Word Praize

2008: Well Worth The Wait by Stanice Anderson

           Yes? I love the smell of "Yes" anytime of the day.  No?I've learned to graciously take a "No" because now I know that Godsees way down the line.  Maybe? On a good day, I've been known to embrace a faith-filled"maybe."Wait? The hardest-to-endure-word in my psychological, mental, emotional, and spiritual consciousness is WAIT.

The only thing that makes wait a concept I can live through is juxtaposing it with God's promises; especially, Isaiah 40:31, "But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint." I've strode to the rhythm of that verse like a mantra during many a brisk morning walk determined to get it into my spirit so that I could hold on, trust God, and go on to the next thing at hand.

And now, in 2008, I know that I'm not the only one who has hoped against all odds that a change is gonna come. I believe this is the year when God will grant us some of the greatest desires of our hearts. Long-time hopes. Eternal-flamed dreams.

I believe that because we waited, persevered, held on to God's promises, passed more tests than we fell short of-because we refused to give up hope, or give the enemy of our souls any ground-because we cried out to the Lord when we had no one else to turn to and even when we did have others to turn we chose the Lord instead-and He made a way. Suddenly-He made a way.

When we felt like quitting, if only for a whisk of a moment and considered laying down on the side of the road, we didn't. Some of us sat down for a minute and caught our breath; but we didn't stay there. We got up in spite of everything that tried to convince us that we were too tired to get up. With the second, third, and fourth wind of the Holy Spirit, we got up and pressed our way.

When all seemed to be against us, we bolded shouted through our tears and groans unleashed by the Holy Spirit, "If God be for us who can be against us?" When it looked like defeat was imminent, somehow we felt like going on.We praised God with the eyes of faith for the imminent victories yet unseen and for the triumphs faith assured us were around the bend and one more shovel of hope away. Thus, we kept digging.

Yes, we persevered. No, we didn't quit. Maybe, we listened briefly to the whispers of doubts; but God's Word hushed them. And through it all, we waited on God and are better equipped to live out His plans for our lives because of it.  God keeps His promises and Jesus stand in the gap for us making sure that absolutely no weapon formed against us prospers.

Thus, we stand here today, clothed in our bright minds and yielded hearts, on the verge of realizing some of the greatest desires of our hearts. We, Chosen Ones, have crossed the threshold of a brand new day and a brand new year-fresh, clean and unused-prepared for us. A new year to live, trust, hope, pray, laugh, prosper, grow, praise, and believe God. This is the year the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

In 2008, WE WILL SEE that it was WELL WORTH THE WAIT.

The promises of God for your life are breaking through! I believe that it's going to be like we will just walk right into them so naturally that we will forget the birth pains because what we behold will be so exquisite-far beyond what we could have asked, thought, or imagined. The past pain will only serve as a spring board on which our awesome testimonies will be launched. And, together, we will continue to overcome, because we will share those testimonies, as the Lord leads-forgetting our insecurities and moving forward boldly in God's Spirit.

We will get in touch with our stories and share them with each another-especially in these last days. It is our responsibility to encourage one another. To let our lights so shine among men that they will see our good works and glorify God in Heaven-that is our destiny. Revelation 12:11 reminds us "We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony."

Yes, 2008, it's all been well worth the wait.It's your time to shine. It's time to shout from the rooftops what God has done for you in the dark. It's your time to mount up with wings like the eagles; to run and not be weary; to walk and not faint.

© 2008, Stanice Anderson, Author & Inspirational Speaker

Sign up for monthly email series, Food for the Spirit by Stanice Anderson @ www.stanice.com

What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight;

what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.

