Raise The Praise
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Raise The Praise episodes

  • Episode 25: Freedom Series: Courage2Heal Interview with Jabrita Shelton
    ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
    Welcome back. We've been talking about having the courage to heal through forgiveness, faith, health and courage. Remember, courage is the ability to do something that frightened you and doing something in the face of pain or grief, and then to heal is to cause to become sound or healthy again. So, what does the courage to heal mean, even in the face of fear, pain or grief? I'm choosing to heal so that I can walk in freedom, and that freedom comes through forgiveness. That freedom comes through my faith, and that freedom comes with my health. As women of faith, we know the power of forgiveness, however, the process of forgiving those who hurt us or even ourselves is a journey. God gives us the courage to find freedom, to forgive, heal and thrive in every area of our lives.
    For the next few episodes, I've invited a few of my friends, women, who are going to share their courage to heal stories, because I believe we must break our silence, come from behind our ashes and live in our true beauty. Let's let our sisters know, you're not alone. My prayer is that you, my dear sister, will have the courage to heal and walk in freedom.
    Listen in as my sister shares her story of how she had the courage to heal and where she is with her journey. It is my pleasure to speak with my sister Jabrita Shelton in this Courage2Heal Interview.
    Listen in…
    WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…
    • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007• Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com• Courage2Heal Conference: Secure Your Ticket Here.
    CONNECT WITH MY GUEST:
    • Website: https://www.jabritasheltonco.com• Facebook: @Jabrita Shelton• Instagram: @jabritasheltonco
    EPISODE AIRED ON:MARCH 24, 2021
    43 min
  • Episode 24: Freedom Series: Courage2Heal Interview with TeNita Ballard
    ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
    Welcome back. We've been talking about having the courage to heal through forgiveness, faith, health and courage. Remember, courage is the ability to do something that frightened you and doing something in the face of pain or grief, and then to heal is to cause to become sound or healthy again. So, what does the courage to heal mean, even in the face of fear, pain or grief? I'm choosing to heal so that I can walk in freedom, and that freedom comes through forgiveness. That freedom comes through my faith, and that freedom comes with my health. As women of faith, we know the power of forgiveness, however, the process of forgiving those who hurt us or even ourselves is a journey. God gives us the courage to find freedom, to forgive, heal and thrive in every area of our lives.
    For the next few episodes, I've invited a few of my friends, women, who are going to share their courage to heal stories, because I believe we must break our silence, come from behind our ashes and live in our true beauty. Let's let our sisters know, you're not alone. My prayer is that you, my dear sister, will have the courage to heal and walk in freedom.
    Listen in as my sister shares her story of how she had the courage to heal and where she is with her journey.
    It is my pleasure to speak with my sister TeNita Ballard in this Courage2Heal Interview. TeNita is a woman of God and CEO of Seasoned to a Tee.
    Listen in…
     
    SHOWNOTES:
    • So, when I say I've been to see what my truth, that goes back to when I was 18 years old. I actually had an encounter. It was my first college party, I traveled with a couple of friends, was super excited, and we went to our first college party for dancing. I saw this guy and he started talking to me, and honestly, it would go before that too, because to me, the excitement of him showing interest in me.   (6:05)
    •  Later I found out that he was older, and so honestly, he was praying on young girls, so I would see him around campus and he did not go to the school, which was very weird. Going back to school and then I noticed that I was missing my period, so I called my sister, the one that I called to get me out of the situation. She and my friend took me to the doctor, and that's when I found out.  (11:13)
    •  But sometimes we hide behind our ashes, we hide behind our faith because we just show up, and to just see us on at the surface level, you can't see the heart, even though you've gone through what you've gone through. Over a span of 20 years, and you realize that you did not have an abortion, that was a miscarriage, it was not your fault. But yet, and still you felt that void. You still have that internal turmoil about, Well, golly, I need something, I have to continue to achieve. I needed the praises of other people, I need those accolades to value me, to give me worth. (18:02)
    •  If we allow the enemy to take a hold of our mind, that's why the Bible tells us to renew our minds daily, because of the things that we can see, what we hear, what we feel, but we have to word of God on the inside. That's what comes out of our mouth. It helps us to make sure that those limiting beliefs, those nasty thoughts, all of those things, who God says I am, and I started speaking what God says about me, because it doesn't go away. We're still human. It happened, right? But it no longer has a hold on me, and the beautiful part is when you have the courage to heal. (26:05)
     
    WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…
    • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007
    • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com
    • Courage2Heal Conference: Secure Your Ticket Here.
     
