I know that those of you have read my blog, you have discovered that I love Jesus Christ with all my heart. He is #1 in my life. But you also know that I love my Michigan State Spartans. Last Saturday, Michigan State played Wisconsin at home. It was Homecoming. Michigan State was the underdog because Wisconsin was undefeated and their previous game they beat Indiana 59-7. So this game was going to be a challenge for My Spartans!
During the week before the game, I felt a real peace about the game. It was like I was sensing that Michigan State was going to win against Wisconsin. I didn’t say anything to anyone but I just “sensed” in my spirit “peace” about this game.
Since the game was an 8:00PM game, I had to wait all day for the game to start. Wisconsin got the football first and within a few minutes Wisconsin scored two touchdowns. It was 14-0 in Wisconsin’s favor. I was beginning to think, that I misread the “peace” in my heart. Then my Spartans got the ball! They fumbled the ball. I just knew that my Spartans were facing defeat! I even turned away from the game for a few mintes. That is right! I was a coward. But I turned back! When I did the defense had caused a fumble. My confidence was coming back. I still felt the peace in my heart!
Michigan State scored 22 unanswered points. I was feeling good! Then Wisconsin came back and tied up the score 31-31. Oh my goodness!
So there are 4 seconds left in the game. Michigan State had the ball! Kirk Cousins threw a long pass into the end zone called a “a hail mary.” The receiver caught the ball. But then the referrees had to review the play to see if the reciever got the ball into the end zone! We had to wait! Then the referree ruled that the receiver did get the ball into the end zone! TOUCHDOWN! We won!
As I reflected on the game and the win, I couldn’t help but to think when we pray and believe the Lord is directing us. The Lord’s wisdom can be determined in our spirit by feeling a sense of “peace” or calm. You have heard people say when something isn’t right, they feel scratchy inside. That is God saying that isn’t His plan. But you have peace but then something happens that goes against what you feel like the Lord is doing. What do you do? You believe in the midst of what you are seeing but more in what the Lord is saying to you!
During that game, I did get discouraged a bit but I kept trusting the peace that I had on the inside of me. That is the key! Trust! You must trust the Lord.
What are you trusting the Lord to do for you? Do you want a love one to be saved and delivered? Are you facing a financial situation that looks hopeless but yet the Lord says to you that it is going to be all right. Has the Lord promised to heal you and you are feeling more pain then you have ever experienced? TRUST what the Lord has told you!
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Whenever I am on a train, bus or on an airplane and I hear the phrase “Federal Regulation Requires” after advocating in Washington, D.C. I have found out that there have been many people to make a law come to pass! I never really thought much about the government of my precious America. A government “For the People and By the People” is run by the people of the United States of America.
I experienced more involvement in the process of being “the people” during my last trip to Washington, D.C. 9 to 5, National Working Women, invited me to go back to Washington for “National Summit on Paid Sick Days and Paid Family Leave.” We were advocating for a Federal Bill “Healthy Families Act (S. 984) which will provide paid sick days for people that work 30+ hours a week at a company with at least 15 employees. On my previous blog entry (see Special Kind of Giving) I shared how I met a small business woman that made the decision to provide for her employees paid sick days and the Lord rewarded her not only with happy employees but He increased her business.
This summit was held at the Hyatt Regency in Washington that is in the shadow of Capital Hill. There were experts speaking on the facts and figures about paid sick days as well as testimonies from people that didn’t have paid sick days. I never realized how much money and people intervention was involved to make a law a law. We came from 12 states. Some like myself flew into Washington. This summit paid for all of our expenses. Money invested. They even trained us in how to present ourselves to the legislative assistants to Members of Congress. This summit also gave me the opportunity to attend a Congressional Reception on Capital Hill. I had the opportunity to meet Shelia Jackson-Lee, a representative from Texas. She rushed in from the airport and took time to speak to us. I had an opportunity to give her an encouraging word from the Lord and she received it with gladness! I really appreciated her time because Congress was in the middle of solving the debt issue!
