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Prayer Edition | Day 10 | Jesse Owens Oct 17, 2020

Show notes

You have to see yourself winning.
Everybody's got that cousin... a cousin who is funnier than Eddie Murphy, one who can jump higher than Michael Jordan or that one who - with just a little coaching and education - could be the next Obama. Let’s agree to agree, we're blessed. Genius abounds at Black family reunions.
So, when I look at Jesse Owens, it cracks me up because he looks like everybody’s cousin who can run fast. Jesse Owens was ours. He was familiar. He was our chance to prove it. Settle the score. Win. He was the punchline to the joke of injustice. He was our graceful entrance. And our “Hi Haters!” Jesse-Owens-was-redemption.
And, like so many of us who fight poverty, generational trauma, and thick-thick racism, Hitler didn't have anything for Jesse Owens - because he could already see victory before the race even began. Call it survival. Call it evolution. What the enemy planned for his downfall became the greatest victory of his life. Cue Koryn Hawthorne. Won't He Do it!
Spiritual Warrior of the Day
In 1939, Jesse Owens was the most famous man on the planet. He "single-handedly crushed Hitler's myth of Aryan superiority" by pushing the limits of human capability and smashing world records.
But today, we won't talk about gold medals. No. Instead, we will explore three very-real moral dilemmas in Owens' life that just may help us out in 2020. His life was complex. Rich with irony. Hard fought and often misguided. Scrappy. Not always honorable.
And yet, we celebrate him - as a spiritual warrior - because he stayed in the race until the day he died. Through decades of shifting definitions of Blackness, he kept his eyes on doing his personal best. And for that, we draw a gritty brand of inspiration.
Join GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp - The Prayer Edition at blackhistorybootcamp.com to receive specially curated emails with prayers, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each episode. Together we will discover the stories of 21 spiritual warriors.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Won't He Do It - Koryn Hawthorne:
https://open.spotify.com/track/5Vr9WTLcbpKRkQGvVen13W?si=0sJUEo3uQlm7brR-628xlw
Soldiers In The Army - Rev. James Cleveland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnudHcR_34M&feature=youtu.be
We're Blessed - Fred Hammond:
https://open.spotify.com/track/0ZD5LFsk2PMHicGH8MWRN8?si=ZKc8cUMiS6WesytoRpTo6Q

Prayer Edition | Day 9 | Gwendolyn Brooks Oct 15, 2020

Show notes

On the night that Gwendolyn Brooks learned that she would become the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, she was sitting in her living room on the Southside of Chicago with her nine-year-old son in the dark because the light bill hadn't been paid. By morning word had spread. A 32-year-old Black girl genius had secured the highest literary award in the land. Reporters descended on Gwendolyn's home and as they came, she sat petrified, not wanting to reveal to the journalist and cameramen that they would have no place to plug in their equipment.
But God!
When one of them came into the house and flipped on the switch without her knowing. The lights came on. Someone had gone down to the light company and paid the bill.
Somebody out there today needs this exact story.
Somebody needs to be reminded that its darkest right before dawn.
Somebody needs to be reminded that there is still hope all around us.
“We are each other's harvest;
we are each other's business;
we are each other's magnitude and bond.”
Today’s walk is a story of celebration. Of what survived. A reminder that we are the #daughtersof praying Black women and that their prayers are what keeps the lights on.
Through Gwendolyn’s story we will discover the stories of our great-great-grandmothers, women who fled the terrors of the Jim Crow South, with nothing but the traditions, faiths, and beliefs of their mamas, packed in their suitcases.
Join GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp - The Prayer Edition at blackhistorybootcamp.com to receive specially curated emails with prayers, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each episode. Together we will discover the stories of 21 spiritual warriors.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or interview excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
God's Got a Blessing (with My Name on It!) - Norman Hutchins:
https://open.spotify.com/track/208coS3K4leplVIBvrY6Pu?si=l1DCCZP-QLyYpHAV0LhpQg
Prayer Will Fix It For You - LaShun Pace:
https://open.spotify.com/track/5Li3n4gKfeQ5KKWggmUpom?si=bf-p4MmZRdSwuMFO8FUN3A

