Tag Archives: Paul Laurence Dunbar

Honoring Talent and Abilities of Black Americans

Praise for God for gifts and talents and overcoming anointed power. During Black History Month, we honor the contributions, achievements, and strength of the African-American community that has helped shape our nation’s history and identity. We honor the talent and abilities of those who have gone before us.

Remember that you have talents and abilities.  Think great thoughts.

“The mind is the standard of the man.” Paul Laurence Dunbar, Writer and Poet.
Feed your mind nourishing thoughts, just as you feed your body with nourishing food. .For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7.
…whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8

Remember:

  1. When you receive a God given dream ,not a wish or fantasy, God will give you the strength and courage to walk it out.

For a dream comes through activity. And a fool’s voice is known by his many words. Ecclesiastics 5:3 NKJV

  1. We must not allow anyone but God to assign our roles to us.

I know O ‘Lord that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct our steps. Jeremiah 10:23 (NIV)

  1. Success is measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be His God and he shall be my son. Revelations 21:7

  1. “It’s better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one, than to have an opportunity and not be prepared”. Whitney Young, Founder National Urban League. So prepare

And lastly, whatever you want God’s got it. So Celebrate. Use your gifts and talents to the glory of God to make a differnce in the lives of others and in the Kingdom.

Victory of the Spirit,

Linda Fegins of the Fegins Report

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“Who I’ve Become is NOT Who I AM” by Sonya Visor


Take Off the Mask Blog Tour
Who I’ve Become is NOT who I AM, is Sonya Visor’s first non-fiction book. Her passion is to minister to the people who hide behind masks. Sonya’s calling is to break and destroy the yokes of bondage, releasing the power of God into the lives of others by the preached Word and prayers of deliverance. When you can find the strength, to step into who you truly are; you can find the strength to BE THE (Tru U). TruU Ministries is the women’s ministry that God has charged her with to help other’s become free.
Sonya shares her heart with her husband, Pastor Tony Visor, who she calls her better half, for nineteen years. She and her husband have ministered effectively in the city of Racine together at NCC since 1999. Sonya is blessed to love two sons, Jason and Tony, Jr. Visit her online at sonyavisor.com.

About the Book
Who are you when nobody’s looking? It’s time to take off what hides who you truly are…the mask! Are you tired of going around family, friends and church folk with a frozen smile and a broken heart? Unmask your true identity and learn your real name as pastor’s wife and playwright Sonya Visor cuts to the heart with dynamic testimony of sexual molestation at a young age.
BEING SILENT GAVE POWER to the hands that touched her life. Can hands meant to protect you also have the power to crush your identity? YES! But when we stop allowing a mask of shame to hold us captive with CLOSED mouths, WE CAN let Jesus be real in our lives.
Discover who you have become and embrace who you really are in a book that goes past the pews and what other’s think about you — to bring glory to God by being transparent and transformed. It’s time to take off your mask and let the true you show up!

Book Review by Linda Fegins
Initially I was not enthused about having to read this book. However, Sonya Visor’s passion for helping hurting women and men to be healed, delivered and freed from captivity by taking off the mask shines through and demonstrates the glorious healing power of Jesus. The book is more than a story about having suffered the trauma of sexual abuse, remaining silent and hiding one’s pain and true self by putting on a mask to hide secrets. It’s about overcoming the silence of shame and gaining freedom from the societal and self-imposed yokes of bondages that cause one to put on a mask to hide the wounds and shame, to pretend that all is well. Paul Laurence Dunbar said
“We were the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes:”

Sonya gives real life practical examples of the different masks many wear for many reasons. Her descriptions such as Ms. Gucci, Mr. Do Good , the Bethany’s and others will make you laugh and say “ I know about that one” or identify with the pain of cover up and silence. She encourages one to take off the mask and to be transparent so that Jesus can heal you internally. The book is lined with practical and spiritual pointers of how to take off the mask, how to remain free and daring to be true to yourself. The book will encourage readers to seek true freedom by discovering their true identity in Jesus and unmask the true you.

We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,–
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be overwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

Sonya challenges you to take of f the mask, to be transparent, transformed and let the true you shine through.

A Message from Sonya
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taD1hkwGWME&hl=en_US&fs=1]

View the blog tour schedule and read an excerpt at http://bit.ly/TakeOffTheMask

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