8th Edition, Summer Quarterly
July, 2016
Life’s Poetry News “The challenges and journeys through life help form and compose who we are” Life’s Poetry Pg. 11
Q U A R T E R L Y N E W S L E T T E R S P E C I A L T Y E D I T I O N INSIDE THIS EDITION _________ Introduction Heather-Lyn Brown Poetry Special Thanks Contributors Life’s Poetry Community
Empowerment
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Be Inspired!
Be Inspired!
Feel Inspired! Stay Inspired! This is your time Just Shine!
h e r
H e a t h e r - l y n b r o w n I n s p i r a t i o n a l j o u r n e y
WELCOME! Life’s
Poetry News is a quarterly newsletter, which showcases inspirational individuals within our community. Inside this edition Heather-Lyn
Brown shares her inspirational journey of hope, faith and perseverance while overcoming obstacles in life. Her purposeful powerful journey will inspire you. Be blessed!
“Showing ambition when obstacles arise on difficult missions, that’s a tremendous decision.” Josephine Casey, Author of Life’s Poetry Pg. 12
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Writes from the heart...
Be Inspired! Feel Inspired! Stay Inspired! This is your time Just Shine!
It’s calling out a loved one’s name and receiving no response, not because their ignoring us, but because they went to their rest. A morning that shook my sister, her kids and our family’s world… 2005. The afternoon that we were all home after returning from a weeklong trip to New York, to calling an ambulance because my sister suffered a stroke…2008.
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Lying in a hospital bed after spending a week in ICU just receiving 14-16 units of blood, crying and wondering what life would be like for my three babies… 10 days old, 15 months and 3 years of age…2011. The moment the doctor tells you that your preschooler may have difficulties with development…2013/ 2014. All these moments were not just moments to happen and pass by so that I could go on living my life as if there are no messages to be heard from these life altering experiences. My journey began years ago, but God started working on my heart as an adult 11 years ago, and yes even before that, but my eyes were beginning to be opened and every time I thought life was good another event would happen. I was shaken to reality.
Be Inspired! Feel Inspired! You see when we get comfortable and think “we got this” a reStay minder comes that what was meant for evil works out for our Inspired! good and sends a reminder that “we don’t have anything” if we This is don’t have God. your time When you have purpose and God is your source, you can bet your Just Shine! dollar that adversity will come in all forms. I never knew the term “ fish out of water” until the day anxiety showed up in October of 2011. The doctors called it everything else, and gave me pills for “vertigo”, they called it stress, they said what I described was all in my head. Although I felt I was drowning on the inside, I smiled so that no one would know my secret. I smiled so they wouldn’t think that I wasn’t capable of caring for my self or my kids; I smiled because I didn’t want to be medicated; I smiled because it felt like if I didn’t, my world would fall apart. But smiling didn’t fix the pain, it didn’t make this rollercoaster of emotions go away, it made me “cope”, cope with this illness to make everyone else around me feel good about themselves and me. I didn’t want to be ostracized or be treated as incompetent, because in our culture this could be viewed as such.
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Writes from the heart...
The day came, oh that day came where I had to meet Jesus and let him know I want Him to meet me where I was at… that day came years later. I went through a process to learn to lean on Him, to learn that he is my source, to learn that no matter what was going on in my life, around me, that He is the only one that can fill all my voids. I learned to “Trust in the Lord with all my heart, and lean not unto my own understanding and in all my ways acknowledge him and he will direct my path” Proverbs 3:5.
Be Inspired! Feel Inspired! Stay Inspired! This is your time Just Shine!
This wasn’t just a scripture verse that I was taught and memorized, rather this was my refuge. When I didn’t understand my emotions and my thoughts, I turned to my creator He made me so only He could fix me, no doctor, no counsellor, no pill. Enough was enough, I was made in His image and His image was not for me to be broken, fearful, and doubtful, the purpose He promised; didn’t have this….illness. So, I broke before Him, daily, chased Him, daily, cried before Him, daily, because I knew and believed that “…greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world” 1 John 4:4. I didn’t stop pursuing Him, because He never stopped pursuing me. Today, I allow Him to guide me to my future, everything that concerns me, my family, my marriage, my children, etc… I look to Him, because if He’s not in it, I don’t want it… “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not evil, to give you an expected end” Jeremiah 29:11. Make this your “Year Of Elevation.” Heather-Lyn Brown
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Heather-Lyn Brown Event Coordinator heatherlynmb@gmail.com
Heather-Lyn and her family
Be Inspired! Feel Inspired! Stay Inspired! This is your time Just Shine!
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Motivation
Be Inspired! Feel Inspired! Stay Inspired! This is your time Just Shine!
Motivation, concentration Feel the power of this salvation Striving always to do your best Succeeding at the impossible test Showing ambition When obstacles arise on difficult missions That’s a tremendous decision Doubts, fears, weary, tiredness This is what some confess As the journey prolongs some think less But stay focused Redeem that attention No need for contemplation Just motivate, stimulate, innervate Stay strong despite the worst of situations Show that intuition Acknowledge that inspiration Unleash that exaltation For it’s your motivation By: Josephine
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SPECIAL THANKS A very special thanks to Heather-Lyn Brown for sharing her faith-based journey life experience. We kindly thank you for your words of encouragement and inspiration. CONTRIBUTORS Danielle Sawh
LIFE’S POETRY COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT We are a non-profit corporation servicing you within the community. Vision: Inspiring individuals through community empowerment. Mission: Life’s Poetry Community Empowerment seeks to promote development through the arts, culture and literature within the community to enlighten, engage, empower and encourage individuals to achieve their full potential in life. Services/Programs: Community Book Club for Girls, Annual Empowerment Conference, Community Open Mic Nights, P.U.R.P.L.E., Annual MS Fundraising Dinner, Annual Holiday Book Drive, Quarterly Newsletter, Special events & workshops.
Be Inspired! Feel Inspired! Stay Inspired! This is your time Just Shine!
Life’s Poetry Community Empowerment
We thank and appreciate Heather-Lyn Brown for being a part of the Life’s Poetry Community Empowerment team and welcome her as our Event Coordinator.
Life’s Poetry @Lifes_Poetry @lifespoetry
For Inquires or further information please contact: Josephine Casey josephines.poetry@gmail.com Tel: 416-668-4511