Well hello there! Thanks for dropping by today. For those of you who don't know me as well as others, this is the time of year I actually highly anticipate. Not because of Christmas and gifts or what not but because I typically reserve this month to put some things down and disable all access to social media outlets to commune with God on a deeper level.
I don't believe I've done nearly enough on this earth to call my time away a sabbatical so I'll just say I'm going to Shiloh for a while.
What's Shiloh?
Well I'm most glad you asked!
In 1 Samuel 1:3, it says that Hannah's husband Elkanah would go every year to Shiloh with his family, a city near Bethel where he would worship God and offer up a sacrifice.
This year was fairly decent as I think about it. I got some much needed stuff accomplished and I couldn't be more pleased.
But I'm eager for God to spell some deeper things out for me about my life especially since some of my strong triumphs accompanied some heavy disappointments.
I want to know what I need to do to be in complete agreement with Him.
I'm not interested in anymore blank missions or half-stepping.
And I'm definitely not in the mood for any reruns or deja-vus
I want to go all in! I'm willing to drop everything in my hands right now for directions, downloads, and even divine interventions. If such is needed.
So off to Shiloh I go!
Now, one of the last things God told me to do was to start this blog back up after an involuntary 3 year hiatus.
I created this blog in 2013 primarily because back then, Facebook only allowed around 140 characters for status posts and the option to edit was not available.
(Kids these days will never know the struggle. Ha!)
I felt like I had a lot to say back then, so I begin to chronicle my journey with God via this avenue.
For this reason, I will not delete a single post. Nor will I add or take anything away from what I've already written. My older posts are great reference points to me.
Anywho, I didn't quite know why God asked me to come back here after so much time had passed. That is until about halfway through the year when Holy Spirit decided to kick things up a notch and I received a little feedback from some readers.
Since then I could not accept any other option aside from the desire to remain consistent no matter what.
I thank you guys for crying with me, laughing with me, vibin' with me, getting creeped out, and shock jawed with me. It's been a blast wouldn't you say?
Most importantly though, I honestly pray that in all that I've shared and poured out to you, that you were able to fall madly in love with God.
I pray that you were able to see His face, and His heart, and His hands, and His feet.
This has been my ultimate mission.
I have absolutely no idea what God wants to do next with this thing or even with me for that matter. That's another reason why WE need to talk. Real talk.
With that being said, this will be my last post for the year.
Don't be sad though!
Enjoy these Q&A's before you dip out of here!
Q1. How do you come up with your topics?
A1. It may sound cliche but I just ask God what He wants to discuss because it's His page too. Then I listen and observe. I listen and observe. Just like the world has trends and breaking news, the kingdom of God does as well. I most frequently like to gravitate to the overlooked areas that nobody cares too much for. That's where the juicy stuff is. I also read. A LOT! Not just the Bible either. I have a very inquisitive nature which drives me to read and research any and everything just for the heck of it. And then I also take advantage of fellowship. I take no introduction or interaction with a soul lightly. Some of my greatest topics have been sparked by conversations and encounters with other people believe it or not. I'm a prophet by birth but a scribe by passion. I take hard notes. I take mental notes. I take pictures with my phone. I take pictures with my eyes. I'm always alert. The world is a fascinating place with great leads for somebody like me! Lastly, I allow God to scroll through the catalogs of my own life and pick out what He wants me to highlight. Which ties back into me listening and observing.
Q2. How long does it take for you to write a post?
A2. Wew! So look here. When I first published this blog, I was pushing out two posts a week. I still have to scratch my head at how I was able to do that. This year in the beginning it would take me about 4 hours to write one post and I'd be out for the count. Then as God would request and require more of me, one post would take days! Sometimes God would give a topic and NO MEAT! I would be sitting at my laptop like, "Sooooo what do you want me to do with this?" Just imagine somebody giving you their grocery list with no money. Then you find out YOU have to pay for it! Yep, so when God would give me something with no meat, it meant that I would have to in some way pay for it with a day or two of my life. I would have to live it out first in order to write about it. Ain't that something? It's cool though. My life has never really been my own since before I started back writing on here anyway.
Q3. Have you ever suffered from writer's block and for how long?
A3. Yes. THREE WHOLE YEARS.
I found out that writer's block can very much so be attributed to your environment and then due to who and what you're connected to. Actually, who and what you're connected to can have a great influence on your environment which can either make or break your creativity. There's so many energy vultures and spiritual vampires out here supremely designed and assigned to attach themselves to God's mouthpieces with the sole intent to suck the lives out of them. Unfortunately, what and who I was connected to at the time was cursing my creativity and giftings, out the gate and eating up all of my time to the point I had no energy for anything I loved doing. Especially writing/creating. I didn't know this was happening until I released myself and was attempting to finish my 2nd novel Tears of Queens. To be honest, I don't believe I'd ever experienced such a terrible assault on my creativity to this extent in my life before this! I legit was suffering from a violent case of writer's block. It felt like somebody was relentlessly squeezing my brain or some kind of blood pressure cuff was wrapped around my head. It took me the entire year of 2017 to get that thing up off of me which involved a lot of laying low in safe places, prayer, fasting, and aggressive self-deliverance.
Q4. Do you become discouraged when you don't receive a lot of feedback from a post?
A4. When I first started back posting this year, I would. In comparison to when I first started period, I have not managed to hit those same kind of numbers at all. But social media has changed a lot since then with it's algorithms and all that jazz. Eventually, I stopped focusing on the numbers for that purpose and begin to focus more on content and subject matter. I thank God for this! I will be candid, I may not have been motivated enough to stick around with this thing had I only been focused on numbers and the random spurts of feedback I've received throughout the year.
Q5. What is your advice for someone who wants to start a blog?
A5. The easiest part is to start a blog. The hardest part is remaining consistent. The only way you can remain consistent is if you're real with yourself. Ask yourself some necessary questions. Such as, "How frequently do I want to post?" "What do I want to post about?" "Who is my target audience?" "Why do I want to be a blogger?" "Do I want to teach/instruct?" "Entertain/humor?" "Enlighten/encourage?" "Do I want to talk about spiritual things or practical things?" "Do I want to keep it light or go deep?" "Stay private or get personal?" "Do I have time to invest in being a blogger who posts on a regular basis?" "Am I willing to make time to be a blogger that posts on a regular basis?" "Do I even have the passion to write?" Remember, nobody is going to take you serious if YOU don't take you serious. Moreover, nobody is going to take you serious if you're trying to be like someone else. Find your voice and let your soul glow! No, seriously. I saw something a little while ago that said, "To be successful at anything, you don't have to really do anything new. You just have to be consistent." Blogging has been around for quite some time and there are a lot of bloggers out there. I can tell you this, the ones who are winning are those who have remained consistent and stayed true to their own unique style. At the end of the day, it's all on you. No one can make you do anything. If you're passionate about it, you'll put the pedal to the metal and do the work.
Alright now! Cut and print! Beautiful guys! DyNOmite! Haha!
It's been mad real. Keep me lifted as I keep you lifted.
I hope I can also get you back here next year if it is God's will!
And I will see y'all on the flipside. Until next time...
I hope I can also get you back here next year if it is God's will!
And I will see y'all on the flipside. Until next time...
P.S. and FYI: When you see a word highlighted like >>> this<<<, in my posts there's a good chance I want you to listen to a song that I've married to it! I've done this to a nice portion of my blog posts this year! If you didn't catch it you might want to go back and check it out! Have fun!
I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard post.
There I will wait to see what the Lord say and how he will answer my complaint.
Then the Lord said to me,
“Write my answer plainly on tablets so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place.
It will not be delayed."
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