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[00:00:10] Welcome, welcome, welcome to the show. One and all one and all. I know guys, I'm supposed to be
[00:00:18] on a break. I tell you guys, when God shows up, he shows out. And I want to welcome you guys
[00:00:26] first and foremost to the show this morning. This pop up with Freedom Fridays and Friends.
[00:00:33] No, it's not a Friday. Yes, it's a Tuesday. But when you get opportunities like this one,
[00:00:38] you don't want to miss them. So let's go ahead and give guys some praise right where you're sitting,
[00:00:43] right where you're laying, possibly even standing might be on your job. Let's take a quick break
[00:00:50] to thank him. Heavenly Father, we come to you this morning. We thank you for your grace and your
[00:00:56] mercy. We thank you for breathing your breath into our bodies on this day, Father God. Heavenly
[00:01:03] Father, we thank you for letting your light shine so ever brightly through us, Father God,
[00:01:09] not for a show, not for fashion, not to be seen a man, but for your glory, Heavenly Father.
[00:01:16] Heavenly Father, you said in your word that, beloved, I wish above all things that you should
[00:01:21] prosper and be in good health. As we go forth in our day to day, Father God, direct our paths
[00:01:28] on Heavenly Father. We thank you this day for the fellowship, Father God, and those that have
[00:01:34] ears, let them hear those that have eyesight. Let them see, Oh, Heavenly Father, we give you
[00:01:40] glory. We give you honor and we give you praise on this day. Amen, everybody. Amen. So listen,
[00:01:51] guys, this pop up is very, very special for me. This amazing, amazing guest. I've been trying
[00:02:00] to touch base with her for a while. Guys, let me tell you a little bit about Sylvia Morrison.
[00:02:08] She's an author. She's a speaker. She's a humanitarian and a coach. Sylvia believes that
[00:02:17] everyone has what it takes to create the change that they desire to do by one small thing.
[00:02:26] Sylvia Morrison courageously stepped away from her teaching career of 30 plus years
[00:02:34] in the classroom to follow the calling in her heart. She has received numerous awards
[00:02:42] and international recognition for her humanitarian work. Sylvia is the founder of links across
[00:02:51] borders, a nonprofit organization that co-creates libraries and facilities,
[00:02:58] educational programs for children in Ghana, West Africa. Links across the borders has built
[00:03:06] eight libraries so far and supplied over 70,000 books and other educational resources to the
[00:03:15] communities in Ghana. In the best selling book inspired living a guide to ignite joy and prosperity.
[00:03:25] Sylvia Morrison shares her personal journey of creating the life she desires by taking
[00:03:32] inspired actions. Her best selling children's book, Grace's Lunch is a captivating story
[00:03:40] of a little girl whose actions made a big difference. Guys, please welcome to the show for
[00:03:48] the first time Sylvia Morrison. Thank you, thank you Sylvia for coming to the show. Gosh, I am so excited.
[00:04:04] Thank you. I'm really happy to be here. I really appreciate this opportunity to be here Victoria.
[00:04:12] Thank you for inviting me and thanks for your patience with me because it's been a while.
[00:04:17] It's been a while since. Yes, yes. I am a firm believer of when God does something.
[00:04:25] When I first talked to you, I think you were one of the first people I talked to
[00:04:30] when I decided to take this show live and I just enjoyed the candid conversation that we had
[00:04:39] and I was on the go on the way to the doctor and for some reason I just could not seem to
[00:04:44] hang that phone up because you just blessed my soul and when I meet it's very rare. I will say
[00:04:51] that I meet people where the discernment is there. I guess that's the word I'm looking for.
[00:05:02] When you know that you know that your path was so it was meant as opposed to cross for whatever
[00:05:11] reason in the big guy's plan it was meant to cross and as I've been following your journey
[00:05:18] and watching you go live and amazing things you're doing in Ghana, I got more antsy.
[00:05:27] I got a little bit more antsy and I said, you know God, you said and everything be anxious
[00:05:33] for nothing and let patients have our perfect works and out of the blue, bam, you met on
[00:05:40] yesterday and here you are today. So tell my audience about gosh, you are the stories,
[00:05:50] the conversation is still right here and right here from when I first spoke to you.
[00:05:57] Thank you. Thank you.
[00:06:01] What's up guys? It's your girl Victoria Jay from 12th Street Talk Back here to tell you
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[00:08:13] You know, one of the things that I like to if I if I only have a minute to speak with someone,
[00:08:20] I want each one of us to remember or to be aware consciously aware that we are not here by accident,
[00:08:33] that we were created. I was created. You were created for a specific purpose in the earth
[00:08:42] and that our work is to find that. And as we find it in its unfolding, to take action,
[00:08:53] the action that we can take in each moment to do the thing that God, that creator,
[00:09:00] that spirit is calling us to doing. And that the fear that someone feels in their part,
[00:09:10] even as you might know inside of myself, oh God is calling me to do this thing, whatever it is.
[00:09:18] And I'm feeling fear to remember that the same God that is calling me to it,
[00:09:26] whatever that service is, God is also present holding my hand, walking me through, making the way,
[00:09:38] bringing together the supports that I need, the supports that you need to walk the path and to carry
[00:09:48] out whatever that mission is. So if that's all I got to say today, I wanted to leave that with somebody.
