Thank you for everything

Pray all is well with everyone.  Let's catch up from 2024 and give you all your flowers now by saying, "Thank you for everything."

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello, one and all. It is me, Stephanie. And before we start to set our soul free, I want to remind you to don't forget to subscribe to the channel, click the like, and leave a comment. Also, don't forget to hit the little notification bell so you know when new videos post. As always, I know we won't always agree, and that's okay. Man wasn't meant to always agree with one another. That's what makes our world that God created unique because everyone has a difference of opinion, and I'm okay with it. Leave your comments so we can keep the conversation going. Remember, it's not about me, it's about you. It's about our youth. It's about setting our souls free with me. Stephanie. So let's get into it. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night. Wherever you are, in whatever part of the country you may live in, I greet you and say thank you for blessing me with your presence. It is time to set your soul free with me, Stephanie. So let's see what we can be blessed with today. Hello, hello, hello, long time no see, no here from. I hope everyone is doing well and that their 2025 has started off in the way that God has intended. Don't worry about the world, what the world is doing. You just do what you're supposed to do. I bring you greetings. It's been a minute. I think when I looked, I think November was the last time I podcasted something, and the Lord has been working since then. Toward the end of December and right into the new year, the Lord started blessing the ministry, and I kept my word. God delivered, and I'm gonna do what He asked me to do. And we've been running since day one. So I'm going to talk about what's been going on since 2024. So we're gonna pray everything as well, and then we're gonna play Let's Catch Up. So 2024 was amazing on being able to help so many families and young people with food, house expenses, mentoring our youth and young adults, and keeping positivity in their lives, to watching some of my mentees graduate and still them wanting me to still be a part of their now college life. That is a big blessing when you have people that's been with you that you've been mentoring since elementary school, that you've kept them going all throughout their school year, being their form. They invite you to their graduation, but it didn't stop there. Now they're inviting you to whatever they do in their college life. If they have any issues or they need someone to talk to, they're still reaching out to you in their college life. Because anybody who knows anybody, including us when we were young, once we hit a certain age, we cut off all them ties. Uh-uh, I'm moving on, got things to do, got people to see. But it's a blessing that lets me know how much I've affected them that they still want me to be a part of them. And I check on them. I still check on my babies every once in a while. You know, they want me to be there for something. I'm there, they see me, I'm there, and I do act like I have since I leave the tambourines in the car, unless the tambourines are called for. But other than that, I do go there and I do not embarrass my babies. Mike's closet is filling back up with donations and clothes and shoes for those in need. We accept donations all year long. Um, we just ask that the clothes and the shoes and the toys are in good condition. No broken pieces, no missing buttons, no stains, no writing on it. Because just because somebody is in need don't mean they have to that we're just gonna give them any of that. We wouldn't want to take that from somebody else for us, so we're not gonna sit up and give that to somebody else. So Mike's closet is still available, we're still accepting stuff, we're still blessing people, we're blessing families every month, basically. You know, we get some clothes, mostly it's children's clothes. We get some clothes in, send them out to the babies, to families who need them. And I thank you to everyone who donated because it is a blessing. We were able to also give away kids' books this year, um, like for those who are starting to read. So stuff that's got like words that aren't that hard, you know, like for the beginners. Um, we are when and we're accepting books, and then we're gonna go back to start accepting books, and or we're going to start. No, we're gonna go back, we're going to start accepting books once again that are in good condition, that are not missing, don't have scribble on them or writings on them. Because again, we're wanting to give these to the next generation so they can learn. Man, if I could get a copy of helicopters and gingerbreads, that'll be just the perfect book to start with. But with um the Dolly Parton Library, because a lot of those books I had from when my kids and the grandkids, you know, when the kids got older, we pass it on to the grandkids, and now the grandkids are older, so we're willing to pass those on to other families who who are in need. But we also got teen books too, because you know, my teenagers get books and they read them, and then when they get through reading them, they just sit on the shelf too. So we got kids' books and we also got teenage books, all age appropriate, nothing vile, nothing violent, nothing explicit, nothing, nothing like that. They're just they're