Marquetta speaks....

Clogs A few weeks ago I was cleaning my house. You know the dreaded house-cleaning we all have to do along with our crazy work schedules…the vacuuming, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, mopping, etc.   I started to vacuum the living room when all of a sudden the vacuum cleaner stopped working. It completely turned off. I tried playing around with the cords and checking the outlet to see if the outlet was working…but nothing happened. Then I decided to read the vacuum cleaner manual about how to troubleshoot problems with this particular cleaner.  It stated that if the cleaner shuts off follow these instructions: ·           Step 1 Turn cleaner off and unplug. ·          Step 2: Locate blockage and remove blockage. ·          Step 3: Wait 30 minutes before plugging in and turn cleaner on.    I realized that I had not cleaned the v...

A Time of Healing from Spiritual Abuse Part one “Whom the Son has set free is free indeed” Years ago, I worked as a bereavement counselor for a Hospice hospital. While working there, I came in contact with many families who had gone through tremendous grief and hurt because they lost a loved one. During that time I learned a great deal about grief and loss. I would counsel families after they had lost a loved one through some type of sickness or disease. The most important advice that I could give families while they were in their most vulnerable state was to “allow themselves time to grieve and get plenty of rest”. I walked many families through the process of grieving. Years later families would reach out to me through cards or letters and thank me for that one important piece of advice because they truly did not know how to begin the steps to recovery after they had lost a loved one.    People who have gone through abuse of any form can bene...

Is This You? I wrote an article a few days ago about the  signs of spiritual abuse  and how to recognize this type of abuse within a church. After the article was written, I was asked by someone to talk about the effects of this type of abuse because they had a friend that was still struggling with the effects of spiritual abuse. Also some people are still trying to say that this abuse is not real and that there could not possibly be any effects to such a thing. Over the past 17 years as a social worker, I have worked with many victims who have experienced all types of horrific forms of abuse; from child abuse victims to sexual abuse victims, elderly abuse, domestic violence victims, victims of assaults, human trafficking, etc. You name it; I have pretty much worked with them. Either I have counseled them; conducted support groups for them or helped them find valuable resources. Basically my job as a social worker was to help each victim begin the painful ...

Spiritual Abuse? When you think about the word abuse….what comes to mind? Family violence, child abuse, domestic violence, etc. Yes all above are different kinds of abuse and all can be extremely devastating….but what about spiritual abuse? Can someone actually experience spiritual abuse and what is it?   First we must define what abuse is. Abuse (physical, sexual, or emotional) occurs when someone has power over another and uses that power to hurt, manipulate, and control.   In a book called Healing Spiritual Abuse by Ken Blue; he compares other types of abuse with spiritual abuse: “ Physical abuse means that someone exercises physical power over another, causing physical wounds. Sexual abuse means that someone exercises sexual power over another, resulting in sexual wounds. And spiritual abuse happens when a leader with spiritual authority uses that authority to coerce, control or exploit a follower, thus causing spiritual wounds.” The Subtle Pow...

This was a powerful video  "Random Acts of Kindness".  Click on this link:  https://youtu.be/Qs_sbBxYHCE

Dare to step out into the deep!!!  Question: Have you stepped out of your comfort zone?

Rest up for the race ahead Are you tired? Has the journey of life been so hard and tedious? Do you feel like you need a pick me up? If so, this word is for you today. I was watching a movie the other week. The movie was about this famous race car driver. I paid particularly close attention to how the drivers handled their cars during the race. But I also noticed that during this fast pace race around the tracks, the famous race car driver had to pull over at the “pit stop” and change out tires. I thought this was very strange. Why would a race car driver pull over in the middle of a race? You would think that pulling over would cost the race driver the race. But I noticed that the racers that would pull over during the race to stop at the “pit stop” would do better in the race and had a greater chance of placing within the top final finishers. I soon learned that race drivers knew that their tires could burn out during the race and they could give out of gas, etc. I...