About Finding Fellowship

I’m currently the youngest adult member at my home church.

The former young adults who once attended eventually stopped coming altogether or ended up leaving due to relocations and different life changes like walking away from the church, a lack of interest, or getting married and having children. So I’ve been riding solo for a while.

When I realized this, a growing desire to connect with other like-minded believers in my age group began to nag at me. I didn’t have a lot of committed Christian friends nearby I could identify with, confide in, or relate to. For years, I’d been praying about where I could find community with a group of women I could connect with who were also Christians (but still knew how to have some fun every now and then) and who lived for the Lord (but also weren’t rigid, preachy, or obnoxious about their faith). In college I had a brief season with a group of young women who kind of fit what I was looking for, but many of them were in their early twenties, and since I was older than all of them, I felt out of place -- alot. So when that season ended, I decided to do some church hopping in an effort to find a nice women’s group. And I got nowhere. I eventually gave up and stopped looking, and then one day, I received a text from a close friend:

Hey girl! My church is doing a women’s study every other Tuesday night if you are interested in joining 😊

At the time, I honestly didn’t feel like committing to it. I’d just started working a new job and was still settling into my new home, so did I really want to attend this women’s group? I wasn’t so sure. And then it hit me. Simone, this is exactly what you were praying about and asking God for years ago. Just go.

So I made myself go and guess what? I had a great time. God may not always answer our prayers in the timeframe we’ve desired, but when He does come through, it’s refreshing to experience what He’s had in mind.

The women in this group have all been warm, friendly, and inviting. We've broken bread together, reflected on scripture together, and have continually prayed for one another, which has been refreshing too. Though I'm still getting to know everyone in the group, I'm grateful for the opportunity to fellowship with women who love the Lord. While I still have my home church, it's nice being able to get together with a group of women I can relate to and connect with.

The Day I Became A Kidney Donor

About a year ago, I had a dream my dad wanted to talk to our family about something serious. I wasn’t sure what he wanted to discuss, but I knew it was something I needed to prepare myself for. Around the time after I had this dream, I remember stopping by my parents place and sensing something was going on that they weren’t telling me. I tried to dismiss what I’d been feeling, but I couldn’t shake it. Something serious was happening. As I returned to my home after visiting them one day, I was in my kitchen washing dishes when a heaviness hit my heart like nothing I’d ever felt before. Something’s wrong with dad. That’s what that dream was about. God, what’s going on? As I continued washing dishes, I started crying and praying. Then in mid-spring, my dad held an unexpected family meeting that would change all our lives forever. He hesitated at first, and as his voice started cracking and he started crying, he said, “Well, I wanted to talk to ya’ll to tell you that I have kidney disea...

I’m Glad I’m Not Married

When I was about five years old, I was sitting in the backseat of my dad’s car when me, him, my older cousin (my aunt’s son), and my aunt (my dad’s sister) caught my aunt’s fiancé with another woman. My dad had been driving my aunt out to run some errands since she didn’t have a driver’s license or a car. When she spotted her man with another woman, she told my dad to pull the car over, got out of the car, and immediately addressed him. She wanted the keys back to her apartment and was done with him. The other woman she caught her fiancé with slapped him when she realized what was happening, and that was that. When my aunt returned to the car, she was clearly and understandably upset, and the ride back to her place was quiet. Although I was too young to fully grasp what was happening at the time, I knew it wasn’t good. And now, at 34 years old, I can’t imagine how much pain she was in. Her wedding had been planned and paid for – and she never made it down the aisle. My aunt was a beaut...

Black Male Athletes And Their Dating Preferences

In the 2017 horror film Get Out , there’s an unforgettable scene when one of the film’s villainous characters, Rose, a young white woman, is seen eating Fruit Loops and drinking a bottle of milk through a straw as she searches the internet for “Top NCAA prospects.” This moment in the film is frightening because the purpose of Rose’s search is to ultimately lure young and unsuspecting Black men to a deadly fate after she begins dating them. If you’ve seen the film, you know how everything ultimately turns out, but if you haven’t, you’ll have a better understanding of the bigger picture. Recently, college football superstar and future NFL prospect, Travis Hunter, became a source of media scrutiny and controversy regarding his relationship with his fiancée, Leanna Lenee. Much of the criticism was around his fiancée and comments she shared about how she wasn’t initially interested in Travis before they started dating. Additionally, she received backlash regarding the couple’s interact...

Making Waves