Rev. Sandy Rodgers ~ God's Groceries

As I was walking down life's highway, many years ago I came upon a sign that read, "Heavens Grocery Store.."

When I got a little closer, the doors swung open wide. When I came to myself, I was standing inside. I saw a host of angels. They were standing everywhere.

One handed me a basket and said, "My Child, shop with care.."

Everything a human needed was in that grocery store. What you could not carry, you could come back for more.

First I got some Patience. Love was in that same row. Further down was Understanding. You need that everywhere you go. I got a box or two of Wisdom, and Faith a bag or two, and Charity - of course - I would need some of that too. I couldn't miss the Holy Ghost; it was all over the place. Then some Strength and Courage to help me run this race. My basket was getting full but I remembered I needed Grace. I chose salvation for salvation was for free I tried to get enough of that to do for you and me.

Then I started to the counter to pay my grocery bill. I thought I had everything to do the Masters will.

As I went up the aisle I saw Prayer and put that in, for I knew when I stepped outside I would run into sin. Peace and Joy were plentiful, the last things on the shelf. Song and Praise were hanging near, so I just helped myself.

Then I said to the angel, "Now how much do I owe?"

He smiled and said, "Just take them everywhere you go."

Again I asked, "Really now, how much do I owe?"

"My child," he said, "God paid your bill a long, long time ago."

Source: http://truthbook.com/stories/angels/gods-grocery-store

Imagine if I told you that everything we experience in life that finds us lacking something in our finances, our relationships, our health, in the work place, our mental and spiritual health, that there is a place where you can go to get those issues in your life remedied for quality of life, would you go?

This place is Heaven's Grocery store and you would be receiving God's groceries.

Reverend Sandy Rodgers is an ordained minister, mother, business woman, author, motivational speaker and Life & Wellness Coach, who has been letting people know in an age where life, for many, is at an all-time low point, that they, like her, can ascend and get a quality of life by shopping for God's groceries.

Reverend Sandy wants all of us to know that God really wants for us to have a quality of life that allows us to be and become all that He intended for us, and that it is a very real store without physical walls that exists.

A native of the infamous neighborhood in Watts, California, Reverend Sandy Rodgers remembers the Watts riots racial tension reaching a breaking point after two white policemen scuffled with a black motorist who was suspected of drunken driving.

A crowd of spectators gathered near the corner of Avalon Boulevard and 116th Street to watch the arrest and soon grew angry by what they believed to be yet another incident of racially motivated abuse by the police. A riot soon began, spurred on by residents of Watts who were embittered after years of economic and political isolation.

The rioters eventually ranged over a 50-square-mile area of South Central Los Angeles, looting stores, torching buildings, and beating whites as snipers fired at police and firefighters.

Finally, with the assistance of thousands of National Guardsmen, order was restored on August 16, 1965.

The five days of violence left 34 dead, 1,032 injured, nearly 4,000 arrested, and $40 million worth of property destroyed. The Watts riot was the worst urban riots to occur in contemporary times and foreshadowed the many rebellions to occur in ensuing years in Detroit, Newark, and other American cities.

Rev. Sandy's positive youth work in the Watts neighborhood actually started several years earlier in 1961, where her Student Improvement Committee worked for positive changes in community improvements.

Their efforts were so well received by the people of Watts, that she and her fellow members were featured in several newspapers in and around Los Angeles. Rev. Sandy witnessed first hand that when people open themselves up to the remedies that God has already provided, a change in one's life takes place, elevating people from a bad situation, such as the riots, to a better state of mind and existence.

In her personal life, Reverend Sandy has battled and triumphed over chronic illnesses, personal setbacks and life changing events, using God's Groceries to empower herself allowing her to be successful at empowering people throughout her life.

In addition to having worked professionally in Corporate America for many years as a communications expert, Rev. Sandy became a Chi Gong Health professional, a Reiki Master, certified TV Producer, an Author, Holistic Practitioner, certified Life Coach, an Educator, and has developed a global ministry with her Sandy Rodgers Ministries. Accomplishments she says certainly would not have happened for a little black girl growing up in Watts, had she been closed minded, limiting herself to all that God intended for her, and intends for all of us.

And she tells us that all of this is possible when one keeps an open mind to learning, and growth to overcome virtually any adversity or situation for victory. This is both literal and spiritual.

Rev. Sandy Rodgers Ministries says of her mission, "SANDY RODGERS IS RAISING THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS OF HUMANITY!!"