just teenage books. Bless you to all who have donated to the ministry. This is how we are able to bless others in need. When I say donations, it does not just mean monetary, you know, but buying the stuff that's on Etsy. Everything on Etsy is what we make. So you know, if you don't know nothing about Etsy, Etsy is a site that is just for handmade stuff, you know, for the true crafters who who use their hands to make their products. Everything we sell on Etsy is something that we make. We make in this house, we ship it, and keep it moving. So those who have donated monetarily, which is fine, and then those who have ordered stuff off of Etsy, whether it be through Etsy themselves or contacting me personally and making your order, thank you, because all of that goes towards funding the ministry. The donations were up from last year, which is a blessing in itself, and we're just gonna keep going higher and higher. So thank you, and we're gonna add a Spotify. Well, we do have a Spotify site, but because I want to keep things for the ministry more to handmade, because it's stuff that I've done, you know, the motivations that I give out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Some of those are now on shirts or on mugs or on little things that go on your desk. I think now I've done the canvas, so and I'll get to that later. Um, so it's it's Etsy is more the stuff I say for next generation. We are now, this is one of the things I told you that God is blessing. We are in the process of partnering with a church in Madison that is willing to give us space to bless more young souls and feed them because they have a commercial kitchen. Now, you know, I got to feed my babies. But more on that later when we get more into the details. I just met with them this past Sunday and I got a tour of the church, was there for the service, met the pastor, got a tour of the church, we got to know each other. Um, she's loving what I'm doing because my ministry is all about mentoring and motivating our youth and young adults. And you might as well say I never mentioned mental health, but if you're mentoring and you're motivating someone, you are kind of tapping into that mental health field. So I may have to change how I word it because I am dealing with their mental health, because that is my main concern. I just say motivation, motivational, and mentoring, but I'm really digging into that mental health because I need to know what's going on so I know how to help. But anyway, so we're partnering with the church. Um place that could be what we can use for us where we can gather, where I can have people come when we're wanting to sell stuff so we can have a location that people can actually come in and look around. Um, so we're we're trying to figure that out. We're still trying to get blessed to get our own brick and mortar because I still want to be able to have to sell the stuff on one side and then have people come and eat. You know, you sell, you buy something, come on over and get you something to eat. And make sure you take something home too. Because you know, I'm all about I'm old school. We're all about feeding. You know, we don't know what these people go home to. So for them to at least know that that night they got a good hot homemade meal is more than enough of a blessing for me. We have a new website. Yay! Glory, glory. It is um, and I guess it'd be nice if I knew what it was called, wouldn't it? Because we had to change the name. It's no longer Rail Stephanie73. We had to change it. The reason we did that is because we are um what I've learned is when you are trying to get grants and stuff like that from from businesses, what I have learned is they look and see what you're doing. So why? Because we're going to start digging deeper into getting going after the grants that can help us bless more young souls. And what I learned, like I said before, is they look at your website. On a lot of applications we filled out, they wanted to know what your website was. And because they want to see, you know, what the because the website normally tells what your company is about, what you do, yada yada yada, and that's what they do. But if your website doesn't look good, they're not gonna give your money, they're not they're not gonna give the organization any funds. It doesn't matter how good or promising what you're doing to helping others. So January 1st, we got blessed with a lower cost efficient way to get our website read in from the ground up, and it looks amazing. It is still is Rev Stephanie, but is N as in next G as in GNM as in ministries.com. So it's Rev Stephanie N G M.com. Because I want to still keep it simple, because you know the other one was Rev Stephanie73. Well, I still wanted to keep it simple for those of us who still follow the website. I want to still keep it easier so you can just transition to the new one. Take a look at it. They did an amazing job putting up what I do when when you when you tell people what you do and you see them put it into fruition where you're looking at it and you're sitting up there like, man, I do do a lot. Didn't I know I did all of that? It is amazing what they do. I added a blog thing, uh, a blog tab and a podcast tab because some people will go on the website, and from there that's where they would read the blogs when they had time to read, or they would click on it and listen to the pie, take them straight to the podcast where they can listen to