Matthew 10:27

Let's Get Real and Walk On Water

Stanice's Let's Get Real Tour: Sharing Our Stories--Sharing Our Strengths launches Sat. Dec 1, 2007 5pm at the Charlotte Museum of History, Charlotte, NC.  FREE Admission. Presented by Lionel Lee Wellness Center, Sonja Lee, Founder & Executive Director.  Also Sat. Dec 15, 2007 in St. Louis, MO at St. Augustine Catholic Church Gymnasium.  FREE Admission. Call Mike at 202-487-6453 to discuss how your city or town can be included in the tour.  T-Shirts now available at Stanice's Holiday Gift Store.

Calling all Water-Walkers! Book Stanice's one-woman experience, Walkin' On Water When The Ground Ain't Enuf (next show Dec. 22, 2007, New Life Bible Church, Hoke Rd., Fayetteville, NC); or the talk tour, Let's Get Real: Sharing Our Stories--Sharing Our Strengths, or as an inspirational speaker for your event.  Contact my son, Mike Tucker at 202-487-6453 mike@district51.net or 301-805-0116 for more information. "Bravo, bravo, I loved the show. Stanice had me falling down laughing, crying, and stomping my feet. I was very energized, excited, and left eager for more. "  Karen L.B. Evans, President & Founder, Black Women Playwrights Group

Stanice Anderson, Author/Inspirational Speaker/Playwright.  I Say A Prayer For Me: One Woman's Life of Faith and Triumph (Walk Worthy Press/Warner) www.stanice.com   Stanice's Holiday Gift Store (personalized and signed gifts) with FREE SHIPPING.

Experience Stanice Walkin' On Water

Spread the word, please.

Saturday, October 20, 2007 at 5:30 p.m. in Hartford, Connecticut, Author & Inspirational Speaker, Stanice Anderson, performs Walkin' On Water When the Ground Ain't Enuf, an interactive out-of-the-box one-woman experience with stories of life's challenges and triumphs, music, poetry, laced with humor to inspire and uplift the spirit. It's about a journey to amazing faith. Presented by Zanijah Cultural's owner, Monica Carr, at the Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Ave, Hartford, CT. There will be light refreshments and live entertainment by Joe Nerney during pre-reception. Tickets $20. Contact Monica Carr, ZanijahCultural@yahoo.com or 1-866-827-7306. Visit the event's webpage

http://Zaire707.tripod.com or go to http://www.stanice.com/Walkin_On_Water.html

for audio and video clips. For info on how you can book the show, contact Stanice's son, Mike Tucker at 202-487-6453 or email mike@district51.net . Stanice is author of two published books including, I Say A Prayer For Me: One Woman's Life of Faith and Triumph, published by Walk Worthy Press/Warner Books

This is what audiences are saying:

"Bravo, bravo, I loved the show. Stanice had me falling down laughing, crying, and stomping my feet. I was very energized, excited, and left eager for more. " --Karen L.B. Evans, President & Founder, Black Women Playwrights Group

"What I liked best was Ms. Anderson’s ability to relate to the audience with everyday issues and some of the silent conversations we have with ourselves. She was honest and beautiful. She made me feel like I could tear down those barriers and be FREE. Camille Butler, Graduate Student

Resurrected Dreams

              I’ve been writing since I learned how to construct a sentence. One of my poems was published in school magazine when I was nine years old. It seemed like, in the millisecond, my happy childhood ended, as the verbal and physical abuse at home escalated. Coupled with being raped at 14 years old, I was emotionally silenced and sequestered by the secrets. I remember making a vow to myself—“No one must ever know.” Therefore, the written word became my saving-grace.

As I grew older, I attempted to show the world a well-adjusted, funny, and extraverted woman. It was only in my writing that my real voice could be heard. It dared to whisper a different story. Words befriended me, flowed from my soul, and spilled onto thousands of pages over the years. However, as if by tried by a jury with my warped sense of self as foreman, most of my pieces were sentenced to life in file folders neatly stacked in corrugated boxes and exiled to the backside of closets.

Resurrected Dreams, one of the stories in my memoir, I Say a Prayer For Me: One Woman’s Life of Faith and Triumph, best describes my relationship with the written word.

