#WriterRevelations: Turning 30 and Witnessing a Miracle

Can you believe it guys?! Your girl is 30. I can’t either but I am grateful I made it here because there has been many things that have happened that tried to steal my God-given right to growing old and I am grateful for every single day that I get.

If you are wondering what I decided to do for the big 30, you should know I finally visited my dream location: San Clemente, CA.

And I not only visited San Clemente but I stopped in Austin, TX and even stayed in San Juan Capistrano so my week was full of so many wonders: all breath-takingly divine.

For more on my trip to San Clemente, CA please watch this video diary below

If you are anything like the people I spoke with before leaving, most of you probably have that same perplexed brow and that question mark upon your face wondering, Why San Clemente?

Well, as most stories regarding my life, I was introduced to San Clemente CA when I religiously followed Mr. Ryan Sheckler. He’s from there and I have always been intrigued by the location but when I watched his MTV show, I really was taken with its beauty. I felt a divine pull on my heartstrings and basically felt like God wanted me there. I didn’t know how or why I just knew I had to get there.

Back in 2010, I finally had the money to go and booked the trip but my grandfather passed away a few days before I was set to leave so I never got to go. I was set to go with one of my longtime friends who I met through the Sheckler Foundation. He was understanding of me not going but I always regretted how that panned out for me. I lost $1500 booking that trip and not going because of the death in my family, only for priceline to not provide me a refund because I couldn’t produce a death certificate.

So getting there FINALLY and standing on that pier felt like a dream come true type of moment. The weather was perfection. The trip this time went absolutely perfect. There was no roadblocks to me getting to San Clemente, the things I planned to do while there, and there was no problems coming back to Florida either.

I really felt like if God did this for me, nothing is truly impossible.

Prior to that trip, I was still 29 and I was struggling with a lot of things:

Why my business has seen less than $500 in revenue this year
why I still haven’t gotten a job that would provide me a liveable income
why everything I seem to do outside of writing seems to really not take off despite my entrepreneurial spirit.

But I don’t really know what happened to me in San Clemente outside of my entire soul was refreshed and recharged by the Pacific Ocean air.

But since I’ve been back, I realized that:

Instead of focusing on the lack in my life, I can focus on the perspective that God gave me the gap year I had always wanted at 18.
Instead of focusing on how things either don’t take off or go anywhere, I can keep showing up anyway.

I don’t know what it is other than God and the fact that I’m 30 but I actually have this weightless feeling now. I am no longer plagued by tons of existential questions.

I have made peace with the idea that when people don’t like me, it has actually 0-5% to do with me and everything to do with how they perceive themselves in comparison to me.

It truly is such a freeing energy.

I ended up recently having a bit of anxiety over an issue with my parents living situation that I refuse to talk about openly but I shared about it with a faith-based friend and he asked me why I was choosing to worry. He said, Ask yourself why you are choosing not to believe in God’s provision? What is it about this situation that is making you doubt God showing up for you?

And instantly I was washed over with relief. And I realized he was right.

So I quit worrying and I’m trusting God about that situation and all the situations mentioned above because if he could care that much about how much I desired to be in California deep in my heart and soul, there is nothing he can’t do, he won’t do, and he will ignore me regarding.

It all comes down to grace and divine timing.

Speaking of divine timing, I did a photo shoot while I was in San Clemente, CA because the last professional photos I got done and enjoyed were my senior photos. Now that I’m an author (again) and look mostly like an adult, I also really wanted someone to capture me taking in the beauty of San Clemente and the San Clemente pier.

That someone was Lulu Seldon and she is absolutely incredible.

If you live in SoCal or are planning to visit there anytime soon, and you need author photos, headshots because you really want to be on reality tv, or you just want lifestyle photos done for social media, please reach out to Lulu and tell her I sent you.

Other than that, I am happy to share that I have gotten over 100 votes in the Book of the Year contest.

I took my birthday off from voting and I went down to #4 in the overall contest instead of #2 so I must resume asking people to vote for me but what’s weird is in the 1 month I didn’t ask people for votes at all via social media, the person in the lead has 295 votes and they first posted about their book being in the contest on August 16 which means it took them 17 days to get 295 votes but it took me 5 months to get the votes that I have.

I smell something sketchy. The book in the lead is a sweet children’s book about spreading the gospel but still…It just doesn’t add up.

God recently made my day with this. I randomly got a message from a follower of The Smart Cookie Philes wanting to know if we were going to hold anymore giveaways. I told them that it has been a rough year for the business and they said they love my page which is crazy because this year especially I really have gone back and forth with shutting down The Smart Cookie Philes and going back to blogging about books and music but not collecting revenue for it.

Then, I get a message like this and I realize how much of an impact my sweet little post-college determined to be somebody venture has turned into, and I owe all of that to God.

I recently got fired up about working out that I decided I basically wanted to make money from it and so I took the leap of faith and became a Beachbody coach. As most other network marketing ventures, I was nervous having to invest that initial money in to it to be a coach but I really am proud that as soon as I felt that whisper in my soul say It’s time. I didn’t question it or run from it. I just leapt with absolute trust that God was going to use my small set of talents and my love for encouraging and connecting with people via social media, and help me provide others with hope.

If you are interested in starting a fitness journey that gives you your power back, gives you real time results, and makes you thrive, please feel free to watch the video below about why I decided to become a coach:

As with everything I put my hands to or any job I do, I always ask God to help it be something that bears visible fruit in my life so that all who witness it or come upon it know it is from God.

I pray right now that whatever you are struggling with, questioning, concerning your mind with, may be put to rest at the feet of Jesus and you let Him take the care of that from here.

I also pray that The Smart Cookie Philes, my Etsy shop, my poetry collection, my Beachbody venture, all bear good fruit in my life that it spills over into the lives of others and it blesses them, shines a light in their darkness, and saves their life in some regard.