the podcast. They did put a thing on there for a shop. That is a work in progress. I am still, you know, I gave them a couple things that we did and they put them on there, and I'm finished to fix it to where we add some more stuff because we do the candles now, we do the I'm getting ready to do handmade soaps, but more on that later. There's a lot of other stuff that we do that I need to put on there, and I'm trying to keep it to where it's not so bombarding, so it'll probably be like some stuff, but then a way to add new arrivals and stuff like that. But check out the website, it is amazing. It has a way for people to get in contact with us if they need assistance, whether it be um funds, whether it be motivation, words of prayer, just need someone to talk to. They they they did they did the doggone thing, and I am I'm just so thankful to God that he made it to where we could afford to do it because we've been needing to do it for years, and we just did not have the funds to do it. So glory to God that we he gave us the funds that we can get this done because now we can be in better competition and trying to get grants to to do more things that we need to do. Um, it is good because it is a way of telling, you know, everything that we do. God is moving the ministry, and we just trying to keep up. I'm just it's it's how can I sit up there and tell our young people to do things if I'm not doing? So, and I'm sitting here as a living testimony as I tell you this, that as I'm doing what God places in front of me, like I told you, I prayed on this for years, and finally, you know, God came around and be like, okay, now you're ready. So for everything that he puts in front of me that I tackle, another door with another blessing opens with another opportunity, and we just walking through all these doors because it's it's time for our young people to get what they deserve, it's time for our young people to have that trust in at least one adult. So we can stop losing these kids to simple, silly, doesn't make any sense. Why would they even think of that kind of stuff? It it's it's time, it's enough is enough. We got enough. The dying has got to stop with the babies. It's it has to stop. I will continue to give you all first looks when new products come out. Next up is the custom calendars. I've already done four. I've done an oxalata one, I've done a gaming one, I've done a landscaping one, and for younger kids, I've done a mermaids and unicorn. Soon, like I mentioned, we'll do the hyperallergenic soap. I do get sleep, I promise you, I do. And I plan on doing a motivational calendar this weekend, you know, taking some of the stuff that I've that I send out every week and putting them on a calendar. We the calendars can be customized because I already have a client that gave me 12 pictures. They told me which month they want which picture. So they can be they can be customized. That's that's totally up to you. Um, as you know, we do do candles, we do the aromatherapy and the dessert, of course, because I'm a baker, I had to do dessert. It started off with dessert, actually, but then I actually dabbled in the aromatherapy and really uh got a lot of positive feedback from those. So the aromatherapies that we do now is lavender, lavender lemon, eucalyptus mint, rose lemon, sandalwood, jasmine, and tea tree. And the candles come in sizes of four ounces to six ounce for right now. But like I said, that we we do that too. But I'm getting ready to start on the hyperallergenic aromatherapy soap. And the soap will probably only come in two cents lavender and eucalyptus mint, because I'm not trying to put anything harsh in it so that it will not have no color, it's just gonna have the scent, but it's going to be made out of shea butter, so something that is easy on the skin that for people with skin conditions it won't irritate. Because again, everything I do, I'm thinking of my baby, so I'm making sure that if it's delicate for their skin, it should work for an adult. I'm going to start including my young adults in my podcast. One of the things I told my young people is that I always wanted them to be a part of it, but now that they have scattered because they're in college, it's kind of hard to get them all together like we used to. So the reason why I told them I want them on there because they're at that age now where they can really speak for themselves. Because they really live, they lived a little bit longer now, so they can they can speak for themselves. Now, I will never say live a little longer in the pulpit, but I can say this just in general conversation. They've lived a little bit now, seen some things, been through some things, but really because they're at that age now where nobody can speak for them but them. Now I can use my platform and speak because the same things that they're wanting is what I wanted when I was young, so that's why me and the young people can relate. But then there's some things that I want people to hear come from their own mouths, things that they wish they could see, things that they wish they could have, things that they just wish people would just do or not do. So I'm giving them that platform to do that, to address the issues that we talk about, but only they can bring those issues to life. We have so good in-depth conversations when it's just us because for now I have enough of them where they can just come to my house. We have a sleepover, they eat, we talk, and