From the Abundance

One of the many things I've learned over the past few years is that just because there's a scab on something, doesn't mean it's healed.  When I had my first spider bite it was pretty nasty. The hole in my leg was so deep I could stick my finger in it.  After it was cut open and packed it began healing from the inside and the outside at the same time.  A layer of skin grew over and closed the hole in my leg but it still wasn't healed on the inside.  I had to go pull that layer of dead skin off and leave the hole exposed so that the wound could heal from the inside out.. Each day I had to clean the wound out and apply Neosporin... I had to expose it, clean it, oil it... expose it, clean it, oil it... expose it clean it oil it... every day for several weeks. I don't know if anybody else has been on God's operating table for open heart surgery but I just found out I was on the table in the middle of a marathon surgery.  When God began to show me the con...

There is a certain place reserved just for God and sometimes we neglect that place and spend too much time away.  What is this place I speak of?  Worship, Bethel, the place where God lives.  Sometimes we get too busy trying to handle things on our own, make it through the day, or just survive to the next moment that we forget we have a secret place.  We stay out of the presence of God and wonder why we can't hear, why we aren't getting breakthrough, why we aren't seeing healing, why we feel powerless, why our families are falling apart, why everything around us seems to be in chaos... I can't even begin to explain what it feels like to be in the presence of God and do it  justice but there's just something so special and amazing about being in that place.  You can pour our your heart, bare your soul, your deepest fears, your frustrations, your hurt, your anger, your confusion, your impatience... and be completely naked before God's presence.  It...

These past few weeks have been really busy for me, an emotional roller coaster ride and virtual amusement park of feelings if you will.  Father's Day was a lot harder on me than I expected and took a lot out of me emotionally.  It was my second without my daddy and not one bit easier than the first. I'm swiftly approaching month five here in Daytona Beach and though things are feeling like home, there's still that sense of being in foreign territory.  There are just some comforts of home that you lose when you move away and being able to go plop down on a friend's couch is one of them.  It may not seem like much, but if your friends are like mine, then it means the world for those few hours. I spent a lot of time in my head the past couple of weeks, thinking, praying, reflecting, questioning, and listening for answers... Not much luck in finding those answers I was seeking but I carried on.  Sometimes God's silence is the answer.  It means wait, it me...

As February comes to a close I can't help but be excited because spring is around the corner!!  You know what happens in spring... EVERYTHING blossoms!!  I love to see new little buds come up on the trees, the beautiful flowers that come shortly after and the sweet aroma that fills the air.  I can only imagine that's what true worship smells like to God. I don't know if anybody else notices or if it happens this way for anybody else but every so often my worship completely shifts.  I was thinking back to a time where I could barely lift my hands, didn't really cry out or worship vocally.  Not because I didn't want to, simply because I was bound.  I couldn't praise God so how could I get in His presence?  I would sit in service and feel God moving but couldn't really express how I felt.  Then one day I was visiting what would become my church home and I went to the altar for prayer.  The pastor looked at me and said 3 words that were the cat...

So I've been thinking about doing a post on dating and relationships for a while now but there's just so much to say I couldn't figure out where to begin... until I started a Bible study series on the book of Proverbs (one of my favorite chin check in the spirit books).  There's so much wisdom, knowledge and just flat out common sense in this book that it's crazy.  If you haven't read it, studied, and applied it, I highly suggest you start today.  It talks about life, how we treat one another, our neighbors, relationships, business, how to carry yourself, everything really.   But back to what I was saying.. I didn't know where to start until I started this study series.  As I prepared the lesson for week one covering chapters 1-5, I paused at the continued warning about the people you choose to connect yourself to.  Especially the warnings about strange women and harlots.   Not because I plan on doing so, but what the word was saying a...

It's mighty dusty around these parts and I have some cleaning to do!  let me brush off the cobwebs by saying... I'm Back!!  I sometimes take a break from writing because I try to be careful with what I release and share with others.  My blog is From the Abundance for a reason.  I set out to share what was in my heart, and truth be told, my heart isn't always right. Sometimes I get attacked, I get angry, discouraged, bitter, depressed, sad, grieved, and sometimes down right disgusted.... BUT I DON'T STAY THERE! None of those are things I want to share with the people of God.  Out of the abundance of the heart, meaning whatever there's the most of in your heart, the mouth speaks...  UH OH, some of us are in big trouble right now!  I'm real enough to say all of the things I just said without fear or worry of being looked at strangely, whispered about, or just flat out talked about.  I've come to a place in God where I have to be real with Him at ...