“Out came the sun and dried up all the rain. In my forties, writing found me again. It helped shatter the chains of my painful and shameful past. Words fed my starving spirit and soothed my aching life. In spite of the fact that I abandoned the words and left them to die by the side of the road, they waited for me at the crossroads of life to point the way, ‘Just believe!’ they insisted that we and you are one.’ The itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.”

As an exercise of my belief, I send my words out into the world.

Dear Heavenly Father:  Give us the progressive vision that You have for our lives.  Protect our minds against the invasion of negative and nonproductive thoughts that seek to defeat us.  When the harshness of life seems to wash us out, remind us to get up and look up to You.  Help us to inch our way back up the spout again and claim Your victory with every step we take.  Thank you that our lives do have meaning and purpose!  Breathe life into our dry bones and fan the flames under our smoldering dreams.  Help us to believe that it’s never too late to follow that dream and vision for our lives.  Order our steps and how us that we can do all things with You as our Helper.  Thank you for creating talents and gifts within us that we may use them to your glory.  Amen.  So be it!

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.  Romans 12:6-8 (New King James Version)

(c) 2007, Stanice Anderson

for booking info, contact Mike Tucker at mike@stanice.com or 202-487-MIKE

On Days Like These by Stanice Anderson

Download 01_on_days_like_these.mp3 (Performed by Stanice Anderson,bathed in music)

On days like these,

the dream seems so big

and the resources so few

and the confidence so null and void.

On days like these,

the Holy Spirit reminds me

that the cattle on a thousand hills

are God's--just as I am.

The Lord is my Shepard,

I shall not want...

on days like these.

I pray pass the circumstances

and rest in the pastures of faith.

The Lord is my Shepard,

I shall not want...

on days like these…

on days like these.

(c) 2007, Stanice Anderson

Stanice Anderson is an author, inspirational speaker, trainer, and playwright.  She has two published nonfiction books, I Say A Prayer for Me: One Woman’s Life of Faith and Triumph (Walk Worthy Press/Warner Books) and 12-Step Programs: A Resource Guide for Helping Professionals (out of print).  In between her speaking throughout the US and the Caribbean, singing and writing, she conducts workshops and readies her one-woman show, Walkin’ On Water When The Ground Ain’t Enuf. This out-of-the-box one-woman experience premiered in its first form in January 2007 to a packed house.  Stanice is a founder of Feast on The Word Gathering and Fellowship, as well as a member of Black Women Playwrights’ Group and the African-American Playwrights’ Exchange.  Transparency, joy, hope, excitement, healing, humor and life stories are the gifts she brings to life’s table.  Says Stanice, “There is power in telling our stories.  We get to see that we are not alone and that together--we can get through anything. With God and each other we are never alone--never again.” A 4th generational Washingtonian, she has a son, Mike Tucker, and three grandchildren, Michal Zoë and the twins, Nya and Arin.  To book Stanice, contact Leris Bernard at (202) 234-0312 or email leris@lgbprod.com .  Visit her websites at www.stanice.com and myspace.

Hurston/Wright Foundation Seeks Submissions

>HURSTON/WRIGHT FOUNDATION SEEKS SUBMISSIONS FOR SUMMMER WRITING WORKSHOP

>Submissions from African American Writers Needed

>Washington, DC  (BlackNews.com) - The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation will accept applications for its annual Writers' Week summer workshop for Black writers through Friday, April 20th. It is the nation's only multi-genre summer writer's workshop for writers of African descent with a tuition-free component for high school students. The workshop will be held on the campus of American University in Washington, DC from July 15 to July 21, 2007. To participate, writers must submit an application along with samples of their work by April 20, 2007.

The week brings together Black writers from around the United States, as well as Black writers from the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe, who create a nurturing, safe

space to discuss their work, its meaning, and unique aesthetics.

