Mar 11
6
Black Enterprise, March 2011 issue; Trials & Triumphs: Self-Made Miracle by Tamara Holmes (pgs 4, 76 & 77)
Black Enterprise Magazine article, Self-Made Miracle, by Tamara Holmes
Bernice Mayfield AWESOME…though I can’t imagine “self-made” being Stanice’s description. Reporter might have missed some of the point, but I pray that the readers get the full message! Praise the Lord!.
STANICE SHARES: Nor could I imagine that @bernice. Now, I Self-made the mess; but God created a miracle from the mess. I self-made an heroin overdose that resulting in dying three times in the ambulance on the way to the hospital; but God had the last word–LIVE. How could I not follow His leading, guidance and continue to do so, as empowered by the Holy Spirit–daily?
Gratitude and thanksgiving compelled me to ask God for a vision for this life that He spared; so many times. He answered the prayers I said for me and gave me the vision, resources for the vision; including people generously woven into the fabric of my life who supported, encouraged, and loved me until I learned how to love and forgive myself. I prayed for faith for the journey and God gave it to me–free for the asking. It all went into the mix and I slowly came to believe and say with conviction, “You can do this! You are triumphant, not so much in spite of your past, but because of your past.” Then there’s the new DNA coding that came with accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior.”
I like the way my son, Mike Tucker, who writes my press releases and co-published, my new book, Walking On Water When The Ground Ain’t Enuf, put it, “While,
Co-publisher & Managing Editor, Mike Tucker and Mom, Stanice Anderson
you made a passionate choice to follow your resurrected dreams, God gave you the where-with-all.” That’s a word phrase you don’t hear often and it bellows from the depth of my soul and into life as I now know it–full to the brim with possibilities and purpose.
What I do is hold on to God’s promises, keep it moving no matter what and refuse to give up 5 minutes before the miracles happen; knowing Jeremiah 29:11-14, “God says, ‘I alone know the plans I have for your life, plans for prosperity and not disaster; plans to give you a future and a hope,” is a personal, intimate Word from God to me and anyone else who dares to take God at His Word.
I thank God for the international platform that He orchestrated by getting me in Black Enterprise because addiction is an international problem and hope an international solution beginning. I understand that it is a magazine with a focus on business enterprise in the world, especially as it relates to African-Americans. So the jargon is that of the business world; i.e, self-made millionaire. I applaud the publication for having a new section, LIFE, which features people like me who have had trials and triumphed through them. It’s an opportunity to share our stories to motivate and inspire others to grasp and believe, that they are not alone in their situations, and that “If he or she can get through THAT then I know I can get though THIS.” It’s about hope, which the character Red, in one of my favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemptions, says, “Hope is a good thing. Perhaps, the best of things; and so I hope.”
I also thank God for the writer of the article, freelancer, Tamara Holmes, who passionately pitched my story to Black Enterprise, and won the assignment. And the photographer, Kevin Allen, who captured some amazing shots including the feature photo that I know my Dad, Stan Anderson, Sr., in Heaven, must love. His namesake standing at the gateway to his beloved Anacostia (Martin Luther King, Jr., Avenue and Good Hope Road, SE). There is also a photo donning the Table of Contents on page 4 of BE, of me talking to a group at the new Anacostia Library, where I first fell in love with the written word and the places the books imported me through my imagination. The whole Black Enterprise experience made me feel like I’ve come full circle. Like my Dad’s Anacostia is mine too, finally–I’ve come home.
Thank you, Jesus, for sparing my life for such a time as this! Amen. So it is!