I sat with Reverend Sandy Rodgers to talk about how she is empowering people to elevate themselves to having a fulfilled life through her books, her social media work in radio with, 'LIFE LOVE WELLNESS, THE SANDY RODGERS SHOW' and on the internet with her 'God's Groceries' an eating healthier tips and medical foods that inspire better health in our bodies platform, and with her plans for more empowerment work in 2017.

Affectionately known as “Mama Sandy” this Educator, Author, Minister, Certified NLP Life Coach and Reiki Master Teacher Practitioner shares her huge smile and her healing hugs with everyone she encounters. Born and raised in Watts California, she is fully invested in community life and individual empowerment, actively working within marginalized populations.

Rev. Sandy’s areas of interest are Spirituality, Community and Family, Wellness, Emotional Healing, Nutritional Health and Wellbeing, and Physical Movement. She brings her expertise as a Healing Foods Educator, Plant Based Nutrition, 12 Step Residence Facilitator and HIV Ministerial Educator to round out her pursuits of knowledge in fields of most interest within community life and living. She is most effective with youth, men and women, inspiring change by empowering people.

In 2005, Rev. Sandy gave birth to the idea of marrying the New Thought Church with Holistic healing. This unprecedented union resulted in Rev. Sandy ushering in the modalities of Reiki, Breath-work, and the Dolphin Meditation to her global spiritual community. She is known as the “Mother of DAO” in the Atlanta DAO family. She has studied Qigong Medical, and BARS Access Consciousness

Rev. Rodgers works lovingly within the communities of HIV/AIDS, DV/IPV (Domestic Violence and Intimate Partner Violence), women’s rights and health, reproductive justice and overall community empowerment. She is the creator of Wholistic Wellness, classes covering all aspects of health and wellbeing: mental, emotional, physical, relationships, everyday living, spiritual, and life basics.

Rev. Sandy is a Certified Healing Foods Educator and an Instructor with Living Foods Institute in Atlanta Georgia. She also teach ‘healing foods’ concepts to individuals who desire to reduce their pharmaceutical dependencies through her God’s Groceries nutritional program.

She distributes wisdom world-wide by producing and distributing her signature Daily IN-spirations and Health and Wellness blogs via the internet. Currently, Rev. Sandy is a seasoned radio host whose show seeks to heighten awareness around diverse social topics, nutrition and spiritual enlightenment. She develops publications, programs, audio projects, and other sources to aid the public she serves. Bridging the gap by widening the circle of informed people. She remains a willing servant of humanity.

Rev. Rodgers is an Amazon #1 Best Seller Author; her latest works are Look In My Mirror, and God’s Groceries…As Nature Intended. Other titles by Rev. Sandy Rodgers are Natural Healing: Use Prayer, Food and Energy Healing as Natural Remedies. All My Men; The Rose Garden…remembering our beauty in tough times and When God Leads…just follow. She has contributed to and co-authored several other books also; Cornbread, Fish and Collard Greens – Prayers, Poems & Affirmations for People Living with HIV/AIDS, Erieka’s Magical Realism.

Q) Sandy, you have worn many hats over your lifetime as speaker, minister, educator, certified life coach, visionary and author, to name a few. What's your true passion with your work and what do you want readers to come away with after reading this article?

A) My desire is for humanity to heal, by any means necessary. I would like for the readers to not put limits on themselves. I never wanted to be confined to a box because you never know, when you open yourself to learning new things, what that can lead to, or lead you to. I remember hearing so much about Reiki, and lent myself to learning about it, and now I am a Reiki Master. That would have never have happened for me, if I were closed to it.

Q) You have even worked in fashion and entertainment as an entrepreneur. Tell us about that and your goals at the time?

A) I was a clothing designer in my earlier life where I was a featured fashion designer in the trendy Los Angeles district known as Miracle Mile. Very few Black women designers were featured in fashion shows, or even recognized at that time. I was very humbled to be so recognized.

I took an early retirement from Corporate America in the 90's and started a modeling and fashion company that did quite well, especially for younger people called, NU VISION MODELING AND ENTERTAINMENT INC. And although I was in South Central Los Angeles, the encouragements from colleagues and friends to go "Hollywood" was not my calling. My calling, and my gift has always been to create opportunity in my community and to empower people.

Q) The recent election has seen a number of protest rallies around the country, scenes like that we have not seen since the shootings of innocent black men and of course the sixties, a time period you come from in Watts. What's this election say to you about the health of this country?

A) This election is a wake-up call for all of us, Black, White, and Brown. We are the change that needs to make this country what it needs to be for us to co-exist successfully.