[00:09:56] Oh yes, definitely. You definitely left that impression on me. I was just sitting here going
[00:10:01] through my member decks of the day that I talked to you and I said, you are gonna become
[00:10:06] my personal mentor. And I said, well maybe you said too much, Victoria, you do not know that lady,
[00:10:14] but it was just such a connection there and your story. If you would please tell my audience your
[00:10:21] story because it just blew me away. And you said one key significant thing to me on that day that
[00:10:31] we spoke and I said my desire is to come to Africa or Ghana or just travel and you told me
[00:10:38] whatever you have in your heart, you can do it. You just got to believe it.
[00:10:43] Yes, yes. I believe so I work with this acronym which is also a word ask and with the word ask
[00:10:55] I say you assess. Assess what's going on in my heart and when you ask yourself the question,
[00:11:04] what is a desire in my heart? And sometimes if we say to folks, what is a desire? Ask the
[00:11:12] question, what is a desire in your heart? Somebody starts thinking it has to be a very
[00:11:16] big thing. My purpose should be a big thing so I don't know what it is. No,
[00:11:22] it can be a small thing also. It could be you live in one part of the city and you want to get
[00:11:30] to another part of the city. You've never been there, you have a desire to do that. So ask,
[00:11:36] what is it that I am desiring to do? Or if the desire doesn't come up so easily, ask yourself
[00:11:44] what is a longing? What is a discontent that is in my heart? And so when you ask yourself what is
[00:11:53] a discontent in my heart, your heart starts to tell you what it doesn't like that is going on in
[00:11:59] your life. It starts to say I really don't feel fulfilled in this job that I am in. It says
[00:12:06] I really I would love to spend more time with my children. It might say oh I'd really love
[00:12:13] to be able to take a trip. Or I would really love to go and visit with so-and-so. Oh I haven't heard
[00:12:19] from this one for such a long time. I would like to do that. Those are some simple right at your
[00:12:27] fingertips, longings, discontents or desires. And so when you ask and your heart tells you
[00:12:37] then the next thing to do is hey knock. Knock meaning, I need the scripture says yes knock and the door
[00:12:50] will be opened to you. Well I use the term knock the word knock to serve as take action. Yes taking
[00:13:02] action. You remember there was a time when you used to have like the door-to-door salesperson
[00:13:11] and the door-to-door salesperson comes up to your door and it's usually in the evening,
[00:13:16] especially evening kind of strong knock on your door boom boom boom. Sometimes I'd be irritated
[00:13:22] even though I was much younger but I'd be irritated like who is knocking on the door
[00:13:27] like that because they would knock with such confidence. They knocked with confidence although
[00:13:34] they were probably shaking in their hearts. They don't know who's at the door yes but since knocking
[00:13:41] is them taking action on a goal that they had set that they were going to speak with probably
[00:13:49] 10 people this evening to try to sell the thing that they're trying to sell. Yes so they were
[00:13:56] taking action. They were knocking on the door that is action. So when you ask your heart what it is
[00:14:05] that is your desire to do oh I skipped a letter I skipped s yes so when your heart tells you
[00:14:14] what it is that you want to do then you are going to seek to find the how
[00:14:20] you need to find out how that is the s that I skipped over. I really wanted to get to the action.
[00:14:30] You know that has been I never did the words at the beginning of the year for some reason
[00:14:38] about October November got placed in my spirit action 2024 is action
[00:14:49] and I always looked at this show as an internship. I said you know in an internship
[00:14:57] you don't get paid for your services but you acquire the knowledge you get to impress someone
[00:15:05] and just think of it as an internship and you're sowing seeds you're planting seeds over here
[00:15:12] you're planting seeds over here and you may never know the purpose of why you're doing it and you
[00:15:19] may not even know that you are planting that seed. So with that being said action
[00:15:26] that became my mission statement for 2024 and I said this year I'm going to grab hold to as
[00:15:35] much as I can that I want to do. I spent many years for the children the husband and I've got
[00:15:44] all this idle time this year I'm going to take action towards some of the things that I
[00:15:50] want to do. So when I'm online and I see you pop up live and I see you with the children and
[00:15:58] talking about all the things that you're doing in Ghana I'm glued I'm glued because I'm always
[00:16:05] saying one day it may not be Ghana it may be somewhere else but I'm always saying one day
[00:16:13] God you're going to plot me right in the middle of something where I can be helpful because that's
[00:16:21] what my heart desires to pull my community together and I'm sure he's going to use me for that.