The second day in Washington I attended a “Care Congress” in the morning This was a congress centering on Domestic Workers. For so many years if you were a domestic worker then you were “less” and your job was labled “classless.” But at this congress it was declared that Domestic Workers are PROFESSIONALS! I always want to sit in the front so that I can see and hear everything as well as take pictures. So I was sitting in the front right by the head table. As the Care Congress began suddenly a door opened in front of me and in walked Valerie Jarrett. You say “Who is Valerie Jarrett?” She is the Senior Advisor for President Barack Obama. I was close enough to her (and the Secret Service) to get her eye and wave at her. She spoke to the crowd expressing President Obama’s support of Domestic Workers. Then after Valerie Jarrett in walked another lady. When Gustavo Torres introduced this lady it was the Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. I was so amazed at the level of speakers this Congress brought!
In the afternoon of the second day, I went to visit members of Congress on Capital Hill. Since the Lord let me know when I was returning from Washington in April that I would be returning, I really spent a lot of time praying after I found out that I was returning to Washington. I prayed that the anointing would be strong and that the Lord would fill my mouth with the words that I needed when I met with the members of Congress. The Lord did just that! He filled with my mouth with the words that He wanted me to express. I really felt that our words that we shared made a difference. One of the ladies that accompanied us to one the offices made the following statement in a follow-up email; And can I just add that it was a deep honor and a genuine delight to spend time and get to know all of you. It was wonderful to see Cindia and Nancy in Rep. Barrow’s office, calmly but doggedly making the case for Paid Sick Days. And what a treat and an education to witness Charmaine, Rev. Harriet and Ms. Claudia preaching it to Rep. Woodall’s aide. Wow!
It was an honor to be part of “The government for the people and by the people.” But most of all I was honored to be a witness for the Lord. It was amazing to pray in the hall of the Senators’ office building and then see God do what we asked! Our government in America isn’t perfect but I love being an American. My experience on Captial Hill has really taught me to appreciate the laws and regulations that we have. I have found out that much money, time and people power makes those laws become a reality.
I have provided links from my Facebook page of pictures from my last trip to Washington, D.C. One of the exciting extras was to ride the “Members Only” train system on Capital Hill that takes you from either the offices buildings to or from the Senate and House of Rep offices going through the Capital Building. We were given official “visitors’ badges that gave us permission to ride the train!
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I am writing this blog entry from Washington, D.C. where I am attending The National Summit on Paid Sick Days and Paid Family Leave. People from over 12 states are here advocating for Paid Sick Days.
One of the first things that would make a business owner hesitant to give an employee paid sick days, is that they can’t afford to do that. I met a small business owner here at the Summit that has such a tremendous testimony. Makini Howell, from Seattle, Washington, a restaurant owner, shared this with us at the Summit:
“I’m a small business owner and I’ve grown up in a small business. My parents started our business in 1972 and they raised us as entrepreneurs. I run three restaurants in Seattle and a commercial kitchen on Capitol Hill and we employ 30 people. All of us get sick from time to time and when my employees are sick I don’t want them to be thinking, “Can I really afford to take a day off or should I just go to work. I am not going to be able to pay the rent?” For me, the cost I can’t afford is losing good employees.
Investing in employees is investing in the most valuable asset a business has. I , for one, don’t want to serve you up HINI with your fries. And I’m willing to spend pennies to do that.
This restaurant owner decided to “give” something to her employees. Makini put herself and her business to receive some blessings by giving. I asked her what has happened as a result of giving her employees paid sick days? She shared with me that her employees were happy and because they didn’t have to worry if they happened to get sick how they were going to pay their bills. But Makini shared this with me also. She had an increase in customers. Her giving not only provided a sense of security for her employees but the Lord also increased her business!
Luke 6:38 says “Give and it shall be given unto you…” Whenever you operate God’s principles’ in any area, the Lord will keep His Word. Makini didn’t allow fear to come upon her and see if she spent more she was going to lose out. She felt it was more important to give to her employees. Even though she was releasing more money, she didn’t lose but gain! Isn’t that just like the Lord!
