Santiego Rivers

When I feel misunderstood, scrutinized, betrayed, overwhelmed, and all of those things God did not create me to be: I pray When my mind won't stop overthinking, and my fears and worries are getting the best of me: I pray I give all of my problems to God and trust what he has consistently shown me in the past. He will always deliver.This is why I pray This book is me giving thanks to my creator and all of the things he has done in my life. (Hopefully, you can relate) My creator has delivered me from the valley to the mountain tops just so that I can go down on my knees and say thank you. Prayer Changes Things Father, Thank you for the blessings that I can see in my life.Thank you for all the prayers that have yet to manifest into my life.I want to say thank you for giving my life purpose and meaning. I may have struggled to get back on the path that you had for me in my life, but you never left my side.This is why I still pray

I can tell you a lot about love because I know a lot about pain. I struggled with loving myself, which led me to be in relationships with people who found it easier to use me instead of helping me discover my inner self.I was caught in a vicious cycle that haunted me for years. A broken heart and a lifetime of scars are all I have to show for my heartache and years of pain.I wanted more when it came to love, so I had to learn to do more to get the desired results. But, unfortunately for me, my way of doing things was not working in my best interest. So, I needed to make a change.Whether we are trying to love ourselves or love someone else, there is one thing for sure; it will take everything we have inside to get everything we want out of love.

We are all one struggle away from our breaking point. One setback away from not being able to continue the path that we were destined to take.Sometimes the hardest thing to face is the one thing we need to address to reclaim our peace of mind. Hard lessons help us understand that certain things in our lives must fall apart so everything else can come together the way it is supposed to.We may not like to face this truth, but running from our fears will eventually bring us face-to-face with our most profound agony. We can't run from ourselves.The pain, struggles, heartaches, and losses that we face in our life are part of the bigger plan to make us stronger to overcome the obstacles that we will face in life.Life doesn't get easier; we learn to get stronger. We get better

The strongest people you know face many battles and obstacles that you don't know they are dealing with each day.Behind their smile hides a pain that has left a stain on their soul over the years.This book will bring the reader one step closer to understanding the pain behind the smile of our strongest soldiers and the battles they face each day.This book will say with words all the things that their pride, fear, and pain won't let them share with other people because they feel that they would never understand.How can someone get others to understand things that they have yet to grasp themselves?People will better understand when you are willing to open and give others a chance to know what you feel inside.Are you willing to let others know?

Men marry their mother, and women marry their father or lack thereof. (In most cases)If a wife wants to know how her husband will treat her, she should examine his relationship with his mother.His mother was the first woman in his life and should have laid the foundation on how to treat a woman.This book will reveal the many lessons I was blessed to learn and how a boy became a man by shifting blame inwards instead of outwards to other people.This book is not to shed a bad light on my mother because I would only succeed in showing you my faults as a man.This book explains the growth that I had to endure to become a better version of myself.I love my mom. I can honestly say this because we had gone full circle repeatedly before I was brave enough to realize that I can control how I react to what happens to me.

A person will tell you everything you need to know about them within the first few minutes of meeting them. Will you take the time to listen?It is not always the verbal cues that reveal a person's motive. Instead, it is often their actions that speak louder than their words.Their words don't always match their actions, especially when they intend to deceive you. It is not their fault when we do not take the needed percussions to protect our hearts from our deceitful eyes.Our deceitful eyes entice us to give in to our wants as we sacrifice what we need. We focus more on our wants than our needs which always leave us praying on our knees.We stop asking questions about what we need to know about a person because we are too afraid to mess up what we think we want from that person. No one can fill a void in your life but you This book will examine the many red flags that people will reveal to us, but we choose to ignore them and paint them white.You will notice many situations within this book that you have encountered dealing with other people and a few situations that will prepare you for future encounters. This book will give you the tools to make sure that you are not sacrificing your needs because of your wants.

How do larvae become a butterfly? How does a creature who could barely move on earth learn to fly in the sky?Don't the larvae know from birth that their life would not amount to much? So how could their life amount to anything, right?The stages that the larvae go through to become the best version of themselves are the same process that we must commit to achieving.For many of us, our life resembles the larvae. We are born into a world that does not foster or encourage our growth.Unlike the larvae, we get caught in one stage of our life. Then, because of our fears and insecurities, we don't move on.This book will inspire you to spread your wings and fly to new heights as you move through the stages of your life.

We all wear a mask that we show the world, which becomes the veil that hides and protects us from the eyes and opinions of the judgmental world we live in.We become so comfortable wearing the mask that we forget to remove it when we are around people who we love, cherish and adore because of the fear and insecurities that made us put the mask on in the beginning.We get so caught up in pretending that we forget how to live and love at the moment we are in love. As a result, the fantasy of who we want people to see and admire becomes more accurate than the reality of who we are at our core.

My life has been anything but easy, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I have experienced hard lessons and have learned from them all.I learned that life is what you make it out to be, and no matter what you go through in life, it is the way that you respond to each situation that matters the most.This book will remind you to trust the process that you will face in life on your journey.My story will remind you that everyone has obstacles to overcome long as they live. What type of life will you live?

This book will explain the steps along the way to the path of success. I will give you examples and personal stories that I had to overcome with each step along my path to success.I will share the tests that have become my testimony to others about traveling the path to success. I had to learn that if I failed or succeeded in life depended on my mindset and my ability to turn my dreams into reality.I had to make sure that the obstacles and mistakes I made in my past did not become a life sentence to the "Victory" that I would claim in my future.My mistakes in the past were only chapters in my book to my path to success. Those mistakes could never tell my whole story. This book will inspire and encourage those to keep traveling on their path to success, one step at a time.

I learned to think about these three questions before deciding to speak or say anything that could affect other people.(Is it true; is it necessary; Is it fair)Is it true that at-risk students are negatively affected by their "Entitled" teachers? Both personally & professionally, for me, the answer is yes.Is it necessary to write about an important topic happening to our kids at school? This book is needed because it sheds light on a subject/ topic that many educators know is a big problem in our school but chooses to ignore it because of the fear of losing their job or being labeled a troublemaker/ difficult to work with at their facility.Finally, is it okay to blow the whistle on practices that I have first-hand knowledge of because of my position? Yes, because it is not okay for the victims to be victimized by someone who was supposed to help develop them into becoming a better version of themselves. This book will give a voice to the voiceless while allowing them to tell their story to those who choose to listen. Will you decide to listen and learn how it feels to be an at-risk student dealing with "Entitled" teachers?

I was weak before I ever learned how to be strong. I was angry before I had the time to understand what love is. I developed hatred before I learned the power of forgiveness.I was a broken soulI lacked in many areas in my life because long before I had a chance to embrace my life, my life displayed everyone else's image of my life but mine.True strength comes from being tested and surviving those tests. What about those people who were challenged long before they knew that they were fighting for their life?

There will come a time in your life that you realize that you can't fit a big dream in a small bag. The greatness within you will overpower the fears and doubts used to hold it down for far too long.No more hiding in the shadows being afraid to shine bright because others may feel intimidated by your light that shines; let it shine.No one else is supposed to understand your calling or know your next move but you. Make sure your calling and your next move is the best move for you and your future.Be afraid of failure but be terrified of not living up to your potential and your standards for living your best life. Failure comes with pursuing success, so don't let it stop you from trying.Nothing in life is permanent, so one bad chapter in your life will never tell your whole life story. Dare to be great even if you end up only being good. Success is achieved in the effort and not the lack thereof...