Prayer Edition | Day 8 | Maya Angelou Ft. Oprah Winfrey Oct 15, 2020

Show notes

"When I try to describe myself to God I say, 'Lord, remember me? Black? Female? Six-foot tall? The writer?' And I almost always get God's attention."
God gave Maya Angelou more than attention. God gave her a voice - a voice to break the silence, to sing calypso, to demand justice, to define excellence, to announce our peoples' rising up -- as a phenom. Her voice blanketed an entire generation of Black girls with love. ...and her boundlessness whispered into every girl's imagination. And for that, we thank God.
Spiritual Warrior of the Day:
Dr. Angelou's story is brilliantly blazed in the psyche of every Black woman. Trust-you-me, we know about Stamps, Arkansas. We know about her mother and her Momma. We know the intimate truths of her darkest days. And we watched her phoenix rise. Her love affairs and protests created a rhythm for all of us to strut. And her lilts of "sister" gave us a daily doctrine for spiritual warriorship. Maya Angelou is everyone's foremother and she commands us all to embody 1 Corinthians 16:14. “Do everything in love."
Today, we honor The People's Poet.
Join GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp - The Prayer Edition at blackhistorybootcamp.com to receive specially curated emails with prayers, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each episode. Together we will discover the stories of 21 spiritual warriors.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or interview excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Optimistic - Sounds of Blackness:
https://open.spotify.com/track/7Mb7jOst43wPQELas93ARE?si=9jnGA_5STCG2An2Q7ZpMtg
Maya Angelou "Love Liberates" Courtesy of OWN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Gv7PwyeCk&feature=youtu.be
Dr. Maya Angelou on the Power of Words | Oprah's Master Class | OWN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKv65MdlV-c
Dr. Maya Angelou Recites Her Poem "Phenomenal Woman" | SuperSoul Sunday | OWN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeFfhH83_RE&feature=youtu.be
Maya Angelou on the Noble Story of Black Womanhood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4MucoOQz0c&feature=youtu.be
I Hope You Dance - LeeAnn Womack:
https://open.spotify.com/track/65B1tEOv5W294uCKbmEcFV?si=6TMqL9WWQ6SJYy2RHNKFmg

Prayer Edition | Day 7 | Ntozake Shange Oct 14, 2020

Show notes

“I was missing something
something so important
something promised
a laying on of hands
fingers near my forehead
strong
cool
moving
making me whole
sense pure
all the gods coming into me
laying me open to myself
I was missing something
something promised
something free
a laying on of hands
I know bout/laying on bodies/laying outta man
bringing him all of my fleshy self & some of my pleasure
being taken full eager wet like I get sometimes
I was missing something
a laying on of hands
not a man
laying on
not my mama/holding me tight/saying
I’m always gonna be her girl
not a laying on of bosom and womb
a laying on of hands
the holiness of myself released
I sat up one nite walking a boarding house
screaming/crying/the ghost of another woman
who was missing what I was missing
I wanted to jump up outta my bones
& be done with myself
leave me alone
& go on in the wind
it was too much
I fell into a numbness
til the only tree I could see
took me up in her branches
held me in the breeze
made me dawn dew
that chill at daybreak
the sun wrapped me up swinging rose light everywhere
the sky laid over me like a million men
I was cold/I was burning up/a child
& endlessly weaving garments for the moon
with my tears
I found god in myself
& I loved her/I loved her fiercely”
Spiritual Warrior
Ntozake Shange.
She invited us to find God in ourselves. She ushered entire generations of Black women into liberation. She wrote for those of us who didn’t yet exist. “So, we could have something here when we arrived.” That something was a vision for our lives that was bigger than our trauma. A vision that stitched together the words that had been snatched from our grandmothers’ tongues. She brought them back to life with vivid colorful detail and pain searing truth that forced the world to look our humanity in the face. Through her words, she said all the things that needed to be said. She wrote a Pslam and sang a Black girl blues. She resurrected the weary souls of Black women by breathing holy life into them, one stanza at a time and for this, we celebrate Ntozake Shange as the Patron Saint of Black Girl Healing. Thank you for serving us with such fierceness, dear sister. Today we tell your story. Let each step on today’s walk bring forth more of your powerful works into this world.
Join GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp - The Prayer Edition at blackhistorybootcamp.com to receive specially curated emails with prayers, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each episode. Together we will discover the stories of 21 spiritual warriors.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or interview excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
I Am Light - India Arie:
https://open.spotify.com/track/6XgtZdXJN7R9Myu80BGebR?si=PGjMQ99pRXarW-70Gc_8SA
A Laying On Of Hands (I Found God In Myself):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0ksLhou1mg&feature=youtu.be

