{"id":1884,"date":"2022-05-26T04:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T08:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/?p=1884"},"modified":"2022-05-26T07:01:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T11:01:09","slug":"dont-be-afraid-to-be-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/2022\/05\/26\/dont-be-afraid-to-be-great\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Be Afraid To Be Great!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A couple of months ago my youngest son, William, got the MVP award at one his AAU basketball tournaments. I\u2019ll never forget what his coach said to him. He said, \u201cDon\u2019t ever be afraid to be great.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coach always gives motivating talks to the boys before and after practices and the games but that truly stood out to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As I sat in my office and looked back over the pictures and videos from yesterday\u2019s bridging ceremony at the boys school I began to sob uncontrollably. I don\u2019t take for granted the joy it was to see my youngest son walk across the bridge as he heads to the next milestone in his life. But I couldn\u2019t help but think about the 19 children from Robb Elementary in Uvalde, TX that would never get the chance to walk across the bridge, graduate, or excel to the next level in life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I originally started writing on this topic two weeks ago I had a whole different angle that I was going to speak on but with a heavy heart I can\u2019t even pull myself to deliver that message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead I want to take the time to encourage our young people to be the people God created them to be. Children are our future! Children are the world! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Little boys and girls need to know God. They have to know they are loved. They have to know they can do and be anything they want to be. No matter what society says, THEY WILL SUCCEED. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of us cursing children by calling them bad, mocking them by saying they will never amount to anything, giving up on them and allowing the streets to raise them, or cutting ties WE need to help BUILD THEM UP! Teach them about character, ambition, integrity, honesty, trust, love, obedience, education, talent, working, and all the tools our grandparents, parents, and the elders in the community instilled in us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Parents say these positive affirmations to your children and encourage them. Young people repeat these words to yourself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>I am a child of God. <\/li><li>I am loved.<\/li><li>I matter.<\/li><li>I am valuable.<\/li><li>I am a leader and not a follower.<\/li><li>I have the ability to make a positive change.<\/li><li>I am important.<\/li><li>My life matters.<\/li><li>I can and will make a difference.<\/li><li>I am blessed.<\/li><li>I am wonderfully made.<\/li><li>I can be whoever I want to be.<\/li><li>I am smart.<\/li><li>I am beautiful\/handsome.<\/li><li>I can use my words for good.<\/li><li>I am creative.<\/li><li>I am talented.<\/li><li>I am perfect the way God made me. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I need all my prayer Warriors, children of God, friends, and associates to join me in praying for our community and the young people. We are loosing too many people (especially young people) to gun violence, gangs, drugs, and HATE. If they aren\u2019t being killed\u2026some are killing. Let\u2019s speak life, health, and strength into our babies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>If you are join me in prayer for our young people type praying hands in the comment section below. Help me pray and spread peace. Also share a positive affirmation with others reading today\u2019s message. Share on social media and make sure to like today\u2019s comment. We have to spread love. Help spread love by supporting today\u2019s message. God bless you! <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A couple of months ago my youngest son, William, got the MVP award at one his AAU basketball tournaments. I\u2019ll never forget what his coach said to him. He said, \u201cDon\u2019t ever be afraid to be great.\u201d Coach always gives&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/2022\/05\/26\/dont-be-afraid-to-be-great\/\" class=\"readmore\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Don\u2019t Be Afraid To Be Great!<\/span><span class=\"fa fa-angle-double-right\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[137],"class_list":["post-1884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encouragement","tag-begreat","content-layout-excerpt-thumb"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/775ce2b5-6aa4-4560-8caa-ba6411980235.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1889,"url":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/2022\/05\/27\/raising-kings-and-queens\/","url_meta":{"origin":1884,"position":0},"title":"Raising Kings and Queens.","author":"Whitnee","date":"May 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Ever since I was a little girl I knew I wanted to be a mother. We would read stories and fairy tales and I said I wanted 2 children- a boy and a little girl. God blessed me above and beyond my hearts desire. He blessed me with 5 sons\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Encouragement&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Encouragement","link":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/category\/parenting\/encouragement\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/img_4655.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/img_4655.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/img_4655.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/img_4655.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/img_4655.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":252,"url":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/2019\/10\/17\/do-you-know-what-today-is-its-my-baby-boys-7th-birthday-and-its-throwback-thursday\/","url_meta":{"origin":1884,"position":1},"title":"DO YOU KNOW WHAT TODAY IS&#8230;.ITS MY BABY BOY&#8217;S 7TH BIRTHDAY&#8230;AND IT&#8217;S THROWBACK THURSDAY!!!!!","author":"Whitnee","date":"October 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"William @ 600am ready to go to school. He is the coolest little man I have ever met. He said \"mommy I'm going to pick out my own outfit and it's going to be white.\" I told him okay and said it was his choice and then he snuck in\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/2019\/10\/17\/do-you-know-what-today-is-its-my-baby-boys-7th-birthday-and-its-throwback-thursday\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Williams-7th-bday.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Williams-7th-bday.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Williams-7th-bday.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2614,"url":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/the-ones-that-stood-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":1884,"position":2},"title":"The ones that stood out.","author":"Whitnee","date":"November 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cIf the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.\u201cIf you were of the world, the world would love its own, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. John 15:18-19 I sat in the gym for majority of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Strength&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Strength","link":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/category\/strength\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/img_5426.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/img_5426.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/img_5426.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/img_5426.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/img_5426.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1300,"url":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/2020\/10\/27\/this-is-not-my-typical-birthday\/","url_meta":{"origin":1884,"position":3},"title":"This is not my typical birthday!","author":"Whitnee","date":"October 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Emmanuel\u2019s birthday card to me. He says it is a picture of me relaxing on the beach and his daddy chilling with headphones on. Micah\u2019s birthday card to me. It made my heart glad to see my oldest appreciates mommy\u2019s hard work to raise strong, God fearing young men. William\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"#HappyBirthdayToMe\"","block_context":{"text":"#HappyBirthdayToMe","link":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/tag\/happybirthdaytome\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/img_1645-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/img_1645-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/img_1645-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/img_1645-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/img_1645-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/img_1645-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2352,"url":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/2023\/07\/23\/started-with-a-clogged-toilet-and-ended-with-a-shirtless-son\/","url_meta":{"origin":1884,"position":4},"title":"Started with a clogged toilet and ended with a shirtless son!","author":"Whitnee","date":"July 23, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I woke up early with the intentions to go to church as a family, let\u2019s just say that didn\u2019t happen! Thank God for the church live streaming on Facebook or we would have missed a great message. I did my daily roll call starting with Emmanuel and ending with Micah.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Grace &amp; Mercy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Grace &amp; Mercy","link":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/category\/grace-mercy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/505c09fe-b0d5-4a0a-92f8-c4a690c9a500-1.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/505c09fe-b0d5-4a0a-92f8-c4a690c9a500-1.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/505c09fe-b0d5-4a0a-92f8-c4a690c9a500-1.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/505c09fe-b0d5-4a0a-92f8-c4a690c9a500-1.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/505c09fe-b0d5-4a0a-92f8-c4a690c9a500-1.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1135,"url":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/2020\/07\/30\/opening-the-door-to-gods-word\/","url_meta":{"origin":1884,"position":5},"title":"Opening the door to God\u2019s word.","author":"Whitnee","date":"July 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Continue earnestly in prayer, being diligent in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Strength&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Strength","link":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/category\/strength\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/img_1044.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/img_1044.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/img_1044.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/img_1044.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/img_1044.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbfCFX-uo","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1884"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1892,"href":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884\/revisions\/1892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspirationallaroundme.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}