    CONNECT WITH MY GUEST:
    • IG: @tenita30
    • @Seasonedtoatee
     
    EPISODE AIRED ON:MARCH 17, 2021
    38 min
  • Episode 23: Freedom Series: We Were Made to THRIVE
    ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
    Welcome back to part 5 and 6 of the Freedom Series. This series is all about my six steps called the THRIVE Method that I have personally used to find freedom to thrive, or prosper and flourish, through everything in my life, through forgiveness, through health to faith.
    So in steps 5 and 6, to summarize, is faith plus effort. It's how we occupy until He comes. Meaning whatever your talent or skills, whatever God has given you, given us, we are to be working and doing what our fingerprints were designed to do. You can find that in a Luke chapter 19, Occupy until he comes. So today we are wrapping up the Freedom series, the THRIVE method and the six steps, in finding freedom to forgive and thrive in our life through forgiveness, faith and health, and having the courage to do that.
    Listen in…
     
    SHOWNOTES:
    •   So the recap of the THRIVE method is; how do you find freedom to thrive in your life is through these six steps? And the acronym is T-H-R-I-V-E. The first step, the T is thought. I reminded us that we have to understand our self worth. It's not tied to who we are or what we think we should be and have to be. We have to arrest our thoughts that keep us stuck in our current situations by renewing our minds. (1:48)
    •   One of my favorite scriptures is in Isaiah 61-3, when he says that, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto the beauty for ashes, the oil of joy, for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. My favorite reminder that God gives us those who he called out of the ashes of oppression, slavery, abuse and exhortation, He gives us beauty where destruction and hopelessness had once resided. (4:55)
    •   So in wrapping up the Freedom series, as far as the THRIVE method and the six steps to find freedom to forgive and thrive in our life through forgiveness, faith and health, having the courage to do that, is what I want to invite you all to do. (7:57)
    •   Let's build this in such a way that women are... They feel so safe to come here to listen, to share, and this won't be your average virtual conference, trust me, it's going to be engaging, it's going to be interactive and so much fun, knowing that you're in the midst of a sister circle. (9:50)
     
    WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…
    • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007
    • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com
    • Courage2Heal Conference: Secure Your Ticket Here.
     
    EPISODE AIRED ON:MARCH 10, 2021
    13 min
  • Episode 22: Freedom Series: Initiate Change - Design Your Blueprint Step 4
    ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
    Welcome back to part 4 of the Freedom Series. This series is all about my six steps called the THRIVE Method that I have personally used to find freedom to thrive, or prosper and flourish, through everything in my life, through forgiveness, through health to faith.
    Today I have a special guest, Carmela E. Head. Carmela is a dear friend, author of Be Transformed. Carmela shares with us the power of creating a blueprint to help guide you on your path through life. She serves with passion to empower others to discover and maximize their gifts, talents, skills, and their abilities to bring forth revelation to others. To be all that God has called and created them to be.
    Listen in…
     
    SHOWNOTES:
    •  This is why I wanted to have Carmela on because all she is truly in her zone of genius, like we like to say, when it comes to empowering you and some practical things that you can do to make sure that you are actually stepping into the right direction of your God-given talent. (4:14)
    •  I always think about an architect, an architect never steps forward to create any structure without a blueprint, they always have a blueprint. A pilot never steps into the plane and navigates anything without a flight plan, and we can keep going.  (7:12)
    •  So designing your blueprint is something like this; When you want to create a blueprint for yourself, take a look at the different areas of your life that God can develop. And how do you do that? Take the time to get still and just listen to what God is downloading into your heart. How about where you are? You can use this roadmap to go forward, it's so simple as taking out a sheet of paper and a pencil, getting still and pausing and look at all these different areas in your life. (11:30)
    •  So a lot of times, as we're going through this step for initiating change, understand that you can make the blueprint, you can lay it all out and if something happens, right? Not something bad or tragedy, but it can… Your plans can change. It's just the guide, like you were sharing it with the architect. So, I know some people set something in stone and they get upset because it's not flowing the way they thought it was going to go. (18:59)
     
    WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…
    • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007
    • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com
    • Courage2Heal Conference: Secure Your Ticket Here.
     
