JUST LIKE THAT!  By Lori A Alicea

You’ve been told it happens in the blink of an eye.

The mirage of those miles of years not-yet-traveled reveals to be a quick walk around the block.

The hands of time unable to be held against their will, no matter the hearts who beg them.

Because Just like that…­

When you least expect…

When you turn your back for a mere minute…

The first of your eleven grandchildren is all grown up.

A beautiful four-year old brimming in joy, she wraps her finger around the heart-strings of our son with no children of his own at the time; yet falls in love with this child and her mother during their first hug around his neck.
17 nathan and brooke little on deck
Only to find her place at the family table which had been hers all along, we just didn’t know it at the time.
family on stairs
Brooklyn’s journey into our lives is a love story written only by God and one I pray she shares with the world.

A book of pages and chapters still being written by the Author of her life, who holds the pen and keeps in suspense the secrets He’ll one day unveil in their appointed time.

An excerpt when four-year old Brooklyn finds her place in our hearts.

BORN OF MY HEART
By Lori A Alicea

I choose you! For no other reason than it was always meant to be; I choose you! Loving a child as your own is yes, a choice, but never seems like one.

Love is powerful. Love allows you to expand the borders of your family without ever noticing. Love is color blind. It has no need for a DNA test. Love is reason enough and rewards a double blessing when you choose to love those born of the heart.

Click here to read the entire story…

BORN OF MY HEART By Lori A Alicea


Just like that…

Our spunky four-year old is growing and blooming before our very eyes.

Once hidden in God’s garden under the shadow of the afternoon sun, is this delicate bud He destines to be a rose.

Brooklyn…

In God’s great plan you are…

A child of destiny…

You are a world changer, blessed from the womb, ordained for greatness, settled into grace, marinated in faith, formed in Christ and developed at Calvary’s feet…

Excerpt from:
The Prophetic Parent
Letters from God with Prophetic Prayers for your Children
By Ivan Tait

We receive these prophetic words for you.
2015 blue 1
Just like that…

We’re lighting the candles on those birthday cakes which celebrate the milestone bridges you have crossed in your life.

Leaving your tweens for teens…
Brooklyn turns 13…

Brooklyn’s Sweet 16…

Our first look at Brooklyn as a beautiful woman at eighteen…
brooks 18th party
A legal adult now able to vote and drive…
drivers license
Just like that…

The garden God grows finds you much too exquisite to keep to Himself…

And must now share you with the world.

The family nest which has kept you safe and secure among your parents and siblings finds you stirring and ready to test the wings your parents have been preparing these eighteen years for flight.

Not ready to leave your place in the nest any time soon, but restless to sense the direction God is sending you into the wind.

Just like that…

As you face the fork in the road which faces the east, the west, the north and the south and you ask of the Lord, “Which way?”

Going forward in your destiny with God you’ll find that He is enough for every question, for every concern, for every desire; all He requires is our hunger and thirst for Him.

Brooklyn, there is a call on your life that only He will reveal when you seek, when you search, when you have faith to find.

Here is a prayer we speak over our Brooke as you stretch your wings to fly.

Excerpt from:

The Prophetic Parent
By Ivan Tait

Today We Pray…

Matthew 5:8 over my children (and grandchildren).

They that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be satisfied.

I pray the spirit of hunger over my children: a hunger for God, His will and to satisfy their destiny. They will fulfill their calling in God and have a hunger to know all of His plans for their life.

All day long they will hunger after God and be satisfied with the righteousness of His kingdom.

In the Name of Jesus.

2022 vests 3

 

BEHOLD, I DO A NEW THING!  By Lori A Alicea

Where to next Lord?”

In my walk with the Lord, I’m always asking for directions, waiting for the red light to change green across the street of my journey; standing still for the next instruction of my destiny travels.path in woods

Because God has a plan for our lives.

A great plan of prosperity, of hope and a future already determined for us.
(Jeremiah 29:11)

But we dare not get ahead of Him.

