I AM THAT I AM

I AM.


No two words are more powerful in the human language than “I AM.”

In Exodus, God told Moses to inform the Egyptians that they needed to set His chosen people, the Israelites free from enslavement. Moses asked God, “What if the Pharoah asks who sent me, what should I tell him?”
And God replied, “Tell them I AM THAT I AM sent you”.

One, it shows God’s sense of humor. But there’s something more important here.
God knew who He was. He didn’t need a name. And He felt no need to justify Himself to anyone. He is everything. He just IS. Omnipresent. Omnipotent. Creator of the Universe.


God never questions who He is. He knows who He is. He knows that all it takes is a command, an utterance, and the universe obeys. And He always says afterward,"it is good", or "I am pleased."

Supernatural things happen. The earth gets formed in seven days. A little spit, a little dirt, the breath from God, and voila!, you have Adam. An utterance that originates from Him (sometimes by way of messenger), makes seas part, the walls of Jericho fall, makes bushes burn but not be consumed, makes fig trees whither and die…people are healed, the dead come back to life.

God knows who He is. Jesus knew who his Father was. Because he gave his complete submission and total faith in God, Jesus was able to work miracles. Jesus showed us that it wasn’t by his doing, but by his Father, that miracles are possible.

Because we were created from God, and have His breath in us, and are His children, we have these abilities like Jesus and like God. Made in his image. A scaled down mini version of the Creator. Father and his children. We are creators too, we create all the time, whether we are conscious of it or not. If we submit to God’s will and have complete and total trust in him, we too can work miracles.


We have to remember who’s we are. And how valuable we are.




I AM.

I am God’s child. I am worthy. I am loved.


God didn’t say, I think. I want. I could be. I should have. I don’t know, what if.


God lives in complete knowing and expectation that what He says will be. Jesus taught us to live in complete faith and not doubt. These are the examples we should follow.


So instead of uttering the daily foolish words in our lives that don’t show our faith, we need to use more faith filled words.

Words like "I AM".


When we pray we should give Him respect and praise, confess our sins, ask for help for others and ourselves, and give thanks.
If you can conceive it, ask for it, and believe it, you can achieve it. Get into expectation. And give thanks when you achieve it.

Whether you focus on something you don’t want, or something you do want. God always knows what you need.



If you don’t want it, and your attention is concentrated on it, you will call it forth because there is a lesson to be learned. Your Spirit wants to experience what you think you do not want so it can prove to you that you can accomplish it and grow in faith. Your Spirit comes from God and is His pure love. It already knows the path to God. It wants YOU to know it, too.



If you do want something, there is a difference between wanting and expectation. Wanting will produce a perpetual state of wanting. Expectation is faith and will produce results.


The best way to practice living in expectation is to utter words of faith, like I AM.


When you know who you are, and who’s you are, God knows who you are. You are always a child of God, but when you recognize your value, and you speak words of faith, and you believe He will be good to you, God is pleased.

I can know all of this as my Truth. But I have to practice it consistently for me to get consistent results.
When I have half assed prayer, and half assed faith, I get half assed results. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Some days are good, some are bad. Some prayers are answered, and some aren’t, or I’m told to wait.


Sometimes I get I want, instead of I am. Sometimes I get I don’t want, when I mean to say I AM.
Even when I can’t fully believe in what I want or who I am, I try to reach for what Shayla calls, “hope statements”.

For example, if I can’t believe my house will be saved, I can at least say I hope my house will be saved. And that helps me, until I can truly believe it can be saved, as I do know.

Not only do I believe it can be saved, I know it will be saved. It is already saved. Not only is it saved, it’s prosperous and growing in equity. Not only is it prosperous and growing in equity, it is already paid off. Thank you Lord for bringing the resources to me to live in abundance.

See? That’s how it works.


