Tula B. Strong

Artist | Dancer | Movement Educator | Follower of God & Jesus 

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Earlier this month I performed with Unveiled Dance Company, @thisisunveiled, and for the past two weeks, God has been teaching me about a concept we addressed in the dance: though weeping may endure for a night, joy has to come in the morning. To help me get this lesson, He's been reminding me of the process of birthing a child. From what I hear from my mom and aunts, birthing itself can be incredibly painful. And yet when the baby comes, the pain can't even compare to the joy of having a newborn daughter or son. God's been showing me that it's the same in our lives sometimes.

When Jesus is birthing something in our lives, the birthing itself can be incredibly painful. In the process of birthing, we may lose a job, fall out of relationships, or struggle to find a place to live. And yet, God's been encouraging me that in the midst of these events, we can't lose our hope.

Be reminded of God's promise in Psalm 71: "You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth, you (God) will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again." Although we may not see hope in our lives at a given moment, God is so faithful to birth the baby - the blessings, the promises, and the love He has for us -- in our lives. I hope this dance by Unveiled Dance Company encourages you on that very fact.

#thisisunveiled #dance #God

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Don’t Be Afraid

Just because you can’t see me, doesn’t mean I’m not there.

Just because there’s something blocking you from me, doesn’t mean you can’t get past to me.

Just because you’re far from me, no matter how far, doesn't mean you won’t make it to me.

And even when you can’t see me, even when there’s something blocking you from me, even when you’re far from me, I am still the best protector you can ever have. I am always by your side, and I never leave you and never will.

                                                                                                       -Jesus

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The Coat Pocket

Sometimes I get scared on my walk towards God. And I get scared because I think God will find something in me that is not from Him, that is ugly, and that would make it easy for Him to cast me out of His presence. And the truth is that although I know I have been called by God to be His, there are many moments in my walk where I am scared that He might take that call back. And I think I’m not alone in this thought. So God is pushing me to share what He has showed me about my fear.

God gave me an analogy of my walk with Him: I have these new clothes on that God has given me, and I’m on a journey chasing after Him. And I'm so close to God, Jesus is right there calling my name. Right before getting to Jesus, I look down and notice that my coat pocket is flipped inside out. And I get so afraid. I try to fix this coat pocket by myself, but in doing so, I just get more afraid because I can't seem to get it right. And I think that if I walk into God’s presence I would feel ugly in His sight and that He would cast me out.

But then God said, remember Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve saw themselves as naked, they hid themselves from God, not knowing that God was the exact person who could clothe them. God told me: stop being like Adam and Eve when they ran from me. Stop running away from me, but run full throttle to me instead. Let me clothe you instead, and trust that my mercies are already covering you as you make your way towards me.

God has showed me that instead of fixing the coat pocket by myself, instead of getting distracted and held back in my journey toward God, I must run towards God first and allow Him to help me fix my backwards pocket. I will trust Him that He is merciful enough to help me with my clothes once I get there. I will no longer get caught up by trying to fix my clothes by myself, but I will walk to him and know that I will receive His help on my way there and in His presence. He had me share this because He needed me to say that when you feel your ugliest, walk into God’s presence. When you feel you’re most imperfect, walk into God’s presence. And when you feel the least worthy to be in His presence, walk in. He is waiting to help you.

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Grace & Work: Fear Can’t Stop You

Now let me share a clarification point that God shared with me: Grace is for you to work. It's not for you to act a fool and say, "Oh God's grace covers me." It's correct that the crazy things we do & any ugliness we may find in ourselves doesn't keep Jesus away from us and it doesn't change how God loves us. It’s also correct that getting rid of the crazy things we do or of any things we find in ourselves that we don't like, won’t be the reason we get closer to Jesus. His grace is always the reason we are brought close to Jesus. Instead, getting rid of these things – the wildin moments & any ugliness we find in us -- helps us to get whole and helps us to walk into the destiny that God has for each of us.

So God's grace does cover us; but it is made specifically to cover us in order to work the vision that God has for us without anything getting in our way: fear can't stop you, doubt can't stop you, neither can insecurities or any ugliness that tries to rise in you. Use God's grace to work. Use God's grace to move you toward and into your destiny. Use Jesus' grace to know that nothing can remove you from his hand, and because of that fact you can work in completely freedom - not by obligation, legalism, or fear. Use Jesus' grace to do the good you want to do, and let His grace give you the strength to conquer and not fear the things that you don't want to do. This is exactly why Paul says, "There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" Romans 8:1. So knowing that: Get to work without any fear that you will be disqualified in your race toward God. And most of all, I pray that you know:

God's grace is powerful enough to keep you in His will.

If you haven't watched One Church LA’s Pastor Touré Roberts' message, "I Am," and you want to know more about grace, I really suggest checking it out. It gives so many deep revelations on grace and it really changed my life. Watch it at @ http://onechurchla.org/media/i-am/

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Grace

I was at One Church Los Angeles this evening, and the message was all about grace. This was a message that I desperately needed to hear. I have been struggling with the fear of messing up for the past few years. I’ve been believing that I need to be perfect to get what God has for me. And this scared me so much that I would go days being spiritually restless: I didn’t know what I should be doing, I was scared of taking the wrong step, I felt afraid of God in those moments, and I felt lost. So, I’m writing this post for anyone who has every felt like me.