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Being a member of Vinings Worship Center has afforded me the opportunity to me some wonderful people. A person that joined Vinings Worship Center introduced the congregation to The Cowboy Church of Lafayette, GA. What an experience to go to church in blue jeans and wearing a cowboy hat. The people at The Cowboy Church are such wonderful people. They have opened their hearts, church and homes to us. Susan and Keith Holland opened their home to us to stay with them whenever we visit.
Keith and Susan have been married for many years. It is easy to see that they have spent years developing a great relationship. Their personalities balance out each other.
Keith is a true cowboy. He has several acres with horses and the like. He likes to “rope” steer. The country life is what really makes him happy. But Keith has learned as a husband that you must do things that make the wife happy. Keith shared with us that Susan has always wanted to go to Europe and visit all the traditional tourist attractions. For Keith that is the LAST thing that he would want to do. But because he loves his wife, they put their money together and went on I believe a two week tour of Europe. Keith, Susan and some other friends flew from Atlanta to Germany. From there they rented a car and drove to several countries. They saw all the traditional tourist stops like Cathedrals as well as experience strange food. Keith was going along with all the touring because he knew that his wife, Susan, was throughly enjoying this fantastic trip. But about the 10th day, Keith had just about had enough of all of these strange cities as well as finding people that spoke English. Keith was missing the country air, his horses and most of all to be able to do some roping. One day Keith “cried” out to the Lord and simply said “Lord, I just want to rope.” Notice Keith only said rope! The next day, they were driving along in the countryside. Keith loved seeing the green fields and even some cattle! Suddenly, they came across a group of children playing. They stopped and found out this was a daycare center. One of the workers could speak English. Keith while on tour in Europe still wore his cowboy outfit. The children were excited to see a “real” cowboy. They asked him what is something that a cowboy does. Well, Keith was able to share with the children about roping. Instead of roping a steer, he roped the children! The children had a wonderful time and Keith was able to do something that he really liked – roping.
The Lord heard the cry of Keith’s heart. John 16:24 says Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. In the Amplified Bible it says . . . . but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete.
Keith asked the Lord in simple faith and God answered his request just as it says in John 16:24. Keith experienced much joy! The Lord cares about wants to give us the desires of our heart. All He wants us to ask so that OUR JOY may be full! I believe that full is like when you fill a glass with water and it gets too full, it starts to overflow! An overflow of joy!
That is what brings pleasure to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He wants us to ask. He wants us to ask so that He can pour out his joy on us! Nothing is too small or too large to ask the Lord to do for you! Take Him at His word, ask and watch His joy come in an overflowing fullness!
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It is amazing how the Lord will have you do things that you never thought about doing. There was a time that I didn’t believe that women could preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ but yet I am an ordained minister preaching the Gospel. Now I can’t imagine doing anything else! Even though I am a consistent voter and pray for my government officials, I never thought that I would be in Washington, D.C. advocating for women’s rights in the work place. But that is exactly what I did this past weekend with an organization called 9to5 National Working Women.
My parents introduced me to Jesus Christ by taking me to Sunday School and church every Sunday. So by the time I was 21 years old I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. My parents, especially my mother, was very active in the political arena. My parents didn’t finish high school but because they had excellent paying jobs with General Motors, this allowed them to have the “extras” in life. Many organizations like United Auto Workers helped people working at General Motors to have excellent pay, benefits as well as working conditions. My Mom and Dad were very active in making sure people had fair wages and etc. We did all things as a family so I can remember as a little girl attending political conventions for my parents’ favorite party. I saw candidates nominated for office. I remember going to some reception with my parents and getting the autograph when I was about 8 or 9 of the then current governor of Michigan. In fact, I still have the autograph. Evidently, my mother was elected chairman of her political party at the county level where we lived. She was a delegate to a National Convention where her vote went towards nominating a presidential candidate.