    CONNECT WITH MY GUEST:
    •  www.transformational-moment.com    
    •  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeTransformedToday
    •  Twitter:  _BeTransformed
    •  LinkedIn:  Carmela E. Head 
    •  Instagram:  @transformationalmoment 
     
    EPISODE AIRED ON:MARCH 03, 2021
    33 min
  • Episode 21: Freedom Series - Renewing Your Mind Step3
    ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
    Welcome back to the continuation of the Freedom Series. This series is all about my six steps called the THRIVE Method that I have personally used to find freedom to thrive, or prosper and flourish, through everything in my life, through forgiveness, through health to faith.
    Today let's dive into step three of the THRIVE Method, the R in THRIVE. The R stands for renewing your mind. Romans 12 and 2 in the new King James Version, it says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." So let's talk about this for a little bit. The R stands for renewing. The Bible says, be ye transformed by the renew-ing. And renewing means to make new like new to restore, to freshness, to make a new spiritually, we generate to reveal, to do again and again and again to repeat, renewing it. So how do we renew our minds daily? 
    Join me and let's find out. Listen in…
     
    SHOWNOTES:
    •  I love how Joyce Meyers, she's the world's leading practical Bible teacher. She says, start reading a chapter in the book of Proverbs that coincide with the day of the month, for example, if today is the 24th, read Proverbs Chapter 24, there's a chapter for every day of the month to read in proverbs. And she says to get the word inside of you. (5:35)
    •  Guess what? We gotta stop talking, we have to quiet the noise in our heads. We need to hear from God. Therefore, we must listen for His voice, sometimes it's a still small voice, sometimes it could come through in our dreams, it could come through reading His word. Just listen and be on the lookout because one word from God, one word can change everything, so be sure to listen when we pray. (6:31)
    •   Think on the things that are true, those things that are noble, just. Those things that are pure and lovely, of good report. Anything that's praiseworthy, meditate on these things. This is how you combat those negative thoughts. These are just some of the practical examples of how to renew our minds daily, that we can start to do right now. There's also a second part to this step that has to do with self-development strategies that I have found to be imperative to renewing my mind on a daily basis, things like journaling, things like gratitude, affirmations morning routines. (7:18)
    •  Putting some actions, putting some works behind the faith that we have as we are finding freedom to thrive in our lives, in every area of our lives. I don't care if it's physically, mentally, financially, and of course, spiritually. So this was step three, What's renewing your mind by transforming, being transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that we can do that good and perfect will that God has for our lives. (9:30)
     
    WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…
    • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007
    • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com
    • Courage2Heal Conference: Secure Your Ticket Here.
     
    EPISODE AIRED ON:FEBRUARY 24, 2021
    14 min
  • Episode 20: Freedom Series - The Heart of the Matter - Step 2
    ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
    Welcome back to the continuation of the Freedom Series on the THRIVE Method, that I personally used to find freedom in my own life for forgiveness, health and my faith. Understanding that God wants us to prosper, once I understood that, he wants us to prosper and be in health. Prosperity not only means personal wealth, but also includes being wealthy in all degrees such as happiness and health. Last episode, I shared a little about my journey to freedom, beginning with step one of the Thrive Method, in resting my thoughts about my own limiting beliefs against what God says about me in His word. So today, let's talk about step 2, the Heart; getting to the heart of the matter. This step is crucial on the freedom journey to thrive in life, because it literally is the center of our human lives, the heart and spiritual activity.
    Ready to learn more? Listen in…
     
    SHOWNOTES:
    •  I had to understand the Epic center of my pain centered around my heart, that was not healed after almost 40 years, an apology is not going to heal the hurt. Only God could do that.(3:52)
    •  I turned it inward and suffered in silence, quietly crying myself to sleep each day. Thinking negative thoughts about how I looked and just having anger and bitterness at the little Jennifer inside of me. That's exactly when I began therapy sessions to help me get to the heart of my matter. (4:50)
    •  I tried my best to mask my hurt. I tried my best to mask my hurt heart with thoughts of, you're okay, you have a beautiful family, you love your job, you're not hurting for anything, you're not wanting for anything, just be happy and you're like, let it go. That's just it, although I had all those things, I was not experiencing true prosperity in my life. (5:34)
    •   What is that saying? Way down on the inside of that you have not addressed. I mean, it's like surgery Y'all, getting down to the heart of the matter and acknowledging that. Yeah, my heart is hard, and I really want to heal from this so I can move in freedom and do the things God's calling me to do authentically. Not hiding behind a mask, not pretending that everything is just okay. (6:49)
     
    WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…
    • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007
    • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com
    • Courage2Heal Conference: Secure Your Ticket Here.
     
