God said La’Crease………………………Crees Blog Entry
Wednesday…… Christmas Day, I went downstairs to the convenience store that’s located in my building to buy a few things. When I gave the owner of the store my $50.00 bill, he said “Oh LaCrease I don’t have any change, I just gave it out”. He said well, get your things, and you can just bring it back tomorrow.
I just LOVE the older husband and wife who owns the store. They give credit to anyone who lives in the building, and I have needed them more than a time or two. He wrote down my total and I went to my apartment.
Thursday, I went back to pay my bill and to buy a few other things. I gave his wife the same $50 bill. When she gave me the change back…. she gave me 4-$20 bills and said ” I owe you $16.00 just one second”. So I’m standing there saying to myself… “Okay I thought I gave her a $50 bill, she thinks I gave her a $100.00”. Then I started doubting myself.. because all I had was 1-$100.00 bill and a $50 bill, I thought maybe I grabbed the wrong bill. Then God said No… LaCrease you didn’t grab the wrong one. Then Satan comes in…. and said LISTEN…. this is your last money for a WHILE… you just lost your job, and that money is your BLESSING… KEEP IT. He said you need personal items, and this LAST $150.00 goes toward your rent. You NEED this money. Then God said…. LISTEN…. That is NOT a BLESSING from ME……these people have been good to you since DAY ONE LACREASE * I love how he says my name*. He said.. if you take this money and you know its not yours, guilt will eat you up. He said now do you want to go back to your apartment and have to think about that EVERYDAY? Then EVERYTIME you come down to this store, you’ll have to look these people in the eye knowing you took their money. He said, anything you need I WILL SUPPLY.. you do NOT need this extra $50.00. He said speak up and give this money back to her….. you do NOT want to have to deal with me. I said Lord.. say no more. I gave her the money back, and they both kept thanking me. I said … you and your husband has been good to me.
As I look back on it. You never know what you would do in certain situations. I know for a fact that had I been in a good place AT THAT TIME financially I wouldn’t need for God to speak to me… because I would give it back without a thought. But God knew I was broke, he know I had just lost my job, he knew * in my mind* that money could have helped me with personal needs.
Its amazing how the few minutes she told me to wait for the rest of the money…….. God used that time to talk to me. I look at stuff like that. Those minutes were needed. This is for everyone… when you’re faced with your last money, and you have to make a decision to do right or wrong… do right. Let me share with happened to me THE VERY NEXT DAY.
My daughter called me and asked would I go with her and her dad to see this home she was interested in purchasing. I told her YES!!! After we saw the home, she said “momma lets go to the movies to see “The Wolf of Wall Street”, we checked out show times and realized that we had an extra hour to burn before the movie starts. As we are riding, she says… lets go to Walmart. We went in… and she said… do you need anything? I said naw… I’m good. But as we walked around… I started seeing stuff I did need. LOL At some point, she said momma.. I know you need stuff, she said get what you need. I got soap, pads, toothpaste, bath wash, and some lip gloss. Then she said… anything else? I asked her when we got in the van… why do you always want to help me ALL THE TIME… I said I’m good. She said momma you have always taken care of me. Anything I wanted or needed and you had the money you got it for me. She said I’m happy to be in a position to do it. I can’t even put into words to describe when your child tells you this. She took me to the movies, and bought me popcorn and pop. I love my baby.
Later on that night… as I sat and thought about my day. I remembered what God told me IN THE STORE….. He said “I will supply all your needs”. WOW WOW WOW. AND HE DID. Thank you Jesus.
Be Blessed
Where works of the flesh exists, there is NO joy
Question……………….Crees Blog Entry
Someone on my FB page ask this question: Have you ever asked yourself; “Am I being a good role model to those whom admire me?” That’s a question everyone should ask themselves. Before I post anything on FB or Twitter, I ask myself.. what message will they get, am I angry right now, will I please God? I admit I can be quite VERBAL on Twitter, and I noticed that and for now on… I will take a few minutes to regroup myself from posting things that are done out MY EMOTIONS. People are paying attention to what you post. Whatever is in your post… it first came out of your heart.
