Is it Time to be Quiet?

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I’ve learned a lot about me and others in my quiet time. In quiet moments, you get to reflect on what was said or what wasn’t said. What was done and what wasn’t done. How you felt, how you feel, and what those feelings mean. This is how self-awareness is formed and maintained.

The quiet I want to share with you all today has to do with knowing when to be quiet or when to say something. I am still fine tuning my discernment and knowing when to share what God has impressed on my heart. I get so excited when I get a revelation or when God does a thing in my life, like connecting dots. There’s a deep joy present to be able to share and recognize when God is talking to you and moving in ways that you once prayed about.

But then I sit and wonder, was I supposed to share that, God? Or was that something I was supposed to sit with and allow you to continue revealing to just me alone? Was I supposed to share that so soon? Am I supposed to fully be in it and get full clarity on it? I shared this with my cousin and she said, that maybe I am supposed to share it to encourage others. And essentially, that is my main purpose for sharing, to inspire or give hope to others.

Then I justify it by saying, God knows His child has a big mouth and she will definitely go and spread the good news. Lol! I also have to be mindful of my mouth and the words that come out of it. The mouth is powerful and because of my name’s meaning, I feel it’s my responsibility to be a good steward over what I may say to others. God surely knows my heart and an old saying “intention doesn’t equal impact” also comes to mind. So even though I mean well, I think that I will table my excitement and make sure the Lord gives me the okay to share. More daily prayers for God to bridle my tongue also.

In the most recent podcast episode, I share a story of how God moved and saved me from my emotions. It involved my thoughts, and realizing that those thoughts were not Christ-like and then fasting for renewal, clarity, revelation, and forgiveness. Listen to #DearDistraction here! In short, in 3 days, God told me to not worry, my feelings are valid and the problem is already solved. Hallelujah!!! This was a time I chose to be quiet and let God speak. Thank God I didn’t let my feelings and emotions distract me and get me caught up in a bigger issue.

Sincerely,

Angie 💜

Dear Distractions,

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Life is filled with distractions. No matter how big or small, easy or hard, tough or tender, distractions will always be around. It’s up to us to feed or give in to the distractions or merely to treat them as another bump in the road. Recently, I heard a guy say to tell anything that you come against, as in a challenge, tell it face to face, “YOU CANNOT BEAT ME!” You may not believe it at first but just keep saying it until you believe it. Don’t give anything outside of your goals, any energy.

Discipline is necessary when there are goals present because it is so easy to get off track or forget what’s at hand. That’s just the reality of our world today. Our attention can be taken away easily and quickly. We live in a fast paced world also. Everyone is always on go mode. There is always something to be done or something to look forward to. If you’ve seen my last few posts, the theme has been to enjoy, embrace and live in the moment.

Over the course of my adult life, I have been extremely disciplined but when it comes to March and celebrating my birthday, I sometimes, well honestly, most times, I get very distracted with celebrating my life. Well this year, my March distractions spilled over into April. So when May got here, I went on extreme lockdown and got back focused. All of a sudden, there were 15 new bottles of fragrances I wanted and a pair of shoes went on sale that I couldn’t get off my mind. I had to sit myself down and have a conversation. I literally don’t need the shoes because I treated myself to about 5 new pairs in March. Also in March, I got at least 5 new fragrances. I do not need another perfume, I need to enjoy the ones I just got. I was distracted by my love for fragrance and my love for a good sale.

Another distraction that hit me recently, was one that I didn’t realize was a distraction in real-time. My cousin mentioned she saw a movie that I recently saw and after watching that movie, I watched a few more in a the course of a few days. Her mentioning it made me think about the journal entry or blog post I wrote because of the emotional reaction I had during the time watching the movies. Well, I searched my journal, my notes app, the blog posts and the draft posts and I realized that I never even wrote about the experience. My whole day was thrown off because I didn’t document this beautiful moment I had, in real time. I did it mentally but not physically. I got distracted and my goal is to journal majority of my feelings and emotions. Especially new emotions that I want or need to process.

