Women of Courage, Women of Destiny: Moving from Fear to Faith to Freedom

By Dr. Anita Michelle Jackson

Imagine living your life without feelings of anxiety, worry, or crippling fear. Imagine feeling confident in who you are so much so that you allow yourself to fully be seen, heard, and experienced in every area of your life as well as in your business.

Imagine feeling and being so confident that you have no fears about of being rejected, judged, or abandoned. Instead, you are free to be fully expressed in your gifts, talents, abilities, dreams, and desires. What an amazing life we would all live if we were courageous enough to move through our fears, develop unshakeable faith that leads us to continually experience our divine birthright…freedom.

Whether is speaking on a stage, or moving beyond your comfort zone, or climbing a mountain, or letting go of old beliefs, this book will empower you to make a new decision in becoming a woman of courage, a woman of destiny.

Each chapter will move you through experiences of fear, the journey of finding faith in God and one’s self, and the prize that comes from enduring to the end and finally feeling and being free enough to change the course of destiny.

Grab your favorite tea, relax, and be inspired!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AMJ Productions & Publications
• Release date: Apr 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781619846692

Book preview

Women of Courage,

Women of Destiny

Women of Courage,

Women of Destiny ~

Moving from Fear to Faith to Freedom

By Dr. Anita M. Jackson

with 14 Women’s Empowerment Leaders

Published by AMJ Productions & Publications

Copyright © 2017 by Dr. Anita M. Jackson

All rights reserved. Neither this book, nor any parts within it may be sold or reproduced in any form without permission.

ISBN: 9781619846685

eISBN: 9781619846692

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

To the women worldwide, may you find your inner courage

to be all of who you were created to be and live unapologetically for you!

Preface

For years, actually most of my life, I experienced several regrets. These regrets had nothing to do with my doing something wrong‖ per se, more so regrets on not living life.

You see, unconsciously, I limited myself by living my life based on other people‘s expectations, requirements, and rules of who I should be and what I should do, all the while I missed out on being and living for myself. These regrets were silently crippling my sense of self and causing me to become unconsciously limited in my desires to experience what I desperately dreamed of for my personal life, career and beyond. Silently, these regrets were killing me with mental pain of childhood sexual abuse, depression, suicidal ideation and, thankfully, unsuccessful attempts, alcoholism, weight gain, isolation, and becoming a work-alcoholic. The work-alcoholic developed because I believed that if I did everything right‖ no one would know that I was broken and not good enough. It wasn‘t until one morning when I woke up and realized that I had missed the opportunity to be…well…me!

Deep inside I had dreams of being very successful, owning a lucrative global business that made an impact in the lives of women worldwide. I desired to be married with four kids, a dog, and a huge house with a gourmet kitchen. I wanted it all. But somehow, in my all attempts to avoid pain, to prove my worthiness, I had truly missed the mark. Why? Because I was afraid and didn‘t even know it. My fear was so great that I did everything I could to hide it from everyone becoming the best student‖, the best employee‖, the best therapist‖, whatever was required of me, that I wasn‘t being fully me. My regrets were so heavy it caused me to become bitter, resentful, angry, disillusioned, frustrated, and overwhelmed. It wasn‘t until I loss literally everything, my job, the man I was to marry, my big beautiful house, my job, my money, my friends…the list goes on, did I realize that something had to change and this started my journey of becoming a woman of courage, a woman of destiny.

You are about to embark on a powerful and courageous transformational journey. Within each chapter, our authors share their personal stories of fear, faith, and freedom that empowered them to take whatever risks necessary in order to become courageous women of destiny. You will hang on their every word and look forward to reading the next chapter as they all inspire you to becoming more of who you were created to be because you have the faith to do so.

I personally want to invite you to read this book because each author said YES to writing their chapter with a deep desire to empower and encourage women globally to step into becoming fearless and courageous in every area of their lives.

They said yes because they believe YOU ARE ENOUGH, is important and so necessary to the healing, spiritual restoration, and balance of our world. They wrote each chapter with conviction, intention, and purpose and you will honor yourself and them by reading this book, highlighting passages that stand out, grab your spirit, and causes you to risk becoming courageous in every area of your life.