I learned that if I’m angry about something, If I just give myself about 20 minutes to calm down… then what I was going to post I WONT EVEN POST ANYMORE. I LOVE that about God. But if you want to be seen, heard, or even felt, your EMOTIONS will override God’s voice, and your stats will always be full of ANGER AND RAGE, UNNECESSARY BRAGGING, AND IGNORANT CONVERSATIONS. If you don’t believe me….. scroll down and check your last 10 stats. Remember people are on FB for either one or two things, to be Spiritually Fed, or to be Nosey. Just know we ALL have BAD days.. we ALL go through… we ALL get mad and angry….. but the person who can control their EMOTIONS are the ones who are most ADMIRED.
Be Blessed
Where works of the flesh exists, there is NO joy
God wants me to know…….Crees Blog Entry
Today, Lacrease, we believe God wants you to know that …
you need to maintain a balance between your needs and others’ needs.
Yes, it’s not an easy balance to keep, but try you must. Give too much, drain yourself, and there is nothing left only bitter space. Give too little, become a cork, and you block the flow of God’s love through you. Keep on balancing.
This is the truth. I am truly balancing. It was hard for me in the beginning but I’m finding it FUN to do things for myself. I am NOT GOD…..just like I have to go to him….. I will be directing all others to do the same. Oh yes….. there will be CHANGES.
This song is for ME…
Where works of the flesh exists, there is NO joy
Pages of my Diary………………………… Crees Blog Entry
Pages of my Diary…. June 5-6 2001 12:19 am
Hello God
What’s going on Boo? Well thank you for being by my side just like you promised. Ill never forget that….. I love you!
Woke up this morning Anna *neighbor* car out of gas in front of the house. Her brother came with some gas. So she and Neishia * daughter* was tight.
Stayed up made dinner early. I ate at 10:30 this morning. Went to sleep until time to get Neishia. 
Rodney* boyfriend at the time* called and told me he was coming over, He came, then Marto * baby daddy* pulled up and gave Neishia $55.00 for her hair. So tomorrow I’m going to get her a perm and shampoo. She have a 1/2 day tomorrow and Wednesday they take finals. So we’ll start on her hair tomorrow. 
Work was tight today. ….finished at 11:35 or so. Rodney at first couldn’t get his car started just like Anna. He was looking cute so was Marto. They shook hands and spoke.
Ralph * boss at that time* called again with his mess. Didn’t pay him much attention, things are fine today. Called Janine* my hair stylist of 23 years* and Tuesday 10:30 is my app day * for hair* So. I need to make out a schedule for this weekend and next.
Sat- check ( bank), eyes nails, meijer
Subject to change!
Creasy!
Where works of the flesh exists, there is NO joy
Merry Christmas……..Crees Blog Entry
Sometimes you just gotta laugh…………Crees Blog Entry
I always hear this slide across the floor that seems as if the man who lives over me is moving furniture around. So, everyday I sat here and tried to figure out who changes their furniture around everyday……. all day????? I kept trying to think of what in the world is this person moving around? I thought about every thing.
This one day last week… I couldn’t take it anymore, so I went upstairs to the next floor and knocked on his door. I had to fix my face to be friendly, because I didn’t want him to detect that I had an attitude * which I did in my mind*. After knocking on his door a few times, he answered ……and that’s when I said…. Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy how are you? I live directly under you, and I keep hearing this sliding across the floor like somebody is moving furniture or something. He says with a nice smile and friendly face…. No… I’m not moving. So, I gets a peep around his house as I stayed in the doorway in the hall.Then I REALIZED THAT THIS CLOWN ANSWERED THE DOOR SITTING IN A CHAIR * who does that*?. I looked down at the chair and it had 4 WHEELS ON IT…. I SAID DO YOU SCOOT AROUND IN THAT CHAIR * MY OUTSPOKEN SELF* HE was like OH YEAHHHHHH… it must be this chair. I looked at him like BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY…. if you don’t get your chubby butt up and stop scooting around … I’mma choke YOU!!!!!!! He had nerves to be using one of those chairs you would see in offices . He doesn’t get up to walk… this fool scoots all day. I said um ummmmmmmmm… there is no carpet on these floors boo, that noise is irritating… He got my hint… we’re good now. * smh* LOL LOL Its funny now , but it wasn’t last week.
