My Page In History

I cannot explain the thrill of victory that I’m experiencing inside. A new day has arrived and history beyond my finite comprehension has and is being made. President Barack Obama! I’m not calling him President-Elect.

 He is President Barack Obama. Wow, what an amazing feeling. The First African American First Family. To describe the depth of this tremendous day, election, event, and historical moment in time, there are no mere words worthy to say but, Yes God Can.

Yes God Can should ring from hear on out, over every mountaintop, and every valley low. Yes God Can should ring from the hillsides to the hood, from the ghetto to the neighborhood of MTV Cribs. Not only African American children, but all children who have felt that reaching and achieving great things in life isn’t possible – now look at how the impossible just became possible!! To adults, young and old, who have all but given up on accomplishing their dreams, no matter how big or small. If it’s important to you, and it brings positive value to you, then it is worth saying “Yes God Can.”

For me, It’s Yes God Can to our people, to my people to all of those who have dreams but have come up on rough times. Hold on and don’t give up. God desires for His people to live abundant lives. He desires for us to do more than strive, God wants us to thrive.

There are times when life gets hard, the struggles get rough, the dream seems impossible, the way seems like we’ve reached a dead end. But if we place our trust in God, then His word does prevail. I am a living witness of that.

There is a blog I recently read by author, Iris Celeste. I didn’t send her a comment on it at the time because reading it made memories of what happened to me some eleven years ago resurface. It talked about the tragic death of someone she loved. Her story, believe me, is identical to mine. I became dead, lifeless, a zombie with no hope when my fiance was brutally murdered back in 1997. In the year 1999 the words I had posted in a journal came forth and transformed into my first self published book novel titled, Always, Now and Forever, which was released in 2000. That novel, though I wasn’t an experienced writer at the time, renewed me and brought me back to life again. It revealed my true purpose in life. Much like Iris, I realized that I was destined to be a writer. Two years later in 2002 I published a nonfiction book called A Christian’s Perspective -Journey Through Grief which provided further healing for me. I use it now to minister to others. In 2005 I was signed by a traditional publisher and have since published three novels with several more in the works.

I never knew from all of the pain, the heartache, the tears, the downfalls, and the spiritual battles, that I would one day make my own page in history, but God ordained that it would be so. No, I may not end up on the pages of history like the wonderful, oh so eloquent, people oriented, sincere and trustworthy man like our new President Barack Obama, who I am so extremely proud of and grateful to God for. But I have my own pages in history because the words God has placed in my spirit to write in books will never die. Somewhere, after I am long gone from this earth, I know there will be someone who will pick up a novel and the author’s name will be, Shelia E. Lipsey.

Are dreams possible? Yes. Is the impossible attainable? Yes. Can greatness be birthed from adversity? Yes. Go forth now with the sincere belief in your dreams and your purpose in life by remembering, Yes God Can!

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The Task At Hand

Hello All,
As most of you know who follow this column, I am a Christian fiction writer and author. I stated this because I wanted you to know being an author, a Christian fiction author at that, is my purpose in life as far as my gifts and talents. I believe I have been chosen, appointed and assigned to write and speak. It’s a joy to be able to do what you love and get paid for doing it. For this, I am truly thankful to God. This doesn’t mean that I don’t become exhausted at times or that I don’t frown at the word ‘deadline’ every now and again, because I do. It does mean however, that the task at hand is one that I do love. Like many, I would love to make lots and lots of money; I won’t lie about that. Yet, it also means that even if I don’t make lots and lots of money, I will still continue to do what God has called me to do – write and speak according to His will and in His way.

Many writers/authors, I’ve been fortunate to meet in person and online, are not concerned with whether or not they reap the financial benefits of their craft, especially the Christian writers I have spoken to. They are concerned with getting out the message that God has given them to depart. I too believe this and uphold this as well. But I also believe that God will greatly reward me financially here on earth for doing that which he has given me to do. After all, he owns the cattle on a thousand hills; all that is and ever was belongs to Him. I am His child, called according to His purpose, and not only that, I am an heir and a joint heir as well as adopted into His kingdom.