[00:16:30] You told me the story of how you got there you told me about giving your last. Yes, yes
[00:16:39] and that fascinated me. Yes I'm happy to share that with your audience I'm happy to share that yes
[00:16:48] you know you you just mentioned how your whole heart is about serving and being in mission and
[00:16:57] bringing community together and and God is using you to do that I want you to know that even if
[00:17:05] you are you don't see yourself somewhere else in another place very soon you're doing that right now
[00:17:14] you have just called me in you called me in yes God gave you the idea it's an inspired idea
[00:17:24] and you took action and we tried to do this before and it didn't happen and we both you know
[00:17:32] what we felt about it and now here we are without saying when are you coming here I am
[00:17:40] so another opportunity right yeah and so you know looking at the ways in which God used us
[00:17:50] I since I was a little bird always felt that I'm an African child I was born and raised in Jamaica
[00:17:59] and then as an adult I moved to Canada and there I was in Canada loving my life had a good life
[00:18:09] beautiful family things are going well and I wanted it was this during this Christmas time
[00:18:17] was close to Christmas and I was visiting with a friend of mine and I was going through a hard
[00:18:23] time in my life at that time but I hadn't told her about it and as we were chatting she asked me
[00:18:30] what are you are have you done your Christmas shopping yet and I said to her I'm not shopping
[00:18:35] for Christmas and she was surprised and she asked me why and I said well you know my two kids
[00:18:41] are teenagers now and I don't know how to shop for teenagers and I really don't enjoy Christmas
[00:18:46] shopping and all that so I'll give them money if people do their own shopping and I and then I
[00:18:52] asked her the same question what are you doing have you done your completed your Christmas shopping
[00:18:57] and she told me no she wasn't because she's living in Canada but she doesn't have family there and
[00:19:04] but she was sending money home to Ghana because she was from Ghana to her mom and she wanted her
[00:19:12] mom to host a Christmas party for children in a village close to where her mom is and I just
[00:19:20] immediately she said that in my heart I just felt and heard oh it would be nice for you to do something
[00:19:29] in that and I thought and I said to her oh I'd like to participate in that how and she said are
[00:19:36] you children I said yes she said I'm sending money to my mother I said okay how much should I
[00:19:42] send and she said it's up to you but do you trust my mother and I said to her no I don't
[00:19:48] trust your mother I don't know her mother so I said I don't trust your mother but I trust you
[00:20:06] and you are sending money home to your mother so I'm giving the money to you and you will send it
[00:20:12] to your mother so we laughed about that I gave her the money and she took it but that was December
[00:20:18] and in February the following year she came to visit with me at my house and she brought these
[00:20:25] photographs but then you're not showing photographs on the phone um but you would be showing so she
[00:20:31] had the hard copy of the photographs as her mom said them in an envelope to her and so she handed
[00:20:38] me the envelope and she said look at the pictures and I was looking at those pictures in tears
[00:20:45] because when I gave her the 75 dollars honestly it was the last 75 dollars that I had in my wallet
[00:20:53] I didn't think about it when the idea came into my heart when spirit said to me participate
[00:21:00] I just gave her the money feeling like this is to do and I didn't really expect to see photographs
[00:21:09] I just felt good that I was helping some children that look like me so when she brought the photographs
[00:21:17] that was like she had brought me Christmas this was my Christmas I was getting it and so
[00:21:25] as I was looking at the photographs in tears we're now he started talking about the children
[00:21:30] and I'm asking her questions about them and she said to me you know my mother said many of these
[00:21:35] kids are not going to school and I thought really and she said yeah I said why and it's like do you
[00:21:45] she said you don't know why and I said no tell me she said because some of their parents
[00:21:52] can't afford to send them to school and my heart sank and then I thought and I think I'm wired this way
[00:22:02] when I'm presented with a problem my heart will drop for a second and then it goes into
[00:22:10] what will you do about it yeah so immediately I started thinking what can I do about this
[00:22:17] and something said you can send a child to school and so I said to her can we send the child to school
[00:22:26] and she said I don't know that I can do that now and I said okay tell your mom to send us a list of
[00:22:32] the names and I will see what I can do I had no idea what I could do because remember I said 75
[00:22:39] dollars the last $5 that I gave her a couple months ago my financial situation had not changed
[00:22:47] much so I don't know what I can do but I was taking inspired action so the action that came to mind
[00:22:54] was tell them to send you a list of names and a couple weeks later we had a list of names
[00:23:02] and I picked six names from the list and I decided I asked how much it would cost and they told me
[00:23:10] and I decided I'm going to start sending six children to school wow I don't know for sure how
[00:23:16] I would do it month after month but I knew I could start and so I decided to start and for three
[00:23:22] years I paid those six children's school fees before I ever came to Ghana it was 2003 until 2006
[00:23:32] I came to Ghana for the first time and this is how God works in mysterious ways and I want folks to
[00:23:40] hear as they're listening to this that I want you to hear that you might not know exactly in fact
[00:23:46] in most cases we don't know how a thing is going to work out what is the next step to take
[00:23:55] who to ask how to do it but when we say yes to the nudge of the spirit when we say yes to it because
[00:24:04] your heart tells you that it's a yes something miraculous happens so I send kids to school three
[00:24:12] years later I woke up one morning and spirit said this is the year for you to go to Africa
[00:24:19] and I thought wow that's an easy yeah
[00:24:25] has somebody walked into my room I told me you know oh my gosh I like that idea I said
[00:24:31] in my heart and a few minutes later my phone rang and it was a very good friend of mine in fact
[00:24:38] she's a family member and as after we said good morning she said how are you I said guess what
