You Are One of One

“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in one drop.”

—Rumi

Simone Manuel, is a two time Olympic winning swimmer and a six-time individual NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving champion

Build Trust In Yourself…Miranda J. Barrett

As you build trust in yourself, your ability to expand your vision and fully live in your magnificence is amplified.

Miranda J. Barrett, A Woman's Truth: A Life Truly Worth Living

Photo Credit:

https://www.melaninbasecamp.com/trip-reports/2022/2/27/why-we-jump-an-interview-with-5-base-jumpers-of-color

Slavery: If It Happened To One, It Happened To All…Lupita Nyong'O

“Slavery is something that is all too often swept under the carpet. The shame doesn't even belong to us, but we still experience it because we're a part of the African race. If it happened to one, it happened to all. We carry that burden.”

--Lupita Nyong'O, Oscar Winning Actress

We Have Only Just Begun: Get Together Because It’s Possible...Andrew “Andy” Young

“The hungry cannot eat hope. They can't drink inspiration. They need clean water. Yes, they need food. 

There is more money, there is more technology. There's more understanding of human need on this planet than ever before. 

And so I cling to the message of my African brothers that say the ancestors are still with us. And if that be true, we have nothing yet to celebrate. We can only thank God that they showed us that it was possible…to break down the barriers that separate the rich and the poor.

It's the first time the Congress got together and Democrats and Republicans voted sanctions and they overrode the veto and and the UN got together and England and France got together with Germany and Cuba and China  and the US.

 …we made it possible to get this far, but you have sung that there's no easy walk to freedom. And I hear Madiba saying, ‘we showed you the way’.

There is the capacity in this planet that the hungry can be fed that the naked can be clothed that the prophecy of Isaiah can be fulfilled in our lifetime if we keep on keeping on.”

--Andrew Young, Civil Rights Leader; Member of U.S. Congress; Mayor of Atlanta, GA; U.S. Ambassador; Minister and Businessman

(Excerpts from Andy Young’s remarks on the occasion of the Nelson Mandela Memorial Service at the National Cathedral, Washington, DC, 12/11/13)

A Prayer In Community…Jacqueline A. Thompson

Pastor Jacqueline Thompson, Allen Temple Baptist Church, Oakland, CA. Credit: Amir Aziz, Oaklandside.org

Preparation:

“We come to church in community because sometimes it takes more than just us. We are intergenerational because when I look at seasoned saints, I see how God helped them make it through. When I look at young people, I understand what my charge is: ...I have to help them make it through. But sometimes when you’re in the middle you wonder, ‘who is going to help me make it through?’ Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.

“God is able to do just what he said he will do. He’s going to fulfill every promise to you. Don’t give up on God, cause he won’t give up on you. He’s able! He’s able!”

The Bible says if we come touching and agreeing concerning any matter...because sometimes you need to feel another real live human with blood in their veins to know that God is a keeper...

Prayer:

And So God we come right now as our ancestors would say, ‘in the onli-est way we know how’... We come to you because God literally, there is no other help we know.

You are the God of our weary years and the God of our silent tears. We come before you with bowed down heads and humble hearts because we don’t know what the future holds but we know you hold the future.

God, we’re tired. Some of us are tired of ourselves. But you told us that we could cast all our cares upon you cause your yoke is easy and your burden is light. So God help us! We don’t want to be inauthentic. Something has happened that has shaken us! And it’s because we don’t know that makes us concerned.

But God, won’t you remind us? You said you will never leave us, and you will never forsake us. Some of us are in deep pain. ...you are a balm in Gilead. We thank you for angels that are being dispatched to deal with their situation... We thank you, as the saint of old would say, ‘for being God, and being God all by yourself’.

Help us to keep our confidence in you, not just today but in the days to come. Give us to know that the best is still yet to come. Holy Spirit, fall fresh right now. Stir up the passion and the gift of God! Renew our spirits and our minds, and our body. Help us to seek after you and run on and see what the end is going to be.

And because we are a people of faith, we not gon wait till the battle is over. God, we’re going to shout right now. We are going to thank you for it right now. God is able!”

—Rev. Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson, B.A., MDiv, DMin; Preacher, Author, Administrator and Senior Pastor, Allen Temple Baptist Church, Oakland, California 

*Please note this prayer has been edited for this medium, but can be viewed below in its entirety along with the sermon delivered by Dr. Thompson on November 10, 2025 in Somerset, NJ. —Nona Ogunsula, Principal Creative, Liberty Ink and Founder, womenatliberty and #LeadershipTuesdays 

REPOST: My Prayer

My Prayer in times when words fail us:

Re-posting a prayer that I wrote over 15 years ago. The sentiment of the prayer really blessed  me and I hope it blesses you as well.
______________________________________

Lord, there are places where we are not able to go, so we send your Spirit. There are hearts that we cannot touch, so we pray for the power and comfort of the Holy Spirit to minister to them. 

We also pray for those that will have the opportunity to minister and pray for those who are in need and broken-hearted. Give them wisdom. Help them to minister in a spirit of love, truth and restoration. 

