Psalm 102:2 says “let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.”

At the 2012 God is a Brown Girl Too Retreat, which was held at the Mariandale Retreat Center in Westchester County, New York, we all did just that.  We told our stories, and the more we told them, the more we realized that the stories that we tell are not based on what we experience but on what we believe.

We realized that we had the power to decree a thing and make it so.  The most powerful thing about the retreat is that the story that I really hoped and prayed would unfold – did unfold:  The words we decreed and the stories that we told when we arrived on Friday, the first day of the retreat, was not the story that we told and the words that we decreed when we departed the last day, the following Sunday.

Each one of us decreed, spoke, claimed — told a new story.

God is a Brown Girl Too teaches us that we have been telling the same stories for so long that we no longer know truth from fiction.  We have no idea who we really are in the Spirit as opposed to who we appear to be in the flesh.   Most times, the person who was abused, neglected, rejected or condemned in the past – is given a starring role while our real selves take a back seat.

The only way that we are going to see ourselves reflected as God’s image and likeness is to free ourselves from the past limitations that we imposed upon ourselves, and tell a new story.  We have to  throw away the regret and the pain and the hurt that has been passing for fulfillment and see ourselves with a new light.

In the book God is a Brown Girl Too, God speaks for the first time as a woman of color to women of color, saying:

You are not who you were yesterday . . . . You are different.  You are reborn.  You are free.  Begin to see yourself with a new light. . . .  Matthew, Chapter 6, Verse 22. . .says that the light of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light.  The light is the wisdom that is providing you with a lens through which you can see all of the experiences that I have given you with a new insight. 

What you see in the flesh is around you, but it is not  you.  Jesus tried to explain this when he said, “I am not of this world” (John 8:23). Spirit is the only thing that matters.  Look only to me.  Seek first my kingdom.  Wait upon me, and I will heal your wounds and allow you to move forward with them as a blessing rather than a hindrance.  When you fail to keep your focus on Spirit, you will find yourselves like that beggar on the roadside – blinded by your lack of faith.  

Without my light, it’s difficult to tell a new story for yourself because you cannot see who you really are.  Spirit is the light that unifies you in consciousness and centers you in peace, clarity, creativity, joy, and abundance. 

Only when you are centered in my light do you realize your oneness with the entire universe.  If you achieve this going forward, you will not be limited the way that you were in the past.  You will realize that the heartache or the pain that you experienced can be released and you can stop re-living it.  You can begin to recreate who you want to be rather than who you used to be.  

One of the Tell a New Story retreat participants, Pamela James, blessed us with a powerful affirmation.  She said, “I AM the Great I AM.”  We are indeed the Great I AM, and the stories that we tell about ourselves should reflect nothing more than that.

In 2013, our Fifth Annual God is a Brown Girl Too Retreat, entitled “Our Hope of Glory” — will be aboard a cruise ship, the Carnival Glory.

It’s our maiden voyage because it’s the first time that we will bring our energy to such a relaxing and wonderful environment.  We know that it will energize us.  We are cruising to Nova Scotia on July 29, 2013, for five days during which we will lift up that profound mantra that Paul inspired when he said, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

This is an opportunity like no other to reconnect with the God in us.

You can find more details about the cruise at www.godisabrowngirltoo.webs.com.  But you have to book by July 13, by putting down a deposit as little as $25.00.

Just call Bert Vigueras at CRUISE ONE –(800)619-1694 OR (718) 673-9003.

In the interim, join us for our “Spiritual Boot Camp” for the next seven Sundays, starting June at 2:30 PM, at the Unity Center of New York City, located at 213 West 58th Street, near the Time Warner Building, right off Central Park.