they get to talk freely. That's the part talking freely. You all know when we were young and we had those church discussions, you could not say what you really wanted to say. Because Jim and the Cricket, when you got in that car, your parents laid into you for sitting up. Why are you gonna sit up there and tell them people the da-da-da-da-da? And that's what made a lot of us stay quiet. Because we can't talk like we want to talk. So we're sitting up there saying what they would what we know they would love us to say. Nope, everything's good. Peach King, ask a question or two to make it sound like you're interested, but you really couldn't talk like you wanted to. You really couldn't open up like you wanted to. So I love it that we have those conversations where they can talk how they want. Tell me what their feelings are. Ask the questions without worrying about it getting back to somebody saying that's what young people need. They need a space to be young people with actual, legitimate questions, without I'm not gonna say the fear, because young people today don't fear too much of anything, but without having the concern of being fussed about later. Because right about now, we need our young people to talk. We need our young people to open up. That's why that's why I go back to that. If they had that just that one adult, just one adult. You know, when we were growing up, we had the friends and the cousins who knew no more than we did, but talking to them made us feel better. This day and age, they actually need an adult, an adult who knows, who can answer the question, who can give them explanations, who can make it clear, and they just don't have that. And I'm I hate that because a lot of our young people are choosing death because they just did not have no one that they could talk to, or they could, but it wasn't somebody they could trust to talk to. We are going to be doing more volunteer work, and my babies have already said that they would help. I just love my babies, I just love my babies. When I thought of the idea, I reached out to them first. I said, I want to do more volunteer work, would you help me? And every last one of them said yes. So, since I put it out there, they agreed. We're gonna be doing some volunteer work starting in February because there's the the church I mentioned does a monthly feeding of the homeless and the people who need help in the in the in the community, and they're always needing volunteers, so that's one thing me and my babies are gonna do. We're gonna start volunteering to start helping, and we're gonna start volunteering in other places as well. But for right now, we're gonna start with that. We officially have contract employees. Can you believe it? I can't. I'd still have to pinch myself and cry when I'm sitting up and paying them. But hey, we got contract employees, meaning that we have people that come and help with the vendoring. So even my kids. Because according to the IRS, if they're working, I can pay them. So my kids are my employees, but we also have some of my mentees and some of my other babies who come and help when it comes to the vendor events. They help and they are good with the sales, with the taking of the money, with the talking of the products. I they are so in pro I'm so proud of them. So we we do have contract employees, meaning that they come and help the night before. So if I'm in there pumping out candles and pumping up labels, they're packaging them up, putting you know the price tags on them, and then when we get there, you know, they're helping the setup, they're selling, they get an hour, no, they get a 30-minute lunch break, then we come back and then they help break it down and we do all of this stuff, and then they get paid. Like I said, they get paid, and apparently I'm paying them a little bit more than what minimum wage is, but that's okay. I thought I knew what minimum wage is, I was wrong. That's okay, they're getting paid a little bit more. Fine with me. And I love it because the Lord blesses us enough that when the night before, so say it was like the last event we did was on we'll say the one that happened in Goodlitzville was on a Saturday. They got paid Saturday night, early Sunday morning. It's like after I calculate everything, do the books, totally up the till and all that stuff. The minute I get all that stuff calculated and processed and everything, they get paid. I don't play like that. You took your time out to come help me. I'm going to pay you like you're supposed to be. I love it. Now we're at that point now where they get paid the 15th and the 30th. I'm like, it's amazing what God can do that we can even get to that point. But yes, it is a blessing. And it's just the beginning. February of 2024, we graduated from a program called Corner to Corner. When I say we, I mean me, because I applied for it. Surprisingly, I got in on the first try. Um, and I encourage anyone who's either starting out in a business or already in one. No, they're not paying me to say this, but to take those classes. It is a 10 week course. You learn everything, you learn how to budget, you learn how to price your products, you know how to you learn everything you need to learn about. A business, so even if you start out with one and you're just getting into it, do it. If you've had one, do it because it shows you everything you need to do to be successful, and it was very informative, not just starting out, but how