DO YOU NEED A FAITH LIFT

Do You Need a Faith Lift?
How to renew your spiritual life to find meaning and joy
By Katti Gray courtesy of www.essence.com

Deborah Kakoma was in her early twenties, running with a bad crowd and working what she describes as a dead-end job, when she realized her faith was in tatters. The aspiring artist from Champaign, Illinois, who had returned home after flunking out of Illinois State University, felt adrift. Her parents, both devout Lutherans, seldom saw their daughter, who spent most nights partying. On that rare Sunday when Kakoma gave in to their pleas and accompanied them to church, she sat zombielike, feeling sorry for herself and confused about what God wanted for her life.

Kakoma says her path had seemed clearer when she was younger. As a child, she had loved hearing the Scriptures her mother shared before Sunday supper, and she would say her nightly prayers dutifully. Later she had been confirmed as a Lutheran and had attended church regularly with her family. But the expectations of her high-achieving parents weighed heavily. Kakoma feared they wouldn’t accept her desire to pursue art, and she didn’t want to disappoint them. She felt spiritually lost.

“During this period I began reading Iyanla Vanzant and T.D. Jakes and writing letters to God every morning, trying to find a faith I felt connected to,” remembers Kakoma, now 33. “I was forcing myself to be disciplined as a spiritual being, trying not to feel fractured, trying to understand that God did have a plan for me. It was hard, but I wanted to get right with myself, so I had to keep pushing.”

The search for a more meaningful spiritual life is at the heart of this sacred season. This time of year our very culture calls believers to examine their relationship with a Supreme Being. But faith can falter in any season, as a result of major tragedy, sudden trauma, or just a vague dissatisfaction with how we currently worship. A faith crisis can lead us to lose the spiritual connection that, for many of us, is essential to living a centered life.

The good news is that our spiritual faith can be restored if we’re willing to seek its renewal. It is shored up as we find the lesson in our circumstances and fully turn back to God, says Bishop T.D. Jakes, 48, of The Potter’s House, an international ministry based in Dallas. “It takes a while for a bruised heart to heal,” he says. “But what we are preaching is not faith for the moment but for a lifetime.”

A Spiritual Jump Start
Sometimes faith slips away very quietly, with few outward signs of tumult. For many of us, this inner questioning is less about difficult external events than about the need to create for ourselves a spiritual ritual that satisfies. Catherine Freeman, 51, an information-technology manager for Ford Motor Co. in Detroit, was a Bible-reading Baptist by the age of 8, the only churchgoer in a chaotic household. But as she grew older, Freeman came to view the church of her childhood as gossipy, backbiting and often hypocritical.

She began exploring other forms of worship, a search that ultimately led her to join the Unity Church six years ago. She says it was the church’s inclusiveness of different beliefs that attracted her. “I’ve come to a place in my life where it’s not about religion but about spirituality,” she says. “The church’s openness helped me understand that God is everywhere. Now when I say ‘I have faith,’ I am saying I have faith in the part of me where God resides.”

To read the entire article, "Do You Need a Faith Lift," pick up the December issue of ESSENCE
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Bringing Home the Gravy Sylvia Woods
Enterprises has traditional down-home food at supermarkets near you
By Cliff Hocker
courtesy of www.blackenterprise.com

Sylvia Woods Enterprises has put African American cuisine on grocery shelves since 1992, with canned vegetables cooking up the New York-based company's heartiest volume sales. Sylvia's Soul Food yams and specially seasoned collard greens are naturals for Thanksgiving menus. Stuffing, recently introduced into Sylvia's product line, is in the meat cooler. Mixes for gravies and cornbread round out the feast, accented by a tasty selection of seasonings that add spice to a variety of meats. Peach cobbler mix is one of Sylvia's best sellers. The “Queen of Soul Food” also sells sauces, syrup, and pancake mixes.

Packaged foods bearing the Sylvia's label were created by company president Van Woods, one of the four children of Herbert and Sylvia Woods, the founders of the famed Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem. Van Woods drew inspiration from dishes that had proved to be popular in the restaurant.

Sylvia's goods are available in grocery stores throughout the U.S. Major chains like Safeway on the East and West Coasts, Ahold Stores in the South, including Giant in the Washington, D.C.-Maryland area, as well as Pathmark and ShopRite in the Northeast carry the brand.

Landing supermarket deals, says Van Woods, was akin to “jumping through hoops and doing back-over flips.” But the Woods family felt it was their time so they persevered. “We knew that the time was right for there to be products that didn't come under the umbrella of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, but of a truly black-owned line,” says Woods.

Sylvia's foods first appeared in Zabar's, a Big Apple gourmet grocer, and in the specialty food sections of Northeast regional department stores like Bloomingdale's and Macy's. The Woods family quickly decided to go to the general marketplace of Pathmark, ShopRite and other stores.

The Woods family was the sole investor in the New York restaurant. But the packaged foods venture struggled in its attempts grow nationally between 1992 and 1994. In 1995 Sylvia's found and angel investor in Irving Schatz and took on J.P. Morgan as an investor and established a relationship with World Finer Foods Inc., a Bloomfield, New Jersey-based specialty foods marketing and distribution company. “We decided to start a business relationship with a distributor company, and that's when our products took off,” says Woods.

Reaping revenues now exceeding those of the New York and Atlanta restaurants that sowed them, Sylvia's Soul Food supermarket products have grown into a multimillion-dollar business.
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11/25/2005
Q&A: I Ate Too Much Thanksgiving Food! What Now?
Message from Norris Chumley
courtesy of www.belifnet.com

Despite my good intentions, I did eat a little too much yesterday. Well, I'll admit it, I ate WAY too much turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce, cookies and pie. I bet I gained 10 pounds! What can I do now?

First of all, continue the Thanks. Be appreciative that you had food on your table in abundance, family and friends to share it with. Be thankful that you woke up again this morning, alive and facing the day. We don't need just one day of the year to be thankful; I think every day should be full of Thanksgiving. We are so blessed to be here, let's continue the praise.

Now, about the food. Ask God or your Higher Power to help you get back on your structured food plan. Just because of the fact Don't think because you overate yesterday it does not mean that you are a bad, or fallen person. On the contrary, you have admitted eating too much by writing this question to me and our readers. You are indicating that you want to do something about it. That's wonderful, congratulations.

Just eat less today. It sounds like you had some of everything yesterday, but you don't need to do that today. Get right back into your healthy eating habit by choosing to eat only one thing per meal, or one serving of something. For example, at breakfast you could have a leftover roll with a slice of turkey. Or if you're still full, you might even skip breakfast entirely, or just have a glass of juice or piece of fruit.

At lunch, perhaps you could have salad. Mix some of the leftover vegetables together and add some nutritious red-leaf or mesclun lettuces and just a touch of dressing. Skip the breads and meats.

For dinner you might choose a modest repeat of the big meal. Have a small portion of turkey with only two vegetables and one leftover roll. Skip the gravy and stuffing, and spare yourself the dessert.

One last thing - be sure to get up and move your body. Get the crowd together for a brisk walk or hike. Play a game of catch or kickball. Or put on some lively music and dance together.

Yesterday's over-consumption is in the past, leave it there, and just be thankful again today and get right back with your happy life and healthy habits.

If you have questions for Norris, send them to: asknorris@staff.beliefnet.com

Submitted by: Shelle'