5 Tips to a Clean Slate (How my life as a stool pigeon prepared me to fight temptation)

When I was a young girl I was known in my family as the stool pigeon. They used to call me by many slang names as well; betrayer, canary, deep throat, fink, informant, nark, rat, rat fink, snitch, squealer, stoolie, tattletale, blabbermouth, whistle-blower and even spy.  You see my siblings knew that I could not be trusted to hold any secret attached to our many childhood crimes. The reason was simple and little did I understand then that this would save me many times later in my life.

My mother had this very simple rule in our home. If she found out about something and she asked you to tell the truth she would be more lenient with her discipline or sometimes beating if you confessed rather than if you denied it and somehow we all knew she would eventually find out the story without our confession anyways. Now my mother was like many of the mothers I knew and she had an uncanny way of finding out the truth like she was a secret FBI agent with resources worldwide. I don’t really know if it was my conscience, fear or just wisdom but I found that when I agreed with my mother and asked for forgiveness for what I did and just received the correction even if it meant a lashing, it usually was never as bad as what she would do to my siblings.

Now my brothers and my sister om the other hand had one simple rule- Lie, then deny, deny, deny. I am telling you, my mother would lay out exactly what we had done play by play and my siblings would deny that they were ever involved, even after she had gotten a full confession out of me. Now I only could tell my mother what I had done because my siblings never let me be involved in the fullness of the crime. You know how when the bank robbers are robbing a bank, there is this one person who sits outside in the getaway car? That was me. I was involved with our shenanigans but they never, ever let me know the details of what was actually done. They knew I would crack under the pressure of my mother’s voice asking me to tell her the truth. So the less I knew the better it was. Then I could only confess to the crime that I had committed which was usually small and didn’t always implicate guilt for my siblings.

Like the time my siblings broke into my mother’s room and stole some of her precious stash of special herbs. My mother trusted me so I was made the keeper of the key when she was not home and there was no way they could have gotten into her room without me. They tricked me by telling me that they needed to put something back into the room and that if I would open the door then they would pay me in candy. Well my mother was not fooled and after only a few minutes of grilling me I squealed like fast tires coming down the street. I had opened the door for them, I was guilty. Later my brothers gave me a good beating for snitching.

In my preteen years I did attempt one solo crime that I will never forget because it became legendary gossip in our family from that day forward. Once I stole a $100 bill from my mother’s purse to buy a new pair of white ice skates. All the children at school had a pair and I wanted to go ice skating with them. My brothers had done this misdemeanor many times and they never got in trouble because my mother could never tell who had done it. And of course they would never confess. Well after I took the money my mother was cussing and screaming at my brothers to give her back her rent stash and the guilt took me so bad that I cleaned that whole house till it was shining. My mother knew something was up but before she could even come and ask me I confessed and gave her back the money crying and begging for her not to whip me.   My siblings teased me about this all of my life. They were so ashamed of me. I was a disgrace to the family delinquency.

Fast forward a couple years and this is how I would come to realize the full impact of what my mother had taught me by allowing me to confess to my part in my treachery with my family. I began to notice that anytime I did anything wrong or temptation was at my door that I would find someone of importance to confess to. I would tell on myself so that there would be no way I could follow through with the actual act or any future acts of similarity. Let me give you a few examples. Now please as you read on be careful not to judge me for the thoughts or decisions that I made that may seem like colossal mistakes to you. What is it they say "You never really know what you will do till you walk a mile in someone else`s shoes". 

  

Please note that all names are fiction as to protect the fellow collaborators identities.

Now Sharon, Tina and I would be talking, ok more like gossiping about Mary and what we felt she should do. I would feel badly that I participated in this act as Mary was a close friend but rather than just privately confess in the confession booth at church to an unseen priest. I would take it upon myself to go and tell Mary that I had participated in this act of treason. Now true to what I had done with my siblings I wouldn’t give any other names as I asked Mary to please forgive me for this indiscretion. Well you think it would just end there. But in true fashion to gossipers, Tina would be talking to Mary and begin to gossip about what I had said about Mary, trying to stir up trouble and disunity. Now Mary would realize who the true friend was as she first hand witnessed one of the other culprits participating in the act that I had privately confessed to 3 months prior. I was safe, but Tina and Sharon on the other hand are no longer friends with Mary.