to make your business grow. So, of course, by the time I got there, they were looking at me like how many you got? Because I had to pick one, because you're there just to focus on one, and that's the other part I love about it. If you have a business, like in my case, at the time I had the ministry, the nonprofit, the bakery, the e-commerce, and everything that came along with the e-commerce. Well, I only had to I had to choose one, so I chose the nonprofit because anything with the e-commerce, all of that goes with the nonprofit. So I used that one. And in some examples, when we did homework assignments, I had to use the bakery, but it was informative because it helped me learn what I need to do, it helped me better what I've been doing, you know. It's so it is good, and uh the the program is called corn to corn, it's a nonprofit, but they are always packed to capacity, so it's always some get in, some don't. God saw fit on my first try, I got accepted. So it's it is amazing, and again, I'm not paid to tell them about it, but when you if you saw the post I did Wednesday when it says giving people their flowers while they're still alive to enjoy them, saying thank you. That is my way of saying thank you because they are amazing. And yes, I'm gonna share it. Like I told you, when you are blessed, you're we're blessed so we can bless others. This program blessed me, so yes, I'm gonna share with other people so they can get in on the blessing. You ain't gotta pay me for that. You pay me by showing me what I what what more I can do to better myself. So that was that. So this is just some of the things that's going on in the ministry. We are doing so much, but this is just some of it that we are doing. Um and God keeps adding stuff every week. How? Because I not only said that I trusted him, but I showed him that I trusted him. Remember, your actions have to match your words. Remember that actions have to match your words. We can say things all day long, but when you show the Lord by the actions, that's when your blessings start to come. And I showed I told him that I trusted him, and as he opened up doors, I showed him that I trusted him. Um how can I tell other people to do it if I don't do it myself? Young people pay attention to that. How you gonna tell me to do something, but when that opportunity comes your way, you don't. You you have an excuse of why you don't do it. I'm not gonna do that. Which is the other reason why I have so much positive um reactions to the ministry because of the accountability. They know I hold them accountable, but they also know to hold me accountable. If they can't trust you, they're not gonna talk to you. And I need as many young people to talk to me as possible because they they're they're hurting, they got questions, they need they just need love and compassion, and I'm gonna be here for it. So, yes, hold me accountable for everything I do, which is why I really don't do much, because I'm not fenced to sit up here and try to explain to them how I told them to do this, but then I did something else because I let the world get to me. No, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that because a lot of a lot of with these young people today, you only got one chance, one, one time, to lose their trust, and that's it. And no, I'm not fenced to do that. So as I complete an assignment, like I told you before, the Lord pours out another one, and that's okay. But not only that, it's just I'm sharing my blessing with others too, as God intended, just like I shared you the corner to corner. The things that I'm gonna do when I get a building. I got other people I plan on blessing, giving them some space to do what they do that are small businesses like mine, giving them the opportunity. Come on. If I get something, you get it too. I'm not fit to hold the blessing to myself because that's not what you're supposed to do. So please keep us in prayer as we keep pushing to be that voice of positivity for all our young people whenever they need it. My young people know they can text me. I'm I'm I'm good. You can text me. When I was doing this email, because I sent this out on my email list, because I have an email list that I send the Monday, Wednesday, Friday motivations to, and I also started uh I also got a text list that started about a year ago. And it started because one person wanted to be on the email list, but they was never getting the emails. So I started texting them. Well, that one person turned into two, that two turned into three, the three turned into four, and so on and so on. So now you might as well say I have a text ministry now, and that's okay. Because the same things I put on the email is what I send into a text, and when I think about it, sometimes a text is better because we're in the age of social media, we're in an age where everybody's on their phone. So a lot of people, when they hear something good or they see something good, they forward it to the next person. So that's fine. That's okay with me. I just gotta find extra time to make sure that I'm texting the same day that I'm emailing, so everybody's getting stuff at the same time. But when it comes to our young people, we want to do more motivational talks because our young people are being blessed knowing that someone loves them for who they are and will not judge them. So I do plan on doing more motivational speaking, like live motivational speaking. Podcasting, yeah, we'll