I Am Woman Enough: 365 Affirmations of Women

By Asa Leveaux

The twenty-two women in this honest and empowering work prove that affirmations may be the most influential tools we have to make our dreams into realities. As selected by bestselling author and founder of Genius Academy™, Asa Leveaux, these narratives explore a variety of issues that face women today—domestic violence, body-shaming,

• Language: English
• Publisher: Purposely Created Publishing Group
• Release date: Mar 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781942838951

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I AM WOMAN ENOUGH

Published by Purposely Created Publishing Group™

Copyright © 2016 Asa Leveaux

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form by any means, graphics, electronics, or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews, quotes, or references.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN (ebook): 978-1-942838-95-1

ISBN (paperback): 978-1-942838-94-4

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Other Books by Asa Leveaux:

365 Erotic Reasons Why I Love You

Why I Won’t Hire Black People

The Professional’s Daily Devotional

I Am Man Enough

Dedication

This book is dedicated to you.

Words of Gratitude

To my family: Moma, thank you for having faith in me on the days that I couldn’t seem to find it. Adonis, thank you for being the best sun a daddy could ask for while I sacrificed time to speak into the lives of women. Chelsea, thank you for keeping me laughing when I felt stressed. Ann, thank you for the conversation throughout the day when you know your big brother needed it. Boonie, each time I called, including the time during Christmas, you had the power of showing up and for that I say thank you. Grandma Sharon, thank you for being home when I so desperately needed you to be there.

To my vault: Aundrae, Brett, Rod, Colleen, Tekoya, Lameka, and Aprille, thank you for being the roots to my tree in this season of bearing fruit.

To my El Paso Family: Jeremy Thurman, Margaret Thurman, and Marie Crest, thank you for inviting me to church, because I needed it. Thank you for the kind words in person and by text message, because I needed them. Thank you for the adult beverages when I didn’t think I needed them. Thank you for making me a priority and a part of your family, because you’ll never know how much I needed it. Know that you reside in my heartspace.

To my focus group: A big thank you goes to these women who provided honest and timely feedback that led to this labor of love. Thank you, Deidre Bush, Laura Jacobs, Julie Garrett, Hattie Fox, Naoe, Shantae Gonzalez, Christy Aleckson, Isah Maazing, and Val Neighbors.

To my contributing authors: Thank you all for stepping into shoes that only you could fill.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Words of Gratitude

Personal Stories of Triumph and Affirmation

1. Worth the Wait

Carlisha Williams

2. The Phoenix Rising Out of the Ashes

Carolyn Webster

3. On Overcoming Self-Doubt and People Pleasing

Darnise C. Martin, PhD

4. Say Yes to Yourself

Desh Dixon

5. One Mic

Elysia Johnson

6. Stand Tall

Erika Hebert

7. Discovering a New Creation

Jennifer Fontanilla

8. Never Give Up

Jody Harris

9. Stretching Makes Us Better

Kiana Shaw

10. Get Off Your Back and Get On Your Feet!

Kimberly Wilson Marshall

11. Rebirth

LaTonya A. Wilson

12. Unstoppable Realities

Leilani Wells

13. I Have Been Designed by the Most High, Intentionally and with Great Purpose. I Matter.

Lisa Chappell

14. I CAN

Michelle Burton

15. Resilience Matters

Monica Tyson

16. Altered

Noel Gray

17. Embracing Your Spiritual Identity

Sakira Baez

18. Ravaged Life

Sandra James

19. Climb

Sharroll Mathias

20. I am Fully Committed because I M Woman Enough

Shewana Mack

21. FEAR

Silver Wainhouse

22. From Bullshit-to-Bliss

Virginia Salas Kastilio

365 Days of Affirmations

About the Author

Personal Stories of Triumph and Affirmation

1. Worth the Wait

Carlisha Williams

I will not settle. I will have a divine relationship that is worth the wait. I deserve ALL God has for me.

What caused tears to stream down my face and my emotions to spin out of control, more than the bruises on my back and arms, were the bruises on my heart. Thoughts of betrayal, pain, defeat, and hopelessness controlled my thoughts as I awoke the next morning hoping that last night was just a bad dream. My hopes were shattered as I walked through my apartment, seeing the imprint of my actual body in the cracked dry wall. I was slammed into the wall after yet another argument resulting in emotional and physical damage. My relationship was on a traumatic roller coaster ride, leading my boyfriend and me to a dark place where love no longer resided. The codependency and fear of being apart drove us both to unimaginable places.

I had enough. I had to let go.

God has spoken to me clearly and succinctly about times I needed to let things and people go. However, there were many times I failed to listen and went through treacherous phases of toxic relationships that left my faith depleted and my self-worth scarred.

I found myself stuck in cycles for years, believing I could be the saving grace and change agent in the lives of men who had potential. You know the potential you see in men that makes you think, I can work with this! The potential that turns into years of commitment that you choose not to leave behind because of the time invested. The type of investment that makes you bitter at the thought of him being the man you built for another woman. That was what I was holding onto. The wrong thing!

As I poured into potential, I lost focus of what I really wanted and consistently knocked former non-negotiables off my list to settle into a man I was trying to build. I was not growing, I was not happy, and I was not where I needed to be. I heard God tell me to leave many times and I contemplated it, but fell back into my thoughts about the time I invested. It’s interesting to reflect back—I was only thinking about a couple of years, and not my entire life.