Another example that could have completely backfired on me was early in our marriage my husband had a close friend who made a pass at me once and  I asked him to please tell my husband what had occurred as I knew he had just made a wrong judgement and I may have even led him on unintentionally. He chose not to take this way of escape, so rather than letting this jeopardize my marriage I told my best friend right away and my husband when he returned home from a business trip. We would later discover that this friend was having numerous affairs on his wife, but due to the way I handled it I was not among the list of victims.

It gets even better… years later after coming into relationship with God the Father, Jesus the Son and Holy Spirit my best friend. I practice a truth that lines up with my mother’s teachings and my new found faith.  In 1 John 1:9 (Voice) it says But if we own up to our sins, God shows that He is faithful and just by forgiving us of our sins and purifying us from the pollution of all the bad things we have done. .

I had somehow learned the art of confession, the power of forgiveness and the beauty of grace all beginning from how my mother handled her children’s shortcomings and mischievous deeds.

I also understood and fully embraced 1 Corinthians 10:13 (Voice) where it states  Any temptation you face will be nothing new. But God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can handle. But He always provides a way of escape so that you will be able to endure and keep moving forward.

I have learned that my thoughts can lead to my beliefs and my beliefs can lead to my actions but all of these must line up with what God says is truth. By the power and conviction of the Holy Spirit I can stop myself anywhere before the action or even afterward by confessing my error. God by His sons sacrifice forgives me and my consequence or discipline is always less when I confess my indiscretions. When I acknowledge my wrongdoing in any situation I stand a much better chance of being acquitted by the only One whose judgement truly counts.  He also works out the situation for my good.

So take it from a stool pigeon, better to have others think badly about you than for you to sear your conscience and to go down the path of destruction. My encouragement to those of you that are like my siblings and are choosing to live a life of Lie and Deny, in truth you are only harming yourself, because the consequences are not the worst thing that can happen to you, the result of this type of living is separation from Truth. Over a period of time you will be unable to discern between what is truth and what isn’t. The lies become so numerous that you cannot unravel them. Others will be unable to trust you or your motives.

Now please do not mistake me, I am nowhere near sainthood because I confess my sins. But my slate is cleaned every time I do. So here are 5 tips that can help you to begin again as if those things never happened.

1.     Ask God to forgive you for your sins

2.      Forgive yourself as you receive His forgiveness through Jesus sacrifice

3.      Forgive others and judge them not

4.      Ask Holy Spirit to help you to stay sensitive to truth 

5.      Repeat this process daily

Excerpt from Where the Sunflower Grows  by Charmaine Hinds

Ugly Duckling Beautiful Swan

Last year I had a pivotal moment in my life. I was at a conference and the guest speaker called me out and spoke to me about being an ugly duckling and about the jealousy and conflict I had to endure all my life because of my beauty and that it was now time for me to begin to call forth my tribe and then and only then would I feel like I truly belonged.

Now I consider myself by the world’s standards a fairly beautiful woman. Even at 47 I am still very youthful looking. I was a model as a young woman and if I wanted to I could model again. I have hazel eyes, light clear skin, full lips and long thick hair.  I am tall, thin and these attributes meet a lot of the standards for outward beauty. Not to mention I have learned the amazing magic tricks of proper makeup application and finding the right clothes for my own personal style.

Yet as I heard these words I had a distinct memory flashback. As a young girl I was unique in my looks, I was mixed race, hazel/green eyes, large lips, fuzzy thick curly hair, I had an awful over bite, was tall and skinny for my age and all of this attracted a lot of attention- good and bad. All of these attributes were just underdeveloped and in time would become some my best features. In addition to this my single mother was unfortunately living in poverty so my clothes weren’t fancy and designer. So I considered myself an ugly duckling. I didn’t feel like I fit into my circumstances, my family and due to certain abuse issues, even my life.

 For those of you that are not aware of the story of the ugly duckling it tells of a homely little bird born in a barnyard who suffers abuse from the others around him until, much to his delight (and to the surprise of others), he matures into a beautiful swan, the most beautiful bird of all. The story is beloved around the world as a tale about personal transformation for the better.

As I seriously pondered this I couldn’t believe that I had forgotten that I used to feel like I was an ugly duckling as a child and even as a young teenager. It was because of the amazing changes that had happened within me over the years why I didn’t even remember this. I felt beautiful! No one that knew me now would even have any idea that I once felt this way. I even had to call my sister to clarify some of the memories that were coming back to me.

Truly the love of God had transformed me into the beautiful woman I was on the inside and I allowed that to be seen now on the outside. And greater than this I began not to care if others saw the beauty in me or not. I knew I was beautiful and of value and that was enough. I walked in this confidence and that was what was beautiful to so many people.

