Ozioma bites hard on her lower lip, she brushes her runny nose as she hurriedly walks towards the bus. The last one transporting late entry visitors to the prison building where she will be fingerprinted, physically searched, stamped and touched; in all the inappropriate places. She’d dreaded today…but now living it! “What am I doing here” “How did I get here” “she touched the name tag placed on her chest and looked up as her inmate-host walks towards her. He’s cladded in an oversized orange prison jumpsuit, the black printed number on it clogging her mindset. Her heart is beating fast and she can feel the adrenaline rush… ‘Here he comes, she whispered softly to herself…’Chained! Monitored! Controlled! ‘Ah! Is this still love! “Seriously, what am I doing here? Why am I here? Why am I still attached to Charles? after all the…

Every woman is a born story-teller. It doesn’t matter how dramatic or docile we relate our adventures. We got tales! We are created with a story line attached to our destinies. But not all of us are good story tellers! Some of us will watch a scene from our past play right in front of us and then feel sorry for the characters. Some of us will carry hidden stories of mysteries, riddles and battles of our past and carry it within our hearts all the way to our grave without realizing the power it has to heal a hurting soul. It might as well just be the only portion of upliftment we carry within us as women empowering women…not opposing each other!

I remember growing up with great memories of bigger-than-life stories being narrated between my mother and her sisters, every time our car pulls over at my Aunt’s house @ #17 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi – It was always another evening filled with juicy tales of astonishment and un-believable bewilderment that creates jaw dropping bafflement (as I hide behind the kitchen door to listen). These are stories that I have taken through life and has made me a weaver of tales! Their stories mirror the alleys and labyrinths that come with the things that women (Wives, Mothers, Sisters, Aunts) all go through in life!

So, What’s your story? What are you going through? Or What’s going through you? Like Charles, are you jailed “physically”? Or like Chioma, are you still living in an “emotional confinement”?

And if all what the world sees in us women is our “Radiance” “Glow” “Fat Bank Account” “Great Body” “Great sex” “Successful Entrepreneurship Power” and “Excellent Caregiver-status” and never bother about what really makes us Beautiful Inside Out!…’we are nothing to talk about!

Here’s another great opportunity for every woman (married, single, courting, separated, divorced) dealing with every aspect of joy and pain in womanhood; to meet with great speakers at the upcoming Total Women Conference organized by www.rccglivingspring.org ; to Connect, Cohere, Relate, Vest and Entrust our wealth of wisdom from our storyline…

SAVE THE DATE!!

April 22 – April 25, 2015. It promises to be an inspiring and empowering week with anointed speakers:

 *** Pastor Marcos Mercado, Praise Philadelphia 103.9 Radio host of Marriage Beyond the Vows.

***Ministering: Pastor (Dr.) Esther Obasi-Ike (RCCG Solution Center, Kenya, Africa),

***Rev. Sade Fasedemi (Waterfalls Ministries, South Africa).

 ***Registration can be completed at http://rccglivingspring.org/total-woman-conference/

 Yours in HOPE…

Yinka Lawrence