Hey! 👋 I'm Angela, a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, loving wife to my best friend of twenty years, "Mom" to three grown children of a blended family, and "Mamaw" to the four little lights of my life that the Lord and my children have blessed me with! We are now empty nesters, we own a couple of our own small businesses, and we have been involved in ministry for nearly two decades. We love the Lord our God with our whole hearts and He is the reason for every success we've had in love and life. We have risen to the challenge before us (at every turn), knowing that with the Lord on our side, we do not shrink back and if He calls us to something, He will see us through it. Always. So I am here to share about our life's journey. Faith, family, friends, work, travel, adventure, marriage, parenting, grand babies, you name it. I'm just going to share my heart in this space, and that's why I have chosen to blog here, along with sharing info about my coaching services. I want to tell you all about my own experiences, as I truly believe this is something God has called me to do, and I will always be transparent and authentic as I open the door to my own heart, mind, and life with you.
To give you my back story, my hubby and I came to know Jesus at the exact same moment when we heard the Gospel together and responded to His call, nearly two decades ago now, very early on in our marriage. This was my second marriage and his third. I had two babies and he had one, and all of this is actually what bought us to this point (to our brokenness and awareness of our need for a Savior)! God had beautifully orchestrated a Divine Appointment whereby He had been working behind the scenes for a while, softening and preparing our hearts to have a two-on-One encounter with Himself!!! Don't you just love Him?! I know I sure do. I am forever grateful for the way that He brought two sinners into a whirlwind romance with the King of kings and Lord of lords for all of eternity and for the radical way He began transforming us from that day forward. Will (my hubby) was 33 and I was 26...we were pretty set in our ways, and we had developed some poor coping skills for dealing with issues in life and especially in relationships. Both of our parents had been divorced before us (in very similar ways, oddly enough), so needless to say in those early days, we were really "testing the waters," to see if this marriage was actually going to last. And it honestly likely would not have, had the Lord not interjected Himself at the center of it. So how did we meet Him? Glad you asked, because it's a story I love to tell about and it's honestly come full circle as to what my mission is today.
As mentioned, pre-Jesus, things were getting pretty rocky in our world. We couldn't seem to make this little blended family of ours mesh and we were having all kinds of issues from outside sources, and it was really just getting to be all too much to deal with, so I sought out counseling for my kiddos. This was back in the day of phone books, so I literally just flipped to the yellow pages and called the first one I found in my town. I started taking the kids to this Christian counselor (at the time, I didn't know what this meant and I honestly didn't care--BUT GOD KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING)!!! Long story short, the counselor did an amazing job with (eventually) all of us, and I remember the very poignant question she asked me at one point during one of our sessions that has continued to resonate with me and help me examine myself to this very day..."Where is your relationship with God?" I had to get very honest with myself as I fumbled through my response to her. Do you feel this way right now? If I or someone else were to ask you that question, how would you genuinely respond?
Looking back now, I can understand why the counselor then invited us to the church next door that her husband pastored. She didn't give us the Gospel herself, but after accepting her invitation and visiting the church a few times, he did and we both received Jesus's precious gift of salvation!!! He began an incredible process of true and lasting transformation from within that touched every part of our life. And now, almost twenty years later, it is my goal, passion, mission, and purpose to help other Christian women in their journey with Jesus.
You see, something that is greatly missing today in the Church is discipleship. The "how-to" part of growing in your faith. The practical part of lasting change. Having someone to walk the walk with...not just talk the talk. We are bogged down with information but this rarely begets TRANSFORMATION. And I believe it's because the model that we are under in the West...in America, specifically...lacks intimacy and accountability. And there will never be true change in any area without these two components. Think about it, you go to church week after week for years, decades even, and yet you feel like you are just stagnant, bored, or even worse, you've completely forgotten your First Love and are burned out, barely smoldering. Why is this so common today? It shouldn't be this way. Where is the Titus 2-type discipleship that we read about in the New Testament? Or the early Church model, for that matter, where they literally went from house to house spending time with one another, investing in each other's lives and well-being, and grew to a force to be reckoned with that advanced the Gospel message and flipped the world upside down in a short period of time, which the gates of hell wouldn't be able to come up against?!
We have ample resources at our disposal today - social media "influencers," podcasts, Bible studies, online groups and programs, books and other resources - of which mine is a part, so I'm not degrading any of these methods/tools...I am GRATEFUL that in this day and age, we are allowed the freedom to access a variety of things to help us in our walk with the Lord. BUT, in my own journey and in countless others who I have ministered to and counseled with, I have seen that a lot of times, this can just add to the confusion or sense of overwhelm and can actually make us feel even more stuck or action-less, as we continue to let the days go by without putting one foot in front of the other and actually walking WITH our Savior. We tend to run ahead of Him, making all our own plans and barely including Him at all until we realize we've gotten so far off course that we run to Him out of desperation and repentance (He is ALWAYS waiting and ready and even RUNS to meet us, when this is the case)! OR we live in fear and intimidation, so scared of all the "what-ifs" that Jesus walks ahead of us, beckoning us forward and continuously inviting us into more, but we don't believe in ourselves typically enough to take those steps that would lead to the abundant life and freedom He's called us to.
I have lived at both ends of this spectrum so many times in my faith walk, so I'm not pointing the finger here. I'm just encouraging you that there is SO MUCH MORE. So much more to YOU. So much more to FAITH. So much more to LIFE. And God wants you to experience it ALL. After all, He came to give you life and life that is abundant. He wants to change your life. He wants to change your heart. But YOU have to change your MIND. That is truly where the battle begins. And sadly, for most of us, that's where it ends as well. You have an enemy who came to steal, kill, and destroy, and his main purpose and mission is to keep you from finding yours! To keep you from the freedom, fulfillment, and joy that Christ brings and hold you in a prison of self-doubt, defeat, and discouragement. To keep you from community and from positivity and from the Light of the world.
I have broken out of the self-imposed prison where he stood as guard for way too long, and I have experienced the true and lasting transformation that only walking in step with the Holy Spirit and a deep, abiding relationship with the Lover of my soul could produce...and I desire to see every woman on this planet come along on this same kind of incredible journey to freedom. Consider this your invitation...let me pour God's love into you so that you will begin to grow and produce abundant fruit!
Reach out to me at any of the links on the website and my signature course and extra resources will be coming soon, so be sure to check back regularly as I'm just beginning to build my site. Don't be a stranger...I'd love to connect with you now!