But these words were touching another area of my life. Deep inside I had always felt like I didn’t belong. My thoughts and beliefs were different than my family, my husband, my church and others, I have always felt so unique and this had a huge effect on me. It took me 47 years to become comfortable with my identity and who God made me. To be able to say “I don’t have to change me- I like me!”

This word from this speaker was from God, It was for me to give me hope. I was going to encounter my Tribe, my Karass, that group of people that were called to the same purpose as I. After this my inner beacon began to send out a signal calling out for the ones in the world that were just like me. I was now ready to attract the right type of people that would help reinforce who I am by being a mirror for me. This was Gods design. Ducks and Swans are different and Swans don’t grow well in barnyards trying to become Ducks. It is possible but in the end the Swan flourishes best in the company and environment that was always meant for Swans.

So if you are reading this and maybe you have been living in a barnyard, or you keep seeing Swans and know that though your time of maturity has not yet arrived, that you are in actuality one of us or maybe like myself you have had insecurities about your looks and your purpose because you know you are definitely not just like everyone else. Whatever the situation, circumstance or emotional state you find yourself in I would like to call forth your inner Swan to the place where we swim, Join us in the place where we are free and full of grace. Finally, for all of you ugly ducklings, JUST WAIT… you are being transformed into a Beautiful Swan.

Lead Me to that Place of Wide Open Space

I believe that we learn about life not just from formal education but also from our everyday life interaction. There are lessons to be learned through nature, relationships and daily observations, if we just tune ourselves into the multiple messages being spoken to us every day. My husband and I were travelling to an appointment when all of sudden there seemed to be traffic. He noticed that we were being funneled and channeled into one lane and this bottleneck was the cause of us slowing down and delaying us to get to our desired destination on time.

In his frustration he asked more to himself but still out loud “Why is the road only one lane on such a busy street?”  As I surveyed the area more thoroughly I realized that they were expanding the road and that to do so they had to contain the lanes so they could have enough room for the expansion process. They were going from two lanes to four lanes but before that they had to go to only one lane. As I shared this out loud I also said “So everyone has to go through a small space and the inconvenience for a short time so that later there would be a larger space after the work is completed”.

 My husband got a hold of this internally and with me being a Doula he gave an example that really resonated with me.  He said “It's kind of like when a baby is being born, they start off small and then they grow until they fill the space and then they go through a small space (birthing canal) to be able to come out to the world which is a much wider space”

 This spoken revelation was awesome because it spoke about how growth happens in many areas in our lives. As human beings we all usually get frustrated when we feel we are being slowed down or channeled in any given area. It may be happening in our business, personal life or even spiritual growth.  When sometimes in actuality what truly is occurring is the “growth expansion process”.   For us to be able to come out into wide-open spaces sometimes we have to go through a narrow space so for a time we may feel confined as we prepare to be birthed into something much bigger. This uneasy, unfamiliar, messy, uncomfortable and sometimes even painful place may cause many of us to want to make a U-turn or even plan an easy exit route. But there is a purpose in the process! A plan in the pain!  A destiny in the delay!  We must begin to trust that we will get to our destination on time and that there is a reason for what we are going through.

There are now proven studies that children that are brought into the world by C-section, which is sometimes a short cut into the world, though may sometimes be necessary, may start life with insufficient intestinal bacteria flora (microbiomes). These bacteria are known to play a part in protecting children from developing allergies and children who lack them may be at higher risk of other health problems.

During a regular vaginal birth infants come in contact with a rich dose of their mother’s bacteria as they are pressed through the birth canal. C-section babies don’t get this exposure, which is likely to be vital in developing the immune system and helping it to mature.

When we relate this process to our everyday life we see that even the things we don’t understand while we are going through this tight confined space that they will eventually help to make us stronger and more immune when we come out into the bigger wider open spaces. If we do not struggle or resist, or try to circumvent the process no matter how difficult it may seem. If we yield, resist the fear and just let nature take its course, then and only then will we enter the other side from one lane to four lanes of wide open space and freedom.

Hope Anchor

Jewelry and me, we have a special kind of love affair.

It's very spiritual. 

Whenever God is doing something in me or wanting me to remember an important teaching or truth he will provide a piece of jewelry as a remembrance.

He has given me necklaces. pendants, rings, bracelets and brooches all symbolical in nature. 

Sometimes they are gifts from friends, family, strangers, or new acquaintances, randomly they are found or even purchased by myself. 