What person or parent do you know willfully withholds their wealth, good fortune and bounty of good from their children? There are some who do, I must admit, but it’s usually based on a world of greed, selfishness and sin. But the God I worship and adore is perfect and He loves me unconditionally, at least that’s what I believe. He is my Daddy, my Father, my God and my Lord. Therefore, I have no problem asking my ‘Daddy’ for the things I desire. I do desire wealth, great wealth. I do desire my books to be on the New York Times bestsellers’ list. I do desire to write life-altering books that bless people, both those of faith and those who do not believe what I believe. I do give my all to the ‘task at hand.’ I do want to be appreciated and recognized. That’s simply human nature. But my first priority is to do that, which I am supposed to be doing, and that’s why I strive and I work hard and I do my best to become the best.

I am to do me and you do you, but doing me means reaching, hoping, dreaming, looking, searching, expecting for the greater, finer things of life. I want to leave a legacy that will go through generations and that legacy includes the books I’ve written, the speeches I’ve spoken, and the money I’ve made for doing these things.
Now, before each of you, I stand on my faith and I ask God to enlarge my territory, to increase my wealth so much so that I will be able to do great and marvelous things for others and for my family, to bless each word that I write and speak, to bring my vision into being. I want to accomplish the task at hand and I do expect to be rewarded here on earth and in heaven.

Jeremiah 29:11 – 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future!

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A Purpose Found in Ordinary Inconveniences

It had been a long week of doing everyone else’s work but my own. I hadn’t done much writing but had managed to keep up on my reading and the marketing of my first novel. In the back of my mind I strategized how to kick start my stalled second novel and briefly contemplated my next two online writing assignments.

                 It was an unexpected flat tire that taught me two important lessons and directed the day’s path to a situation that would give rise to my writing slump.

                 Over the last two years I have encountered several flat tires. It had been five to be exact, on three different cars. It wasn’t till the recent incident that I realized what the flats meant. While a huge inconvenience, the flats always seem to be discovered in safe locations and during a time when my life was moving in the fast lane, both literally and figuratively. The flat tires required me to slow down and take stock of my surroundings and my path.

                 This time, I had to stop putting off things that required my attention and maintenance—things like replacing my two bald rear tires, getting my cracked filling fixed and taking my car through inspection.

                 Well, Friday night found me at the Sears Auto center at my local mall. As I walked the mall’s corridors in anticipation of finding a bookstore to spend my time in wait for my car, I found many stores I had never seen before, but could not find the bookstore. I strolled along the entire top floor with no success, then I descended to the ground level only to come upon the vacant shell that use to B. Dalton Bookseller. My heart sank and I immediately went in search of the mall directory hoping there was another book establishment within the mall that I had yet to come across. Alas, there was none.

                 As a newly published author, the last thing you want to see is a mall with no bookstores. This finding or lack of one ignited the desire that had been smoldering inside me for some time.

                 The next day with two new tires and a positive car inspection report, I rewarded myself with a trip to a used bookstore. Before I knew it, I had spent three hours and $150 in the store.

                 What’s most interesting isn’t the amount of money I spent or the time it took to spend it. Most interesting was the selection of the books themselves. I picked up 19 books in all. The subjects included suspense, feminist critique, black feminist critique, African American history, erotica, writing reference, and women’s studies. The specific variety of my bounty was no mistake. I was transported to my college years where the only thing more important than studying literature or women’s studies was studying African American history. I recently finished an article on bell hooks (spelled with lower case letters in respect to the scholar’s preference). The research for that article bridged the gap between my interest in women’s studies and my interest in African American history. Being a black woman, the merging of these two subjects should have been obvious, but it wasn’t.

                 These occurrences resurrected my interest in African American studies and feminism, a platform that will give my literary voice the purpose I was seeking.

Who knew a flat tire could inflate my literary destiny.