Enjoy this book. Make a decision to follow the examples given by every author, as they support you in moving from fear to faith to freedom.

Your faith, freedom, and destiny are in your courageous decision to be YOU!

Be Courageous,

--Dr. Anita M. Jackson

Founder and CEO

AMJ Productions & Publications

The Unlimited Woman Lifestyle & Business Network

Unlimited Women TV and Channel

The I Am Enough Institute

Table of Contents

Preface

Courage of Hope

By Carolyn CJ Jones

Courage to Heal

By Beverly Kryer

Journey to Spirituality and Self-Love

By Carmell Pelly

Stepping Into My Brilliance and Owning It

By Debbie Brimble

Discovering Courage On A Big Mountain

By Nancy Monson

Healing the Mother Energy

By Darlene Ondi

Courage of Perseverance: Keeping The Faith Through Life‘s Challenges

By Dr. Vernita Black

The Courage of Vulnerability

By Linda Bolland-Smith

Learning Leadership in a Man‘s World

By Linda Patten

The Courage of Self-Worth: Choose You!

By Rev. Jenenne Macklin

Be Seen, Heard, and SHINE!

By Rebecca Hall Gruyter

The Courage to Love

By Rita Mills

Stepping into Light

By Jane Holt

Be Courageously You

By Dr. Anita M. Jackson

Courage of Hope: The Three Acronyms of H.O.P.E.

By Carolyn CJ Jones

Each night when I went to bed, I whispered under my breath to some unseen force, asking it to make tomorrow better than today. I said to myself, Tomorrow has to be better!‖ And then to the force I said, Help make it better tomorrow.‖ Still, I was terrified things wouldn‘t improve. I was even terrified to be uttering this prayer. I persisted despite my fear.

It never improved. Yet, every night I continued to say my simple prayer. I didn‘t even know if there was anything out there listening, but I did know it wasn‘t God. He deserted me years ago, but that is a story for another time.

My nightly routine occurred while I was in high school. Years passed and I maintained hope that things would improve, even in the face of adversity. I somehow maintained great faith that things could get better. I had an undying belief that they would get better, which they started to do later in life at the age of fifty-two.

Did I always think that things would get better? No. There were moments of tremendous darkness, even thoughts of suicide, where I had great fear that things would always be difficult, that I would always be unhappy. That fear included the possibility that all the mean and hateful things people were saying about me were true. I lost my faith during those times. Yet, that was when I especially needed it. I struggled through by journaling.

Until things improved, I was pretty miserable. One would never know I was unhappy, though, as I had discovered in life that it wasn‘t safe to show that emotion. I think a lot of us learned that lesson. I learned to put a smile on my face and to keep it there no matter what. I carried that detrimental habit into adulthood… far into adulthood.

I could go into the specifics, share a few stories with you about how I learned to keep smiling no matter what. Suffice it to say, I entered college with feelings of shame, worthlessness, and depression. I had a tremendously poor self-image, no confidence, and a self-esteem that was in the toilet. Still, I smiled.

That smile shattered when, as a senior in college, I received a letter from my fiancé telling me he‘d married someone else. Imagine the anguish! I was devastated, totally heart-broken! I couldn‘t focus on anything except my grief, only, at the time, I didn‘t know that‘s what I was experiencing.

After days and weeks of trying to console me, my roommates didn‘t know what else to do, so they took me out for a few drinks. I‘d never had alcohol before and I quickly discovered that it numbed my feelings of sorrow and anger, the grief over my loss. I also discovered that alcohol righted the feelings of low self-worth and esteem, as well as self-hate.

Thus began a thirty-year drinking spree,‖ to which I added drugs about a year after I had my first drink. I learned to totally obliterate my feelings. Imagine, thirty years to be that miserable and to drink and drug that heavily. And still, somewhere hidden deep within me was the hope that each day would get better than the last. Now, years later and fifteen years sober, my hope for peace and freedom, happiness and joy, has become a reality. I renewed my faith in God and to this day, it remains a strong, guiding force in my life.