>Hurston/Wright Writers' Week is distinguished by the diversity of the writers it attracts: published, unpublished, college students, high school students, seniors, retirees, professionals-all chosen to participate on the strength of their writing.

All courses are taughtby published authors and include workshops on self-publishing, nonfiction, creative writing, writing from the spirit, building a novel and poetry. Workshop leaders include:

>Kwame Alexander is the founder of two publishing companies, BlackWords Press and Word of Mouth Books. As a poet and producer, he has delivered awe-inspiring keynote speeches and publishing workshops throughout the country and abroad. Alexander has written for television, and authored nine books including Do The Write Thing: 7 Steps to Publishing Success, Dancing Naked on the Floor: poems and essays, Tough Love: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur, and Crush: Love Poems, a collection of young adult love poems. Alexander also serves as producer of the annual Washington Post Capital BookFest, and is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Hurston/Wright Foundation. He has been recognized as one of the Top Ten Black Publishers by Black Issues Book Review.

>Patrice Gaines isthe author of nonfiction books, the autobiography Laughing in theDark: From Colored Girl to Woman of Color, A Journey From Prison to Power and the inspirational Moments of Grace: Meeting the Challenge to Change. She is an award winning journalist with 27 years experience and has worked as a reporter for the Washington Post for 16 years.

>A. Van Jordan isthe author of Rise, which won the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award and was selected for the Book of the Month Club from the Academy of American Poets. His second book, M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, was awarded an Anisfield-Wolf Award and listed as one of the Best Books of2005 by The London Times. He is a graduate of the Cave Canem Workshop.

>Quantum Lyrics will be published in July 2007 by W.W.Norton & Co. He teaches at the University of Texas at Austin, and serves on faculty at The Master of Fine Arts Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

>Mat Johnson isthe author of The Great Negro Plot, Hunting in Harlem, and Drop. He has written for a variety of publications, including a stint as a columnist for Time Out-NY. In 2004, he won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Fiction. Johnson received his Master in Fine Arts from Columbia University and currently teaches at Bard College.

>Chris Abani is anAssociate Professor at the University of California, Riverside and the recipient of the PEN USA Freedom-to-Write Award, the Prince Claus Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a California Book Award, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN Hemingway Book Prize. He is the author of The Virgin of Flames, GraceLand, Masters of Board, Becoming Hands Washing Water, and Song For Night.

>Patricia Elam is author of the novel Breathing. She is also a freelance writer and commentator. Her fiction and nonfiction writings have been published in The Washington Post, Essence, Emerge, Newsday, and in such anthologies as Father's Songs and New Stories from the South. A winner of the O. Henry Award, Patricia Elam has been a commentator for National Public Radio, NBC News, CNN, and the BBC.

>Robin Marcus teaches fiction at Duke Ellington School of the Arts and has led many fiction workshops. She has read from her work at many venues including the National Museum of Women and the Arts and Nuyorican poets café.  Marcus also teaches writing and the composition at Howard University.

>Participants may choosefrom a base tuition of $675 or for advanced writers, the tuition is $825. Room and board are available at an additional cost. Qualifying high school students will receive a full scholarship including room and board.

Hurston/Wright Writers'Week is made possible with the support of American University, Atria Books, Citibank, Broadway/Doubleday Group, Penguin Group (USA), Verizon Foundation, The Washington Post, and the generous support of individual donors.

>For more information about the Hurston/Wright Foundation and its annual Writer's Week or to download an application, visit

www.hurstonwright.org

or call 301-683-2134.

About the Hurston/Wright Foundation

The Hurston/Wright Foundation is a nonprofit resource center for readers, writers and supporters of Black literature. The mission of this literary organization is to discover, develop and honor Black writers for the purpose of preserving the legacy and ensuring the future of Black writers and the literature they create. Since its inception in 1990, the Hurston/Wright Foundation has grown from serving only one segment of the community of Black writers, college writers of African descent, to providing culturally sensitive services and guidance for Black writers and their readers at every stage of their development.