    EPISODE AIRED ON:FEBRUARY 17, 2021
    10 min
  • Episode 19: Freedom Series - Thrive Method Step 1
    ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
    Welcome back to my praises faith friends. Thank you so much for joining me today as we dive down deeper into the Freedom Series with the Thrive Method, Step 1.
    Today we are exploring the T, which stands for Thoughts in the T.H.R.I.V.E. Method. Once I learned how to find freedom to thrive through forgiveness, once I learn how to find freedom to thrive in my faith, and once I learned how to find freedom to thrive in my health, my life began to change for the better, and I will never go back to that old life. See, today I am so free, I have so much joy and confidence in who God has designed me to be, although I may still struggle sometimes, I'm grateful, I'm grateful for my story, I'm grateful for my experiences, I'm grateful because what God has planned for me in my life, he is going to perfect it until the end.
    Ready to learn more? Listen in…
     
    SHOWNOTES:
    •  I remember six and a half years ago when I believed that the only way for me to find freedom to thrive in my own life was to pretend like I was happy, I wanted to always achieve more. I love God and I serve God, and if I just did those things, all would be well. (2:09)
    • I was 12 years old when I started dieting. Crazy. Why can't I get this weight off? What's wrong with me? Questions like, How am I going to get past the feelings of shame, unforgiveness, bitterness and anger towards my abusers and myself... Why don't you let it happen? Blaming myself, I have a little girl on the inside, how do I forgive her? And then I would ask, Is this just the way my life is going to be? (4:01)
    •   We must arrest thoughts that keeps us stuck and test our limiting beliefs against what God says about who we are, what God says about what we can do, what God says about who we can be in our lives. See, the Bible says that as a man think it or a woman, so is he. In Proverbs 23-7, one of the most amazing gifts God has given us is our mind, our mind, the ability to think, to learn, to choose and to reason, our thoughts become a reflection of who we really are. (6:27)
    •  This is why understanding how to mind our mind is such an important first step in this method. Because when we have stinking thinking is what I like to call it, meaning, our thoughts are not aligning what God has said about us in His word and our thoughts. They keep us paralyzed by the limiting beliefs that circle around in our heads, we find ourselves in cycles of defeat, we find ourselves questioning our identity, we find ourselves short changing the gifts and talents that God has given each of us. And that we can show up and impact our world around us. (7:55)
     
    WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…
    • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007
    • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com
     
    EPISODE AIRED ON:FEBRUARY 10, 2021
    11 min
  • Episode 018: Freedom Series Introduction
    ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
    Welcome back to my praises faith friends. Thank you so much for joining me today on this introduction to the Freedom Series.
    I have been blessed to be in the field of education for over 25 years. But in 2017, when God told me to walk away from public education, he also told me that my training over the years would not be in vain, I will teach again, and I believe this is what God meant, because to be able to actually teach someone the steps I personally went through to find freedom and healing on my journey to forgive, with his help and faith. I am excited to be guiding others to do the same using the T.H.R.I.V.E. method, I am so excited to see his plan come together so that I can help others find freedom too.
    Ready to learn more? Listen in…
     
    SHOWNOTES:
    •  I finally had an aha moment. I want to help women find freedom through forgiveness, health and our fate to thrive in every area of your life that's physically, mentally, financially, and of course, spiritually, so that you can do all that God has designed your fingerprints to do. (3:19)
    •  Live a life of freedom. You know, the Bible says, Whom the Son sets free is free, indeed. I have never shared how I was able to find freedom in these three areas of my life, because I too have hidden behind the ashes of my own beauty and only shared surface level information about how I was able to walk in freedom. (4:49)
    •  The Thrive method is six steps in the acronym of Thrive that I took to find my own freedom, and I'll talk more about what that freedom looks like, what I was releasing as far as forgiveness and a little bit about my own story as we go through this series. (6:46)
    •  I began to say what God says about me and who I can be and what he's calling me to do. I began to write affirmations in the present for what I wanted to see in my own life, and that freedom, like the E is for effort. Now, once we make the road map and the plan, we have to work the plan. The Bible also says, Faith without works is dead, so we must work the plan until we see what it is that we speak and want in our lives. (8:21)
     
    WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…
    • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007
    • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com
     
    EPISODE AIRED ON:FEBRUARY 03, 2021
    11 min
  • Episode 017: Evolve or Repeat
    ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
     
    Welcome back to my praises faith friends. Thank you so much for joining me.
    I Read a quote that caught my attention and it said, you are presented with two choices, evolve or repeat. Personally, I want to continue to grow and develop my gifts, talents and skills to impact the kingdom of God on the earth. So on this episode, I'm going to share five ways to know if you are evolving into your higher self, and if you're not, three things you should consider in order to do so.
    Ready to learn more? Listen in...
     