we'll get back to doing more of those too. But the live motivational speaking is what I love because I love looking at the young people because they're looking at me. One, she's in the clergy, but she don't talk like the other people in the clergy. No, because I have life experiences to go with my spiritual ones. You need to be able to relate. So I'm not standing up here talking to be talking. You can actually see me and say, okay, she did all of this, but she's still standing, she's still positive, she's still giving God the praise, even though she went through this and this with her family. I want what she has. That's the only reason why I tell my real life stories. Because they've got to be able to relate. Adults that come to me have got to be able to relate. You may see me sitting there all happy, gilly putty, but then I tell you what's going on, they're looking at me like, but you don't act like that because I'm not supposed to. The world ain't supposed to give me down, and if it does, it's not gonna keep me there. I got too much things to do. I got too many young people depending on me, wanting to see how I handle certain situations so they know how to handle it. I can't stay down for long. So no, I got I got things to do. So keep us in prayer because we have a lot of things that we are trying to do, and it's all for our young people, for the mental health of our young people. I have got to work on that catchphrase because I've always told people that I'm a motivational speaker and a mentor. I need to throw in there about the mental health because that is actually the main focus, you know, of what we do. We're working on that mental health so they can be motivated to do whatever it is they need to do. So I'm gonna have to pray on that to figure out how God wants me to word that. But those who know me know that's what I do. But again, I want to give you all your flowers and say thank you for everything. We would not be here if it wasn't for you, my young people. I told them Next Generation Ministries Incorporating would not be a non-profit if it wasn't for them, it'd still be what I was told be considered a hobby. Had a business license for years, but in the eyes of legality-wise, it's just a hobby because anybody can get a business license. But if they did not get it, because I was trying to find the the word for what I was trying to say. If they did not respond, that's the better word, if they did not respond as well as they did, the 20 years I've been doing this, I wouldn't have done it now because I've been thinking about it for years until what two years ago? We would have been two years if we've been a nonprofit. Before I finally said, you know what, I need to do more with this, and this is what we're doing. And with the website now up and going, we can reach more people. I think the website went live the 15th, maybe, I think. And within the first week or so, we had already had 233 views, which is phenomenal. For a website that just opened, and three or four days later, you got that many people looking at it. It's it's amazing, but it's just the beginning, and I know that. So pray for us as I pray for you. We are doing a lot with Next Generation Ministries, and God still has a lot more for us to do. We still got networking to do because He's still sending people my way doing things that He knew I want to do, so I got people that I can talk to, you know, that can help me get to where I need to get to. And it starts with me telling you all thank you. Thank you for accepting me all these years. Thank you for letting me send you these emails, which I try not to bombard, unless I just got exciting news. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Let us pray, Father God, we come here today to say thank you. We in Next Generations, Father, want to give you all the glory and the honor. Father, we want to thank you for the souls that you have sent our way that we are always touching. Father, we thank you for giving us the words to say that, give someone that positive ump that they needed that they didn't even know that they needed. Father, we thank you for letting us being able to reach the youth and young adults, Father, for them to be able to respond so positively because they now know that there's someone out there that loves them, that will not judge them. Father, we thank you for everything that you have done, Father, for giving us a platform for us to do what we are doing. And Father, even though it is hard because we are an online ministry, Father, you have not ceased to amaze with the gifts and the blessings and the networking that you have sent our way for us to do so much more. We thank you, Father. We thank you for everything that you have done, Father. We thank you for the things that are coming, Father, and we thank you for those who have allowed us into their homes, into their minds, and into their souls. Father, bless those under the sound of my voice. Father, you know what they are standing in the need of. Father, release that demon of worry, Father, release that demon of burden, Father, release that demon of confusion, Father, because as long as they are covered in the blood, there is nothing no man, woman, child, beast, or demon can do to them. Father, we thank you, we bless you, we praise you in your son Jesus' name. Amen. And you know I cannot end without telling you to continue to be that light in someone else's darkness. Until we talk again. Stay blessed.