Q) I saw Angela Davis speak many years ago after the Rodney King beatings were seen around the world, and then the riots after the cops were acquitted. Angela said in her speech that outrage was not a new experience for Blacks, it's that it was caught on tape and publicized for the first time. We have seen a lot of video today of our young black men and women falling to the hands of law enforcement in recent years. How do you feel about groups like, Black Lives Matter? And, how different is it now from when you were a young woman growing up in Watts?

A) The eyes of justice are suppose to be blind to the color of people. This is a nation of color, like it or not, but this is what the framers of this country wrote into the constitution. Black Lives Matter reminds us that no matter what was in the hearts of the framers, or is in the heart of the current 'Powers that be', we are all in this together. So, whether it's the riots of '65 in Watts, or the riots in '68 in New York, the protests of today resonate the same message. And, it matters.

Q) You have a radio show on the air now called. LIFE LOVE WELLNESS, THE SANDY RODGERS SHOW. Tell our readers about the show and how they can tune in to listen?

A) This show was actually a challenge presented to me by my nephew. After helping others get their shows off the ground, it finally came to me of how I could empower people about mental, physical and spiritual health issues. We discuss issues that people are reluctant to discuss openly. We give voice to many who feel they must stay quiet about something they are experiencing from the LGBT community, to those Mental health issues around depression and feeling lost.

One of the big highlights, and there are many now, is when we had Clyde Gumbs on as a guest. His collection of writings about women is superb. He passed in 2016, and I discovered that the only recording of him speaking, is that of him on our show.

9PM (EST) every Tuesday evening is when our show can be heard, and it is uplifting and empowering. I encourage everyone to tune in to listen to the show. I know the readers here will see a link later on how and where to tune in at the end of this article.

Q) When did you start Sandy Rodgers Ministries and how did that come about?

A) I was ordained by Pastor Carl.Booker back in 2004, and it was really the culmination of my life's work already in existence. Now, I put a stamp on the work and incorporated it. We are a church without walls, we minister as Jesus ministered. We want to reach people who need it most. From domestic violence in the home, to street hustlers and prostitutes, child trafficking, and wherever we can get to people who don't come to church on a weekly basis.

We are mobile and global. Our ministry has reached people in Ghana and various countries in Africa, Pakistan and India and the Middle East. People are looking for the wellness aspect of what I teach as well as the spirituality of empowerment.

Q) If you had to sum up the purpose of your ministry and all of your endeavors before and after you became a minister, what would you say?

A) To serve and empower people, especially people who are and feel disenfranchised in some way.

Q) Tell us how many books you have written as an author and do they have a sort of central theme? Do you have a favorite among them, and why is it your favorite if so?

A) I have written 6 books as an author, and have co-wriiten or contributed writings to others for a total of about 10 books.

The book that really kicked it off for me is called, "All My Men", and it is about all of the relationships I have had in my life with men. Two ex-husbands, a son, Uncles, Pastors. And what is significant about this is, there is no negative words spoken about men. This is significant for me because it gives voice to our men that go beyond what they struggle with and are stigmatized over.

Q) Are you working on a new book now and what is it about?

A) I am excited about a new book I am working on called, "The A's have it: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction" ~ Giving names to those unnamed babies due to these 3 A's and granting God's forgiveness for those who have these issues, but have not found a way to ask for it.

Each one of my books is special because they are, I believe, anointed by God to tell our stories, and tells the reader, there is forgiveness, redemption, hope, a way back to a quality of life.

The next book coming is about and called, Being Still. We miss so many blessings because we are just so busy in today's world and running, and just confused and frustrated. Being still allows for God's message to be received by you.

Q) I know that you are a Life Coach. When you speak to young people today, a person with low self esteem from bullying, or a victim of child abuse, or family facing homelessness, what do you say?

A) To be a successful life coach, you must fully listen to what a person is sharing about what they are experiencing. Because, believe it or not, most people have the answer already to the questions they bring me. The answer already exists in them, but only by me listening fully am I able to reveal for them the answers they seek. It's like a light bulb goes off, and they already knew it was there...just hidden in the dark.

Empowering people by showing that you are genuinely concerned and want to be a help to them, is a very uplifting thing. We seek this in our parents, and we seek this in our spiritual relationship with God.

I work with people on developing a game plan and provide moral support in dealing with their issue. What a difference this makes in someone's life.

Thank you Rev. Sandy Rodgers. You, your books and mission has touched me personally, and I hope that during this Christmas holiday for the year 2016, I hope this blesses someone and that they reach out to you should they want more information.

Note: Special thanks to Ms. Linda La Boyd for conducting the audio version of this interview. I am working to have that audio version of this Q&A uploaded on this article for you to receive the full message and blessings of this Q&A.