ThatTimeJuls...

  In my previous posts I wrote about the lesson’s friendship has taught me. Kelly Kels taught me the value of friendship. Risha taught me the decisions of friendship and Dannie Boo taught me the definition of friendship. While I hope to write more on my friendship series, this will be my last one for now. Throughout my life I have had some amazing friends and some not so amazing friends. I want to highlight more great lessons I learned from some of my phenomenal friends. However, this will be the last lesson for a little while. I will try to have a friend stories at least once a month. Right now, I have so many ideas for this blog and I want to share as many of them as I can. Being surrounded by good people is very important to me. There was a time in my life that the people around me weren’t that great and my life looked a lot different. All that changed when I prayed and asked God to remove those who were not for me out of my life and surround me with friends and people that co...

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...

  Last post I shared how I learned the value of friendship. This time I’m excited to share what I learned from my dear friend and college roommate Terisha Lee, Dr. Lee, whom I will refer to as Risha. When I met Risha our freshmen year at Fisk University it was at a campus bible study. I believe she was trying to decide her major and I was having boy problems. Either way we both needed prayer and it was at that bible study we made plans to meet once a week at the school chapel to pray together. Little did we know the chapel would be locked and we would be praying outside on the steps outside of our literal comfort zones. But, we did it. Each week we met just to pray. Our friend groups didn’t overlap. Our classes didn’t overlap and at that point we weren’t roommates. In the second semester of our freshman year we both lost our roommates and I moved to her room (which was the bigger of the 2). Risha was a great roommate and an even better friend. I learned so much from her and I don...

My last post was a shout out to the amazing people in my life that keep pushing me to be greater than great. I’m not sure if anyone has noticed but I’ve made a point to not share names since I’ve been blogging. I did that in hopes to honor those closest to me that are no longer in those spaces of life because we all deserve to shine in our best light. I will continue to withhold the names of those in stories (of my actual life) that may not shine the brightest in that moment because I love them. With that said I have been feeling lead to share the stories of friends that have impacted my life in some way, shape, or form and that requires names. There is no particular order to how I share these stories. I just want to share them. There are some people in life you are destined to meet. It was written before the earth was formed. Those are friendships that are beautiful. I have been blessed with beautiful friendships and it is my hope that my stories touch hearts and fill others with ho...

  Thank you to the new and old friends that held me accountable and encouraged me to get back to writing. It’s been a long time since my last post but I’m back and I will be intentional about consistency here.  I’ve been thinking a lot about relationships. I think there are stages of friendships. I’ve been blessed to have had many friendships in my life. I remember moving to Indiana in high school and thinking wow some of my classmates have known each other since kindergarten. At that point in my life I couldn’t have imagined knowing someone that wasn’t family for that length of time. I also remember as a child my mother telling me in response to I guess a nobody is my friend statement, “Are you finding yourself friendly?” Honestly, I probably was not finding myself friendly. I’m now 38 years old, newish to the west cost and amazed at the people in my life. God has blessed me, is all I can say. My younger self would be so proud of the friends in my life. They are interesting, ...

There is this idea that when something goes wrong or goes in an unfavorable direction someone must be at fault. Bad things don't just happen but rather bad things only happen as a consequence to people that have done wrong or bad things. The reality is that may not be the case. For example, (don't worry I have several) someone fails a test. We tell that person they didn't study hard enough. Study harder and next time you won't fail. Little do we know that person has studied and truly put in the work but they still failed the test. A partner in a relationship is cheated on and we say you must have not been doing something right for your partner to treat you that way. You didn't work hard enough on your relationship. A person finds out they have cancer. You weren't eating right, you didn't work hard enough on your health and that is why your health is failing. A child develops cancer and it's because the parents got them vaccinated, they ate too ...

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. John 15:13 (NIV) I don't remember being the kid that cried about not having friends or being sad because someone said they weren't my friend. I do remember moving in 7th grade and telling my mom I wish I had friends. My mom first asked if I was friendly? She went on to say if I found myself to be friendly I would find myself with friends. Those were very true words and soon enough I found myself with three friends that I stuck to like glue. From 7th grade through high school I had my girls and I was good. I had other friends that I was close to and this in no way is a downplay on our friendship. However, this story is about one friend in particular that in my quest to leave home was left behind.  About a year ago I wrote a blog about something silly that my friends and I did. When I wrote that blog I genuinely wanted to express a lesson about love. I thought the blog was self-explanatory...