Journey of Faith

This photo was taken around 2003 during a prior cancer diagnosis, probably diagnosis #2 and my stem cell transplant.  My son Adrian regifted the picture to me for my birthday in 2012. I keep this photo in my mirror because his words “You’ve come a long way baby” still resonate. 

Coming a long way is my testimony to God‘s grace in my life. That I have gone through four cancer diagnoses and am still here is a blessing that I don’t take lightly. When we say “God is good, all the time”, it’s a fact that when I’ve needed Him, He has always been present. And the reality is I always need him. 

Recently, I got clearance from my oncologist to discontinue chemo. I prayed for God‘s favor that the test results from my scans would be good and there would be no need to stay in maintenance chemo. After all, this is not the time for my immune system to be further weakened with new Covid variants around.  My scans were good but when I was tested for antibodies, they determined I have no antibodies to protect me from Covid. So, I’ve had a monoclonal antibody injection to protect me. I’ve read articles of how difficult it has been for some immuno-compromised people to gain access to the injection. It is by God’s grace that I received the treatment.

My strength is in the Lord and I trust God to help me weather these storms in my life and to continue this journey.   My purpose is to praise Him and so I share my story, so others may see His works through me. Amen 🙏🏾 

Cancer, Chemo, Covid…CHRIST!

Pity Party

It was Sunday January 23rd, the day before chemotherapy which I have every eight weeks. I decided I was going to have a pity party. Now that is very unlike me, the person whose goal it is to inspire others, wanting to drown in her emotions and tears. But I knew that there would be 3 to 4 weeks post chemo when my body would experience pain, weakness & major discomfort.  I thought rather than waiting and anticipating these things happening I would just give myself permission in advance to let go of my emotions and my appearance of strength.  So I messaged my sister-friend Cheryl to share my plan. “I’m giving myself permission for a 2 week pity party... 😂 then I’m getting my act together…” I told her. 

Cheryl being the supportive and understanding friend did two things. First she sent me an inspirational message “You can’t break me, my strength comes from God”.  Then she sent me a package with a “pity party” necklace & tee shirt with a picture of a cocktail glass and the caption - “I’m having a pity party, pour me”. Haha. That’s what friends are for. 

Cancer, Chemo or Covid?

Ironically, the two weeks leading up to chemo, which are usually my good weeks, were miserable.  I was sick with a “cold/flu”.  I had chills, fevers and my body ached. I thought it was just a bad cold. But then, the week after chemo, my health further declined and I was worse than I’d ever experienced.  

On Jan 31st I called my oncologist for an appointment but was told that based on my symptoms I should get a Covid test. I got an appointment that day and on February 2nd it was confirmed, I was positive for Covid . 😩. I was devastated. I’d been vaccinated, boostered and so careful staying home, masking up for appointments, etc.  

Now I was in a new fight not knowing what was causing me so much pain.  Was it cancer - once again and were my breathing issues related to the pleural effusion - which initiated this 4th cancer diagnosis and had required that a tube be placed in my back for 5 months to drain fluid from my lung cavity? Was it related to chemo treatments which caused pain, swelling and tenderness in my body and vertigo? Or was it this new diagnosis of Covid - the unknown? Getting confirmation that it was Covid did not bring me relief emotionally or physically. In fact I progressively felt worse. 

CHRIST

During the month of February, I knew I had to shut down everything and be still. I got off social media, limited calls except from family and trusted the only source that has always proven unfailing - Christ. This being my 4th cancer diagnosis required me to “Trust in the LORD with all “my” heart; and lean not to “my” own understanding.  Now with a positive covid diagnosis twice and no doctors willing to see me, I knew my source of strength and healing would come from my heavenly Father.   Hadn’t he brought me through 3 prior diagnoses, a stem cell transplant and so many other life challenges. “He’s never failed me yet!”.