We dare not take matters into our own hands.

We must trust Him in the waiting.

We must not succumb to discouragement in the silence?

For His sheep hear his voice and they know Him and follow when He speaks.
(John 10:27)

Because God will speak again, and may this moment find our lamps filled with oil in anticipation and ready to move in our next instruction.

photo of lighted lamp
Photo by Vlad Bagacian on Pexels.com

Until then, we must stand still in the timing, be confident in the strategy, be excited in big picture God has already prepared and planned out for us.

——-

When my mother was still with us and comfortable in her Lazy Boy recliner, I recall like yesterday her enjoying a reality TV show called “Amazing Race.”

This show was a race full of teams following one instruction leading to another instruction, taking them all around the world and awarding a million dollar prize to the first successful team who crossed over the finish line.

The instructions were complex.

The instructions had to be followed exactly.

One instruction was a precursor to the next instruction.

There were no shortcuts.

There was no possible way to hurdle the finish line without every instruction completed.

The million dollar prize was waiting to see who would finish their
AMAZING RACE.
Day 16 Running
The Bible re-tells amazing races of instructions, keeping us gripped in the narration to see if these characters would follow the “next steps” which God had given them towards their destiny.

Abraham’s instruction went like this:

1The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 2I will make you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those you bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 12:3 NIV

Abraham’s instruction required him to leave everything behind without knowing where God was sending him. But if Abraham trusted the instruction, God would make him a great nation where his name would be great and be a blessing.

Abraham followed the instruction.england journey walking on tree

David’s instruction went like this:

17Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 16Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. 19They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.
1 Samuel 17:17-19 NIV

All David’s instruction required him to do was take a lunch to his brothers. How many times do we become annoyed by meaningless tasks, not realizing they are actually setups by God to test our obedience.

Little did David know the next step of his destiny was waiting in the slaying of Goliath.

So interesting how God had already prepared David’s confidence to meet the challenge with Goliath, when David had previously slain the lion and bear behind the scenes of his life.
(1 Samuel 17:36)

David followed God’s instruction.

man walking in the forest
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Preacher and Author Dr. John Tetsola once quoted:

The instructions you are willing to obey
will determine the destiny God brings into your life.

In my own walk with the Lord, His instruction and Word for 2023 in my life is this:

BEHOLD, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:19 KJV

Towards the end of the year 2022 this “new thing” has become more evident and confirmed; but will I obey?

I confess “kicking and screaming”, and “digging my heals in the sand” to this next instruction, complaining in my inadequacies, “Not me!”  But I know the amazing race of my life with come to a standstill and my destiny and His instructions waiting ahead hinges on my obedience.england journey walking on path

Dr. John Tetsola’s words push me forward as I know they are from God,

The instructions you are willing to obey
will determine the destiny God brings into your life.

God is doing a thing in our lives.

Don’t you see it?

He’s making a way in the wilderness…

Rivers in the desert…

Let us all obey the Word of the Lord.

landscape photo of pathway between green leaf trees
Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com

IN SHOWING UP  By Lori A Alicea

We’re all showing up somewhere each day for the fulfillment of our dreams, our passions, our gifting, our destinies, our hopes, our callings…to bring God glory for His Kingdom success…

Showing up…To hit a home-run with our dreams…USE Ethan bat 2022

Showing up…To aim into the hoops of our passions…USE Free throw line

Showing up…To master the moves of our gifting…england juzitu 4

Showing up…To soar into our destinies…USE Hollis Skateboarding arms in air

Showing up…To scale the pyramids of our hopes…IMG_4428IMG_4424

Showing up…To take up our towel and serve…Brookes Cookies 004

Showing up…To conquer what stands in the way of our calling…USE THIS Brystol on mat

Showing up…to ride the waves towards a Kingdom success…Rosalee Kizzie on surfboard

Showing up requires and demands of us years of faithfulness to steward the gift God has given to bring Him glory.