In the name of Jesus, Amen. 

*Dedicated to the memory of Pastor Paul E. Sheppard who inspired this prayer. He past away on January 25, 2025 and my thoughts are with his family and church during this time of grief and gratitude for his life and ministry. 

Nona Ogunsula

The Type Of Leaders We Need To Be Developing…Martin Luther King, Jr.

“May I stress the need for courageous, intelligent, and dedicated leadership... Leaders of sound integrity. Leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with money, but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause.”

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

We Are The Harvest…Gwendolyn Brooks

“We are each other's harvest; we are each other's business; we are each other's magnitude and bond.” 

—Gwendolyn Brooks, Author, Quote from the book, “Paul Robeson”

Doing What’s Right...Ashley Lorenzana

“Never do anything that you can’t admit doing, because if you are that ashamed of whatever it is, it’s probably wrong.”

—Ashly Lorenzana

Confidence Is Everything...Ciara

“Confidence is everything. Confidence is what makes that simple white tee and jeans look good.” 

—Ciara Princess Harris Wilson 

(August 24, 2016 - Source: Ari Perilstein/
Getty Images North America)

Write It and Speak It...Ciara

"I truly believe that if you put your goals in writing, speak them out loud, and work for them, they will happen."

--Ciara

I'm Clear Why I'm Here...Frederick D. Haynes III

Can you follow your Father’s voice in spite of the noise?

--Reverend Dr. Freddy Haynes III

To view more of this clip, go to: http://ow.ly/RSo330qgeqa

For the entire sermon, go to: https://youtu.be/WAPkBhcl0-8

You Have To Have A Plan...Nipsey Hussle

"The most important thing, number one, is you gotta get rid of doubt. If you got doubt in what you're doing, it's not gonna work and the way to do that is you have a plan. 'Cause if you got a plan, it's not just like a pipe-dream, you have a step-by-step list of things to do to get to your goal. If you don't have that, it's very hard to really have faith in what you're doing 'cause soon as something pop up, it's gonna look like the end-all."

-- Nipsey Hussle, (Ermias Joseph Asghedom, 1985-2019), Rapper and Entrepreneur 

Choose To Step Up...Andrew Gillum

"I don't want to be that person who's looking squarely at the shortcomings in the process right where I sit and then choose to walk away and do nothing."

--Andrew Gillum, 126th Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida 

In 2018, Andrew Gillum was the first black nominee of the Democrat Party for the office of Governor in Florida.

#LeadershipTuesdays: Your First Move in Change Management...Aja Brown

"I recommend leaders tackle the hardest things first because they may take the longest for you to actually impact. And if you have a time limit as most people do, you need to be effective with how you deploy your time, your resources and your people. So it's critical to really work through those hard things quickly and early on so you can have a realistic strategy to be successful."*

--Aja Brown, Mayor, Compton, California

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides Leadership Tuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Today we profile Aja Lena Brown, the 18th mayor of Compton, California.

Brown made history in 2013 by defeating the incumbent Eric J. Perrodin to become the youngest mayor ever elected in Compton. She is currently serving her second term as mayor having been reelected in 2017.

Mayor Brown is an example of a home grown talent with vision and passion to make a difference. She went to school and grew up in the area where she serves as mayor and she is the embodiment of one who believes that change is not only possible and but doable.

Brown launched a 'New Vision for Compton’, a revitalization strategy centered on 12-key principles that focuses on family values, quality of life, economic development and infrastructural growth, and began her work in Compton. Her goal is to improve outcomes through policy reform, innovation and strategic partnerships. Since becoming Mayor, she has  accomplished the following:

• Decreased homicides from 2014 to 2015;

• Reduced the unemployment rate by 50 percent in Compton from 18 percent in July of 2013, to 9 percent in the month of December 2015;

• Executed policy that improves access to Compton City employment through the First Source Hiring Agreement, adopted in October 2013, which mandates 35 percent local hiring for city assisted and funded projects; and

• Eliminated hourly motel rentals and condemning businesses that incubate human trafficking, and other illicit activity.

Brown is a graduate of the University of Southern California with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Policy, Urban Planning and Development and Master’s degree in Urban Planning with a concentration in Economic Development. She is married to her best friend Van Brown and they are the proud parents of their first child, a daughter named J'ael.

For more information on Leadership Tuesdays and WOMEN AT LIBERTY, click here.

*Quote from GLS Conference, Chicago, Illinois, August 2019

A Sunday Blessing...Thema Bryant-Davis

"May this be the season your spirit awakens. May this be the season you remember your name. May this be the day your clarity returns."

--Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis, Minister, Psychologist and Educator 

@drthema 

A Good Fight...Kamala D. Harris

“Any fight – any good fight – is born out of optimism.”

--Kamala Harris, U.S. Senator, 32nd Attorney General of California

Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle

Legacy...Pericles | Kobe Bryant (1978--2020)

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

-- Pericles

Abuse of Power, Code And System...Frederic Bastiat

"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men [or women] in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."  

--Frederic Bastiat

Stand Up And Do Something...Albert Einstein

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything."

--Albert Einstein