Celebrate Memorial Day In Remembering Our War Heroes!

Greetings,

After May 2013, Memorial Day has never been the same for me. My sincere celebration of the holiday has taken on new meaning. Before I  celebrated Memorial Day more for the time with family than truly honoring the millions of fallen soldiers who gave their lives so we as Americans can enjoy freedom as no other nation. Now, I truly have an American Hero to celebrate.

My sister and best friend, Major Patricia Holmes-Ellison, led a command of soldiers, 273rd Military Police Company, in the 1991 Gulf War–having been one of the few women allowed to maintain leadership of a coed squad in combat. Early morning on May 14, 2013, she succumbed to lingering wounds from Desert Storm. She was a soldier’s soldier. Through her life, commitment to this country and death, I realized that these soldiers, even those who lost their lives, would fight again if given the opportunity. That is not to say that our country has always honored their efforts, commitment and ultimate sacrifice. I witnessed my sister fight for benefits that were rightfully hers being forced to prove that she was ever in combat.

Our patriotism for those who fight and sacrifice so much, even their lives, for us is grossly under celebrated. Not long ago I can remember the patriotism of America for those who had given their lives. Flags hung from houses as we were proud Americans honoring our war dead. In school we learned the battle and celebratory songs of this country in celebration of our country and those who gallantly served this country with honor and dignity. We recited the Pledge of Allegiance with pride knowing it united us not just as a nation, but as a country committed to God.

Today, most of our children don’t know those songs because of cuts from our music departments and we don’t sing them at home like we once did either. The majority of them don’t know the Pledge of Allegiance because God is mentioned and we are more concerned about offending rather than uniting in a corporate commitment to our country and our freedom.

Many of Americans are clueless about why we celebrate Memorial Day. Most of them feel it is another day off work; when in actuality it is a time for us to celebrate our war dead. These are the women and men who unselfishly gave of themselves and sacrificed the ultimate in battle, their lives, so we can have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Join me this Memorial Day to celebrate the millions of women and men who gave their lives so we as Americans can enjoy freedoms unlike any other nation. Pray for the strength of their families who lost their loved ones, some during battle and others later from wounds acquired during battle. Let us join together with pride knowing that their efforts and sacrifice will never be forgotten and they will never be in vain. We salute each of them throughout the history of America for their bravery, their courage and their sacrifice for us to be one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Enjoy a blessed momentous Memorial Day

Jacqui Showers

The Bold Encourager
Chief Encouragement Officer

Safely Enjoy Your Christmas!

This year has been extreme! As we continue to be shuttered away from celebrating with family and friends in person, we learn to improvise in our celebrations. Last evening, I had a great time celebrating with my family via Zoom in our traditional Christmas Eve Gift Exchange.

Last year we were shuttered away from family and friends because of the pandemic. I recall not missing a beat when it came to coming together with my family. We celebrated our beloved holidays, not being together, yet we were together. Thank God for technology that affords us the ability to still connect with family.

After almost two years of uncertainty, we find ourselves still battling an invisible foe. It seems as though when we think that it is just about winding down, it rears its ugly head again. Most of us thought that we would be enjoying our families without trepidation of a killer virus that has taken so many. Yet, we continue to be in that place. Unlike last year, we are not shuttered away. Unfortunately, the numbers of those being afflicted by the virus, and even succumbing to it is on the increase.

As we celebrate this holiday season, let us remember why we do it. It is because a loving God gifted us with His only son, Jesus Christ. In an unselfish display of love, God gave His only begotten son that we would have eternal life and experience an abundant life here on earth. I believe beyond belief, that abundant life included us uniting together in the face of adversity. We are facing one of the worse adversities of my lifetime. A pandemic that appears to be relentless.

We have to be just as relentless and vigilant in our efforts to ensure a different outcome for Christmas 2022. It begins with each of us exhibiting that same unselfish love God demonstrated. It begins when we love each other enough to do what is right for ourselves and others. I continue to wear my love mask, even though I have been vaccinated and received the booster. These are love gestures in my commitment to living the two greatest commandments—to love God and to love my neighbor as I love myself.

You see, I want everyone to experience an awesome Christmas with their loved ones. It is my desire that there will not be an empty place at the table when families sit down because their loved one was snatched away by COVID. It is my hope and desire that our children will be able to attend school mask-free, without fear of catching a virus that they can potentially take home. I look forward to the day when we can gather together without fear of events becoming super spreaders.

