Hello my soaring princesses in Christ! The New Year has come with a bang and I have yet to write. The great thing about God is that I trust his timing even when I am not as expedient as I should be. It was just last week when I was working off site at headquarters and hopping a squat at someone else’s desk. Now, I had been in meetings all day so I felt like I needed to look in a mirror and freshen up my lipstick. As I took out my mirror and begin to refresh my lipstick, a man that’s works in the janitorial service came by and said, “Let me see.” I said, “No, I haven’t finished applying.” He said “Well everyone else saw you why can’t I.” I replied “Well everyone else saw me with a fresh application.” He said, “So you reapply all day.” I said, “Yes.” He said, “There is a word for that and its call conceited.” I said “No, but if that is what you want to call it, as I smiled and kept going. He was a little startled by my reaction. He said, “You weren’t even bothered by my comment? Your are not conceited but just sure of yourself.” I chuckled and he walked away. There was a time in my life that I might have been moved by that comment in a negative way but I was so glad that in that moment, I realized that I am no longer moved or my spirit rattled by the comments and opinions of others. I know who I am as a woman and a princess to the king.

As I played this story back in my head a couple of days later, I wondered why can’t I respond that way to other things when I am worried, upset, angry, or etc.? Why can’t I respond with confidence? If I truly am a princess of the king, why does the things of the world rattle me and cause a reaction that displays less than my belief in Christ? The word God place in my spirit was maturation. There are some areas in my life where I have matured enough to take a licking and keep on ticking but there are other areas that I need to mature. How do I mature? By dying to myself everyday, and through prayer, scripture, and being led by the spirit, our flesh begins to die and maturation is birthed. The dying process is painful because the things you want to say you can’t. The looks you want to give you can’t. But in the end, with maturation come assurance, peace and a closer walk with God. I charge you my sister that as you walked out of 2014 that it does not look the same as 2015. It is time for us to grow and die to our flesh. Join me on the 2015 journey of maturation.

Trying to die to my flesh so the spirit can live within me,

Felicia Smith