[00:24:46] she said what and I said I'm going to Ghana I'm going to Africa and she said what and I said yes
[00:24:53] I'm going to Africa this year and she said we're in Africa and I had to think quickly we're in
[00:24:59] Africa Ghana I just I just said it I smell like right right no plan but God had a plan yes
[00:25:15] and so I said Ghana and she got excited this is what happens when we decide to take
[00:25:22] inspired action and we say yes to what spirit is telling us to do you say yes in your heart
[00:25:28] and then say yes with your words say yes out loud and you tell somebody or you write it down
[00:25:36] and put it on your wall you whisper it to somebody that you know you can trust if you're
[00:25:40] feeling like oh I can't tell anybody loudly yet me I was so excited I just said it out loudly I
[00:25:45] didn't have time to whisper it right what happens when you tell someone is that they then get excited
[00:25:55] with you when they get excited with you what you start to do is build the energy field around you
[00:26:04] in support of that begins to grow bigger and bigger another thing that starts to happen
[00:26:11] scripture says the father delights in giving you the keys to the kingdom
[00:26:20] yes I know that scripture says now I want you to imagine father delights when I hear the word
[00:26:29] delight and I use that word a lot because it does something for me when I hear a father delights
[00:26:36] in giving me keys to the kingdom I imagine father dancing like and giving me the keys to the kingdom
[00:26:45] means I can have anything I want I can step into any room I want I have the keys
[00:26:53] I can open any door I have the keys right I believe that then when I'm giving and giving an idea by
[00:27:03] spirit I know I can say yes because I'm going to be given the key to open that word yes that's right
[00:27:13] so I just and that's how I move through my life
[00:27:16] I see that yes I see it on your lives I gosh I have so many questions I see the garden
[00:27:28] with the children I was there day one when you did your first live uh Grace's
[00:27:35] lunch tell us about uh links across the borders how all that magic magic I like to
[00:27:45] I think I like to think of you you said you like to delight god delights and giving us the keys
[00:27:51] and I love that because I've got this saying well it comes from scripture beloved I wish above
[00:27:57] all things that you prosper and being good health as your soul shall prosper
[00:28:02] I love that and when I think about things that I asked my father to give me because I like to tell
[00:28:10] people God has already opened up the windows of heaven for you so when I hear people praying and say
[00:28:17] oh I'm asking God to open up the door open up the door he's already opened it up he's already
[00:28:22] gave you the keys to the kingdom all you got to do is walk in your purpose when I look at
[00:28:29] your live and I saw the garden and and links across borders and then the other thing we're going to get
[00:28:34] into later that you asked me to be a part of yesterday I'm always fascinated about how you're
[00:28:42] moving and I look at you and I say everything looks so easy but I know it took work to get
[00:28:49] there I delight in the young people that I see when you show glimpse of them I think I seen
[00:28:56] a couple days ago of them walking and it kind of looks like they never want to leave your
[00:29:05] and and you call them your friends so tell us how
[00:29:09] your children's book links across borders all that goes hand in hand with who Sylvia Morrison is
[00:29:17] yes yes thank you Grace's lunch I launched that book I wrote and published that book last year
[00:29:27] published it in May and we launched on Amazon it became a best seller and I'm so proud of Grace's
[00:29:37] lunch and what it's doing in the world and that that story is I should can you see a copy of it
[00:29:46] just grab a copy it's right yes yes yes yes yes yes
[00:29:56] so this is this is Grace's lunch and became a best seller last year
[00:30:04] and I wrote this book it was it is this is inspired actually by my my own situation in my own childhood
[00:30:12] and um and so I had it in me for years I felt even when I was in teacher's college I remember
[00:30:22] one of my professors saying to me Sylvia you should write children's books because you tell
[00:30:28] stories with such in such colorful ways that children would really love reading what you write
[00:30:36] you write and you talk in images and pictures and and you should consider that and that was
[00:30:43] many years ago because I was in my 20s then and but I just brushed the idea aside
[00:30:49] and then a couple years ago as I was presenting to a group of kids in Canada
[00:30:55] because I lived in Canada for years and there are children in different schools from time to time
[00:31:01] and churches I was presenting to a group of kids from a Presbyterian church in Ontario
[00:31:08] in Mississauga who had done a fundraising an art project to raise funds and they sent that money
[00:31:17] to me in Ghana their pastor sent the money to me in Ghana to help to fund an arts project
[00:31:23] that I was doing with kids here links across borders doing with kids here in Ghana and so I
[00:31:29] decided when I returned to Canada that I would do this presentation for the kids to show them where
[00:31:35] their money went what we did with it and as I was presenting to them on Zoom I I called I invited
[00:31:42] them to a Zoom meeting and they came some of them with their parents and with their youth
[00:31:47] minister and as I was presenting to them and showing them the pictures and so on
[00:31:53] I heard myself telling these kids that we are building a movement and they are part of this
[00:32:00] movement of helping children and I started telling them of other children who had participated
[00:32:08] over the years with links across borders and then the idea came into my heart and I'm having
[00:32:14] this thing going on this coming in my heart where I'm hearing you should write this book
[00:32:21] you should write this book and I'm talking to the kids about something else and so I got off
[00:32:27] from that Zoom call and I knew there was a book to be written
[00:32:33] I did a dream about the book and eventually I found a mentor to teach me how to write a book
[00:32:42] because I realized even though I've been an educator for years and I am an educated woman
[00:32:47] and love writing and write well I didn't know how to write children's book as the other thing
[00:32:52] I want folks to hear that as you're going through your life you might be really good at some things
[00:33:00] getting to the thing that God has called you to do might be something that requires you