Stanice Anderson
(pronounced STAN-neice)

Author, Inspirational Speaker, Playwright

Websites www.stanice.com and www.myspace.com/isayaprayerforme

I SAY A PRAYER FOR ME: One Woman's Life of Faith and Triumph (Walk Worthy Press/Warner Books – Chapter One)

WALKIN’ ON WATER WHEN THE GROUND AIN’T ENUF - An Out-of-the-Box One-Woman Experience

For Booking Info contact:  Leris Bernard, LGB Productions, 202-234-0312, Leris@lgbprod.com

Calendar:  www.calsnet.net/isayaprayerforme 

FAITH-LIFT™ with Stanice: The Podcast (inspirational mini-messages; also on iTunes)

Black Women’s Playwrights’ Group (BWPG), African-American Playwright Exchange (AAPEX),

Feast on THE WORD Gathering & Fellowship

Article re: Patrice Gaines, My Mentor --Wanted: Women ready to renew their lives

BoomerGirl.com --Wanted: Women ready to renew their lives (click to read)

On a personal note, I feel like sharing that this article is about my good friend, publishing-world mentor, Patrice Gaines. She is the friend who forwarded my Food for the Spirit email life-stories series, to her then-literary agent, who in-turn contacted me and thus began the life of my first book, I SAY A PRAYER FOR ME: One Woman's Life of Faith and Triumph, with a major publishing house, Walk Worthy Press/Warner Books.

Change is is possible. I am a witness. I was a heroin addict but God stepped in and extacted me from a hopeless existence, gave me purpose, resurrected my dreams, and put people like Patrice in my life to help me make the transition to His thrilling plans for my life. I love her and now that you've read this article too, you understand see why I thank God for allowing our paths to intersect. She's a stunningly beautifully woman with an equally stunningly beautiful spirit!

Stanice Anderson
www.stanice.com and http://myspace.com/isayaprayerforme

Happy Valentine's Day, Chosen Ones

First, I'm feeling the need to keep it simple today. That doesn't happen often—so this must be a special day and message, indeed.

A special thanks to the extraordinarily gifted author and creator of WordPraize who generously asked me to be a part of it--Marilynn Griffith! And thank you, who have allowed our collective work into your lives and heart. I appreciate you. We appreciate you and thank God for you.

And now, I pray that God's favor and provision runs each of you down! And that He brings something incredibly wonderful into your life over the next 7 days. Like a feather pillow, Psalm 72 was laid into my mind this morning. I spent time with it in my prayer closet this morning. What a personal and intimate blessing! I believe that God will meet you within the words too.

Love.

Stanice Anderson
Author, Inspirational Speaker, Playwright
www.stanice.com and www.myspace.com/isayaprayerforme
I Say A Prayer For Me: One Woman's Life of Faith and Triumph (Walk Worthy Press/Warner Books)
Walkin' On Water When The Ground Ain't Enuf: An Out-of-the-Box One-Woman Experience
Faith-Lift with Stanice: The Podcast (mini-messages; also on iTunes)
Phone: 301.604.6138

Stanice Interview Un-interrupted

1.  Why did you decided to share so much of yourself and your past in "I Say A Prayer For Me?"

I believed I had no choice.  It just started flowing like that.  I tried to hold back but couldn’t.  It was against my new nature.  I had been groomed by Dorine and the others in the 12-step experience to unmask, get real, and only in getting real with God, myself, and others, would lasting recovery be possible. 

In treatment, they called me Secret Squirrel…I mean at first I thought it was a Black thang – don’t tell what happens in your household or your life…but now that the Lord has enlarged my territory, it’s a universal misnomer.  Don’t tell.  But I found out that I was as sick as my secrets.  Secrets grow in the dark but die in the light of exposure. 