I AM HAPPY.
I AM LOVED.
I AM COMPLETE.
I AM SUCCESSFUL.
I AM BEAUTY.
I AM HEALTHY.
I AM BLESSED.
I LOVE GOD.
I LOVE MYSELF.
I LOVE MY FAMILY.
I LOVE MY FRIENDS.
I LOVE OTHERS.


I bring all this up to remind myself that the reason I long, I ache, I worry, I get angry, I get frustrated, I feel alone, I get upset, I get sad, I blame, I live in guilt, I don’t understand, I obsess, I cry, and any other variety of bad feelings I feel is simply because I am not living in expectation. Asking over and over again is not living in expectation. Worry and doubt is not living in expectation.


I need to be consistently where my Spirit is. In joy, peace, love, truth, appreciation. The more I can stay there, the happier I will be.

When I receive thoughts that contradict that, then I know I am not acknowledging where my Spirit wants to be.

And I get dis-ease. Dis-comfort. Dis-repair. Dis-appointment. Dis-respect. Dis-caring. Dis-trust.


Even when I receive these negative experiences, it’s all on how you look at it. You can easily change your perspective and pivot out of it. Just replace it with a new thought you can believe.


In every situation, I can either get in agreement with it, or use it as a teaching growth tool and still be in appreciation for the experience.


God never leaves us. He is always there. So, if you are in a situation where you feel like you can’t hear or feel Him, then you know you are in a place that you shouldn’t be. You feel alone. You feel isolated. You are in judgment of it. You are in anger of it. Even anger is an expression of love on some level, because you gave your trust and love and you feel betrayed, thus eliciting an anger response. It’s just another version of love.

 Focusing on the negative aspect of it instead of it’s positive.



There are two sides to every story.
Choose which side you wish to focus on and that will be your experience.

A Word about Soul Mates

There will always be elements of people you enjoy, especially when it comes to a potential mate.
The people in your life all have some purpose for being there. The women in your life have mirror elements of who you are, or who you wish to become. The men in your life have mirror elements of the traits you are looking for in yourself. It's natural to build and bond and make connections with people, because we all come from God, and we all have pieces of the puzzle-- pieces and expressions of His joy.

It's important when choosing a mate to not get too caught up in these pieces or elements of the puzzle. When you first meet them, lust takes over, and you will find all types of similar connections there. Some men you will love their smile and humor. Some men, you will love how they command a room. Still others you will love how they passionate they are about a particular subject.

You will think to yourself, if I can just take this element from this  guy, and pair it with this guy's body, and that guy's personality...if I can throw these men together, he would be the right one.

But I think it's important to just ENJOY your friends and surroundings, more so than FINDING YOUR SOUL MATE.

The word "soulmate" is deceiving. It implies that you have a lack, until you meet this person. Putting such a high priority on meeting and loving someone puts you in danger of worshiping them as an idol. That is not God's intent for your life.

God places these people in your life for life lessons. They have their own path, and they stop on your doorstep for a lesson and keep it moving.

Even our spouses and children have their own paths in life.

If you put God first, and you just enjoy and recognize all the connections, you will have a pretty full life.

And perhaps God will one day bring you a person that has the elements you like, to learn the lessons you need in one package. Make sure you both put God first and allow Him to bring you together.

You both are much more useful serving His purpose for your lives, than focusing on possessing and completing each other.

Fear Not of Man

There is a proverb from the Akan people of Ghana, West Africa, called Gye Nyame that says:

Abode santann yi firi tete; obi nte ase a onim ne ahyease, na obi ntena ase nkosi ne awie, GYE NYAME.

Loosely translated, it means:
"No man lives who saw its beginning, and no one will live to see its end, EXCEPT GOD."

I've also heard this proverb stated another way:

"I fear no one (man), except God."

Even the Bible illustrates this concept clearly in the 23 Psalms.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley in the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me."

And in the 27th Psalms:

"The LORD is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid?"