Where works of the flesh exists, there is NO joy
This is HER story… PRAISE GOD
BY: Photographer…Chris Arnade
I generally shy away from posting nude pictures. I don’t want to fall into clichés and stereotypes. Many women do ask me to take them.
When I do take them I rarely post them.
That is unfair of me. By holding the pictures back I am inserting my own bias into the narrative.
The years of prostitution and addiction, all of it builds. A coarseness and openness develops, out of necessity. “You want to see my ass? Well here. Here it is. Now give me that Jackson and get the hell out of here. Getting your dick sucked gonna cost you a whole lot more. You better have heavy pockets.”
So here is the story of Carmela, with the nude pictures. The ones she wanted me to take, the ones she asked me to post.
——————————
When I first met Carmela she was staying in a windowless room in an abandoned apartment. She was sleeping with Takeesha, both of them nude. They were wrapped together kissing between hits of crack.
Carmela had just finished working. “I went 24 hours straight, sucked a bunch of dicks, made a bunch of money. Now I am going to relax.”
Carmela ran away from foster care at twelve, “I was in five different homes, or maybe seven. I got tired of being molested. It started when I was six. I hear people talk about being abused by their family. Well they are lucky. I got abused by six different families.“
After running away she started doing drugs: Heroin, angel dust, and crack.
“When did I start prostituting? I always have. I mean I always thought you had to give up your body for food or to find a place to sleep. I never knew it had a fancy name like prostitution till I was like 16. I just knew it as the way a girl lived on the streets.”
“Men come here. They buy me drugs. I do as much as I can. Heroin ‘cause I like to forget and crack to wake me up.”
“I was clean for about two years. I went looking for my birth parents. My mom died from drugs when I would of been ten. My dad, nobody knows who that man was.”
She asked me to take pictures of her, standing on the bed, exposing herself. I declined, but she insisted. “Ain’t got no shame. This is me. This is what I sell.”
When I visited her next she asked to see the prior pictures of her. She smiled at them. “Damn, you know how to use that thing.”
She spoke while flipping through the photos.
“I am more than just a naked prostitute who smokes crack. I may seem comfortable being that but I am not.”
“I hate what I do. I feel guilty and embarrassed by being out here hustling. I get clean and somehow I keep coming back. It’s the only thing I know, the only place I have power.”
“Just today I was walking down the street. This nine-year old boy kicking a ball started following me. I turned and he turned. He was following me because I was for sale. I felt awful. Would I want my boy following a prostitute around?”
“Then two hour later I was crossing streets with food from the bodega. These two elderly women were watching me. One said to the other, ‘She ought to be ashamed of herself.’ I was.”
“You know what I have always wanted to be? A square. That kid who did everything right and had parents who hugged them and told them how much they loved them.”
“Love? There is no love out here. People only want what they can get from you then they throw you away. I stopped trying to find love.”
“Here is a poem I wrote. Will you please post it?”
Don’t worry.
Don’t worry if you hear me cry,
I am just letting out the frustration inside.
Don’t worry if you hear me yell, “Go to hell”
I am just tired of him saying you better not tell.
Don’t worry if I seem tired and weak,
Its just my soles are worn from hustling in these streets.
Don’t worry about me,
Because I am a survivor,
I’ll always eat.
Look at full series on addiction here: Faces of Addiction
Please also read this, what I have learned from my series: The wealthy make mistakes, the poor go to jail.
Follow on Facebook: Chris Arnade Photography
Consider……. Crees Blog Entry
James 1:2-8 (New International Version)2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
Things to know for PLANNING…….Crees Blog Entry
For the last 5 years I’ve put together Feeding the Homeless for Thanksgiving, and people always ask me is it hard to plan and what does it take to pull it off? So in this blog entry… I’ll share everything you need to know in order to make things go just as planned.
Patience.. it takes a lot of patience. When you’re dealing with many different personalities, you HAVE to be a person who is very understanding of things that come up. I LOVE working with children.. so you can say that I have more patience in this area than many.