    SHOWNOTES:
    •    I know my purpose is to help women get their mind, body and spirit in alignment to thrive in life, and I do that through reminders of God's word, what he says about us and our situations. Now, this word evolved caught my attention and it means to develop gradually or to make someone or something change and develop gradually. (2:55)
    •  There could be, sometimes it comes through a dream, that confirmation. However you get your spiritual confirmation, that's the third thing that could possibly happen to let you know you are truly evolving into your highest self. (4:43)
    •  I read a passage, talks about 8 things that successful people do before 8 AM every day. One of those things is that they have an established morning routine that gets them up and going. I like the saver method. (6:29)
    •  So, if you're ready to evolve, meaning, you're gradually moving towards your higher self, you have to have some things in place, get the clarity that you need or what your fingerprints were designed to do. Make sure you have some form of routine morning routine to get you going. And it may be as simple as making your bed as soon as you wake up. (8:35)
     
    WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…
     
    • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007
    • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com
     
    EPISODE AIRED ON:JANUARY 27, 2021
    11 min
  • Episode 016: Financial Health with Cleo Childress
    ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
     
    Welcome back to my praises faith friends. Thank you so much for joining me today.
    God wants us to be the lender and not the borrower. However, we must take responsibility for our finances, and on today's show, my guest Cleo Childress will share exactly how we can do just that. So, let me just tell you a little bit about Cleo. She is the creator of Cleo Yoga Finance, a podcast host, financial educator, yoga instructor, and transformational speaker. Cleo mixes yoga and finance to help transform mindsets and create healthier financial lifestyles. As a teen mom, she struggled with her finances, homelessness and a deep depression, however, she persevered and now she uses her personal and professional life lessons to help others. Her motto is, don't wonder what if, take a risk. 
    Ready to learn more? Listen in...
     
    SHOWNOTES:
     
    •    I'm originally from Nashville Tennessee, currently living in Dallas, Texas. I am a single mom, my daughter, she is now 17 years old, a senior in high school, and I was a teen Mom, that's where a lot of my big transformations, I really started as a first generation college student. So, single mom working, going to college at the same time... And that's when I started to go into a lot of it with the student loans back then, I just didn't really know any better. That's all everyone really talked about in my environment was, if you go on to college, nobody can afford to go, so you have to take out student loans. So I would fill out the Fafsa, but after that, it was just like a domino effect, it was a credit card to a car note, payday loans, and then that ended up being wage garnishment, it just started going downhill because in my family, no one really talked about that money. (3:31)
     
    •  That's when I started to use the yoga and meditation, that I began to dig deeper in my finances. It helps me to acknowledge where I was in denial, it helps me acknowledge what my money habits really were and what was really holding me back financially. Listen, I really wanted to live. And that's when I connected to yoga. I realize that, Hey, it's not just doing a budget or learning how to track your expenses, you have to dig deeper to figure out how did you get where you are right now, and what habits really need to change. And you have to dig deep and really challenge your mind and your body. (6:29)
     
    •  So the next step is I actually have to start taking action. It's not enough taking in all this information, because you don't want to be an information hoarder. You don't want to just read all these books and take all these notes and let them just sit there and collect dust. I realize I have to actually start doing something. So the first thing I did was I started looking at my credit report, I knew how much debt I had, but I never really looked at my credit report because for one, I was like, I do want to look at this. Yeah, I want to see it. But then second, I knew I wasn't borrowing any more money, because I knew I wouldn't get approved anyway. so I was like, Why do I check reports? I'm not going to be financing anything because I can't get approved because my credit history was just terrible. (11:22)
     
    •  First, make that list of all your debts, and sometimes you'll have debts that may not necessarily be reporting on your credit report, so you have to make sure you're looking through all your financial documents. Look at your tax returns, your emails, paper documents, that you have, because you want to make sure you're accounting for anything and everybody that you owe. It's like you really will be delivered with a debt-free journey, and so you put everybody on there, even if you have a cousin that you owe money to, put them on the list as well. (15:19)
     
    WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME…
     
    • Website: https://raisethepraisepodcast.com
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbell2007
    • Facebook Group: https://www.choose2praise.com
    • Cleo's Website: https://www.cleoyogafinance.com
    • Cleo's Email: he
    24 min

About Raise The Praise

From the publisher's feed

This show is a vehicle to educate, encourage, motivate, and inspire you to choose joy when life’s challenges come your way. Many times, we can not control what happens in our lives. However, we CAN choose HOW we react to them. Tune in each week to be reminded that choosing joy along your journey makes a difference in enjoying life experiences.