So after sharing this I will now tell you about the latest jewelry piece I received on a recent trip to Nova Scotia.

As I said this jewelry finds its way to me via unique circumstances and situations but one  precious friend from Nova Scotia has always stayed sensitive to the leading of the spirit and every time I have come she has a token from the Father that she has prayed and  sought the God about. 

Well this time He gave her one word "Anchor".

So on her way to visit with me she looked for a place to purchase an anchor as a gift.  Needless to say along the journey she only came upon one store in the middle of nowhere in the Rodden hills. It was old country store and she entered thinking they must definitely have some sort of anchor. To her utter amazement and surprise the only item they had was an unusual anklet bracelet with a rhinestone jeweled anchor attached to it. She purchased it for me and it came in a beautiful box. As she presented it to me she shared the story and this is the message she wrote in the box.

"Beloved friend, God is doing a new thing . Not to replace you as an eagle or butterfly . A new freedom of the assurance that your life is anchored in Him. A deep peace, unswayable. Let this settle in your spirit."

I received this lovely gift and sought God for the deeper message He was trying to give to me . I loved the fact that it was an anklet as it had meaning as it anchored my feet. Those who know me will understand the great significance in that message.

When I got home I was contemplating this gift and my heart overwhelmed with a gratitude and love for my relationship with God and the security I felt in Him. I was excited because He had restored my HOPE. 

Then the scripture came to me that my HOPE is anchored in Him. Hebrews 6:19. Then at 2am in the morning these words came to me. It was a description of the Hope anchor that I am intimate with.   It is also the name of the design of this anchor I had been given, as it has a cross at  the top

I’m not a drifting vessel floating aimlessly without direction

I have been firmly fastened under your arm of protection

You are the Hope that has anchored my soul

This Love has made me whole

Secured me to that Thing that holds me

Yet simultaneously makes me free

You are my safety, my security, my stability and tranquility

My identity is balanced by the weight of understanding who You are

During the many storms of life You hold me in place – yet still you give me space

To travel to the true destination

Never anchored by a rope

But secured within the Hope

That I have discovered in You

For I am found in You and You are in me

Where does it begin and where will it end?

Does it matter except that I know this one thing to be true

I am anchored by You…

What a feeling of liberty!

 To be grounded and yet remain free

Hebrew 6:19 We have this Hope as an anchor for our souls

Charmaine Hinds 

Good Good Father

So I like many other women, have been a girl with Daddy issues. My issues ran deep and had been compounded in so many ways that to some may seem imaginable. But I was consistently working my way through them as I came to know God as my Heavenly Father and Daddy.

God loved me so much and understood my issues, so He did something I would have never dreamed up in all my thoughts. (Your ways are higher than my ways, your thoughts higher than my thoughts) He gave me the most amazing spiritual father and mother. 

Now it is important that He gave me both as an influence to show me His true nature. For in Him is both male and female.(We were made in His image and likeness)

Well over time my spiritual mum has revealed many things to me. She is both strong and independent, but she adores my Papa as I call him. And that is partially due to my Papa being so loving towards her. She remembers me always and sends me gifts, even though we live provinces away from each other. 

Now Papa is so full of love. I miss him all the time and whenever I go "home" I always run into his arms for a great big hug. He always holds me tight and whispers in my ear “I missed you girl”. 

His love is so genuine and real that it is tangible and I can just let go in his arms and linger there as he holds me up. I love this feeling. And every time I have to leave he again hugs me and whispers " I'm so proud of you girl".

Now my spiritual mum is a true mother and she does all the things a mother would do. she fusses over me, gives me advice, gets excited when good things happen for me and brushes my hair and tells me everything is going to be OK even when it looks like it may not be.

But the thing that lets me know how much she really loves me is that she shares Papa with me and many others. I never feel like she is jealous in any way actually I feel the exact opposite, she directs me to him.

I can be so real with this couple. I don't pretend to be something I'm not because in my heart I somehow know they love me just the way I am. I am blessed to be one of their many spiritual children. 

So here begins my father story. 

I was a member of a prayer movement that chose to pray and fast 3 times a day for 30 days believing God for specific things to manifest.

Well it was 4 months later and almost everything had begun to come to pass . There were only a few I was still waiting on and there was no rush for me. I believed they too would occur in time.

Well a few weeks ago my spiritual parents called me and we were talking and they asked me about my transportation and I revealed to them that I didn't presently own a vehicle. The next thing that happened may seem trivial to many but to this girl getting over her daddy issues, it meant so much more. 