People, you can either speak a psalm (song) of faith, or a song of fear.
When you have lived enough, gone through enough, had your life threatened, had a loved one pass, or had material possessions removed from you, you learn that 'this too shall pass', and you rely on God to pull you through. You learn to let go of fear, because you know you are always kept in God's love.

Every need is always met when you know God.
You will always be taken care of, no matter how bleak a situation looks.

When you know God, and you have a faith walk and a trust in Him, you take the limits off what He can do in your life. In your career, you know that if you are obedient to His will, you will flourish. At home, you know you have angels to stand guard. With your family, you know they will have generational blessings. Even with your mate or spouse, you know that there is no need for control or jealousy, because you have peace in your home.

People who don't have this walk, and don't understand this level of faith are like leaves blowing in the wind. They have no anchor. They stand for nothing, they fall for everything, and they consume and produce no fruit. They live in fear, and they constantly perpetuate it. They will come to you and speak fear to get you off your path. Or they will resort to destructive means to try and shake you off your path.

If you run once, you will always be running. Please know, that no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. And not one grain of sand can be moved to harm you unless God allows it. He speaks life over every living thing. When you walk away from His grace, He allows free will for you to explore on your own, which includes opening the door to things you don't want.

I would encourage you today to trust God. Trust all things will be revealed. Trust He always has your best interest in mind and that you are exactly where you need to be in His grace at all times. Jesus taught us that through total obedience and faith in God's abilities, you can walk on water, you can even come back from death itself (like those near death experiences).

There is a freedom that no man can take when you live like this.
Today, I encourage you to truly live free. 

Lot's Wife: Are You Looking Back?

Maybe you just came out of the hardest year(s) of your life. Perhaps you had a major illness. Or you lost a loved one. Or your house. You lost your job. You divorced. You were attacked. You got into a major accident. Drugs. A suicide attempt.

You just barely made it out alive. The situation was so overwhelming, you wonder how you made it at all. You are sitting here. Alive. Trying to make sense of it all. Trying to piece your life back together. Maybe you are still in the process of leaving it.

Struggling with your faith.

I think of the story of Lot and his wife in the Bible. They barely escaped a burning city. They were exhausted. They lost everything. Their house. Their neighbors. The entire life they knew, the whole city was gone in a matter of minutes.

Are you looking back on a burning city? Are you looking back on what you lost?

Perhaps you used to be smarter, faster, more beautiful in the past. And all you do is sit  and remember the life you knew and loved.

God is trying to increase your faith in Him.
God is trying to get you to release that past and trust Him.
God is trying to get you to a new level of living.
God is trying to get you to the Promise land, the life He has especially in store for you.

But you have to be willing to trust Him. To lean on Him when your faith is weak. To take you through the valley so you can reach the mountaintop.

Every time you reach back for that old life, you will feel it, and know it.

Are you looking back on a burning city, or are you looking forward to God's promises in your life?

How God Answers Your Prayers

God answers us in 4 ways:

• Yes....
• No....
• Wait... 
• or, "My grace is sufficient for your needs". 

Let's explain the last one a little further.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 

(2 Corinthians 12:9)

Sometimes God will use your life as a living testimony to others, for the glory of His Kingdom.

Let me give you an example.

In Acts 27 and 28, there is the story of Paul, who was supposed to be sailing to Rome when his ship encountered a horrible storm. This storm was unlike any other and God warned him that the ship would be destroyed but that the men would not be harmed.

As the ship began to break up, the guards thought they would have to kill the men who couldn't swim to shore. But instead, God allowed those who couldn't swim to float to shore on the broken pieces.

Even when they got to the island, their problems didn't stop there. They began to gather firewood and set up camp with the natives, and Paul was bitten by a hidden snake that leaped out of the fire. 

The natives said to themselves, surely this man must be a murderer. First he escapes the sea, and now he is bit by a snake! He will not escape God's justice for whatever he has done! He will swell up and fall down dead!

