The Author: On The Heels... of an amazing encounter! (Book Release)

I’m back!!

You know when it rains it pours and after my son’s birthday our summer travels were non-stop!

The bachelorette party for one of my best friends

road trip to Cleveland

DST Centennial Celebration

Family Reunion

and finally the wedding

I have seen more of the highway than my house in the last month, not to mention, in the midst of all of this, I was pressed to complete the edits (huge thank you to my sister/June 21st mother twin Leah from 3 Girls with Curls! Two mothers with toddlers making it happen) and release my devotional On the Heels of My Father!!! Before I pick up blogging about what I’ve been doing since the end of June, what I’ve learned, trials I faced in the month of July, and sharing a message to encourage you along the way I must take this time to say THANK YOU to those who have ordered their copy of On the Heels of My Father.

Autographed copies: On the Heels-Autographed

Direct link: On the Heels of My Father direct

On the Heels of My Father: Removing the Weight While Walking into your Purpose (Pre-Order)

The movement starts within

God takes my breath away; I am speechless.

  

How God will sit you down, teach you a lesson, and then shift you into the very place you thought you missed.

Have you ever had a bad day? A bad month? What about a bad year? A year where you wondered if God noticed your situation. Money was kinda funny, more bills than bucks, repossession, foreclosure, solitude; Moments when you felt so disconnected from your purpose that you felt like everyday was a walk in the season of winter: Lost, frigid, lonely.

I spent the past year just trying to keep trying. I wouldn't have imagined that God would call me to SHARE this experience. Because it wasn't your usual down on my luck type of situation. I watched God take my broken places, my foul attitude, my JUNK and turn it into a message that makes ME cry every time I read it. He showed me that there are so many people in this same situation but they lack the strength to press on. I wanted to give up and when He told me I would be the messenger I wanted to RUN. Just hide in the very place I had been hiding while being angry with where I felt He was holding me hostage.

From Pity to Praise: The playlist

These are a few songs while I was walking, well more like sitting, in my winter season that really helped me cling onto Him more than ever. When you are walking in a dry, cold, frigid season it's very difficult to see beyond your current conditions. It can feel cold, not just spiritually because you're wondering what the heck God is doing or where He "went" or if He is "aware" that your life is feeling like it's in shambles, but also in the natural you begin to just feel... cold. Your interactions, your desires and your belief can be stifled and tested during this type of season. But if you can take it one day at a time, think about mountains He has moved in the past because you may not see any moving right now, admit your brokenness and your weakness, then you will be able to walk out of this season feeling like conqueror and not defeated. A few things changed for me from what I was walking through in 2012 (I know you're like but Caneeka that was just a month ago. Exactly! Keep reading.) 

What does your attitude towards your atmosphere say about your alliance with God... Goodbye 2012

2012 began with sacrifice. 

And I don’t know if you’ve have ever had to give up something you love but it’s not easy. When Scott and I were dating I had this sweater duster that I absolutely adored. I guess after seeing me in it morning, noon, and night he informed me that when we got married that duster would have to go. (Sad face)

Rollerskating

At the beach

In New Orleans

Spoken word event with my bestie

  

Seeing how serious he was I wore that mug out leading up to the day we got married and sure enough the time came for me to part ways with it. 

Some “stuff” we hold on to represents a time/season in our life that speaks to who we were. We find comfort in keeping these things close by because they make us feel, well, comfortable. But there will come a time when God will ask you part ways with something much bigger than a duster and you can choose to swallow your pain and be obedient or you can choose to rebel. I love my Daddy too much to rebel against His requests and no one ever said that submission and obedience were the easiest task to complete. This year we let go of so much (I would say lost but that would indicate regret) to find ourselves in a place of simplistic living very painful to endure. 

Eight.Ten. Twelve Prayer

I’m emotionally vulnerable.

In a strange, unfamiliar space.

Uncertain of how to move, be, live without feeling outside of myself.

Sometimes a shell of a woman I once knew.

There are moments in life when we go from having the cheat sheet. Knowing all of the answers to the test and then we draw a blank. Questions populate that weren’t on the study guide, weren’t in the book; the teacher never prepared you for what was coming. So in stillness you sit. Staring at blank pieces of paper. Numbered without multiple choices to choose. Spaces too small to fill in the blank. Extra pages not accepted.

A student in a classroom of chaos.

Wanting to panic but you don’t.

Continuing to sit peacefully.