God Moments
May 2024 | Reflecting on how He's led me forward to create A New Thing.
May feels like a new chapter, and a beautiful invitation for me to go deeper in my faith as well as share the incredible things God has been doing in my life with my community.
April was incredible. After announcing A New Thing last month, I followed up with an intimate gathering about wellness, spirituality, healing, and Christ with my sister friend Rosalyn Davis. I was able to reflect on many of the things that the Lord has restored in my life and doing so holds more meaning for me than words can express.
We’ve enjoyed hearing from those of you who attended live or who caught the replay (if you missed it and you’d like to tap in, just let me know and I’ll send it your way). I also opened up Rooted—a Christ centered wellness community, and welcomed in nearly 30 incredible founding community members. Women joined from D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and more to pray together and uplift one another on National Day of Prayer. Since then, we have seen God move for the things we spoke out loud, or carried quietly in our hearts during prayer. I have personally been seeing miracles in my personal life and, when the time is right, I look forward to sharing about these miracles more publicly.
Quick reminder before I share this months’ reflection with you all….starting now, all subscribers to A New Thing will receive my top-of-the month reflection newsletter, however only community members who choose to invest in this space will receive the audio meditation/prayer that supplements it. I enjoyed sharing a taste of what these look like when I shared my prayer for the broken last month, despite some technical frustrations in utilizing the Substack audio integration as well as my desire to have music integrated with the audio. I know that God has moved through my willingness to move forward in faith through circumstances that aren’t perfect.
So, let’s get into the first official monthly reflection within A New Thing.
God moments.
The fact that A New Thing even exists is nothing but God’s guidance which hinged upon my complete surrender and obedience to His will.
Consider what in your life—if you allowed it—could be birthed through you if you let the Creator take the reigns?
I got baptized this past spring (more on that in a forthcoming newsletter). Within the Christian faith, baptism (particularly when chosen) symbolizes a new beginning with Christ, as well as conscious surrender of one’s life to the Lord.
While the baptism was an outwardly physical action—me being submerged in water and rising up out of the water alongside prayer and agreement—it is more so an inwardly spiritual action—me deciding that from that moment forward my life would be a continual living sacrifice to God.
The concept of being a living sacrifice isn’t something that I too quickly embraced. It took a while for me to get there. Thank God for grace!
But, now I’m here in the practice of all areas of my life being a sacrifice for Him. And I’m trying. Sometimes failing. But, trying again.
Anyway, one thing that I went back and forth about was: am I really going to start sharing about my faith out loud?
YIKES.
I had to grapple with the fear I felt in doing so. I really tried to run away.
I also had to recognize the judgement that I had against Christians and Christianity. When I turned away from the faith in my mid-twenties (a decade ago), I eventually stepped into a space of “I know better than them” as I gathered wordly knowledge and studied other religions and spiritual systems. I viewed and began to paint all Christians as ignorant, violent, and judgmental.
After I shared my testimony in March, I received mostly supportive and loving responses (lots of them)! Although the only approval that I need is God’s, it always feels encouraging to know that one’s life experiences are met with others really seeing you, and affirming you. I did, however, receive a handful of notes back that showed me that I hit a nerve. One person requested to unsubscribe from my “religious propaganda”. And yet, I imagine, they had remained subscribed when I used to believe, and share in various ways about ancestor veneration, my enthusiasm for yoga, and my living according to my human design (all of which are rooted in different religious systems and ideologies).
It’s fascinating.
So, I moved through the fear and doubt and the Lord took me by the hand to just share my testimony regardless of the response.
I chose to believe that God could, and certainly would, use all parts of my story to bring Him glory. That I didn’t need to let shame of the past or fear about potential responses control me.
And I chose to believe that those who were meant to receive it, would. And that believers in Christ and non-believers would still find something encouraging, relatable, resonant with my experience.
And that just like people all over the world were rocking with me, my voice, my perspective, and the way I held space for transformation and healing for many years prior to this moment, that He would do even greater through me as His vessel.
God is something else.
So, a week or so after I shared my testimony, I returned to my university campus library. Where I’d been a student more than a decade prior, and I decided to sit down, pray, and just let God. My prayer was simple. That He would guide my plans.
I truly didn’t feel like I knew what I was doing. I was just showing up and letting God guide me.
Turns out showing up in obedience, with a clear prayer for God’s guidance works.
Because what happened was incredible.
I ended up being the vessel for A New Thing (the newsletter meets open journal meets audiohug and community that you’re reading this writing from right now).
And after I wrote down idea after idea, I looked at the top of the page of the journal that I was writing within and I received God’s confirmation that it was right on time. At the top of the page, it said:
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Another translation of James 5:16 puts it like this:
The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
Whoa. Why was this significant for me?
Two reasons:
One of my dearest friends in the world had gifted me this journal a month or so prior. And I had just begun to use it for anything creative and spiritual in nature. I regard it like my sacred space for God’s voice and visions and started taking it seriously.
I had just written out the ideas that God was flowing through me for my faith based wellness newsletter, for which I wrote down “A New Thing” as a working title’ and community a prayer gathering was the first thing I wrote about in detail, including the agenda.
I was mind blown. I called my friend Julian on FaceTime as I walked out of the library, on a spiritual high of sorts about God’s goodness and faithfulness, as well as the fact that He was speaking to me in clear ways and affirming that I was indeed tuned into where He was guiding my steps. As I was turning onto the street, I nearly dropped the phone as I saw one of the latest additions to our alma mater’s campus. A chapel that I hadn’t seen before, and it quite literally had the title that had written down for my Substack.
Isaiah 43:19: Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
If this isn’t divine confirmation, I don’t know what is.
Blessings to all of you as we journey deeper into May.
Coming up next within A New Thing…
Free subscribers, hiii! You’ll receive another newsletter this month with 1-2 of my favorite things. Things I’m loving in my daily life and am enthusiastic to share with my community.
Paid subscribers, heyyyy. You will receive my audio meditation/prayer, and my full list of favorite things for the month. Plus, I’ll be kicking off our first monthly community thread and reflective moment in partnership with a friend or community member of mine and you’ll be able to join for that conversation and get to know others who are here in community. Thank you for supporting my voice in the world!