From the age of five to the age of fourteen, I lived in what society considers the "projects."  My experience of living and growing up in the projects was not physically bad, but on the inside I was being tormented with shame.  I often wished that my family and I lived in a better part of town.  My desire to live in a better neighborhood stemmed from me attending schools and having friends that lived in what I considered to be lavish homes when compared to where I lived.  As I got older, it seemed as if the shame grew stronger and bigger.  There was a time when one of my friends invited me to spend the night at her home, and though I was very excited and thrilled for the invite, a large part of me felt a sense of shame.  All I could think was, if I accepted her invitation, she would find out where I lived, and she would no longer want to be my friend because of my neighborhood.  I guess my real issue was that I felt that I would be judged based on where I lived and not for th

Forgiveness for me has not been the easiest thing to do.  In fact, I think it has been the most difficult thing for me to do yet.  Over the past five years, it seems like I have struggled forgiving those that would be considered most close to me.  In my experience, I would call myself forgiving the person only to relive the situation over again by slandering the person or simply telling someone else how that person hurt me.  In Ephesians 4:31-32 it reads, "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." "Ha, yeah right" is what I was thinking when I first read this. I began whinning to God telling him how the person or persons had hurt me. I also began to question God. "Why do I have to continue forgiving them, but yet they continue to hurt me time and time again?  Why do I have to walk in love but yet continue to

Have you ever set back and asked yourself, why do I continue going through the same trials and tribulations over and over again? This has been a question I often ask myself on a daily basis.  I asked God, why do I continue committing the same offenses against you time after time?  God's response has always been, "because you continue to try and do things in your own strength and not mines." Recently, I have started to experience true victory because I finally began to allow God to walk me through some of the most difficult moments in my life.  As I continue on this path to freedom, I will be sharing with you the real Samarra Rogers.  I believe that God has placed it upon my heart to start a blog, not just for my healing and restoration, but for someone else as well.  When the thought of writing a blog was dropped in my spirit, I immediately tried to dismiss it because I do not like writing and I do not like opening up and feeling vulnerable.  However, when the spirit of