When I was about 3 months clean and sober, I heard my mentor, Dorine, sharing over a microphone to an audience of hundreds at a convention, that she had been raped as a child.  I was like, how could she say that about herself.  But I also saw the freedom that was in her step, in her countenance, at the core of her being and I wanted that freedom. 

It was then at thirty-something years old that I told her, in the hotel room after the talk, that I too had been raped.  I had never told anyone that since it had happened when I was 14 years old.  I cried and she held me and told me, “Stanice, they were some sick men to do that to you.  It’s not your fault.  You will see, it’s gonna be alright.”  Thus, was my second taste of freedom from the bondage of my past.  The first was when months before I had said Yes to Jesus as my Lord and Savior. 

Plus, the Word… I believe my ministry’s foundation is build solidly on two specific scriptures. (1) Revelations 12:11. ¹¹They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb  and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

And (2) Jeremiah 29:11-14, 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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity.

God did that so I must tell my stories.

2.  Was writing a part of your healing process?

Yes, no doubt. And still is a part of my healing process.

3.  What advice would you give to other recovering addicts?  Survivors of abuse?

Allow God’s love to lift you and a lot of time He uses people to show you what His love looks like, feels like, is like.  Pray and develop an intimate, personal relationship with God.  This comes with practice… like with playing the piano or developing your vocal range, practice…practice praying, practice meditation which is listening to God…He speaks through nature, people, His Word, in a baby’s smile, in getting through one day clean and free from active addiction or alcoholism.  I would also suggest praying and asking God to plant into your life positive people who will uplift you, believe in you even though in the beginning of the recovery process you may not be able to.  That’s what I did and He brought people into my life like my mentor from the beginning, Dorine, who is still my mentor and mimicked for me what a whole and healed life looks like and I wanted that for myself.  Her life made me thirsty for a new and better way to live.  Survivors of abuse the same thing… I am a survivor of heroin and abusive relationships--- sexual and physical abuse, and emotional… the key is forgiving so one can move on with their life.  Letting go the resentments.  Resentments are like stabbing yourself over and over again and waiting for the other person to bleed.  You gotta let go.  Also let go of the secrets.  I was raped at 14 and did not telling a living soul until I was 34 and only after I heard my mentor confess that she had been raped.  That’s a long time to carry that much pain—ALONE.  It was like cancer eating up my soul…which led to the drugs, abusive relationships, everything harmful that I had come to believe that I deserved.  But it was a lie from the pit of lies.  I did not deserve what happened to me and the men who raped me were sick and their act upon me evil.  I was damaged but I am not damaged goods as I had come to believe.  And that’s where the love comes in.  it lifted me out of that pit of despair.  My relationship with God through Jesus Christ freed me from all that bondage, and infused me with hope and promises that God has kept and makes me want to stay clean and free as much now as I did 21 years ago when I first got clean and sober.  I want to see what the end will be—already my latter has been so much greater than my former.

4.  Do you have any resolutions for 2007? 

Yes, to go to that next level with NO FEAR!  To take God at His Word—period.  To not look at the circumstances that may be surrounding me but ONLY at what God says…and He says, Stanice, I alone know the plans I have for you, plans for prosperity and not disaster.  Plans to give you a future and a hope.  That’s Word!  Jeremiah 29:11-13 which is one of the scriptures that my ministry is built on… the other is Revelations 12:11 – We overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. 

5.  What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Writers Write.  There is a paradigm that I share during my writing workshops or private classes with writers.  If the desire to write is not accompanied by the act of writing then the desire is not to write.  Also, hone your craft.  Writing is rewriting and rewriting and tightening and writing some more…and this is an awkward sentence, but I’m carrying it like we are talking across the table from one another—So I’m saying learn your craft.  The art of story.  Also on my website at www.stanice.com, I have hundreds of links to resources for writers, as well as a Q&A column for Writers.

6.  When I get to heaven God will say...

Girl, I knew that if I kept inflating your lungs you would eventually get it—get me—know me—trust me—let go and let me.  We knew it—Jesus, The Holy Ghost and I.

