The Women's Empowerment Group

Paschal's Wager is a suggestion posed by French philosopher writer and mathematician, Blaise Paschal, that clearly rationalizes (for me) our belief in Christ.  Paschal believed that in deciding on accepting religion we must first view it as a wager, betting on the fact that God exist and if he doesn't we lose nothing. If he doesn't we have lived a life that is guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ and we have lived as though we have faith, we have also lived an enriched life that is based primarily on love. Some may argue that this rationalization is far-fetched and that they cannot place all of their belief in something or someone that they can not see and that the teachings are merely dogma that people use to hide behind. But for me --I'd rather hide behind love than not--I'd rather be guided by principles that enrich my life than not. What is the alternative? living a empty shell of a life that anything goes and that is guided by our own insatia...

Pauline Respress, BAS, M.Ed., I have come to know that when life does not reach up to meet us, we must reach down to meet it. Then take all that we know to-- create a synergy, that forges a bond between what is and what we would like to see for our lives. It is a balancing act that requires staying in the present while still dreaming. Life is hard and at times requires that we grab hold to the hustler that lies in all of us. That is the part of us that fights against all odds, that takes a bleak situation and turns it into an opportunity. I was born and raised in the heart of North Philly, the ghetto--and one thing that I learned from the hood --was no matter what the situation looked like, the goal was always to survive--to move from nothing to something. If you are cold and hungry then you find heat--you find food. This upbringing taught me to always find a solution, no matter the situation--to always survive against any odds. I can remember in the early years standing in ...

Pauline Respress, BAS, M.ED., The more I love the more I realize that when I remove caring what happens to you from the equation of LOVING, I am able to love you even more deeper, even more unconditionally. When we care too much about what happens to the people that we love-- we stifle the natural flow of experiences and turn our love into conditional love. We all are destined to have experiences that lead us to a deeper place in ourselves. And when we care too much we can turn innocent love into conditional love-- ie., If______ would only_______ I could feel ______. Love should be unconditional and no matter what a person experiences, it should not affect how much we still love them. We all have experiences that we must go through and when we love, our job is to love you no matter what our mate experiences. We must separate our feelings or needs from the equation of loving someone. We are responsible for taking care of our own needs, when we combine our ne...

 Pauline Respress, BAS,M.Ed., I often find myself in a state of confusion when I place my trust in man. The more I grow the more I realize that I must never place my trust fully in man.  Man will at times shake us to our core if we place our trust in them.  Trust is a very funny animal at times--one action or inaction can in fact shoot a spear through those that we trust. We begin to question whether or not the person is trustworthy and the cycle of doubt begins to seep in and taint our ability to trust. This is when we must place our trust in GOD and ask him to protect us and even us.   Even us-- so that we can first trust him and then allow us to walk with him as we encounter untrustworthy people. Trust at times can be fleeting, even elusive.  Because at times it is hard to decipher who comes to help or hurt. Sometimes the devil comes to us disguised as a lamb ; and when our instincts kick in and sends up a red flag--we must ask God to streng...

When I think of God's infinite wisdom, my mere finite wisdom is at awe.  As I grow more and more into my woman-ness, I find that true wisdom is received through simply living. Simply taking one day at a time and aspiring for God to give just us a portion of his wisdom when we need it. Wisdom is rooted in action though--we must live and live fully in order to achieve it. We must allow life to punch us and stab at us, until the lessons become apparent and then wisdom shows up. Wisdom is a state that we achieve after the storms and winds of life. It is the gold star that we achieve as a result of living through and surviving life's many winding roads. The roads of life are much like God's infinite wisdom, there are too many for the human eye to see--to wrap our heads around.  But the more we live --the more chances we have to encounter --another chance to be infused with a tad bit more wisdom. When I think of the bible and the many stories that are enclosed within it--...

At times we can stay stuck in what used to be--we have memories of who we used to be-- and those memories can at times-- stop us from being who we are today. I remember a time that I was able to just get a job with not much effort. It was as though I was miraculously put in a place that needed me. But as the years rolled by this mojo seemed to wain,--slowly. So what do we do when we are not able to do what we used to do? When time and circumstances don't seem to match up---When hope and action has been activated--And all that we have worked towards doesn't seem to align with where we are.  In these moments we have to trust that GOD would not prepare us for something-- that he will not provide. He will not show us things in our visions that he will not in time- HIS time have us to experience. Our goal is to stay in the mindset of change-as GOD introduces us to new experiences we must morph ourselves into who he aspires for us to be. We must practice daily the ability t...

Sometimes we must take a look at our vision and ask ourselves the question. What am I trying to accomplish? What is the ultimate place that I want to land.  Do I want to be a mere carbon-copy of what I see around me?-- or do I want to stand out from the crowd. We all have different reasons for being here on earth..we all were placed here for a purpose. When we can attach our purpose to our vision then we can begin the work of traveling where we are suppose to go. Our purpose is the place in us that drives us--it is that thing that we live to do. Sometimes my vision is greater than the place that I stand, it is my look over the horizon beyond the human eye. If I can see that there are possibilities in my vision, then it tells me for sure that it is achievable. We must start with a vision no matter how small --or large, and then take that vision and nurture it--give that vision all of the energy that you can muster. Everyday we must take out our vision and scan it for potential f...