My papa asked out loud “what kind of vehicle do you want?”.

What? You are asking me what type of vehicle I want? I thought in my head.

My spiritual mum repeated the question and told me that papa was going to look for a car for me.

No one except God had ever asked me that and it was on my prayer list. I began to hear in my heart God the Father, my Daddy asking me what type of vehicle I needed. I was so overwhelmed that I just asked for a van big enough to carry all my stuff.

I pondered this conversation for days as I thought about that God loved me so much that He would give me a spiritual dad and mom that had his very nature. 

Then about a week later my friend sent me a text about a song asking me if I had heard it. The song was called “Good, Good Father” by House Fires. So I told her I would listen not realizing that there was a message there just for me.

The next day I got a text from mum that I was to call because papa had bought a van with me in mind. All of a sudden a rush of emotion hit me. I began to cry uncontrollable. I spent the next part of the day mediating on how much my Heavenly Father loves me. Wow! He had done it again and gave me a message to help me with my issues and to take me from the lies I tended to believe to the ultimate truth.

I began to praise him and become grateful for all He had done in my life. I even surrendered my life to His service again. Realizing that He was not rewarding me for my many prayers but that my prayers were because of the enormous amount of blessings He had already stored up for me. 

Now please keep in mind that I hadn't even called them to confirm the message about the van. It really didn't matter if I got the van or not, that wasn't the message or the focus. Many of us focus on God as a tooth fairy, like I put a prayer under my pillow and expect what I want to magically appear. This was not about that. This was about my good, good Father. So I immediately went to You Tube and looked up the song. Well I became unglued, a puddle of nothing on the floor as I listened to lyrics that said "You are a good, good Father that's who You are" and "You love me that's who I am".

This was the timely message He wanted to use to again wash away any remaining false identity that had been caused by my daddy issues. The Fathers love surrounded me like one of those bear hugs I would get from Papa and I felt so loved and safe and accepted. 

This feeling was hugging me for two days and I hadn't been able to call my parents because I just wanted to stay there for a moment as I was writing this story. But then another beautiful thing sealed the message. 

My birthday was a few months earlier and as always my mum had sent me a gift but unfortunately I hadn't received it. It had gotten re-routed and when I got home after the two days there was the gift.  I opened it and the most beautiful purple silk scarf with purple and mint green butterflies all over it dropped to the floor as my tears fell on it. Again I was overwhelmed with a cocktail mix of hormones that were stirred up by the multiple emotions that had begun flowing.

Now to be able to fully understand the significance you must understand what purple means to me and what the butterfly symbolizes. 

Purple is my favorite color and my reminder that I am royalty. Mint green was my reminder that He makes all things new. Butterflies are a symbol of transformation in stages. I teach about the butterfly effect and help others through their transformation process. 

All of these visuals and the reminder that my mum is constantly thinking about me and she celebrates the day I was fearfully and wonderfully made, caused me to again remember my good, good Father. 

Now I love a good sermon, Ted talk, speech or inspirational book on change like everyone else but this was God speaking to me in my language. This group of events that some might consider randomly coincidental, was in truth just another inspirational visual message that was changing my picture of who I thought I was into who He says I am.

My daddy issues can never determine my future they are being eradicated by love, the perfect love of my good, good Father.

 Charmaine Hinds May 2015

I am No Longer a Slave

I am no longer a slave

Chains of bondage holding me captive

Keeping me from the liberty to run free... unchained

Unseen barriers of fear paralyzing a thought of escape

Will I surrender to be a servant locked behind imaginary bars? 

I am no longer a slave...

Yet this generational pain demands to be felt and paid for

Though my mother was born free and my father was liberated

The overseer of my torture has become my mind stuck in the past

So I hang on the tree as a memorial to my ancestors

Though I am no longer a slave...

True freedom has tortured my soul 

As I relinquish to be controlled by a master of my choosing

Why this yoke? when in ultimate truth 

My captors have left the doors unlocked

Yet I am no longer a slave...

Are there keys that release me from this paradigm?

Words that break the hold of these shackles

No more self cruelty with memories that terrorize

Just a prayer that I would be recognized 

I can not be sold for I am not for sale!
I am no longer a slave...

Set free, liberated, unlocked  no fear, no boundaries, no jailer, 

I command all darkness and evil tormenting me to leave

I shall survive, my people  thrive, I will stay alive
Freedom flowing in my veins

For I am No Longer A Slave !