[00:33:08] to hire a mentor or to have an accountability partner or someone who can help you walk the walk
[00:33:18] I when I decided that I wanted to write the book I reached out to friends of mine who were authors
[00:33:26] people who I knew and some who I didn't know and I just reached out and I said oh
[00:33:30] I know that you've written a children's book can you can you show me how can you tell me how
[00:33:34] and they would tell me something in five ten minutes half an hour we would end the conversation
[00:33:42] and I would realize that didn't help me somebody will send me a link to something
[00:33:48] I follow the link it doesn't there's something else that I need and so the point here is that
[00:33:55] the dream in your heart the calling of God on your life will require you to grow
[00:34:02] and when that grows to happen you most times in fact I'm going to say all the time you need
[00:34:11] support you can't do it alone so I had higher support and I found a mentor in Miriam Laundre
[00:34:18] publishing and within a matter of 10 months they held my hand through the process of writing
[00:34:27] an amazing high caliber children's book Grace's lunch was born I am very proud of this book
[00:34:35] in fact I would love if you would go pick it up on Amazon as you should guys pick it up on Amazon
[00:34:44] any of my educators out there pick it up pick it up yes I would like Grace's luncheon was born
[00:34:54] we're born Grace's lunch was born for two reasons one is yes I needed to give birth to this book
[00:35:03] and secondly I when I started links across borders I started it because I wanted to be able to
[00:35:13] continue to support children's education in Ghana when I came to Ghana for the first time I saw
[00:35:19] children who looked like me the little girls looked like any one of them could have could have been me
[00:35:26] growing up in my district in Jamaica and so I felt a connection a bond I saw myself in them
[00:35:33] and I loved it what I missed however was seeing a child just hanging out somewhere under a tree
[00:35:42] or on the dirt or in a classroom or in a veranda just reading a book because I wanted to
[00:35:48] I didn't see that anywhere I spent a month in Ghana the first year I spent a month for six years
[00:35:55] following every year I would come consecutively and I didn't see children reading because they
[00:36:02] didn't have access to books and there is a saying a quote that lives with me if you think someone
[00:36:11] should do something about that remember that you are someone and so when I thought gosh children
[00:36:23] here don't have access to books somebody should do something remember you are someone so I am
[00:36:31] someone and I decided I must do something about that I get to do something about that so I started
[00:36:39] collecting books and I would bring suitcases of books each year and then afterwards I started
[00:36:46] shipping books and then I thought build a library or spirit said build a library and I want you to
[00:36:54] know folks I had never built a library before I had no idea what it takes to build a library
[00:37:00] but I heard myself say out loud the people in the village that I was visiting that year
[00:37:06] next year I'm going to build a library in this village
[00:37:11] I remember when you told me that
[00:37:16] oh gosh oh my gosh when that popped out of my mouth I didn't know if I should follow my
[00:37:25] tongue or I should ask the earth to follow me or what should I do because I have no idea
[00:37:30] how that's going to happen my word is my honor and I know that if I say it and that's probably why
[00:37:36] spirit allows me to just say things like that because my word is my honor and so I'm going
[00:37:44] to follow through and so within a year following year when I returned to Ghana we were completing
[00:37:51] the library I fundraised I invited friends I even again spat something out of my mouth that I hadn't
[00:38:01] intended to say at the school that I was teaching at the college I was teaching in Toronto I said
[00:38:06] to students in first year students who had come into my class for the first time I said to them
[00:38:12] I'm taking kids I'm offering an international placement to students in the in this spring
[00:38:19] semester to go to Ghana and so they were coming with me somebody raised their hand right away
[00:38:24] how do I apply for that internship
[00:38:29] eight students registered to come with me to Ghana on that first year so we we completed the first
[00:38:39] library in 2013 and when I completed that library I said we would continue to build libraries in
[00:38:48] Ghana and so I each year for seven years more we completed a new library in a different community
[00:38:58] reason for that is I want children in Ghana to have access to books to read just because not
[00:39:05] because it is a textbook not because their teacher said it but because they love to read
[00:39:11] and so I did I've been doing that over the years and since I moved here I realized that the kids love
[00:39:19] to read but they don't connect really with the stories many of the stories because even though
[00:39:26] the stories might have children that look like them in the books they don't connect with the
[00:39:34] context in which the story is written so they are calling the words but most times I have to be able
[00:39:43] to share with them the context I have to tell them what the context is so that they can then make
[00:39:48] the connections and I thought gosh I want to get more local books well what if these kids could
[00:39:56] write stories and then read it as they started telling them that they could become authors
[00:40:03] and that was me just talking from somewhere far away like what is she saying now and so I decided
[00:40:13] okay I'm going to write one they know me I'm going to show them that you will have a book in your
[00:40:21] hand and you know the author of that book and that might be home to them the idea that they
[00:40:29] could write a book if I know an author I have conversation with her almost every day then maybe
[00:40:36] I could write a book too and so I wrote Gracie's lunch to prove that to them I've been building
[00:40:43] libraries to give them access to books and now I want them to write their own book and we are doing it
[00:40:53] now yeah we are doing it so I started telling people that oh the next big project I'm going
[00:41:02] to be doing with the kids here in Ghana is that they are going to be writing their own stories
[00:41:10] well and I even told people that they would be published authors by 2024
[00:41:17] yes it's a village I said it because I know that I spent over 10 000 going through that publishing