Prayer Edition | Day 6 | Tina Turner Oct 13, 2020

Show notes

What if you stopped performing? What would that look like? What would it feel like? ...to live your creed, to walk your walk, to sing your song - not for others, not for their applause or approval. Not to avoid pain or earn love - but because you were following your bliss. What if you stopped performing and started living? On deep purpose? With integrity. Joy. Who would stop loving you? What exactly would change?
The greatest privilege of this lifetime is being exactly who you are.
So inhale... say "I am here." Exhale...."Joy is here."
Spiritual Warrior of the Day:
Tina Turner's life defines the hero's journey and we will talk all about it on today's call. But the most heart-wrenching scene in What's Love Got to Do with It had nothing to do with Ike. No. The single, most heart-wrenching scene happened just after Tina Turner chose to die. She took a lethal dose of pills. Then it happened. Something too familiar. Even in her darkest moment, she rallied herself to perform. It was at that moment. When she was tracing a heavy eyeliner and lost control - that we saw ourselves. Even as we are dying inside, we are showing up, putting on face. We are standing at the ready to serve, give, earn, rally, stoke, protect, soothe, nurture, build, and love. For so many of us, our attachment to needing to feel loved is the source of our suffering. For Tina Turner, it nearly took her life.
And then it happened. "Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō ...Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō ....Namu Myōhō Renge Kyōooo." She decided to rally for herself. For her life! This is the Lotus Sutra. Perfect because like the lotus flower, born out of the darkest scum of a pond, we have the power to transform our own lives into pure brilliance - every single moment. What a privilege. It is the greatest journey - and it starts with a single step toward what satisfies your soul.
Join GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp - The Prayer Edition at blackhistorybootcamp.com to receive specially curated emails with prayers, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each episode. Together we will discover the stories of 21 spiritual warriors.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or interview excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Tina Turner - Proud Mary - Live Wembley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2T5_seDNZE
Thich Nhat Hanh - Walking Meditation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdO1vZJgUu0
Tina Turner: Interview with Gayle King:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWHaONa1mWI
What's Love Got to Do with It - Tina Turner:
https://open.spotify.com/track/4kOfxxnW1ukZdsNbCKY9br?si=9VLaxChhRVWX_KQawC8X0A

Prayer Edition | Day 5 | Colin Kaepernick Oct 12, 2020

Show notes

God give us a boldness that allows us to risk it all for the things we believe in. Let us walk with a spirit of courage. Let your love cast out the fear that has held us hostage for too long. Build our confidence so that in this season of reckoning, we can show up and do the good work that you have called us to do. Mighty is your name and mighty is the spirit that lives within us.
Spiritual Warrior of the Day:
Colin Kaepernick’s tattoos are a roadmap to his faith. On his right shoulder, Psalm 18:39, “You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet.” On his left bicep, Psalm 27:3, “Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.” On his left upper arm, “God will guide me.” And above his elbow, praying hands clasped with the proclamation, “To God Be the Glory.”
In case you didn’t know, this is a man of faith. And a man with this much faith is someone who is willing to risk it all. For that, we celebrate and uplift our dear brother Colin Kaepernick. Fist in the air. Knee to the ground. The story that we’re going to tell you is far beyond anything you’ve heard about this man, his work, or the Black men he represents.
Join GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp - The Prayer Edition at blackhistorybootcamp.com to receive specially curated emails with prayers, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each episode. Together we will discover the stories of 21 spiritual warriors.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or interview excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Shackles (Praise You) - Mary Mary:
https://open.spotify.com/track/7JKEA8xYDoFp4q0QBW2PGg?si=xGieY0edQW2Vt-f7gYLO8w
Zion (Zion is Calling) - Stephen Hurd:
https://open.spotify.com/track/0VrI2SmESlXMVlxdGk1Ver?si=umV5TDXQSkmfgAKs7FQ6Jw
Let Your Power Fall - James Fortune, Zacardi Cortez:
https://open.spotify.com/track/065WC0FgiI4zX3VkpqCpDF?si=S2_X8yAVRzS-nCBpRZW9OQ