Leader…. you have to be a person who can multitask, and know what to do “next” if something goes wrong. Remember people are always looking at your facial expression, your mood change, your tone of voice, your body language….. everything. If you show any signs of “getting frustrated”… just know it could effect your whole team. Many times there could be things going on with your team players, and if that’s the case, if you break down over any thing, this could easy shift their personal issues into your FUNCTION. People feel that if the Leader experience a break down, then that’s a time where they feel that its okay to focus on their own personal issues. I say this because I can clearly remember being apart of something, when the Leader had a moment where they storm off, became upset and argumentative… and I thought to myself…. “I can be at home sitting on the couch eating ice cream for this mess”. People ask a lot of questions…..as a Leader you have to know what you want, and how you want it done. People look to you for answers….always.
Visualize…. you have to already have a visual of how you want things to go. If you don’t others will “gladly” tell you how you should do this and do that, confusing the project with different kinds of opinions and ideas. There is NOTHING wrong with feedback, but YOU have to know what you want before you present it to your team.
Expect for things to go wrong…. I say this because “THIS IS REAL LIFE”. Even if its the smallest thing…. expect for something to go wrong… so that you can always be on guard * with a smile* TO FIX IT!!!! The worst thing to see is a Leader who runs into a problem, panic, get an attitude, changing the whole atmosphere of the team players, just because that person didn’t have a plan B. As we were opening the 7-8 huge cans for the string beans, the can opener didn’t want to work at all. We didn’t have time to go out and buy another one, so what my friend did was….. opened them all with a knife…..with a smile. Now had I panicked and started getting frustrated about it…. it could have easily changed the working atmosphere of others. No one wants to work around a person who can’t control themselves when something goes wrong.
Do what it takes to MAKE IT HAPPEN…. I had to meet so many different people when it was time to pick up items for the Homeless Project. It was challenging traveling on different days and times to meet people all over the city. But it was something that I “mentally prepared” myself to do. I couldn’t quit in the middle of it, and I didn’t whine. I JUST DID IT! I had to put gas in my van 3 days in a row. You have to have that “make it happen” mentality to pull off anything that YOU plan. When your team see that you’re putting in the work…. they will too.
Email….. People will make you want to pull out your hair. BUT DONT. 🙂 I had several people to email me and say…. “why didn’t you call and remind me that the project was here?”….that’s a NO-NO for me. People expect for you to call them and send messages reminding them to be apart. I don’t do that. I’ll post it on face book SEVERAL TIMES, private emails to those who ask for reminders, and that’s it. I found out that people who want to be a part and who cant be part…… WILL CONTACT YOU AND LET YOU KNOW. I love people who communicate with me. Its okay either way… but to say to me… “why didn’t you remind me”…. is disrespectful to MY TIME. I received another email from someone wanting to drop off can goods , a pie, and a pack of dinner rolls. When I explained to her that we make dinners, and all 150 people get the same thing. Well, she looked at it as if I was “lecturing” her, she got mad said her feelings were hurt… and that was it. I tried telling her… its OKAY.. if you can’t help out this year…. ITS OKAY. Its like going to a all black party… and you “TRY” to get in with red… then when the owner of the house stops you and say “hey….. why didn’t you wear black… its a all black party? The person answers…. “well I didn’t have any black to wear”. OKAY WELL……. YOU CANT COME TO THIS FUNCTION. WHEN WE HAVE A RED PARTY… THEN YOU CAN COME… ITS ALRIGHT IF YOU CANT MAKE IT THIS TIME.*quit trying to make a dollar out of .15* ITS OKAY IF YOU HAVE TO SIT THIS ONE OUT. SIT IT OUT… ITS OKAY. I WILL NOT LET YOU IN MY DOOR. People will try to fit your “already” planned function… and make it apart of their pity party. I HAVE ZERO TOLERANCE FOR THOSE PEOPLE….NONE. I’m sweet as PIE. But I WILL NEVER CALL YOU AGAIN, IF YOU HAVE A HARD TIME UNDERSTANDING THE RULES.
Have fun and laugh during the preparations of your function. Make sure that your people eat… who wants to put together a function and there’s no food? I learned that real quick when I put my first one together. LOL My people were mad at me for “making dinners” and not having food for them. So, always make sure there is something to eat.
Where works of the flesh exists, there is NO joy
Inside the mind of cree 