Dear Pastor Chaconna, In lieu of coming to you directly I wanted to take this opportunity to offer you a few friendly reminders for your call and appointment.  First let me start by saying, I know it's not the easiest thing in the world to walk in the calling that God has placed on your life.  I know you had plans and things you wanted to do with your life and probably even some dreams and goals you'd set for yourself as a young girl.  Nevertheless you chose to answer God's call.  I can't say that everything will be peaches and cream, heck you may not even see any of those hopes and dreams you had for yourself come to pass, but know this... the plan (Jeremiah 29:11) He lined up for you is greater than anything you could have imagined. You'll have to compromise much of what you thought was normal and completely switch your way of thinking... church to kingdom... I know it's crazy but you'll never get it right until you can do this.  Trying to figure ou...

Most of us have probably heard the story of the prodigal son, some of us have probably been that son. For those of you who may not have heard it let me share it with you.. I'll paraphrase & summarize but you can find the story in Luke 15:11-32. There's a father with two sons, the younger son asks the father for his part of the inheritance (which he wasn't entitled to until after the father died).  The father gives him his share and he gathers up everything he has and goes off to a foreign land. He foolishly spends everything he has on wild living.  In other words he said #turnup! and went ham. Well after he'd wasted everything, there was a famine in the land and there he was with nothing.  So he goes and hooks up with some locals and take a job feeding the pigs.  Well this might not seem like a big deal but he was Jewish, so he shouldn't have been anywhere near the pigs let alone feeding them and down in the mudhole slinging slop.  He was so hungry...

There's a lot of talk about being transparent and real and what not these days in the kingdom but a lot of people are more like a stained glass mosaic than truly transparent... they let you see through the areas they want you to but hide most of the truth.  Well today let me help somebody out by being real  transparent... I'm 33, I have two degrees ( a B.S. in Apparel Design & Merchandising and A Master of Social Work), I live alone, pay my own bills (with the Lord's help), I'm gifted, talented and anointed to do a lot of things.  I have great friends, a wonderful family and a pretty decent boyfriend.  I have a small image consulting business on the side, I'm building a ministry and I'm writing blogs, books, and several other things...I'm usually a pretty upbeat and positive person.... People usually tend to think I have it all together, ask me how I do it, how I did this and that or whatever The thing is... I'm extremely frustrated, ...

I was watching an episode of the Carrie Diaries where she and her friends were having a conversation about the mentality of the people in Manhattan.  She was smitten with the luxe and glamour of NY and how everyone was so posh and had exciting lives. But her friend pointed out that in Manhattan everyone was their own little individual island... trying to keep up, outdo, and make the other little islands jealous..it was lonely being an island. Over the past few weeks I've found myself extremely irritated with this spirit of selfishness and self-exhalation that seems to be running rampant these days.  NO I am not about to get on my soapbox and just rant out of frustration but I am about to share some biblical truths with you concerning this foolishness right here... what I have termed Me Me Island Syndrome... There are times when we all have a lapse in judgement and think we don't need anybody else, we can do everything on our own, or that this show is all about us. ...

I had an ah ha moment yesterday while I was out taking one of my clients to get her monthly commodities.  The line is always super long so I usually let her out at the door and find a parking space.  As I was letting my client out of the car someone knocked on my window.  To my surprise, I turned to see my cousin Joe standing there with a huge smile on his face.  He calls me Dah Ha (don't ask me why, but he has since I was little).  So I roll down the window and he's asking me about getting my Master's Degree, work, ministry and a bunch of other stuff.  He says "well Dr. Dah Ha you're just everything aren't you?  Getting my masters.. oh no that wasn't hard, it was just a test... That's that genius stuff" I just laughed and went to park the car.  When I cam back I sat on the steps of the church waiting for my client and my cousin came back to talk to me some more. This time he was asking me about the details of what I'm working on, what I...

                    Lately I've been having dreams about prison and jail but I know for sure that they have nothing to do with a natural jail or prison.  The thing about spiritual bondage is the fact that it can have so many faces, facets and sources.  Think of those pretty winding topiary bushes that form animals, zig zag shapes, words, or even people.  On the surface they look like one big bush or tree, but in reality they can have several sets of roots that end up growing together to create the fullness of the bush.  The same thing happens with spiritual bondage.  I can't say that all bondage is of the devil and all imprisonment is ungodly because Paul declared himself a bond-servant of Christ. First let's look at what bondage means: 1.  slavery   or   involuntary   servitude;   serfdom. 2. the   state   of   being   bound   by   or   subj...