During this time in my life, God taught me many invaluable lessons that I’m now able to share with others. One of those times was when I was barely making enough money to pay rent. God blessed me with everything I desired as well as needed without giving me actual money. Although my mom has always taught me that God can bless us in a variety of ways, it took me a while to learn this concept. Seeing that I was slow in learning this concept, God helped my mom out by allowing me to experience these blessings.
Before I get into my testimonial, I want you to keep in mind that everything that I’m about to name—the trips, the cars, the events, and many more that I haven’t mentioned—were all gained while I was extremely poor, or should I say po’.
I barely had enough money to pay rent. Obviously, having a place to live was and will forever be important to me. Since I was po’, all the extras, such as entertainment, gas for my car, etc. meant that I had to do without until I got back on my feet. During 2011, I did not spend one dime on discretionary items. Everything I’m about to share were just blessings. I didn’t have money for anything but food and shelter, and I barely had money for that. I had to use every coin I had to pay rent. During my po’ year, God showed me the best time of my life. During the summer/ fall of 2011, without me spending one red cent of my own money, God blessed me with the following:
I am living proof that all we need to do is keep our focus on our Source (Christ), and the resources will follow.
- I desperately needed a laptop so I could apply for jobs at home. The computers at the library were so slow! Plus, the librarians timed how long patrons could use the computers. Also, some of the people that were reserving computers looked sketchy, but I digress. Drowning in despair and depression, I entered an essay contest about how technology helped improve my life. I won! I not only won a laptop that I desperately needed, but I also won a Sony Google TV which also doubles as a computer monitor that I still use to this day.
Not only did God give me the laptop and the Sony Google TV, which was the icing on the cake. God added even more to my already fabulous dessert. The contest I won paid for Best Buy’s Geek Squad to install everything so that I did not have to lift a finger. This win was worth a lot of money that I did not have.
2. During this time, I was very big into blogging. Today, what would be considered a social media influencer, used to be called a brand ambassador. I was at the very beginning of the social media era, so I used to partner with a lot of different brands. I used to go to a ton of fancy restaurants, boat cruises, or had products sent to me for free in exchange for an honest review of that company’s product or service. Just so we are clear, I never did reviews if the product was lousy. Also, I always let people know how I was being compensated for the review.
3. I wanted so badly to go to Oprah’s Farewell Spectacular show at the United Center. I wrote an essay stating why I wanted the tickets and won them for me and my mom to attend the show. I will NEVER EVER forget this day. Due to the nature of how I wrote in for tickets to the show, we were able to sit wherever we wanted near the front of the stage. I was feeling particularly bold that day and sat in the front row where the seats had on a sign on them that said they were reserved. I made friends with one of the ushers and she gave me the BEST seat in the house.
Oprah literally sat one seat away from me. The seat right next to me was the seat where all the celebrity guests sat while they were watching the show with Oprah. I was literally watching Beyoncé perform “Girls Run the World” and dancing with Tom Cruise and Oprah (here’s the video of me sitting next to Tom Cruise and my mom is literally behing Oprah). I got a chance to speak with and joke around with celebrities like Jaimie Foxx, Jerry Seinfeld, Tom Hanks, and so many other celebrities that I can’t remember. God truly blessed me. He provided my necessities as well as the opportunity to be entertained. He once again helped me to focus on Him as the Source.
You may not know how and when God will bless you, but if you stay in faith, you can be assured that your blessing will come. In between the taping for the various segments for that show, everyone kept asking me, “How did you get that seat?” I just kept shaking my head because it was just too surreal. When God blesses you, He does so in a way that you know that is Him and not your resources. Do not make the mistake of misplacing your faith. Place it where it should be–on Christ.
4. Here is another win that God blessed me with that year. My blogging and networking enabled me to become a brand ambassador for General Motors. They would allow me to test drive different cars in exchange for my reviews about them. I test drove quite a few cars and went to their events. The ultimate “sign” that let me know that God was still with me during my po time was when General Motors invited me to participate in their marketing campaign called Road to NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists): Powered by Chevrolet. It was an all-expenses-paid media trip that consisted of four Chicago journalists/bloggers (none of us knew each other before this trip) from Chicago performing community service work as we drove to the NABJ Convention in Philadelphia in a Chevrolet Suburban.
We were doing good in the Black and Latino communities while advertising the Chevy Suburban, which was crazy comfortable and amazing. We created community gardens in food desert areas, we painted murals at schools, and we drove through the mountains. We had some interesting adventures in towns that I NEVER, you hear me, never would have driven through if we weren’t together. We shared so many laughs on that trip!
The NABJ convention was amazing! I was able to meet a lot of high-profile journalists and attend so many inspiring events, like the Black Girls Rock party. Solange Knowles was even the DJ at one of those parties. I attended sessions geared towards helping us hone our media skills. They even flew me back home and gave us gift cards with money on them to show their appreciation for participating in the road trip and covering the NABJ event. General Motors gave us a lot of souvenirs and that gift card really came in handy. Without that gift card, due to the weight of my luggage, I would not have had enough money to pay to check my luggage back home.
I did not pay one dime for anything I just shared with you. Not even the gas for the cars I drove that year was paid for by me. General Motors gave me each car with a full tank of gas—all for my enjoyment. There are so many instances in my life where God gave me things, introduced me to people, or allowed me to attend events without a dime to my name. This is just one way God taught me that He is my Source. During my po’ period, I learned not to put Him in a box. I stopped thinking that the only way God can bless us is with money. I am living proof that all we need to do is keep our focus on our Source (Christ), and the resources will follow.