I could tell you about my degrees – M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy with a specialization in Child and Adolescent Therapy, B.S. in Psychology. Or that I am currently a high school College and Career Advisor. I could tell you about the time in elementary school when I had to wear a finger brace on my left pinky because of a basketball injury, or how I cried for hours after we took my big sister, Shane, to the Army recruiting office for her to go to basic training. I could tell you about my 5, yes 5, children – nephew, niece, 2 Goddaughters, and 1 Godson – that I would do absolutely anything for, and how I’m struggling with the idea of not seeing them for almost a year. You might want to know that I am the perfect mix of my parents’ (Soel and Shynee) personalities, that they’ve been married for 30 years, 31 years this December. It may be interesting to you that my middle name, Bethana, is a form of honor and respect to my grandmothers because it merges their names, Elizabeth and Juliana. Some people think it strange that as a Black woman I absolutely LOVE whitewater rafting. It’s one of the most exciting, scary, crazy things but I’d do it all summer long if I could! Some of my best memories from childhood are when 9/10 of us used to pile into my mom’s brown Ford Aerostar and drive 8.5 hours to visit family in south GA. There are so many things I could say…
… For now, I’ll simply say this: My name is Shonda Bethana Foublasse and I am a 26 years old woman that used to think I had my life figured out through age 30. God gave me a vision for my life at 15/16 and ever since then I’ve been chasing it like lion after a gazelle. Therein lies the problem – I was so busy chasing it, the vision, that I lost sight of Him, the One who gave me the vision in the 1st place. Sure, I went to church, read my bible, and told others about Jesus, but that all means nothing if my Father’s not at the forefront of my mind. So, here I stand, head bowed and hands raised in total surrender to Him. Who am I? I am a woman that wants nothing more from this life than to be in constant, beautiful intimacy with my friend Jesus, to please Him, to follow the Holy Spirit’s lead, and bring honor and glory to God in whatever way He leads me to do so. I am but a humble servant, a vessel to be used by Him.