7.      What is your website address?

  www.stanice.com and www.myspace.com/isayaprayerforme 

Trapeze Flying Without a Net?

Hello Chosen Ones:

I’m usually one that MUST post, full, edited, tightened, rewritten, and retightened pieces or I’m not posting.  But today I’m feeling it way different.  I’m feeling like a for real-for real blog piece.  Hey, I might not even do a spell check.  I’m taking flight here.  I’m flying on a trapeze without a net.

This is my last entry until 2007 so I want to make sure I give you something positive and just some good information and some hope that will float you on to the next piece that God has in store for you.  And he does have plans in mind for you—since the beginning of the beginning.  Read it for yourself in Jeremiah 29:11:13, “God says, ‘For I alone know the plans I have for you, plans for prosperity and not disaster, plans to give you a future and a hope.’”

I’m holding on to that promise right along with you and I am seeing God move on my behalf.  If you’re watching closely…if you’re listening you’ll hear him say, “here, my child, walk this way.” Or “Wait, I got you.  I know the desires of your heart.  I got your tears right here in a bottle beside me.”  Or ‘I know it’s been a long time coming but change is coming…I just want you ready and wise enough to walk tall with the change.”

Some of you, like me…have been digging soooo long it seems.  You been praying and praising, writing and sending, talking, and hushing up.  You’ve been hoping and disappointed.  You’ve been holding on and letting go.  You been watching folk all around you move out into the deep and yet you feel tied to the shore waiting for your ropes to be cut.  You been soaring and then crashing.  You been… you been… bad English and all but can’t stop now…

Perhaps God is saying to some of us right now… ‘you’ve dug long enough now let me bring the oil to you!  You just step up on the escalator and let me take you on up to where I birthed you to be even during Genesis times.

I’m writing to someone out there in cyberspace…you were predestined to be right here, right now…on this page reading this outpouring of whatever that I offer up to God feeling that it is flowing with the help of my Helper the Holy Spirit straight to you.  I pray that God is meeting you within the words.

The scripture beside the one I shared in an earlier paragraph that is the foundation of my writing and speaking ministry is Revelations 12:11, “We overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.”  Thus, here is a testimony that I feel led to share…

If you as a writer, author, author-hopeful—consider setting up a free myspace profile page.  The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few but you are one of them…

At my son’s suggestion, I became actively involved in myspace profile that I had set up some months before but had just laid dormant.  Within two months of taking his suggestion I had over 5,000 profile views, over 1,000 comments left on my page, networking opportunities that have equated to more book sales, speaking engagements, radio and print media interviews, praying with people, leading folk to Christ, singing opportunities, friendships, connecting with old readers and building a whole new audience of readers, the need to go into the studio to create a CD because of demand. To view and to see the possibilities of utilizing your space there go to my profile at www.myspace.com/isayaprayerforme. 

A year ago, I prayed and asked God for a radio show.  In faith, I bought some equipment to at least produce a podcast which would be a start—although the equipment stayed in the box.  Well, I launched my podcast, Faith-Lift™ with Stanice on myspace profile using the free technology at www.gcast.com and a telephone.  In less than two months, there are been over 11,000 downloads.  To listen or subscribe free to my podcast go to:  http://www.gcast.com/u/staniceanderson/main. And now it is also available on iTunes at http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=206994621

About three weeks ago, feeling led, I sent an email to an owner of an internet radio station, Take12Radio.com. (Recovery Talk and Positive Music 24/7) I followed through in about a week, and he said that he was looking through possible interviewees but had not chosen yet.  I let it go and went on to the next thing I felt led by the Spirit to do—finding the equipment the podcasting/radio equipment I bought back in February so I could at least produce a better quality sound podcast product.

I got a call from the radio station owner.  He wanted to interview me on my show. 

