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About the Author

Graduating on rainy day in 2003, Cymetra Williams has been traveling the world since her last days on Mt. Saint James. Upon graduation, she lived in Osaka, Japan for two years and taught English as a Foreign Language in public schools through the Japan Exchange Teaching Programme. With Japan serving as her base, she then visited the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand (pre-tsunami), Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Taiwan and Egypt. Although she missed her friends and family, she enjoyed the time that she was given to grow personally. She knows that one of the best decisions she ever made was taking the job in Japan! Currently, Cymetra is attending Columbia University in the City of New York. She is pursuing a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Public Health. She hopes to finish up her programs in December of 2007. Her interests are in healthcare consulting, health disparities and disinvestment/investment in urban communities and philanthropic opportunities around AIDS initiatives. She is still passionate about AIDS awareness and hopes to start writing a book, this year, about her experience and how AIDS has impacted her life. Losing both of her parents was a defining moment in her life but not the defining moment.

Thinking Out Loud

A New Found Praise

I've always gone to church and some of my earliest memories are of being in church with my family. I have always realized how blessed I am to still be standing so I've really never needed anyone to point out how much God has blessed me. When I was trying to decide if I wanted to stay in Japan another year, my aunt suggested that I go on a fast. Or as she put it, "Going into the Lion's Den" like Daniel. So, I fasted for clarity and for God to allow me to follow my heart's desires. After my fast, I made the decision to stay in Japan another year.

At the start of 2007, I decided to go on another sacrificial fast to show my faith and dedication to God and acknowledge his power to move in my life. I felt that if I just trusted my situation to Him that He would make a way. I was speaking with my aunt the other day and I said that God is blessing my life in so many ways and He is showing me this by turning my heart's desires into my reality.

I have been through a storm or two or maybe three in my short 26 years. But in spite of everything that I have been through, I can't help but shout "thank you." I can't help but praise him for what He has done, what He is doing and what He is about to do in my life. Tears flow down my face when I think about all of the things I could have, should have, or would have been; but by His grace and mercy I am still here. I praise God not because of the things he has done but for who He is. I glorify him because I know He is worthy and He looked beyond my faults and saw my needs.

So, today I share another part of me with you. Some of my friends have known me for years and don't know that my parents are dead. That is a situation/storm that after 16 years, I am still experiencing. But I know and have faith that God has an anointing on my life. I believe that he has things in store for me that I can't articulate, that I can't fathom, that I can't imagine, that will blow my mind.

Often times we do not share what God has done for us. So, I am going to shout and praise him for what is has done, is doing and is going to do in my life. He is God and for that I am going to give him the glory, honor and praise. Our family motto is Joshua 24:15: "Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve....as for me and my household, we shall serve the Lord." To me, what is most wonderful about God is that He gave us all a choice. As for my life, I choose him. What is most comforting is that He chose me first.