So that is where I have been for two months - quietly resting, listening and healing. What I now know is that though I am better I still have the breathing challenges and lack of energy. And having seen a cardiologists this past week, he confirmed that what I am most likely experiencing is long-haul Covid. No one knows how long the effects of Covid last on individuals but having a compromised immune system makes it much more difficult for my body to fight. But if you know me and if you know my God you know no weapon formed against me shall prosper. AMEN!!

We’ve come this far by faith,
Leaning on the Lord.
Trusting in His holy Word.
He’s never failed us - -yet.
Singin’ oh, oh, oh, can’t turn a-round,
We’ve come this far by faith.
Albert A Goodson, Author

~+~

Legacy Lessons from Daddy's Girl

Happy Birthday Daddy  - Joseph Roy Crawford 
January 15, 1913 - March 28, 1984

I am a daddy’s girls and even though it’s been 37 years since his passing, I still look to the lessons he taught to guide me. 

Here are a few - 

Be curious. 
Many nights we’d sit out in the dark and watch the moon and stars and he’d teach me about the phases and constellations.  

Listen, Ask Questions & Imagine

My dad proudly served in WWII. He shared stories about his travels and experiences as a “negro” in Italy and how Italians had been told he and others had tails like monkeys.  It made me cry and I asked if it made him sad while imagining the day I’d travel to unknown places and have a different experience. 

Have Faith, Love Family, Live Joyously and Sing   

I grew up in a family church where the choir was named for my grandfather - The George Crawford Choir. Blessing my food before eating, saying nightly prayers on my knees before bed and being sung to sleep by my father were habits. I knew that I was loved. 

Get an Education, Strive for Better and Dream.
Neither of my parents graduated high school but their dreams for me were limitless.  When I was 4, my parents moved from our rural family community on Crawford Street to the city so I could go to school and live a better life.  Until then we drank well water, cooked on wood stoves, stored our food in an “ice box”, had kerosene lamps for lighting and used an out house for bathroom or a slop jar at night. 

Even during a time of segregation and discrimination, he was a dreamer and encouraged me to dream the impossible dream. When the opportunity came for me to attend a private high school in Massachusetts on academic scholarship, my parents were my greatest cheerleaders sending me off based on recommendations from my favorite teacher Mrs. Holman, principal & church superintendent Mr. Booker and my pastor - Dr. Miles J Jones.  It was 1968 and the height of the civil rights movement. Trusting their faith and dreams of a better life allowed then to let me go not knowing what my experience would be. What a sacrifice they made and I’m forever grateful and exceedingly blessed. 

Each year on your birthday dad, I remember these and many more lessons and share stories about you and mom to my children and grandchildren. You legacy and lessons live on. #DaddysGirl

SISTAS 2022 & BEYOND

SISTAS

Many people will walk in and out of your life,
but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.
Eleanor Roosevelt

While 2022 is my year of transition, there are some things that will never change, my friendship with my Sistas - Terri “Wellness Coach” Jackson & Cheryl “Success Coach” Cormier. These ladies have been in my life for more years than I can remember. From Florida and Texas to Virginia - there is no distance in our hearts or support for each other. Being in Direct Sales for 20+ years brought many people in an out of my life and it was an amazing opportunity to connect and network annually at conventions and events. If you asked me to name people whose relationships continue from then until now, these ladies will always top my list.

When I was asked to start Josi’s Inspiration Radio Network and to bring other hosts on board, Terri and Cheryl were at the top of my list and accepted without hesitation. Terri is the host of “Your Wealth Is Your Wellness” and Cheryl hosts “With Your Success In Mind”. Cheryl gifted both Terri & I this custom coffee/tee cup that now graces my kitchen. Check them out on our Josi’s Inspiration Radio Facebook page and get inspired.

I am forever grateful to Kayla Padgett, CEO/Founder Finding My Way Network, USA/World for blessing me with a network that now has so many amazing hosts. If there is a message that God has blessed you to share, let’s talk about you becoming a JIRN host of your own radio show.

Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another
Proverbs 27:17

Transitions 2022

TRANSITIONS 2022

Here we are in the year 2022.  The last post I made here was in 2019 when I said “I’m back,” but I hadn’t defined how I wanted to be back.  I had set a platform for Josi’s Inspiration as an incorporated brand.  With the brand came Josi’s Inspiration Radio Network and I brought my direct sales businesses’ Soul Purpose/Youngevity & Damsel In Defense into the brand.  But as I spent my energy growing those two businesses using social media to market, I neglected JosiHopkins.com - the very platform that had been created as the place for me to share.  

It had been my goal to merge the businesses into “Pamper & Protect” and support women with wellness and self-care as well as personal protection, but in direct sales, companies are cautious about having another brand marketed with theirs.  So I plowed on growing my D.I.D. business, developing a team and great friendships. I participated in contests and earned incentives that took me soaring to places like Riviera Maya, Cancun, The Bahamas, Las Vegas, Arizona, Idaho and I used my prior years in direct sales to teach, train and learn.

Like most women I know, I acted like I was superwoman.  I set goal after goal, took on task after task, seeming to forget – I am only human.  This fact became very clear with my 4th cancer diagnosis in September 2020. Ironically, I had just completed certification as a Wholistic Health Coach that August.  I questioned myself. How could I help others when after 18 years being clear while using holistic remedies, I was being re-diagnosed?

I now understand that remedies are limited in their ability to be effective if the lifestyle of the individual is not in alignment. I was moving and shaking in so many directions, I was stressing my body once again as I had years before with diagnoses 1 and 2. But it’s not for me to beat myself up and give up on what I have learned. Every experience I have had has brought me to the place I am supposed to be right now, with the knowledge that has contributed to my growth and my purpose is to share what I have learned.

So as we embark into 2022, I am committed to making a transition back to me.  I’ve streamlined my life and taken things off my plate, making it my priority to discover who God has called me to be for this journey.  Just like any journey, there are road blocks, bumps in the road, and detours.  But we trust that God has prepared us for wherever He takes us, as long as we keep our eyes fixed on Him.

Come along on the journey with me. Be inspired and let’s make 2022 the year that we open the gifts that God has already placed inside us, sharing them and glorifying Him for the blessing of His love.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake,
I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12: 9-10

Heavenly Father,

I thank you for continually blessing me.  There are so many things I could complain about but there is far more that I can praise you for.  During this fourth cancer diagnosis and the age of COVID, you have taught me to be still, to hear you and obey you.  You have shown me time and time again that cancer is part of my journey to be used to inspire others and show that cancer does not have to look like death - even as we don’t know it’s cause or outcome - we can live knowing you will never leaver nor forsake us.  Thank you for loving and blessing us.  Amen.

Mother's Day 2019 Inspirations

I’m back. I stepped away for a few …years… but my mind has always sought to come back here, to write, to bring it all together. Exploring new adventures was fulfilling and I am eternally grateful for experiences and lessons learned. It is very appropriate however, that this Mother’s Day, as I approach the beautiful 65 I take time to connect the dots of Josi. God has blessed me in so very many ways and I can’t way to tell it all.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
#IAmInspired #JosisInspiration

My Mom, my friend, my anchor and strength. Your spirit surrounds me daily and I grow in wisdom through the lessons you taught me. I am blessed to be a wife, mom & G-Ma because God blessed me with your love and a perfect example to follow Corine Clayton Randolph Crawford.

My angel forever. 💕💕

Enter Labor Day

Enter Labor Day Weekend
9.4.16

The change in seasons each having a flow
A repetition from years before
A time that is past but
what goes around...
comes as no surprise when you are watching
with your ears  wide open.

Language does not measure the thoughts,
that place deep within that recalls
a not too distant path
when you felt this time before -  Stop. Reality check.
Did not see it coming...
What does it mean!

Don't ask questions. Be Grateful. 
Take off your blinders though...lest you  miss your calling

When you get right down to it
there is a burning sensation - a path still lies before me
and I must create the border to protect - my heart.  
Weeds and stems removed.  Move forward.