[00:41:29] mastermind program that I did in order to write Gracie's lunch and publish it
[00:41:34] and I didn't know where the 10 000 dollars or more would come from to do this
[00:41:41] higher illustrator and do the marketing and that I've told you that father delights God delights
[00:41:50] whether we choose to call God father or mother God delights in giving you the key to the kingdom
[00:41:59] yes he does last year in September when I went back to Canada and I was doing book launches and
[00:42:08] speaking tours talking about Gracie's lunch one of the places that I was invited to speak
[00:42:15] was at a live event where my mentor she was hosting a live event and I was invited
[00:42:21] to be one of the authors on her panel and at the end of that three days event
[00:42:29] I was surprised on stage with a scholarship for 10 000 dollars yes with these kids
[00:42:39] look at God that blew me away yes blew me away I blew me away because honestly
[00:42:53] I hadn't said to her that I'm doing this and would you please help us I didn't
[00:42:59] I went to the event and I was being as generous as I could with my ideas with my words with my
[00:43:07] stories with anyone who would ask me questions about how did I get to write Gracie's lunch and what
[00:43:14] it takes and so on and I would just share and I inspired people to take action on their own
[00:43:20] dreams to become authors if they wanted to you know and at the end when she called me up on stage
[00:43:27] at the end of the event in the third day as we were leaving I still it is still an out of
[00:43:35] body experience for me well congratulations on that guys you touched on so much first of all
[00:43:45] manifesting speaking things into existence and as you were speaking and I said Lord please don't
[00:43:53] let me use lose this thought okay that will make gifts he would make room for your gifts
[00:44:00] it fell in my spirit and I had so many people tell me that he will make room for your gifts and
[00:44:08] I didn't know about the scholarship as much as I've been following you uh congratulations on that
[00:44:15] that it must have been wonderful to see something that you asked God to do and it just unfolded
[00:44:21] and I love that was the first thing that I loved I think five minutes into our conversation
[00:44:27] is you always speak things as though they were and sometimes we have to be reminded what scripture
[00:44:36] says and you also touched on tell and telling us this just now that we have to surround ourselves
[00:44:44] by people that believe the same that's going to talk like you walk like you and help encourage
[00:44:50] you to push you and just think that seventy five dollars landed you here you planted a seed
[00:45:01] and God came along and gave the increase yes yes and so you know and so just just hearing you
[00:45:09] say that reminded me of this piece that we sometimes you know I could have looked into my
[00:45:15] wallet that day because here I was at this point in my life my marriage had just fallen apart
[00:45:22] and I'm I have teenagers and it's coming up to christmas time and I could have looked in my wallet
[00:45:30] and say I would love to help but I can't because I don't have enough in my wallet
[00:45:37] yeah and I have teenagers to take care of and my finances right now are in the pits you know
[00:45:43] so um but I'm thinking about it I didn't do that and it's not because I was feeling like
[00:45:51] I was so God is going to bring it back no but because I have I grew up with a steady faith of
[00:46:01] my needs are being taken care of my needs are being taken care of so I didn't have to pump
[00:46:08] myself up to open my wallet and take out the money and give to her because I just knew that my heart
[00:46:16] wanted to do it and I want to say to us that when we think most of the times of oh but I don't know
[00:46:25] how will I get that back or how will the money come back come from to replace that we hold ourselves
[00:46:32] back from the abundance of things that are available to us you know one of one of the guys I did a
[00:46:40] speaker series um in the fall last year and one of the persons that I brought on for that speaker
[00:46:46] series is called Ken Honda and if you've not heard about him before I'd like you to check him out
[00:46:52] he talks about happy money and one of the things he says about he says money doesn't want to come
[00:46:59] in and be held there I called it held hostage think about money the way you think about breathing
[00:47:08] when you breathe in do you try to hold your breath because you don't know if there will be another
[00:47:15] breath or do you breathe in and breathe out that's all right breathe in and out yes we don't we
[00:47:23] even feel uncomfortable holding our breath and he said breathe in and breathe out allow money to flow
[00:47:32] in notice allow allow money to flow in and flow out yeah doesn't mean you're just going to let
[00:47:41] money come in and you just spend it all that's not what we're saying that's right but believe that
[00:47:47] money is coming into you for you and you spend money to do the things that spirit is telling you
[00:47:55] to do with it and you just believe that more money is coming this money we're using to share
[00:48:04] with somebody the money you will use to buy a copy of Brace's lunch or the money that you will
[00:48:10] send to help with us in Ghana to do the scholarship fund that we're doing the gardening project for
[00:48:17] come in yes it will I was just speaking about that money should flow like your testimony
[00:48:25] I'm a firm believer in people telling their story such as you're doing with us today
[00:48:31] you know if my testimony my story can help someone it should flow to the next person
[00:48:37] and the same thing with money it should flow it should flow it should be a flow there
[00:48:44] so there can be a blessing there so the garden how is the garden going before we leave today
[00:48:53] the garden came about because as we were writing our story the kids and I we were brainstorming
[00:49:00] the story because I wanted them to be fully part of writing this story with me this book that we're
[00:49:06] going to publish in August so a part of the story is about a young girl in the village who was sent away
[00:49:16] to be with a family in another town because of a certain problem and the problem is that
[00:49:24] we don't the parents didn't have enough money to send the child to school and so
[00:49:29] we have here what a small group of kids that we call the weekend kids they are the weekend
[00:49:36] and so in the weekend club we have a motto that if we see a problem we have a responsibility to
[00:49:42] find a solution and we should take action and so we started thinking okay so what would we do