The day before the Take12Radio.com show interview, I had read equipment manual and produced my first radio quality podcast installment and posted it.  My interview was at 2:00 pm EST, at the show’s end off-air the owner, Monty-man Meyer, said that the Lord had impressed on his heard to offer me my own radio show.  I gave him an excited, YES!  And told him of my prayer to the Lord for a show a year or so prior.  We both had chill bumps, Holy Ghost was moving and it was soooo clear.  He said all I needed was to tell him if I wanted 45-minute show or an hour; a title, theme song, and of pray about the content.  It was already done.  I took the hour show option.  The show is an extension of the brand God had already made possible, Faith-Lift™ with Stanice: The Radio Show; theme song?  The song, Just an Illusion, I co-wrote with my ex-husband, and it’s content? Here’s the 60-second promo as recorded on my radio equipment in my dining room make-shift studio in the quiet wee hours of this morning:

Hello Chosen Ones:

I am Stanice Anderson, host of Faith-Lift with Stanice here on Take12Radio.com.

In recovery for over 20 years.  One day at a time.  I’m an inspirational speaker, author of I Say A Prayer For Me: One Woman’s Life of Faith and Triumph, published by Walk Worthy Press/Warner Books.

And now I have the privilege of being here with you for one-hour on Thursdays!  Transparency, hope, excitement, healing, humor, and life stories are the gifts I bring.

Inspiring, uplifting, and encouraging people through personal testimonies of getting real, prayed-up and empowered to discover and live out God’s plans and purposes is what I do.  Infuse that with topic-related music, seal it with a prayer, and you have the recipe for Faith-Lift with Stanice.  Thursdays on Take12radio.com

My first show will air on Thursday, December 21, 2006.  It’s posted to be available that morning and will run until the next Wednesday evening which a new show is posted to be heard on that Thursday.  To listen go to www.Take12Radio.com It doesn’t pay anything, but it doesn’t cost me anything either.  Other than time… and for me it’s all about ministering in the Name of Jesus…my writing, the speaking, podcasts, radio shows, and whatever else God has in mind.  I just want Him to get as much glory as possible out of my life that He has spared over and over and over and over again.

In the meantime, I move on listening and watching, believing God is ordering my steps to His desired rhythm and places.  And grants such favor with people and institutions.  You just have to be open to listen and follow His lead and sometime He leads with the children.  My son, also suggested that I do a show to help pay the bills.  Oh, I wish it wasn’t so but the Lord knows we got to have money to take care of our living expenses and everything…Cesaer looking for his…

So I listened to my son, believing that God is using him to bless me and to get me where I need to be.  My first major show outside of speaking engagements is scheduled for Saturday, January 20, 2007.  It’s more than a show, it’s a One Woman Experience and I gave it the title that the Lord gave me about two years ago (I just didn’t know what it was for until now) –  The result –

Mike Tucker and Moms Present…

Walkin’ On Water When the Ground Ain’t Enuf: A One Woman Experience
Cada Vez Restaurant
1438 U Street NW, Washington, DC (Historic U St. Corridor), Tickets $20 in advance, more at the door (if seats left)
and available online at www.stanice.com and www.myspace.com/isayaprayerforme

I do hope that you are encouraged.  Just be on your way…God will take care the rest.  Trust him.  Don’t go into it looking for money and fame, if that is your due, God will do it…cause I feel like this if God don’t build the plays, the stories, the podcasts, the radio shows, the house even…the builder builds in vain.  But with Him in it…my my my.  I will tell you this, I ain’t missed no meals, and as I take care of His business, He takes care of mine, my hope is in Him and the best is yet to be.  My latter will be better than my former and I got His Word on that and that’s enough for me.

Nope, not going back to spell check or nothing.  This is what it is.  This is for you, with love and wishes for one of the Most Joyous Christmas you’ve ever experienced.  I’m flying on a trapeze of faith and Jesus is my net.

Stanice Anderson

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