Every time, I put my mask on, I envision the day when I won’t have to wear it. Until then, my love gift is to put it on so others and myself can live. During this holiday season, let’s continue to demonstrate love by doing what is necessary to annihilate this disease.

Have an awesome Merry Christmas as you safely enjoy your family and friends!

Jacqui Showers

The Bold Encourager
Business Encouragement Coach

Celebrate Memorial Day!

Greetings,

Every Memorial Day I remember my sister, Major Patricia Holmes Ellison, and her bravery, courage, and sacrifice. I witnessed a long painful process of sickness and disease from wounds when she served and was the only woman to lead a coed command in Desert Storm that ultimately caused her death.

Join me today and every Memorial Day as I remember, salute, and honor my sister and the countless women and men who gave their lives. These are the women and men who unselfishly gave of themselves and sacrificed the ultimate in battle, their lives, so we can have the right to the pursuit of happiness, liberty, and justice for all.

Let us pray for the strength of their families who lost their loved ones, some during the battle and some years later from wounds inflicted during the battle. Let us join with pride knowing that their efforts and sacrifice will never be forgotten. Today celebrate them for their bravery, their courage, and their sacrifice.

Enjoy a blessed momentous Memorial Day

Jacqui Showers

The Bold Encourager
Chief Encouragement Officer

Happy Mother’s Day!

Celebrate Loving Your Mother!

We pour out our love in all the accoutrements associated with Mother’s Day—cards, gifts, dinners and more. Nothing compares to the present of our presence and our enduring love for our mothers. These two Mother’s Day where we have not been able to participate in the traditional celebrations, it causes you to truly reflect on this day.

For me, it is remembering my Mother’s love for each of her bunch of kids—as she referred to the 10 of us. For those of us whose Mother has transitioned from this word to eternity, our memories have become our priceless companions. For those whose mothers are still with you, love on your Mother every day as if the very heartbeat of your life depends on it. In many ways, it does.

Celebrate Loving your Mother every day of your life!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Jacqui Showers

The Bold Encourager
Chief Encouragement Officer

Embracing a New Year!

Happy New Year!

Even as we enter 2021 there is still a lot of uncertainty, but there is so much optimism that at the cessation of 2021 we will have moved closer to the normalcy we once knew and will have experienced awesome success in each of our endeavors. Normalcy in 2020 has been redefined. As much as we may long to resume our lives before COVID, we will never fully embrace that normalcy again.

There is a normalcy that each of us experience every day in some capacity. Even though sometimes we feel that it is not there. The love of God is always a part of our existence. Even amid the adversities and chaos of life, His love for us is forever present. No doubt God and His love will also be there with us throughout 2021. Regardless of what the vicissitudes of life my bring, God and His unconditional love is the greatest constant of our lives. The same constant of His love for us, each of us must be committed to that consistency of love for each other.

We awakened this morning in a new year. Some of the same issues are confronting us. Together, in love, we can conquer them. As we move further from the holidays, incorporating love, compassion, and grace into our lives becomes even more paramount. I am committed to love God, others, and myself in bringing about some semblance of normalcy as we knew it. I do hope you join me in that commitment as we face another year united together with love as our cornerstone to increase our faith and hope for a prosperous and successful year.

Have a Happy Blessed New Year!

Jacqui Showers

The Bold Encourager
Chief Encouragement Officer

Celebrating Family Love @ Christmas!

Celebrating Family on Christmas Day!

This year has been extreme! As we continue to be shuttered away from celebrating with family and friends in person, we learn to improvise in our celebrations. Last evening, I had a great time celebrating with my family via Zoom in our traditional Christmas Eve Gift Exchange.

We sang. We laughed. We played games. We reminisced of Christmas past. We exchanged gifts in our usual fashion of storytelling. Most importantly, we loved on each other. Although we could not physically be with each other our traditions continued, and it did not lessen our celebration as our love for each other is stronger than ever.

During this time, be creative in how you reach out to your family. Love is demonstrated in so many ways. More than ever, this year, we have had to creatively love family and friends at a distance. I have come to realize that enduring this separation for a little while, pales in comparison to doing what I need to do to ensure we will come together face-to-face once again to celebrate so many more Christmases.

Is it difficult? Yes, and no. Perspective is everything.

Jesus came to dwell in the earth for a little while. God knew he would not be here forever, but God wanted each of us to experience the special love He has for humankind. So, He sent his only Son to come to earth so we would not have to be restricted to the limitations of this world, but to live an abundant liberated life and to live with Him for all of eternity. Such an awesome act of love for a life-long and eternal reward.