Prayer Edition | Day 3 | Anita Hill Oct 08, 2020

Show notes

"Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit." - Proverbs 18: 21
Let today’s walk give you the courage that you need to say the hard things that need to be said. To whoever it needs to be said to. Even if it’s not popular. Even if no one believes you. Your truth is your truth. No more muted tongue. Let it be what it will be. No more pleading through pursed lips. Stand firm sisters. We have for generations kept secrets, swallowed lies, tolerated the intolerable for fear of what would come should we simply speak. Well, let the words come. Let them flow like the Jordan River. Spit fire with each syllable. Let the phrases burn down the walls that have caged you. Be free. Be healed. And then promise to never betray yourself with silence again.
Spiritual Warrior of the Day
Anita Faye Hill. Black woman genius. Law Professor. Born to a family of farmers in Oklahoma. The youngest of 13 children. What had she already endured before she decided, enough is enough? More than 30 years before the #MeToo movement broke through to the conscience of America, Anita Hill stood before an all-white, all-male Senate Judiciary Committee and the blaring lights of the world and spoke in graphic detail about the harassment that she had experienced in the workplace from Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas. The attacks against her character were scathing. The campaign mounted to discredit her used tactics from a playbook that has long been used to demean and diminish the experiences of Black women. But Anita Hill refused to whither. She stood tall and remained steadfast. She exhibited a level of conviction that could only come from a woman who grew up in Antioch Baptist Church, and who showed up on the first day of the trail with a personal bible in her hand that she brought from home. Oh, they thought it was going to be a game. They thought they would break her. But her calling was bigger than that moment and Anita Hill’s courage to speak her truth has inspired generations of new women to do the same.
Join us on today’s walk as we lean into the lessons that come from Anita’s story while praying to find our collective and individual voices.
#TrustBlackWomen
#BelieveBlackWomen
Join GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp - The Prayer Edition at blackhistorybootcamp.com to receive specially curated emails with prayers, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each episode. Together we will discover the stories of 21 spiritual warriors.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or interview excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Wade in the Water - Mavis Staples:
https://open.spotify.com/track/5xFHuLeUPXee8YEn1r8FDM?si=qtETHIa0TMGwXop0lN9N5g
Wholy Holy - Aretha Franklin:
https://open.spotify.com/track/3hwbKoXWK5eAdHsaCXpJhq?si=a-k8zWpgSqaZ2LNzD0XkQA

Prayer Edition | Day 2 | Cori Bush Oct 07, 2020

Show notes

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” - Galatians 6:9
Someone right now is thinking about giving up. Don’t. Today’s walk is for you. A reminder that you may suffer many defeats, but you are not defeated. It’s time to trust that what is for you is already making its way to you. Walk in expectation. You have sowed, prayed, and waited and we’re here to tell you that victory is in sight. The type of victory that will have folks scratching their heads because they just couldn’t have imagined that it would be you who was chosen. But it will be. Your harvest season is here. Let’s get aggressive about collecting your bounty!
Spiritual Warrior of the Day:
Two unsuccessful campaigns. Two defeats. One in 2016 and one in 2018. A woman who lacked faith might have given up. But not Cori Bush. Her calling was too big. Her work - to bring justice to the streets of St. Louis in the wake of Michael Brown’s murder - too important for her to give up. So she didn’t! Instead, she rallied 2,000 volunteers, they went and knocked on 25,000 doors and made more than half a million phone calls, and this summer she did what no other Black woman in the state of Missouri has done, defeated the incumbent in a historic race for congress.
Today’s walk is for every Black girl who was ever counted out. This is history in the making. The story of Cori Bush, an activist from St. Louis who battled back from homelessness, domestic violence, and sexual abuse to become one of the rising stars of the political arena. From Cori, we learn about the art of tenacity, about the divine timing of God's blessings, and about the spirit of fearlessness that comes from walking in faith. Lace-up and lean in. This is going to be a beautiful conversation.
Join GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp - The Prayer Edition at blackhistorybootcamp.com to receive specially curated emails with prayers, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each episode. Together we will discover the stories of 21 spiritual warriors.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or interview excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
I've Got the Victory LIVE - Ricky Dillard:
https://open.spotify.com/track/0UwI6BXZVlJRjqrZKMmLtk?si=2yLt0ce4SbSi1e5GhGtbpw
Draw Me Close/Thy Will Be Done - Marvin L. Winans:
https://open.spotify.com/track/6nwCQqMyCjeYVtByOtkZq1?si=l91DVlVqSGKQl22GfqoNlg

