The Village

My Village Built This

My Village Built This A Ballad to the Women Who Made Highly Favored Possible I didn’t create Highly Favored — my village did. This is for the women who carried me when I didn’t even know I needed carrying… For the ones who taught me that Godliness isn’t about silence and spirituality isn’t about perfection. They showed me that faith could laugh, grace could dance, and believers could be bold enough to be heard. And then there were the ones who taught me Grace — real grace. The cool nature of spirituality. The calm in the middle of chaos. The quiet strength to stand when life tries to knock you down. And finally, there was Faith. Not the kind you read about. Not theory. Not doctrine. I mean true, unsupported faith — the kind y’all call blind faith. Faith that says, “I don’t see the way… but I know there is one.” So this is my ballad. A tribute to each of these incredible women, each of whom gave me a piece of the inspiration that breathed life into Highly Favored. Some of them are no longer here, but I believe they wouldn’t mind me pulling their names into the light — because their fingerprints are all over the man I became. Sis Stancil — My Righteousness Teacher She taught me one of the first lessons I ever learned: Shortcuts never win. Her life was proof that integrity has no expiration date. Sis Edwards — The Prayer Warrior Eighty years old and never once a complaint. Always a mission. Always an example. She prayed for me when I didn’t have the sense to pray for myself. Sis Potter — A Second Mother This woman helped raise me. She showed me that Christianity was humanity first — that being real, being honest, being loving, and being flawed could coexist inside the same faithful heart. Sis Clemens — The Consummate Christian Never worried. Never a word out of place. Grace personified. And she was funny, cool, and insightful in ways I never thought believers could be. She shattered my idea of what a Christian had to look like. Sis Ammons — The Guardian I met her years later while working my nine-to-five. I was young, restless, and learning who I was. She protected us like we were her own. She loved us fiercely, prayed over us constantly, and when somebody came for me, she had the poise, the wisdom, and the polish to make sure everybody walked away winning… and her baby — me — walked away covered. Sis Walters — The Prophetess This woman… she was different. One day she told me she’d had a vision — that she saw me standing out front, preaching to the masses. I laughed. Back then I was in a wild season, and her vision didn’t just seem impossible — it felt foreign. But every single time she saw me at church, she would grab me, rock me, and whisper, “God’s got His hand on you.” And I’ll never forget when my own mother, who heard the same words from Sis Walters, would grab me at home, rock me the exact same way, and repeat those words back to me — like God had signed the message twice. Mother Lawrence — My Heart ❤️ And finally… my mother. The strongest woman I’ve ever known. The quiet, constant force behind everything I am. Her endless sacrifice, her almost monastic purity, and her refusal to bow to anything less than God’s best taught me lessons no book ever could. Because of her… materialism never tempted me. Outside validation never defined me. Titles never impressed me. And worldliness never seduced me. Everything I am… and everything Highly Favored is… flows directly from her heart into mine. To My Village This platform isn’t my creation. It’s our creation. It’s the ripple effect of decades of love, prayer, faith, and grace that these women poured into a young man who was still trying to figure himself out. Highly Favored isn’t just an app. It’s a testimony. It’s the echo of my village. And if you’ve ever been touched by anything I’ve built, then you’ve been touched by them too.

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