Interestingly enough, during the past year, I have learned that H.O.P.E. actually stands for three acronyms that inspire us to act in a certain manner. The first is an invitation for you about painful situations you may be experiencing, like the ones I experienced with my ex-fiancé. This acronym is Hold On. Pain Ends. The second one is Hold On. Possibilities Emerge. And, the final acronym is Helping Others Prosper Every Day. Let‘s take a look at each of these.

Hold On. Pains Ends

Hold On. Pain Ends. Yeah, right,‖ you may be saying. Easy for you to say.‖ It‘s possible for me to agree with this acronym and to say to you that pain does end because I‘ve made it to the other side after suffering a lot of pain – physical, emotional, and spiritual. Frankly, I understand if you are skeptical about that saying. After all, I never thought my pain could end. Yet, I discovered when I got sober after my drinking career ended that my pain began to ease. With four or five years of sobriety under my belt, I had an opportunity to do some healing.

I had hung on for many, many years, with hope in my heart, and finally, it was fulfilled. The pain ended, I discovered forgiveness, and I found peace and freedom. As I say in my book, Opening the Gates of the Heart: A Journey of Healing, I never thought this could happen! My heart bursts with joy!‖ I now know that it was God, guiding me through the tunnel of life, shining that glimmer of hope for me. Realizing that strengthened my faith tremendously.

If you can just hold on long enough, pain does end. I am living proof of that. But, while you‘re waiting, you need to be active, not idle. That action entails getting involved in your healing through reading spiritual/religious, and/or personal growth books, writing about your feelings, talking to others, and praying to whatever source you see as the Guider of the Universe. It also involves the action of choosing your attitude, of choosing to see with the glass half full,‖ rather than half empty. It involves learning to be willing, to let go, and to live in a state of gratitude. When you begin to practice these things, you begin to heal.

Perhaps the gentlest way through your pain is to examine what is behind it with the curiosity and wonder of a child. Start by looking at the signs that might indicate you have a story. I define a story as a situation or experience you are involved in with others, or the beliefs you tell yourself about yourself. Signs that you may have a story include continuing with detrimental habits, having regrets about events in your life, withholding forgiveness and love, feeling stuck in one place, doubting yourself and your abilities, and putting yourself down.

If you are experiencing one of the signs that indicates a story is present, write about how that sign manifests for you in current day experiences. For example, in what ways do you withhold love from your spouse when you‘re angry? Do you punish by withholding affection? Perhaps you regret your actions at a family function and feel guilty years later. Maybe you doubt your abilities to be a speaker and leader. How does the sign with which you resonate or identify, show up in your life? Write about it; include how you feel about it.

Let‘s look at the other meanings for H.O.P.E.

Hold On. Possibilities Emerge is the second acronym that I found to be true on my journey. If you can just hold on, things start happening that can move you forward. These possibilities emerge, sometimes magically, under certain conditions.

What are the possibilities to which I refer? The most powerful is, as I‘ve said, gaining more peace. You also begin to get freedom from resentment. Other possibilities that emerge are an improved sense of esteem, worth, and confidence, as well as more harmonious relationships with others and yourself, eventually leading to an overall feeling of lightness.

Let‘s explore how these possibilities come about. First, you must be willing to go where the path leads. Willingness is the key. The second thing is letting go. More possibilities emerge when you let go of expectations of others and self, and of the need to have your own way. Use your connection with the Guide of the Universe to help you achieve the letting-go process by praying for the willingness to let go.

The third practice that‘s necessary for possibilities to emerge is gratitude. Practicing it will transform your life! Begin by finding one thing for which to be grateful. Write it down each morning for twenty-one days. After a while, gratitude can come naturally and you can see life as a glass half-full.

I need to mention that awakening and noticing the forces of the Universe at work in your life will allow you to see when you are receiving the grace of God. It will show up as more possibilities coming into your life.

Choice has a lot to do with possibilities emerging. You are constantly offered choices in life and, depending upon what choice you make, you move yourself forward to peace and healing, or you stay