We find ourselves in that same situation. Such an awesome act of love as we separate for a little while to experience each other for a lifetime. Thank God for creativity! He provided us with creative resources through technology to still connect with family and friends. We may not be able to touch them physically, but our hearts continue to be intertwined in love regardless of the distance.

As you celebrate this Christmas creatively with family and friends, enjoy distance, yet closeness, of a family’s love. Remember, it is only for a little while and then we will all be physically together once again.

Have an awesome Merry Christmas!

Jacqui Showers

The Bold Encourager
Business Encouragement Coach

Have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Embracing Love!

Love is such a powerful word. Every day, even more this year, it has become even more of a driving force for me. These past several months have been some of our most trying as we are in the midst of a pandemic that has taken so many lives and affected so many others. We have grown weary of political rhetoric that divides more than unite us together in the face of battling an invisible foe. Everything that we have had to contend with has brought us to a place of thanksgiving. This year Thanksgiving is different, yet I feel it is stretching us to love even more.

I’m sure you recall the biblical story about the Good Samaritan. On his way to Jericho, a Jewish man was attacked and left on a deserted road half dead. Before long, a priest came by, saw the man and crossed over to the other side without offering any assistance. Not too long afterwards, a Levite came and got close enough to look at the man and kept going. Again, not offering any assistance. Many of us see firsthand our brothers’ and sisters’ plight, but just like the Jewish man and the priest we have elected to overlook it and do nothing.

Then along came a Samaritan—someone who, including the battered man, was despised because of his ethnicity. The Samaritan immediately attended to the man’s wounds and took him to a nearby inn where he nursed him through the night. Prior to leaving the next day, the Good Samaritan paid the man’s expenses in advance and promised to pay any additional expenses on his return. This act of humanity illustrates a commitment to love others as we love ourselves.

The Good Samaritan exemplifies a worthwhile character to emulate. He confronted a challenge and did not walk away from it. We face a similar challenge in battling this invisible foe. Refusal to do our part by simply wearing a mask demonstrates us walking away. The price is too high to walk away. We have already paid a high price in the thousands of lives lost, the strain on our health system, and the negative economic impact it has had.

My concern, as I hope is all our concern, is to do our part in combating this invisible foe. We cannot walk away and do nothing. We have a responsibility. “We need to remember: We’re at war with a virus — not with each other,” said President-Elect Joe Biden.

I am reminded of Jesus when he didn’t think it was beneath him to gird himself with a towel of servanthood and wash the feet of his disciples. I can only imagine how dirty those feet were from walking in the unpaved streets shared by humans and animals. Yet, Jesus humbled himself enough to wash those dirty nasty feet.

The towel of servanthood for us this Thanksgiving is a little smaller. It is a mask. Just like the towel Jesus used represented love for others, the mask that we wear today also represent love for others. I am amazed at how such a small piece of cloth has caused so much division when we desperately need to be united in this battle.

Every time I am reminded of the hundreds of thousands of lives lost and even more that are suffering, it causes me to love a little more and just wear a mask. I am grateful to be able to do my part in combating this noisome pestilence. You see, how can I say I love my neighbor as I love myself and I am not willing to demonstrate that love by not only helping to save others’ lives, but my own as well.

Love is patient, love is kind, and love is not selfish. We must love fervently. Love must be the guiding force for us this Thanksgiving and throughout the holiday season. President-Elect Joe Biden sums it up this way, “This Thanksgiving — and in anticipation of all the Thanksgivings to come — let us dream again. Let us commit ourselves to thinking not only of ourselves but of others.”

Have a Safe & Happy Thanksgiving!

Jacqui Showers

The Bold Encourager
Business Encouragement Coach

Happy Mother’s Day!

Celebrate Your Mother’s Love!

Before we ever entered this world the pages of our lives were being written. Guess who was there? You’re right, our Mothers. She went through all the nuances of gestation in carrying us for nine months and the pains and travail of our birth. She was the one who changed our first diapers, fed us, and lovingly cooed to us of how much she loved us.

Throughout our maturation process, it was her love that propelled us forward and encouraged us to succeed. Our Mother’s made the sacrifices and loved us unconditionally. Throughout our book of life, our Mother’s love is there—sacrifice, tears, worry, sleepless nights, chastening, correcting, caring, believing in us, and having the faith for our success even before we had it. Without our Mothers, there would be no pages of our lives. Between every page of our life is our Mother’s love.