For those that think (or might think) that you need to be perfect to walk with Jesus. Well that thought is a straight up lie. Perfection is not the goal in our walk with God. Our works, good or bad, can’t take away the destiny that Jesus has for us and they can’t take away our position as God's children.

When Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13), he wasn’t just talking about the hard stuff, he was talking about the things we encounter in our day to day lives. Jesus encouraged me that Paul was talking about His grace, and it covers us in every step we take and it empowers us to do everything. Every good work stems from Jesus’ grace, it’s not the other way around! We don’t receive the love and grace that Jesus has for us because of the good works we do. And our good works don’t bring us any closer to God, it is His grace that does that. So, whether we actin reckless or not, our position in God is defined by Jesus’ grace, and nothing else! If you take on the task of doing good works in order to gain Jesus’ grace, it’s pretty much equivalent to you trying to lift a 3,000 pound car with your bare hands. You were never created to do that. Let Jesus do the heavy lifting, and have peace that you are made perfect by his grace.

So, here’s my encouragement to anyone like me:

      You don’t have to get it right all the time. 

      Grace was meant to cover you. Let it.

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Toni Morrison’s response to the question “Can you imagine writing a novel that is not centered about race?”

The response from Mrs. Morrison is one of the most thoughtful, well-spoken, legitimate responses that I have ever heard. Hearing her challenges me to find a way to articulate the things that you see which others can’t. What is having the ability to point out what is not right if you can’t articulate it? What is having the personal ability to understand the profundity of these questions, if you can’t get someone else to understand it as well? This is what I believe this dialogue from Mrs. Morrison should challenge us all to do. At the very least, it challenges me to do this: to search out ways to not just understand, but to share your understanding.

(Much thanks to the FB friend that shared this) 

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Vivian Maier, Picture 157

http://www.vivianmaier.com/portfolios/unknown/?show=thumbnails&pid=157

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"I will not go quietly into that good night, but instead rage against the dying of the light... "

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(Recommended by a dear friend)

Deserves nothing but Amens from me! 

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AWARENESS. 

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Aventuras em Brasil (2)

Best day of my trip to Brasil by far! Can't even explain how amazing this day was. We visited Jonga Da Serrinha today. It's a school in one of the nearby favelas that preserves the local and afro-brazilian history and traditions through teaching things like dance and music. Such an incredible experience. A new little friend of mines taught me how to drum, a couple of girls I met taught me some Jongo moves, and I shared some of my Hula moves with them. This school is definitely one that I will not forget. From here we went to Centro Cultural Cartola. I literally walked into this place, and couldn't stop smiling. I didn't even know I was smiling ridiculously until one of my friends came over to me to tell me: tula, take a breath. calm down. lol. This place!! We ate feijoada, took a tour of the center and learned about escolas da samba (samba schools),  played more drums, and danced more samba!!!!!!!!! I call that the best day, hands down!  So then I come home to hear that there is going to be protests not just in my city, but right in front of my house 0.o. Honestly had me nervous for a second. It's been a couple hours since hearing that, and all is good here now. They were really peaceful and chill. :D 

So overall, definitely a day to remember !

Check out these places I talked about here:

Centro Cultural Cartola: http://www.cartola.org.br/

Jonga da Serrinha: http://www.jongodaserrinha.org.br/v2/index.htm

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Aventuras em Brasil (1)

Today, I went to a Salsa/Zouk class. So much fun!!!!!!! 

E este é todo 

-Tula  3/6/13

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Dean's Date Struggs

O Jesus, people are going crazy this deans date. I'm in this library writing my paper, and this guy screams for a good 30 seconds. My first reaction was "these crazy people, let me get out of here". But then I came to my senses, laughed, and realized ehh it's deans date. The struggs are real..

And that's my story for the night.

<3 Tula 

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É oficial! Brasil para o verão! 

(Its oficial! I'll be chilling in Brazil for part of this summer. :) Super excited! I will try to blog my experience there. But you know I'm kind of a live in the moment, not capture the moment, kind of gal. So well see. Either way super excited for what this summer will bring, and so so so grateful to God. )

Obrigado meu Salvador 

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CHEER TRYOUTS! NEXT WEEK IN JADWIN. 

TRYOUT FOR A SPOT ON EITHER THE STUNT OR POM SQUAD. 

FOR MORE INFO CHECK OUT THE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY FACEBOOK PAGE

See you then :D 

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This is an article that I stand completely and firmly with. I strongly believe that places such as my school need to start the conversation of diversity on campus. For diversity is not just about the colors of faces that you see around you, but it's also so much about recognizing and taking part in the cultures and values of all others around you. It's a fact that my campus needs to start thinking about what diversity means and how we can truly enhance it here, and you cannot convince me otherwise.

Love,

Tula