Lady Charmaine

I recently was invited to be a guest speaker for a party for women called "One night in Paris"

The fancy invitation I received was addressed to "Lady Charmaine"

As I read this invite and saw the name on the card I assumed that this title was given to each woman that was invited to this special event.  On the evening of the party when we arrived  and we all  went into the dining room for the dinner portion of the evening, at each seat on the table was a special decorated name tag. As I looked around the table at the different name tags, I realized that each woman had a different title. Some women had lady, countess, baroness, princess etc…

They also had a house that they came from. My card said “Lady Charmaine of the house of Macaw”.

At some point in the evening after reading everyone else’s titles I got it in my heart that I didn't want to be called a lady, but I wanted to be a countess. My reason for this was due to one of my favourite movies- the count of Monte Cristo. As we continued on in the evening I kept asking everyone the difference between the different titles. The only one I was sure I knew was the princess. To become a princess you either were the king’s daughter or you married a prince.

But for some strange reason in my heart I longed to be something else.  I kept wondering which title most fit me and where I wanted to be. I also wanted to know why the host( a personal friend) chose this title for me.

As we began to research the different titles we came up with the following hierarchy. 

Princess

 A woman member of a royal family other than the monarch, especially a daughter of a monarch.

 A woman who is a ruler of a principality.

A noblewoman of varying status or rank. The wife of a prince.  A woman regarded as having the status or qualities of a princess.

Countess     A woman holding the title of count or earl. The wife or widow of a count in various European countries. Used as a title for such a noblewoman.

Baroness                                                                                                                                                    The wife of a baron or a woman holding a baronial title  A woman holding a nonhereditary title conferred by a sovereign in recognition of personal merit or service to the country. The wife or widow of a knight. The female equivalent to a knight.

Lady

A general feminine title of nobility and other rank, specifically:

The title for the wife or widow of a knight or baronet.

A form of address for a marchioness, countess, viscountess, baroness, or baronetess.                            

A courtesy title for the daughter of a duke, a marquis, or an earl.

Used as a courtesy title for the wife of a younger son of a duke or marquis.

After all of this information I decided that a lady was indeed the perfect title for me.

My reasoning was that as a Lady my possibilities were endless.

I could become any of the other titles by my choice. I could marry a prince, baron, earl, count and become a princess, baroness or countess.

If I married the crown prince I could eventually become queen. This excited me.

I also loved the other description of a Lady that said " A well-mannered and considerate woman with high standards of proper behavior. A woman regarded as proper and virtuous.”

As I meditated on this I got a revelation about this that each of us have titles that people or circumstances have given to us in life. These titles can limit us and many of us never question our titles.

We don't see that certain titles given to us are limited.

Poverty, abused, aborted, abandoned, oldest sister, nurse, woman, all came with their limitations.

I personally wanted a title that fit who I was and that had possibilities to allow me to come into greatness.

I didn't want to be limited by a label that someone randomly chose for me.

Identity is important to me and I never want to allow random choices from someone else or lack of understanding limit my future potential in any way.

Throughout the Bible there have been many names and titles associated with Jesus Christ such as Savior; Emmanuel; Son of the Highest; Faithful and True; Alpha and Omega; Messiah; King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He was referred to in Isaiah 9:6 as our: "Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace."

Fascinating, however, is that of all of the names and titles given to Jesus, the one name that Jesus chose to give to Himself is; "The Root and Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." Revelation 22:16.

Jesus knew who He was and though he allowed others to label him according to their revelation of him, he never let that limit or define who He was and is and always will be.

You need to understand that certain titles over you open doors for you and others close doors.

But you have the awesome ability to change the title in front of your name.

If you want to become a doctor you can go to school and get a degree and become Dr. so and so.

Your title will then change.

Everyday you have an opportunity to become a person that is faithful and then people will use that title when referring to you. You can become honourable, diligent, kind, loving, prosperous, fruitful.  A wife, a mother, a teacher, a pastor,  a prayer warrior …

My purpose (the reason why I exist) is destined by God- that is who I am naturally.

My destiny is decided by me daily. These are my choices that will lead me to fulfil my purposes. I decide where I want to end up and make certain choices to get myself there. The titles come along this journey. So then the beginning or where we start doesn’t always determine our finish or our end.

I left that party which was a special evening of celebration of extraordinary women feeling like I was "Lady Charmaine",  a woman maximizing my potential and ready to accomplish my purpose And to leave a legacy.