Here they were, talking mess about Paul, while warming themselves at the fire he had made!

But instead of listening to them and getting discouraged, Paul shook off the snake and kept working.

After they looked for a while and saw that he did not die, they figured he must be a god of some sort.

While he stayed on that island, he healed their sick, and he converted many lives to Jesus. 

Here are the lessons of this story:

1. God's grace is more than enough for your needs.

2. The storms of life will come, but stay in obedience to His will.

3. You can use the broken bits God gave you to save yourself and others.

4. People will talk about you, even as you are saving them. Use it as an opportunity for God.

5. Sometimes you will get bit by a snake. Shake it off. Thank God it bit you and not them, because your faith is much stronger than theirs. Your life will be used as a testimony to others.

(Just like this blog has done for me!)

Take Ownership for your Part

If you want to live with intention, you have to be willing to take ownership in the creative process. Lots of times we think about who has wronged us, and why this person didn't respect us, or why our parents or lovers didn't love us. It is very easy to look outside ourselves and see who poorly treated us. But it is even more important to recognize the conditions we put in place to allow ourselves to be treated poorly.

In life, there are cycles. Some, more obvious than others. Are you in a cycle of asking for love and appreciation, without fully recognizing that this comes from, and can be filled from within? Stop asking someone to love you. People respect and value what YOU respect and value.

If you meet someone who will not respect it, recognize they don't have to, and recognize that you don't need them to, move on.

This is a painful lesson that humans have to master (especially women), because we get so focused in pleasing others and caring for others, and we want that same level of caring back.

Know this, if you are sitting here, blaming someone for your treatment, you need to take inventory of your actions and emotions you are putting out there. Once you do, you will quickly see that they aren't the problem, it's you, and you need to shift your thinking.

When you do this, do not beat yourself up once you have discovered the problem. Do not dwell on the time you lost or what you gave. Remember, everything in life is a gift. Just as you gave gifts, gifts were given to you, and you will continue to get more to give. And you gave what you did with the information you were able to understand at the time. So never live with regrets. Be easy on yourself. Set boundaries where you need to. Forgive yourself, and forgive others. God doesn't live with regrets and you shouldn't, either.

God knows the beginning and end to every story. Don't stay stuck on this chapter, turn the page.

I want you to remember that every second in life is a growing lesson. Thank God for the growth. You are everywhere you need to be. Nothing is wrong. And there are no coincidences. Every piece of your life fits neatly and makes total sense if you could see the larger vision, instead of looking through our tiny straw. Trust and believe in Him.

Recognize the Harvest Season

For some people, they climb Mount Everest, and the trek is so arduous, they spend all their time just putting one foot in front of the other. Their gaze is down, and they are focused on just surviving and not losing their footing. 

Planting one foot in front of the other is good. Walk enough steps, and you will finally reach the top. 

But don't forget the journey. The scenery along the way. The fact that there are less than 1000 people out of 6 billion that have ever climbed this path or seen this glorious sight before, perched on top of the world. 

When you leave your planting season, remember to stop and enjoy the fruits of harvest and give thanks. Don't just say, 'Oh, there's so much more work to be done.' Sure, that's fine. There will always be work, as long as you have breath and can plan new goals. But recognize the harvest. Recognize when you've arrived. It's important to acknowledge harvest, so you can feel a sense of completion and celebration, before you take on more. 

Learn to be content with today. Yesterday is gone, and it coulda woulda shoulda been so much mo' betta. Tomorrow never exists except in concept. All you have is continuing states of NOW, so you might as well learn to be happy in them. Not as you can be, but as you are RIGHT NOW. There is no happiness and perfection in the future, there is only happiness in the moment. 

I am grateful for the harvest season. I have toiled and come up on some rocks in the ground. But I kept plowing and turning over the soil. I mixed in some fertile top soil and used my tools of pivoting, and retelling, and moving up the scale, and rampages of appreciation, and focus wheels. 

