Good Evening Family!
I am guessing that many of you have noticed that I have never made reference to having an advanced degree. That is because until now, I didn’t. You may recall that I posted my arrival to Hofstra University’s Campus on September 3, 2019 to begin completing my Bachelor’s Degree in Business that I started 32 years ago. Now as you know, I am a transparent person. So here it is…
The truth is that for years I lived with a deeply-hidden shame of not having completed the degree and not having one at all. Although I was blessed by God to accomplish things that people with degrees have not, the embarrassment was an undeniable gnawing undercurrent that was lodged in some of the deepest chambers of my consciousness. I wanted to go back or even just earn a degree, but life did not make it possible until…
Eighteen months ago, I was blessed by God to enroll in a distance learning seminary program to pursue a Bachelor’s In Ministry. I completed that program this past August and I’m humbled and happy to share with you that today I received that degree!
The inner stigma is gone. The nagging question of my ability to start and finish this kind of endeavor is now answered definitively and with God-given finality! Now, I am on my way to AT LEAST one more degree. I never dreamed that I could go from NONE to SOME where degrees are concerned.
Let me encourage someone. One of life’s most debilitating burdens is shame, humiliation and embarrassment of any kind. To further exacerbate the burden, it is even worse when there is a perceived unending imprisonment to it. But Jesus came to obliterate shame. I got to the point where I was very candid with Him about how I felt. That happened because slowly but surely He began to deal with it in me stirring a desire to pursue my education. His stirring was His way of letting me know He was concerned about it and that He had made the way for me to conquer it. He is no respecter of persons. If He did it for me, He MOST ASSUREDLY WANTS TO, AND WILL (If you let Him) DO IT FOR YOU. Courageously respond to that stirring within to be free from it. It may not be education for you. It does not matter. Whatever it is, Jesus has come to set you free.
If you look at the degree, I graduated with the highest honor one could receive on this level, SUMMA CUM LAUDE. Not only did I overcome the stigma, but I am more than a conqueror of it because of Him, Glory to God!
I would like to thank my wife, Patricia K Butler, my children, Qiana BKey, Adara Sherron D Aaron Sherron, Kimm Butler and Darren Butler Jr., Dr. Sherby Clarke, The International Good News Fellowship, my spiritual parents, Pastor Joshua Kelly and Min. Latricia Kelly, and two of my brothers, who unbeknownst to them were great encouragement to me by their example, Pastor Anthony Andre Jackson and DrDavid Walker.
Shed that shame in His name and pursue your emancipation from it, In Jesus Name!
Blessings,
Darren E Butler, Sr
Something Good To Talk About! 