Showing up faithfully when the spotlight on your years of dedication takes place when no one is sitting in the stands to applaud your efforts.

Showing up faithfully even when the confidence of others looks the other way from the inexperience they see in you.

Showing up faithfully and facing fearlessly into the waves of a dream bigger than first imagined.

Showing up faithfully as a child in their lack of training, but willing to grow and glean the excellence from their Master.

Showing up faithfully when you wonder if this is your dream after all, but showing up anyways, confident in the steps God directs; trusting that one dream might give birth to another.

Showing up faithfully year after year, fainting not in the wins, the losses, the strikeouts and home-runs of your spirit.

Showing up faithfully in the risk and dangers of those falls and failures; turning a deaf ear to the voice of quitting.

Showing up faithfully and celebrating the small wins and successes of a bigger dream.

Showing up remembering it’s never been about our gifts after all, but about the giver who bestows to us our gift.

Because there will be those days and seasons of drought when you inspect and question the fruits of your labors, the yields of your harvest, the strength of your spirit to continue sowing into the dry fields of these dreams.USE Hollis skateboarding spill

But we are reminded to call on Him and be encouraged in these thirsty seasons…

And let us not grow weary while doing good,
For in due season we shall reap
If we do not lose heart.
Galatians 6:9 (NKJV)

USE Brodie prayer

As we show ourselves faithful, God will kiss back and show off even more faithful.

To the faithful, you show yourself faithful…
Psalm 18:25 (NIV)

Just this past Sunday, our Pastor had a prophetic word of encouragement for those faithful laborers who show up…

SUCCESS IN THE KINGDOM
By Pastor Ron Johnson

Success in the Kingdom is about our faithfulness, it’s about showing up, it’s about making good choices, God honoring choices and repeating that over and over again…

You just keep showing up, keep being faithful, and keep improving every year.
Then you’ll step into a season of exceptional favor from the Lord.

Yes, God really rewards and hands out medals to those found faithful…

If we faint not;
If we do not lose heart.

Until our race is over…

We must remember…

Continue to show up at the plate…
Show up at the free throw line.
Show up the mat…
The park…
The gym…
The stove…

Show up…to ride the waves towards a Kingdom success…IMG_4385

Wherever God has called you to show up at, show up and jump as a fearless child into your calling.IMG_E4347

Though much is required and demanded of us during these faithful years of showing up.

We joyfully steward the gift God has given us to bring Him much deserved glory.

 

WHEN OPPORTUNITY COMES  By Lori A Alicea

An ordinary boy,
Prepares an ordinary lunch,
For an ordinary day,
Or so he thought.

Five loaves of bread and two fish;

A lunch he prepared as days before, but a lunch he prepared nevertheless.

The day begins as ordinary as the day before, yet God was about to do something extraordinary using the ordinary boy and his lunch.

American basketball coach and player
John Wooden once quoted:
When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare.

Miracles and opportunities are a moment away if we expect them, if we look for them, if we are prepared for them.

Going about his day, this boy couldn’t have anticipated a hungry crowd of five thousand to intersect his travels, a crowd Jesus told his disciples to feed.

Offering up his lunch, Jesus broke this ordinary meal of five loaves and two fish from an ordinary boy and blessed this meal back into the disciple’s hands, where it multiplied to feed five thousand and their families, with twelve baskets remaining.
(John 6:1-14)

An opportunity came and found this boy well prepared to witness and become part of a miracle.

God used an ordinary boy in an extraordinary way.

God has opportunities waiting to intersect our travels also, but we must be prepared in season and in out, to meet them.

Because…

When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare.
John Wooden

Jesus longs to use and do great things with whatever rests in our hand.

Our hearts should echo this willingness…

Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee…
Acts 3:6 KJV

Our ordinary lunches have great potential when we offer them up to Him.