I started in a rough place that I previously believed couldn't be cultivated. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to be start a new life without him. I knew I wasn't happy with how I was being treated. I pulled out weeds of doubt, guilt, manipulation. And I sowed in seeds of faith, joy, appreciation, expectancy, and hope. 

Every now and then I would fall into a little sinkhole, big enough for my foot. My ex husband would make it difficult for me, or finances would get me down, or fighting to stay in the house would seem impossible. But I stayed enduring and paitent. 

When I focused on the negative, I got negative, and I quickly learned that I had a lot of power in the creation process. So, I learned that I needed to focus all of my energy on who I really am in my Spirit, which is joy and appreciation. I learned compassion and forgiveness, for my ex husband and for myself. Those characteristics were fully tested when I received some even more negative news about my marriage. Because I had already internalized these concepts, I was able to shift my thinking in only two days, which is quite an accomplishment! 

I learned strength and independence, two things I didn't think I could do before without him. I learned to set boundaries of respect that people cannot cross. I saved my house. I learned stillness and meditation. I learned how to get into appreciation about my career and the plans for it's future. I learned how to set goals and dream outrageous dreams and conquer them. I learned how to have fun with my friends on outings, and traveling with my sister. I now have hobbies that I love, like singing and writing. I've lost 14 pounds of my 40 pound goal and counting! I even learned how to love myself and replace those feelings on loneliness and be the love I seek. I even know how to inspire others to do the same. 

Now, I am in harvest. I have learned to appreciate where I have come from, love who I am now in the moment, and get excited about who I am becoming. I am open to the new journeys that lie ahead with exhuberant enthusiam. I look forward to more 'teachable moments' to use my tools. I look forward to being single. I look forward to being a healthier mother with some life skills and examples to pass down. I look forward to being a better daughter, and sibling. And I truly think I am a better spiritual person for this journey and a better friend. I think I will be a better companion too, when that comes. 

All of this transformation, from April to December. Less than a year, and at times it was moving so rapidly. At other times, a snail's pace. But I appreciate it all and everyone in it. 


Copyright Tray

Waiting for God's Best

Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone- 

To have a deep soul relationship with another- 

Be loved thoroughly, and exclusively. 

But God, to a Christian, says: 

I want you to be satisfied, fulfilled, and content 

With being loved by Me alone- 

With giving yourself totally and unreservedly to Me- 

With having an intensely personal and unique relationship 

With Me alone. 

Discovering that only in Me is your satisfaction to be found, 

Will you be capable of the best human relationship 

That I have planned for you.

I want you to be united with another after you are united with Me- 

Exclusive of anyone or anything else, 

Exclusive of any other desires or longings. 

I want you to stop planning, stop wishing, 

And allow Me to give you the most thrilling plan existing- 

One that you cannot imagine. 

I want you to have the best- 

Please allow Me to bring it to you. 

You just keep watching Me, trusting Me- 

Keep experiencing the satisfaction that I am. 

Keep listening and learning the things I tell you. 

You just wait. 

That's all.

Don't be anxious. 

Don't worry. 

Don't look around at the things 

Others have gotten or that I've given them. 

Don't look at the things you think you want. 

You just keep looking off and up to Me, 

Or you'll miss what I want to show you.

And then, when you're ready, I'll surprise you with a love 

Far more wonderful than any you would dream of. 

You see, until you are ready and until the one I have for you is ready, 

(I am working even at this moment to have both of you ready at the same time), 

Until you are both satisfied exclusively with Me and the life I prepared for you, 

You won't be able to experience the love that exemplifies your relationship with me. 

And this is the perfect love.

And dear one, I want you to have the most wonderful love. 

I want you to see in the flesh a picture of your relationship with Me, 

And to enjoy materially and concretely the everlasting union of beauty, perfection, and love 

That I offer you with Myself. 

Know that I love you utterly. 

I am God. 