When I did not leave, God loved me enough to allow every sign possible to redirect my focus. It was when I hit rock bottom, that I declared, "I will not settle. I will have a divinely inspired relationship that is worth the wait. I deserve all God has for me."

I wrote this affirmation on my mirror and read it daily while praying to God for restoration. My eyes shifted to focus back on Him, my ears heard the whispers of the Holy Spirit, and I yearned to pass the test of choosing faith over fear, letting go of what had come my way, but was not for me. I went through many tests I felt equipped to pass, but, for a point in time, my poor choices left me in a cycle of failure, in which I chose my emotions over spiritual discernment. It took my declaration, self-control, focus, and choice to truly move on.

I now trust God's plan and I will wait on what is right and not rush into what's right now, regardless of what everyone else thinks. When God tells me to move in the direction towards marriage, I will happily move. Until then, I will continue walking in purpose and growing into the woman He has called me to be.

Here are two reminders I wish I had received in the midst of my mess:

1. Your desires are not crazy

2. Your standards are not too high

When you begin to compromise your values in an attempt to rush the process of your happily ever after, you actually delay your true blessing. God took me through years of the same lesson until I was ready to pass the test.

Do not rush down the aisle because of what you see on your social media newsfeed or in the lives of others. There is a man worth your wait. You are worth the wait. Stop letting the search consume your time, making you forget that you are a precious jewel to be found: He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from The Lord (Proverbs 18:22). 

Live your life and wait on God’s timing. You are a prize. You are precious. You deserve all that God has for you.

As an acclaimed philanthropic leader, US Goodwill Ambassador, and social enterprise consultant, Carlisha Williams is a woman who lives a life of passion, purpose and faith. As the founder of Women Empowering Nations, a nonprofit devoted to the leadership development of girls and her integrative social enterprise consulting agency, Carlisha Williams International, she is leaving an unmistakable mark on the world. Her advocacy and willingness to be the voice means there is now a new, more profound conversation around women and their significant position as community and global leaders. Carlisha is a fervent speaker and bestselling author of Choosing Faith Over Fear: 14 Days of Life-Changing Lessons. Learn more about her work at www.carlisha.com .

Carlisha Williams

Founder & Executive Director

Women Empowering Nations

www.WENations.org

2. The Phoenix Rising Out of the Ashes

Carolyn Webster

God has turned my life—he has taken the fire of his presence and burned out the junk, and now I am resurrected and born into something new. God has taken me from brokenness, from being an insecure, unsure, and lonely little girl, from being scared and timid, from a liar and a cheater, to a place where I can dream a dream. In 2016, I am seeing some things come to pass. One of the things is writing in this book: another destination that was God’s plan for my life.

So, let me share a little bit about my life growing up in an African American home. It was a typical, single parent home that resulted in divorce. Divorce had a major impact on me at a young age and left me feeling very insecure and needy, as if I was not good enough. I never got to settle that with my father before he died.

I loved God with all my heart, but there were just some things I didn't understand. I didn't understand how a man that was called to be a provider (which is what I learned through the word of God) could leave his family. I didn't understand how he could leave his children and start another life. On top, I was short and had bad skin and buckteeth while growing up, so I was bullied and I hated myself. I was lonely and angry at a young age, and furthermore, I was very angry at my mom. My mom had experienced physical abuse and I thought she was a weak woman. I didn't understand that, one day, I too would be a mother and would have to walk through some of the same challenges that she did. But back then, the trauma of the divorce left me harsh and unforgiving. A lot of my young adulthood, I suffered with depression.

When I attended middle school and high school, I experienced sexual harassment. I was unaware at the time what was happening, except that boys were always slapping my butt and making sexual comments about my body. I hated my body. I hated the perverse comments. All these acts and the feelings associated with them lead to a poor self-image and low self worth. The only way I could defend myself was to respond in violence and in a defensive manner. I decided that, if I had to go through all of this trauma and abuse, I would just give in to what society says: use your body to get what you want and use men in the process. Basically, be a tease. If this was the way I had to think and feel and act to survive, then so be it. If my body could get me what I wanted, okay, cool—I became a tease. I dated older men, men who were non-committal and didn't respect me, because I didn't respect myself. I didn't believe them when they told me I was beautiful or sexy. I didn't believe the guy who said he loved me. Why? Because I didn't believe it myself.

All relationships that I accepted or pursued had to make me feel good so I could feel better about myself. I gossiped about people and criticized others, because I didn't know how to be a good person. I was then born again: I was saved in my early twenties and then became a mother shortly after that. But some things did not change. I thought becoming a Christian would change me completely (don't get me wrong, some things did change when I accepted Jesus), but some of the deep-rooted attitudes and behaviors were still present. Something was still rotting inside of me and I had to face it if I wished to truly move forward in faith.

Growing up, I experienced incest with a cousin. We played house, and sometimes, the intimate touching went too far. I knew in my mind that it was wrong, but I didn't know what to do or say. My relationship with this family member was never the same again. It is a dark shameful, embarrassing secret that had once left me emotionally broken.

Another life-changing moment: while in a relationship with my daughter’s father, we were making out and I changed my mind. However, he was not willing to back off. I kept saying No, but he kept on with the act. Afterwards, he knew something was wrong and all he could say was I am sorry. He got up and left that day. I felt that it was my fault for getting him too aroused. I felt like and I had it coming.

Both events killed me inside.

In my eyes, everything seemed perverted or dirty, so it made my interactions and communication very difficult. The touches, the embrace of hugs at church, they were all so disgusting that I