Prayer Edition | Day 1 | Ieshia Evans Oct 06, 2020

Show notes

I need you to take a posture of total victory.
On July 9, 2016, a balmy morning in Baton Rouge, a 35-year-old nurse inspired the world. Ieshia Evans had watched Alton Sterling’s murder on the news from her home in Philadelphia. She’d never attended a protest before. It didn’t matter. Alton Sterling’s death came on the heels of the brutal murder of Philando Castille in front of his family. She couldn’t sit by. She packed her bags and traveled to Louisiana for a march for Black lives.
With shoulders back, heart open, eyes to the horizon – she stood in her fullness as an armed force in riot gear advanced to suppress the peaceful calls for life. She stood her ground. Fearless. With total equanimity. And was arrested. But before this powerful woman was arrested, photographer Jonathan Bachman captured a moment of pure equanimity, of fearlessness, and today, we celebrate Ieshia Evans as a spiritual muse. We name her as first in a line of 21 spiritual warriors whose actions will guide our strategy for complete liberation.
“This is the work of God. I am a vessel.” Ieshia said
It reminds me so much of David when Saul asked who will go and fight Goliath, the giant Philistine. Young David said, here am I, send me. He said, I can take him. “I have a history with God.” Listen... I’m here to tell every Black woman reading this today that YOU have a history with God.
Join GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp - The Prayer Edition at blackhistorybootcamp.com to receive specially curated emails with prayers, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each episode. Together we will discover the stories of 21 spiritual warriors.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or interview excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
I Shall Not be Moved - Mississippi John Hurt:
https://open.spotify.com/track/2Vxj13uC6lBOUqsebW73eJ?si=AgVOhGzJQruStYj3DoMf4g
Barley - Lizz Wright:
https://open.spotify.com/track/6sKKaLDc0SGoFSesS1WWD3?si=G3L4hXsdQF63xugSBkdugA
CBS This Morning Interview - Gayle King interviews Ieshia Evans:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFC6l0DjDF0

Prayer Edition | The Intro | Prayer for a Million Oct 03, 2020

Show notes

We need a ram in the bush. We need you.
For 21-days we will tell the stories of women who, out of the necessity of living in a world where Black women matter least, found ways to conjure up joy, shape lives full of purpose, and resist the forces of oppression.
These are the Black women leaders that the world needs to know about. These are the stories that will give hope and light the way in these dark times. These are the stories that need to be sowed into the memory banks of our baby girls and taught in classrooms in every school in America. These are the stories that will remind us that we were built for a time such as this. And this is the moment. The moment where we can, through the prayers of a million Black women, transform our communities. If only...
If only we could reach the masses. And Sisters, when I tell you we have tried.
The entire GirlTrek team has laid it all on the line in order to reach our goal of inspiring 200,000 people to commit to joining us on a walk each day for the next 21 days. As of today, family, the numbers say we have failed. The numbers say we’re nearly 60,000 women away from our goal. The numbers say this situation is dead. BUT OUR FAITH!
Baby, our faith tells us that there can be a ram in the bush. Our faith tells us God always supplies when he calls, and he called us to lead Black women on a journey towards healing. Our faith tells us that when it appears that the calling is above our ability, when it seems that the vision just wasn’t clear, to go ahead and lift our eyes and look for the ram.
Well! We’re looking to you!
Today, we’re calling every foot soldier in the army of the Lord and asking you to report to duty because you’re our ram and we need you. Today’s walk is for our sisters, the ones who are still waiting on the sidelines. The ones who you know need this the most. We’re about to set a plan for mass healing today and we’re going to pray a prayer of possibility together as we walk.
Join GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp - The Prayer Edition at blackhistorybootcamp.com to receive specially curated emails with prayers, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each episode. Together we will discover the stories of 21 spiritual warriors.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
For Every Mountain LIVE - Kurt Carr & the Kurt Carr Singers:
https://open.spotify.com/track/65EZDZlR31JQZihfpBHADq?si=F8s8_exLRryPhGvVcDtpvA
A Great Work - Brian Courtney Wilson:
https://open.spotify.com/track/54PHTV8sTaZqYDLsLAmLDG?si=9xPVhJDtSTSd2Tt-3tOsaw

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