Believe and be satisfied.

     -Author and original title unknown

Be Fishers of Men

As a Black woman, I am always hearing about how there is this shortage of good Black men out here. And how the ratio is 12 women to 1 man, and how the odds are stacked against me against finding a good guy (regardless of color, but especially Black men).

You know what? I haven't experienced this at all!

I really think it's all based on how you view your situation. 

You can sit there being pessimistic and looking at it in scarcity.

Or you can look at it in abundance. That you have more than enough to pick from, and you want to choose the best guy for the position.

I really think it's all about your ENERGY.

If you are moping around, feeling insecure, and thinking of "a lack", then you get a lack. Men come up to you and you ignore them. They look your way and you turn your face.

Dating is all about meeting people and having new experiences. It doesn't have to lead to sex or marriage. After all, how will you know until you really spend time with them and hear what they are talking about?

Keep your legs closed until you are ready and feel it's right. 

But learn how to flirt. Learn how to FISH.

Dating is very much like fishing. It's all on the equipment you use.

If dating were a scale, men use the wide net method. They cast their net to all, and everyone starts at zero. They scoop them up. They only keep the good fish. Until they catch the big one that is worth the most points. And then, they lock it down and proudly display it as their trophy. You have to earn points with men.

Women use the fishing pole method. They keep their eye on the prize from the beginning. They don't even want to know or see any other types of fish. They start at 100 on the scale. Every fish they catch, they think, is he Mr. Right? They deduct points after they've held on to a fish awhile, before realizing he stinks and throws him back. After a while, the day wears on... they get tired... Then they just hope that anything decent they catch is worth keeping. They dress up a junkfish like he's mahi mahi. You have to lose points with women.

My advice to you is to think and live in abundance. Switch up your game play. If you believe there's no good men, you will get no good men. If you believe there is an abundance of good men, you will get plenty, and you can pick and choose the best catch.

Think Jesus....

Be fishers of men, LOL!!!!

And for goodness sake. Never steal another woman's catch. Trust me.... he's a barnacle. If ya gotta have him... at least wait until she throws him back.

©Tray

What Would You Like to Happen?

Some of us are so focused in what we do not want to happen, that we tell it on an incessant basis. All day... 24 hours a day...we talk and we talk.. about how bad things are... about how bad they will be in the future...how no one understands or sees the problem but us...and how we are so alone... and we persuade others to agree and see this negative viewpoint, and co-sign on how dismal it is...

We pray and we speak. But we do not listen, and we do not receive and allow.

And these thoughts radiate out... and they are so dense that matter forms around them... clinging together... making whatever you have said manifest into your physical reality.

And we get attacked and we don't understand why. On a biological level, we get dis-ease. On an emotional level we get dis-interest. On a spiritual level we get dis-connected from who we are and God. 

Today, I would encourage you all to think and tell the story of WHAT YOU DO WANT. 

For some, the concept is so foriegn and seems so far fetched because we have spent so much time in worry. Maybe you simply can't fathom the idea that an act as simple as this could change the world. Could change  YOUR WORLD.... not to mention the world around you locally and globally. 

Instead of speaking fear, speak life and faith into a situation. 

Instead of I am, we are, they are unprepared... speak seeds of growth: I am, they are, we are everywhere we need to be right now, and I fully know when the time comes I will, they will, we will have everything I need to be triumphant.

Instead of I am, we are, they are not safe... speak life: I am, they are, we are always safe. We are now recieving the messages we need for protection. I have, they have, we have divine protection on our side, it is in our DNA and we will always have it.

Instead of the world is, the powers are, the people are asleep, ignorant, evil, mislead.... recognize that we are all interconnected and speak love into that situation. I am them. They are me. We are one. I can give. I can receive. I can learn. I can grow. They can grow. 

Right now, you have everything you need in place. You always have. No more, no less. 

I would encourage you today to activate that faith within, and be the change you seek.

©Tray