Pain of life situations that have come through me
passed through, leaving just a bit, a memory, not for reflection but for action, Josi,
Child of God, black woman, friend, wife, mother, pain, cancer,
independent woman, coach, seeker

I have to be free. Be who God called me to be.  His Child Eternally. 

Labor Day, a time for re-birth, plan, bring forth a renewal of ideas,
Creativity and fulfillment until the next path is revealed.  Focus.
In Gratitude.

There-is-no-labor-a-person-does-that-is-undignified-if-they-do-it-right. Bill Cosby

Sunday Gratitude

Every kid loves snow. And so as I looked out this morning on the fresh snowfall,  the kid in me was jumping up-and-down.  I couldn't resist the opportunity to walk out on my back deck and just breathe in the fresh air and see the flow of the flakes around me.  Growing up I always heard that a fresh snowfall would clear the germs in the air.  I need that clearing as I've been fighting a cold and congestion for several weeks now.  But the site of the snow clears all of that and gives me hope knowing that spring is just around the corner. 

This past week was so exciting for me.  January 15th was my father's 103rd birthday. Though he's not here I still feel his presence and know that I will always be a daddy's girl.  He gave way in his death to the birth of my son Adrian who I believe was conceived at my father's passing.  And this week was a week for celebration. On Friday I felt then it was confirmed that Adrian received news we have been waiting for but that I cannot share yet. Daughter Erica started her last internship prior to graduating with her Masters in Speech Pathology. I looovvveee being Mom and just being Josi.   

I am so gratefulfor God in my life, my home, my family and the beautiful, though temporary, snowfall.

CHANGES

This morning I woke to learn of the passing of David Bowie and thought - 69 how young - then realizing cancer was the reported cause of his untimely passing, I turned off the tv and began my morning with the goal of recapturing a portion of my timeline though my cancer journey. 

Years ago, I hosted live and studio radio shows and a blog talk radio show "Josi's Inspiration".  I am so thankful that I can go back and retrieve the blog talk shows and decided to see what was happening in my life 5 years ago and looked for a show in that time period.  What I found was a show recorded January 26, 2010 entitled “Making A Change” .

As I listened, I went online to read more about David Bowie and the music that had touched my life like "Let’s Dance" and saw that he had recorded a song called Changes … how appropriate. In the refrain it says "ch-ch-ch-ch-changes, turn and face the strange".

Change is constant, you can embrace it and seize the opportunities presented with an open mind and child like wonder for exploration, or you can deny it and cause yourself stress and anxiety. One thing is certain - you can not stop it, so today flow in the changes that come your way and live freely and on purpose. 

Christmas Traditions

I love Christmas and all the traditions leading up to the blessed day.  As a child, tradition was established by getting and decorating a live tree, decorating the house with lights, taking poinsettia plants to the cemetery gravesite of departed family members, sending and receiving Christmas cards, participating in plays at church and loving times with family.  Those traditions carried forward to the adult years with our children.  Michael and I loved seeing the excitement on the faces of our children as they opened presents Christmas morning.  Now they are adults - Adrian and his wife Jess spend Christmas with our Peterson family in Connecticut.  Mike and I enjoy time with Erica and our 3 grand children Elijah, Moriah & Isaiah here at home.  

This year, however, there is a new tradition that Michael and I can enjoy for years to come.  Pre-Christmas celebration at the Gaylord.  It is no secret that I love to travel and Michael indulges my desire with trips galore.  Our recent 3 day mini retreat at the Gaylord was perfect with a 17th floor room facing the atrium watching the hourly light show each night.  We took in the sites and sounds of the holidays on the National Harbor. 

Our time away was caped off with dinner at SoBe Restaurant and Lounge in Lanham, MD.  While the traditions and trips are nice, there is nothing like having the love of family and friends and celebrating the blessings of life and acknowledging the greatest gift - the birth of Jesus Christ.   

It’s Christmas Eve and I wish everyone in my family, my business partners and circle of friends -
A Very Merry Christmas, Love, Peace and Joy Always.