After I went into the ministry, I continued to vote but never really thought about the political arena. When I moved to Georgia and began to work in different businesses and corporations, I saw that the wages were lower and there was a lack of benefits for full time workers. I began to question inside me why was this going on. Even though I had the questions I didn’t think about doing anything about it. Then one day I received an email from my pastor telling me about Mayoral Breakfast Roundtable sponsored by then Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin. I attended the quarterly meetings for the two years that they were held. At one roundtable I walked up to a table where the person sitting there asked me if I would like to see the minimum wage increased in Georgia to level of the Federal minimum wage that had just passed. I immediately signed up. That was two years ago. The organization was 9to5 National Working Women.
During that time, 9to 5 began to teach me how I could use my voice to make a difference for myself and other people in the political arena.
Currently, 9to5 is advocating for a server’s wage to increase from $2.13 to eventually $4.30 an hour. In addition to that issue, 9to5 is advocating for paid sick leave. The name for the servers is called “The Wages Act” and “The Healthy Families Act” refers to paid sick leave.
Each year 9to5 has an “Annual Leadership Conference” in Washington,D.C. During this conference training is provided on how plan and present your issues to your government officials. In order to attend this conference free of charge, you had to get 10 people to join 9to5 at $10 a membership. I did just that and now I was given the opportunity to go to this conference free of charge. This is the first conference that I have ever attended that someone else paid for it. So this is the conference that I attended last weekend.
Of course I knew that the Lord had opened this door for me not only to advocate for working women but for Jesus Christ. I did intensive prayer and I had my church, Vinings Worship Center, praying for me. I knew that this was a serious assignment from the Lord.
We stayed in a brand new five star hotel with all the extras. The training was extensive but informative and fun. On Sunday I attended Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va that was close to the hotel then returned to get more training. The service gave me a spiritual boost for the rest of the weekend!
My assignment was to go to Department of Labor as we talked about “The Healthy Families Act” and “The Wages Act. Then after going to Department of Labor, I was to go to talk with Rep David Scott to get his support for these bills. So that Monday morning we boarded the bus to our destinations. The people on the bus were pensive and quiet as we were in route. As I looked out the window and began to see the government offices, my mind began to reflect on the many people like Frederick Douglas, George Washington Carver, Harriet Tubman and even my parents that had paid a price for me to go and exercise my voice. Even someone had to pay the price for me to stay in a hotel and receive the same service and treatment as any one else. It was quite a humbling moment.
When we arrived at the Department of Labor and after going through security, we were directed to a conference room. There were about 25 of us. We met with the head of Wages & Hour Division. I sat down to the right of her. My name tag said “Rev. Harriet Bradley.” I could tell that she was a little nervous. So I prayed, made eye contact with her and even did an “amen” to let her know that we were on her side. She listened, we shared and even shed some tears. We got a lot of information and now we had some contacts to help us with our issues.
Then Charmaine Davis, Tonya Pinkston and myself went to the office of Rep David Scott from Georgia. Because the Congress was just returning from a recess, we spoke with his Legislative Correspondent, Arthur L. Tripp. He listened intently to us. When I shared with him about people having paid sick days, he said that is something everyone should have. As I sat there in the office, in the shadow of the Capital, sharing about this issue, I began to share with him how I will never view the Capital the same way again. The tears began to fall as I thought about how the Lord and so many people made it possible for me to use my voice.
But I didn’t forget that the most important thing was to share the love of Jesus Christ. I was able to give words of encouragement and even pray for one person. My heart kept saying “Lord, I want you to be glorified and magnified.” But most of all I believe the Love of Jesus Christ flowed out of me and made a differene every where I went.
I believe that the legislation that we desire will go through the democratic process and will become law. I am so proud to be an American. Tears still flowed as I sat on the plane back home reflecting on such a fabulous weekend. Then on top of all to be in Washington D.C. when President Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden was captured and killed.
I will stay open to do what the Lord wants me to do to advocate for issues that I believe in and for Jesus Christ. What about you?