[00:49:52] if somebody here couldn't their parents couldn't afford to send them to school and yes there
[00:49:57] are kids who can't whose parents can't afford to send them to school and so we started the brainstorm
[00:50:04] what could we do and we said one of the things was oh we could come up with an educational fund
[00:50:11] that we would as kids are getting ready to go off to high school be able to give each child
[00:50:17] a scholarship to help them at least to get into the first semester for the first
[00:50:23] and then we started to brainstorm where would the money come from
[00:50:27] and we had different ideas and one of the ideas was we could grow vegetables and we
[00:50:36] vegetables and the money that we get the money that we could then put towards the education fund
[00:50:44] so I said okay I'm not a farmer but I like growing things in my yard so I decided to
[00:50:50] grow my yard for them because it is fully fenced and there are animals roaming around
[00:50:55] and so we I decided they could do that in my yard so I called parents and children together
[00:51:02] to talk about that project and they said yes let's do it and so the features that you saw and
[00:51:09] the live I was doing was us starting that garden so that was your yard that was my yard
[00:51:17] I thought that was the school oh my goodness oh my goodness I've watched I know for a good 30 minutes
[00:51:24] and I said it because I'm a gardener and I said how are they gonna make this happen and I've seen
[00:51:29] them picking up the rocks and all the extra debris and taking it to the compost pound and
[00:51:35] those kids were working hard they were happy and joyful and excited to do something
[00:51:42] and I saw a part of the finished result as you planted the seeds
[00:51:48] and I remember I did my first garden on my patio last year and I remember being excited every single
[00:51:55] day just to see a new leaf and I remember thinking that day I was watching you guys they
[00:52:01] are gonna be so excited when they see their first little greenery or their first little crop and
[00:52:09] it was all hands on you're such amazing amazing person I just you have blessed so many
[00:52:20] thank you really I'm truly grateful I'm truly grateful for what spirit is doing through me
[00:52:28] you know I wake up every morning and I give thanks that I am breathing and I'm alive
[00:52:36] and I'm in great health and then I say I'm here use me just use me you know yes just use me do
[00:52:46] through me what you want to do in the earth in my world right here because each of us you know
[00:52:53] wherever we are in the world that is your world and when I think to people we're changing the
[00:53:01] world I really mean it I'm not changing the whole world I'm changing my whole world in this little
[00:53:10] world where I am and if you know us from where we are in your neighborhood your community your
[00:53:17] village your town your city your home do what you can there you know there's a lot that we
[00:53:26] can criticize and many years I've done work in strategic planning with companies I go in and I
[00:53:33] show them everything that is wrong I can see I can find fault from A to Z but that's what we carry
[00:53:43] through our lives where we're just realizing what's wrong in the house what's wrong with this
[00:53:48] person what's wrong with the people what's wrong in the school in what are you doing to change it
[00:53:58] I'm an advocate for that I speak about that all the time community and I want to think about it
[00:54:06] biblically sometimes and I say you know they had the 12 tribes right your family is your tribe
[00:54:14] it starts there and then as you branch out you embrace someone else that may not have your same
[00:54:22] blood running through their veins but if you have something that you can do that was in your means
[00:54:28] that's not going to take away from you but add value to someone else's life you have to do that
[00:54:36] you have to do that because we can as you say point out so many things that's wrong let's start
[00:54:44] lifting each other up pointing out the things that's good the things that we can control he didn't
[00:54:51] ask us to point out things that we can't control or do things that we can't control but he did
[00:54:58] say that a god-made love the same love he extended to us and we've got to get back there the healing
[00:55:07] starts somewhere I'm just ecstatic that you said yes first of all I'm ecstatic for the opportunity
[00:55:15] you brought to me on yesterday I don't know if you want to elaborate on that today or
[00:55:19] you want to hold that a little bit more close to the best it's totally up to you but I'm
[00:55:24] I'm grateful for the reconnection I've been waiting for some time to get back with you but I knew in
[00:55:30] God's time it was going to come together yes yes you know I won't say much about that except to say
[00:55:38] at the beginning of the year collaboration collaboration is one of the words that I chose
[00:55:47] as my anchor for this year and as I'm going through and I'm looking at the expansion of links across
[00:55:56] borders and as my coaching practice is growing and I started to say to God how do I manage these two
[00:56:05] these two horses that I am riding here I can't ride them both at the same time and I know that I
[00:56:13] can't let go of links across borders but I also need to find money to fund it and
[00:56:22] there's no shortage of money in the world that I know for sure and so I started to really focus on
[00:56:29] the question who God you show me who are the people that I should collaborate with
[00:56:38] where are my collaborators who where is the money how do I bring balance to links across borders
[00:56:48] the humanitarian work and Sylvia Morrison's coaching practice and I woke up that morning
[00:56:56] after going to bed with the question because that's one of the ways that I get answers I go to
[00:57:01] bed with the live question I ask the right to bring me the answer and in the morning when I
[00:57:06] woke up after my meditation as I was writing I noticed that I was writing about how to integrate
[00:57:14] my coaching and my humanitarian work and I was blown away like wow this was this is how it's
[00:57:21] supposed to be oh my gosh and then as I started walking through my day I asked again so how
[00:57:29] so so who are the collaborators and I got to Facebook to make a post to my audience
[00:57:40] I had been offered about two almost maybe and I got there and then I saw this post from this person
[00:57:49] and I thought this is not real let me read it again this must be a joke and I responded
[00:57:54] into it and realized it was real and so collaboration I have noticed collaborators
