disappointed in my father because I felt he kept a part of me from me. My father and I never had a good relationship and I never really knew him. I’ve seen my father twice in my life and the second time was at his funeral. I know these sentences may come off callous or very matter of fact. However, they are true. Sometimes truth is like medicine it doesn’t taste good but it’s what the body needs to heal. In my first year of high school I was put into a program because I had a decent gpa. I didn’t ask to be in the program and I for sure didn’t want to be in the program. The teacher over the program promised to let me out of the program after that year. Knowing I made this agreement I did whatever I needed to do while in the program. In the adult world of my life my parents were negotiating child support because yes, I was 14 or 15 and my father had not been req...

                                        What are you afraid of? Do you ever question what you were called to do? Do you know what you were called to do? I mean do you know what you were created and put on this earth to do? Fear has a way of creeping in through the small cracks and unseen spaces of our heart and mind. When I was in college, I thought I had been well prepared. I graduated in the top 5% of my graduating class. I thought I had developed good study habits. Yet, when I got to college I was out of my depth. I didn’t know how to ask for help because I felt I should’ve known this material and it was reaffirmed by some of my professors. In my fear of asking for help I struggled. I knew what I wanted to do or I thought I knew but that dream looked out of reach. For years I struggled to ask for help. Back then it was asking for help with my education. But in the fall of 2004, I t...

    I have so many thoughts about what I’d like to share. I just can’t seem to lock into one and go with it. I have so much gratitude for my friends and family that support me and have my back. And to add to it all I am an over thinker. I will take a thought and dissect it to the nth degree. I will then take the pieces and over analyze them too. Are any of you over thinkers? If you are an over thinker, I know you completely understand, and I feel for you. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you. But his heart is not with you.” Proverbs 23:7. I have been thinking about this scripture and about what it means to me. I used to think the reason I have to capture my negative thoughts or the thoughts that weren’t like God was because I would become them. However, as I was typing the scripture, I noticed that it said thinks in his heart. There is a difference between thoughts that come into our mind and thoughts that take root in our hearts. I am...

Danielle's artwork in the background   Welcome back to another post on That Time Juls. Last post I talked about the decision of friendship and how we want our friendship to be defined. I’m so excited this week because I get to write about my definition of friendship. I hope by the end of this post my excitement is leaping off the pages and into your hearts, filling you with hope and joy of what friendship can look like in your life. Have you met someone and thought I could be friends this them forever? When I was in seventh grade my mother and I moved back to the city (well closer to the city than where we previously lived) of New Orleans. I was one of 2 seventh graders in the marching band at this new school. Danielle Warsley- Williams, my very best friend whom I call Dannie Boo or Dannie was the other 7 th grader. Dannie and I met in band, but our friendship blossomed when we quit the band for cheerleading. A little-known fact about me is that I am an introvert. As I reflect...