In closing, I encourage whomever reads this, to focus and execute. Do not let distractions take you off course. Your end goal is much sweeter when you say no, push through and reach it despite what tried to throw you off course. Whether it’s financial goals, personal fitness goals, daily goals, short or long term goals, do not get distracted. Everything outside of your end goal can wait! Don’t diminish the value of whatever goals you set. It’s your goal and it matters!

Sincerely,

Angie

Blessings Received

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Check out my last post titled “Birthday Blessings.” This year for my b-day, I received blessings on top of blessings. The biggest and best one was completely unexpected but intentional. A gift that only God could see fit for me. Bare with me as I try to put into words the divine timing of everything that lead to the blessings I received.

It started with a short notice business trip that caused me to reschedule my birthday trip, which left my birth week open. Then a group chat formed whose only mission was to go somewhere. The available dates ended up being my birth week. My cousin and travel bestie’s birthday trip was canceled also and she really just wanted to be out of the country. We all selected 3 places we wanted to go to and the one with the most votes won. We all agreed on a destination and all that was left, was to find a place to stay and flights.

One morning at 2a, I woke up because I couldn’t sleep but the plan was to book our flights at 4a. I booked it and everyone else booked theirs at 4a or a little after. Next was the Airbnb. We settled on one we all agreed on and booked the dates. A few weeks later, with no plan, no itinerary, no to-do list, NOTHING, we hopped on a plane just winging it.

The first couple of days were filled with eating, sightseeing, pool lounging, and chilling. Then on the third day, we decided that we needed to figured something out. We settled on a flamingo experience and that fell through. Then Toya saw Clear Boat Kayak pictures! That was right up our alley. We paid for it and it was scheduled for the next day, which was my birthday. We figured we’d make it a beach day also.

We get to the beach and get right to it. Toya went first, then myself and Yannie went last. Everyone had the perfect color bathing suit for the environment. Each color popped off of the water and our skin! Toya in a mustard yellow, me in a neon green and Yannie in royal blue. Perfection! I get in the boat and there’s a man flying the drone and one holding the string to the boat and instructing the poses. I get to the pose where I have to turn over on my stomach. I told myself to take advantage of the moment and look down into the water through the clear boat. The water was beautiful, almost unreal, the sand was bright, I could see seaweed like debris floating by and awareness and gratitude filled my heart. I was out of the country for the first time ever, on my actual birthday. Later that day for dinner, sitting at the table with people I love and who I know love me, tears formed. It’s a moment I’ll never forget and I believe everything happened just for that moment.

The blessing I received was the present. I was in Aruba on my birthday. I was with two of my favorite people. I was in a dress that I’d worn before but one that I felt beautiful in. Beautiful shoes I found at Goodwill for about $7.00 and sunglasses I got on clearance for $1.00. I was in a clear kayak just to take pictures but I zoned out and took advantage of a moment that I’ll live with forever. I don’t even remember if the guy was talking to me telling me to do another pose, I decided that this moment was worth taking in. And it was the biggest blessing I’ve ever received.

Pictures and videos will always be top tier for me but you can always see much better in the moment, with your eyes, heart, ears, hands, nose, etc. Take a moment and take a mental picture. Those core memories will last forever.

Editing Angie: In between the time I wrote this post and the time I’m editing this, I watched a YouTube video that spoke of a video breaking down the takeaways from Pixar’s movie “Soul”. The person broke the movie down to the simplest life lesson. Because I love the movie Soul, I watched the video. It was explained perfectly and the overall takeaway was exactly what I experienced on my birthday. It was also confirmation that I should post this. I’ll link the video below. I pray you’ll watch it and get something from it. I purposely did not say what the life lesson was because I believe it’s just that important for you to check it out for yourself. Come back after the 15 minute video and share your thoughts in the comment section.

YouTube

Sincerely,

Angie