Celebrate your Mother’s Love every day of your life!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Jacqui Showers

The Bold Encourager
Business Encouragement Coach

Happy New Year! Celebrate the Winner in You!

Celebrate the Winner in You in 2020!

It’s not just a new year, it’s a new decade! Like everyone else, I am having moments of reflections and moments of anticipation.

When I entered 2019, I made a commitment to myself to finish my books—Prayers for Success: Igniting the World to Achieve Success, I DECIDED: Moving from Resolution to Execution and Affirmations for Success: Daily Affirmations for Marketplace Influencers. That was my primary focus throughout 2019. I made the decision to place everything else aside and focus on completing an assignment that had been looming over me.

Whoa! Whoa! I achieved that assignment. The books are here! They are available right now! If you haven’t purchased yours, get them now at www.jassaipublishing.com.

This has been a journey for me, but now I am looking ahead to all that awaits me in this year’s journey. With the publishing of these books, I feel a release to move full speed ahead. Each of us have been inoculated with desires that are directly connected to our embracing the assignments God has strategically placed inside of us. The beauty of every assignment is that He has also equipped and empowered us to succeed.

As you peer into 2020 and a new decade, make the decision to fulfill every desire. If you feel you can’t accomplish them all, identify one or two that you can be committed to achieving. Believe me, when you complete the assignment it is going to bring you great joy, peace and bolster your confidence in forging you forward to the next one.

Keep in mind, that you must be committed to accomplishing all God has given you. It is more than just speaking faith name it and claim it declarations, you must have the corresponding actions to experience success in your endeavors.

For me, this year I am resurrecting previous assignments that I set aside while completing my books. Look to see Showers’ Blessing Inspire Blog and eblast, 11:59 A Minute ’til Minute Marketplace Prayer Boot Camp, Prayers for Success and Wisdom, Wealth & Riches with Jacqui as well as the return of Oh Break Out Empowerment and Leadership Experience and more.

I am exposing myself to you as an accountability factor. In order to be successful, you must put it out there so someone can hold you accountable. As you go over your commitments for the year, also identify someone whom you can trust to walk alongside you. Having that support is critical. There will be days when you will need a shoulder to lean on and there will be days when you need someone to celebrate with you as well. Never forget that God is always there with each step of your journey. You have to carve out daily time to spend with Him in meditation, prayer, fasting and consuming His Word.

God has placed so much inside each of us for us to excel and succeed. He never had any intentions for us to fail. The same winner DNA that is part of God is also a part of you. Every day God envisions you to be a winner. You must envision yourself as a winner. Winning is a mindset, regardless of what may be happening in your life. Your mindset to win propels you to be the winner you were created to be. That is the only way you are going to move successfully through 2020 and beyond through this decade.

Celebrate the Winner in You!

Happy New Year & New Decade!

Jacqui Showers

The Bold Encourager
Business Encouragement Coach

Happy New Year! Enjoy the Journey!

Happy New Year,

The first day of the new year marks the end of the Christmas Holiday season. Our concerns turn to the cares of the routines of our lives. Many are preparing to go to work the next day. Suddenly, the festivities of the season begin to distance itself behind us. We embark on another fresh canvass of 365 days.

Many have written resolutions in hopes that a new year will provide a fresh perspective. In many instances, it does. A new year is a continuation of your journey. It would be great if everything suddenly changed at the stroke of midnight, but that isn’t the case. True transformation only takes place in our daily journey. Resolutions only bring transformation when we are committed to the daily routine of our journey. If there is no commitment to the transformative power of our daily routine, the resolutions will remain on that paper until the next year.

The journey of a year is that you are moving every day in a mindset to achieve success. It doesn’t matter the magnitude of the success, as along as you have a success mentality that propels you through the year. It’s a journey. The success of the journey begins and ends with your commitment to enjoying all the nuances that the journey entails—the good, the bad and the indifferent.

What you have to know is that each day and each experience is making 2019’s journey a success. With every day and experience, you are growing in so many ways. Your faith is increasing. Your confidence is bolstered. Your relationships are strengthened. Every aspect of your life experiences a metamorphosis of success in the journey.

Enjoy the journey! You’re on a path to achieve illimitable success in 2019!

Happy New Year!

Jacqui Showers

The Bold Encourager
Business Encouragement Coach