It's all about LOVE.

Listen as GirlTREK's cofounders, T. Morgan Dixon, and Vanessa Garrison, as they walk and talk about LOVE with special guest Brittany Packnett Cunningham and members of the GirlTREK community. May the prayers and open-hearted conversation inspire you to reimagine what love really means to you.

About Brittany: Brittany Packnett Cunningham is an activist, educator, and writer, leading at the intersection of culture, justice, and policy. She serves as Vice President of Social Impact at BET, is an NBC News political analyst, and host of UNDISTRACTED, an intersectional news and justice podcast. Brittany is also the founder and principal of Love & Power Works, a full-service social impact and equity agency.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does know God. because God is love.” -- 1 John 4:7-21

REFLECTION:

When we think of love and especially love as it relates to the Fruit of the Spirit in the Bible, we always think that we ourselves are taught how to love others. We're taught how to be nice to other people. We are taught how to be compassionate, to be compassionate friends, to be dedicated partners, to be great sisters and mothers. We're taught to respect other people, and to be great stewards of our land and our world, but nowhere are we taught on a daily basis the practical ways in which we can love ourselves. That must be the foundation for all the love that we give to other people. It reminds us of this quote:

"If I asked you to name all the things that you love, how long would it take for you to name yourself?"

Because you cannot say I love you without the implied foundation of, "But I love myself first." If you don't love yourself first, every time you have ever said I love you, part of that love was a lie.

If our soul is fully aware that we are fearfully and wonderfully made in God's image, that He did not make a mistake, and that every single thing about us is divinely ordered, then we can have love for ourselves. If we don't have love for ourselves, that means we are doubting the scripture, that we are doubting God's love for us, that we are doubting the way that He made us. Our hope is that every single woman reading this today is aware of this Truth and never doubts it.

PRAYER:

Today is a renewal or new beginning. Lord, you are a God of comfort, and we send comfort right now in the name of Jesus. God, we send peace and we send hope. We pray right now, especially for our mothers who are raising daughters. We pray that you will bless them to teach their daughters to have self-worth, God. You would teach them, Lord God, to have self-esteem. We would teach our daughters to know that they are beautiful and they don't have to look for validation from anyone. We want to raise strong, powerful daughters, in the name of Jesus. We pray for those of us who came from a background where we weren't loved and we weren't nurtured. Lord, we pray today a healing will go forth. We pray that women will no longer suffer in silence. God, we pray that you will go down and heal the hurt, God. Bind up the wounds. But we must uncover our wounds and we must uncover our hurt in order to be healed. As we pray today we say:

“Today, I will change. Today, I will start. Today, I will begin. Today, I'm walking in a new season. It's a new me."

Amen.

Submit your Prayer Requests at https://prayertrek.org/prayer-request/

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About GirlTREK:
There is a health crisis in America and Black women and girls are among the hardest hit. Every day 137 Black women die from heart disease. This is more than gun violence, HIV/AIDS, and smoking combined. And the effects of chronic stress are wearing on Black women mentally, physically, and spiritually. Black women die younger and at higher rates than any other group of women in the country: 82% of Black women are currently overweight, and 53% are morbidly obese (CDC, 2020).

GirlTREK is a solution. With 1.2 Million active members and counting, GirlTrek, which has been featured on CNN, The New York Times, Essence Magazine, and many other national publications, encourages Black women and girls to use walking as the first practical step to leading healthier, more fulfilled lives.

Discover more from GirlTrek: www.GirlTrek.org
Instagram: www.instagram.com/girltrek
Facebook: www.facebook.com/HealthyBlackWomenandGirls
YouTube:    / @gogirltrek