Jesus wants our song, our poem, our story, our painting, our love, our compassion, our anything, even a fish, so He can take and multiply what’s in our hand for a miracle.SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

God has need of thee.

He’s gifted us each on purpose for reasons which will reveal itself when we least expect.

Trusting when the opportunity comes, we find ourselves fully prepared in our gifting.

Author and speaker Lisa Bevere encourages…

Offer God whatever He has placed in your hand – whatever is in your care or control. Offer it up for heavenly purposes and see what God will do. As we release what is in our hands, He releases what is in His.

Yesterday over coffee with a dear friend, God put me to the test with the content of this blog already in progress, when I was asked to speak at a conference my friend of many years was hosting,

When Opportunity Comes…

Among the lively conversations shared around each table that morning at this local eatery, privately I was having a Moses moment with God, reluctantly responding as Moses did when God presented an opportunity to him long ago,

Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent (of speech)…”
Exodus 4:10 NIV

It’s easy to hide behind these written words of mine, a wall of personal security.

Yet, while I’m not afraid of testifying God’s Word before others, I tried to justify “my lack of eloquence” to my friend.

Interestingly, I found myself prepared to meet this opportunity with a message already outlined; my life’s message God has prompted me to author and bind into my first book.

How could I confess these truths before man in this blog, while secretly giving God my “no” to this opportunity?

God hath need of thee, to multiply my life’s message and feed a room full of hungry women, if only I’d be willing to offer my ordinary lunch to Him in my “yes”.

I might have dragged my heart a ways down the road before committing to this conference held in a few short months.

But my friend stirred up the excitement in me through a song written by Pastor Mike Jr; excitement I stir up in your opportunities as well; that
God’s getting ready to move…and it’s going to be BIG…

Song BIG
By Pastor Mike Jr.
.
You ought to declare that over your own life
That it’s my time
And I can feel it.

Breakthrough is in the room.
God’s getting ready to move.

Listen, you ought to declare this over your own life, say it
For I know my God is working miracles just for me

And it’s going to be BIG…

BEFORE YOU WERE EVER BORN By Lori A Alicea

Who knew?

Who knew that before your days were even one, the impact your small little life would have on all those arms that wait anxiously to hold you for the very first time.

Who knew you’d take our breath away when the song of your heartbeat played ever so quietly before our ears just weeks after learning of your arrival.

Who knew the miracle of watching you sleep during your debut to the world would stir an amazing love in our hearts before you were ever born.

Children are a gift from God.
He knew them before they were ever born.
He planned for them at the beginning of time.
In the beginning their steps have been ordered, the plans for their lives are in place.

Children have a destiny, they’ve been called for a purpose yet to be revealed.
In their mother’s womb, God knits them and keeps a viligent watch. He doesn’t slumber nor take his eyes off of them not even for a moment.

Before you were ever born, your siblings were fighting over you, deciding for themselves where you will sleep and who will hold you first. Your room has been ready for weeks.  Your blankie has been bought and can’t wait to keep you warm.  The diapers are stacked.  A fluffy bear keeps his post on the dresser overlooking your crib.  A nightlight burns softly in the corner across the room from where you will sleep.

Your birth can’t come soon enough. Nine months of siblings repeating “is baby here yet” wears thin on a mother’s patience.  But the hour finally comes and those that have waited an eternity welcome you with open arms.

Before you were ever born you were loved to the moon and back.

Before you were ever born you had a big sister and big brother who couldn’t wait their turn to introduce themselves.

Before you were ever born, the kisses your siblings couldn’t wait to give you.

The gifts, the moments, the preparations made way before you were ever born.

It’s a wonder you are ever able to sleep with an audience who just can’t take their eyes off of you. The innocence of you sweet child, soft and delicate, taking small breaths one after the other, while you rest and grow in your dreams.