[00:58:02] just stepping in from different places you know with I'm just saying thank you thank you thank you
[00:58:11] you know so that's that's how that which I invited you to yesterday and was so surprised when
[00:58:18] you said yes you know is God that was it led it wasn't me at all because my own mind would have said no
[00:58:30] you didn't give her enough time to think about joining you in this meeting so put it off don't
[00:58:37] don't do it you know and so I really I'm just and I want to say to folks don't second guess
[00:58:44] don't think too much when spirit tells you something to do say yes say yes because the thing
[00:58:52] that's great has called you to you are expected to grow in it it doesn't just mean grow like you
[00:58:59] know get bigger or grow meaning there's something there that you don't know how to do it or who
[00:59:06] to do it with or when you don't know the answers but this is where you're going to grow
[00:59:13] because you don't know and you're not for me I'm now growing in the area of trusting collaboration
[00:59:21] I've done a lot on my own by myself and where spirit is saying to me that I must grow I get to grow
[00:59:32] is in the area of relationships building relationships and collaboration partnerships
[00:59:40] that's where because I have ideas coming out of I mean I go to bed full of ideas and I wake up
[00:59:46] overflowing with ideas and spirit is called people in they're waiting for you to tap them on the
[00:59:54] shoulder and say hey let's do this together that's right yes that's right that's right I was recently
[01:00:02] told by someone God is up to something and I like you I have ideas I go to bed with ideas I wake up
[01:00:10] with ideas I implement them whether they fail whether they succeed I'm always trying something new and
[01:00:18] I started to think about people oh god she's doing the most but I had to say to myself self
[01:00:26] you got to try it you never know what works and what God has you doing you got to step out of that
[01:00:32] box no matter what other people say because he gave me a heart of giving and I had to tap into that
[01:00:40] he gave me a heart and a spirit of love I had to tap into that and the most important thing he
[01:00:47] gave me was a heart to forgive people and I just tapped into that last year I just tapped into
[01:00:55] that last year and some things people will never understand how you can forgive people for
[01:01:04] but when he showed me that I was beating myself up for my forgiven nature he said that's a gift
[01:01:12] that I gave to you wear it proudly show people what it looks like and collaboration you are right
[01:01:19] I am so grateful that you presented the opportunity to me yesterday I was laying in bed
[01:01:26] just opened in my eyes and you know I'm always reminded of scripture and something said let your
[01:01:31] yes be yes and your no be no so I jumped up showered and I was like thank god we don't have to
[01:01:36] turn like but we did anyway and you know I learned some valuable information I'm glad that you thought
[01:01:44] of me to reach out to me and I am glad that you were able to make it on the show I've been excited
[01:01:50] about this for a while do you have any part in words anything that you want to leave my audience
[01:01:56] with before we leave today thank you I really want to say thank you to you for having me here
[01:02:04] for allowing me this opportunity and I want to say to your audience if you don't remember anything else
[01:02:12] that I said I want you to know that the dream that is in your heart is a dream for you for your
[01:02:21] life to expand and for you to do what you are here call to do here in this earth and also
[01:02:28] the dream is connected to other people's lives that's right there are people waiting on you
[01:02:35] to implement to take the first action on your dream to release them to move forward so take the
[01:02:44] first step that you can and it might need to make a phone call that's all right because that
[01:02:50] take the first step and see what happens well guys you have heard it here miss silvia more morrison
[01:03:01] from grace's luncheon uh guys head on over to amazon pick up that book if you got a young one a grand
[01:03:08] kid a kid hey you're gonna want to get this book and she's holding up a copy for us i've got
[01:03:17] her website pinned at the bottom of the screen i also have all her information in the show notes
[01:03:23] instagram facebook her website uh how to connect with her with links across borders everything is
[01:03:30] in the show notes guys if you want to donate to anything that silvia is doing over in ganna
[01:03:37] you know we are spoiled a little bit over here in the united states and a little bit goes a
[01:03:44] long way a little bit maybe you don't have that 75 dollars maybe you have 25 dollars maybe you just
[01:03:52] have enough to buy the book a little bit goes a long way and what she's doing follow her on facebook
[01:03:59] instagram you'll see what i've been seeing that touched me and i didn't even know she was
[01:04:05] doing all these things it was one quick phone call that we had that turned into a kinship a
[01:04:13] kinship that touched my heart and as i started following god started to show me what this beautiful
[01:04:20] soul was doing and i'm grateful to be a part of it i don't have any young kids but i'm gonna get the
[01:04:26] book and i'm going to continue to prosper and walk with silvia in this endeavier guys go over
[01:04:36] follow like share i believe in you guys you share so much of my content please share follow silvia
[01:04:45] morrison on this journey silvia thank you thank you for carving out your time and guys we'll see you
[01:04:54] next time same channel same show thank you for allowing me to do the pop-up today i know that
[01:05:04] i'm supposed to be on break but i cannot let this opportunity pass me by thank you guys for
[01:05:13] watching that tuned in don't forget to like follow and share the show over on youtube our youtube
[01:05:20] media channel facebook guys go to our website 12 street top back dot com you can watch it for
[01:05:27] free it'll be on audible for those of you that don't have a social media platform on tuesday of next week
[01:05:37] april the 16th you can hear the replay look into the links get our information a little bit goes a
[01:05:45] long long way peace and blessings to you all and don't forget we'll be back april 17th monday wednesday
[01:05:55] and fridays for morning inspiration a little bit of bible study a little bit of prayer something to
[01:06:01] feed your soul and just let god do what he wants to do in your life peace and blessings to you all until
[01:06:10] next time
[01:06:11] uh
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