Safe and sound in your daddies arms, he vows to protect you from all harm. Witnessing a miracle snuggled up close, your daddies in such awe that the one he holds is really his.
birth ayva 3Sometimes daddy’s first kiss will also be his last for many months until he returns for you after deployment. During that summer to fall season, you will grow into such a big girl that daddy will have to reacquaint himself to you.

Before you were ever born, no one could have imagined how fast you’d grow and change before our baby could count her fingers to one year old. Posing for pictures month after month that first year, capturing your beautiful self for a “time capsule of moments” we’d give anything to relive.  Looking back over the twelve months before us reveals the wonderful holidays, your health challenges, your growth and smiles for days.  You’re loved even more now than before you were ever born.

Before you were ever born, God’s calendar has already marked and reserved your life’s celebrations.

From your first birthday.

Your first haircut.
first haircut ayva haircut 4
Your first day of school.

Your first attempts at stretching your wings.

All those graduations. Your first job.  Your wedding.  Your first child.
So many surprises that wait to celebrate you in years to come.

But for today, we celebrate you.

Two innocent girls who came into this world just weeks apart, cousins who live states apart, yet share a bond and ask for each other when their mommies talk on the phone.

No one could have imagined girls that would steal your heart before they were ever born. Now a family can’t imagine life without them.

You little girls are beautiful.
You little girls have captured our world with your smiles.
We know you both will attempt great feats and achieve your hearts desire.
There are big plans for your life.

I know that because God has prepared for them in fine detail
Before you were ever born.
sprinkle both faries

 

 

BIGGER SHOES TO FILL By Lori A Alicea

When stepping into your destiny shoes do you sense God sent you the wrong size?

You thought you knew what God’s destiny was for your life.

You filled your backpack accordingly for the journey, but in preparation you realize God’s plans require BIGGER SHOES TO FILL.
Cover 1

“Are you talking to me Lord?”
“Did you confuse me for someone else?”
“These destiny shoes you ordered for my steps don’t fit me Lord?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever grow into these shoes?”
“Do my destiny shoes come with a return policy?”
“What about an exchange Lord?”

At the gate memorializing the first steps towards my destiny…

I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

My journey begins Lord.  My eyes can’t see, but help me trust that these destiny shoes are just my size.

diva-shoes.jpg

May my response to you Lord be without question and without doubt…

“Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8
IMG_4921

Destiny’s come in all sizes and shapes, though never the size of the one God sends; or so it appears.
candy shoes

We question and remind the Lord over and over,

I don’t fit into your plan.

Your plans require BIGGER SHOES TO FILL.

But that conversation with God at destiny’s gate continues to echo for my remembrance and trust…

I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8

God equips perfectly when He sends.

The cobbler holding my destiny custom made these shoes even if my blisters say otherwise.
brystol and shoes

These BIG SHOES God has asked me to fill are big on purpose.  There needs to be room for the unimaginable, the unexpected that no mind can conceive, or eye has seen nor ear ever heard.

However, as it is written:  “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—
1
Corinthians 2:9 NIV

 Oh that my trust be oversized as these shoes God has asked me to walk in.

Might I be confident in reaching for God’s hand along the way as God never asks us to walk alone.

 My life, my every moment, my destiny—it’s all in your hands. …..

Psalm 31:15 TPT

Help my unbelief that these destiny shoes were ordered just for me.

God blow your wind beneath my unbelief and reveal your plan.
IMG_4234

I thank you Lord that my destiny shoes come with a map even if I am only allowed to see one foot in front of the other; one step at a time.
The Princess Within Rosalee with shoes 1

Thank you Lord that my destiny was known in advance from the beginning of time.

Thank you Lord that you see and believe in me what my mirror doesn’t reflect.

Thank you Lord for these big dreams and destiny you have prepared and planned for me; dreams and destiny requiring
BIGGER SHOES TO FILL.

As in these BIG shoes you are going to do BIG things through me.The Princess Within Rosalee with shoes

We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it!

Ephesians 2:10  TPT