THE LEVEL UP

I think the time has come, you guys...I'm going to put "woman of God" in my Instagram Bio and just make this thing official. Lol.

I just realized how much I've grown in the Lord ever since I started Ashley En Vogue. When I started this Blog I was really just one little church girl with a heart for God and a love for His word, but now I'm finding myself digesting proper, solid spiritual food and I'm kinda liking it...





God raises us up like a good Father that He is. When we walk with Him change and growth are inevitable. I have grown from a young kid that came to Church every Sunday because her mum said so into having a personal relationship with my maker. I was born into Christianity, born into the Church I'm in...I never had a choice when it came to my confession that decision was made for me. But there comes a time in everyone's life where we need to decide if we want the God of our parents to become our God or not. And when I made this decision for Him I leveled up from a little church girl into a woman of God.  And in case you're wondering what the difference is between a church girl and a woman of God, let me tell you: A woman of God becomes a mother of Faith because she births something that will leave a legacy for when she is no longer on earth. A woman of God sows a seed and many people live from the fruits of that seed after her. A woman of God has an impact on other people. She uses her God-given influence for the benefit of the Kingdom. A woman of God is prayerful, kind, loving, generous and practices hospitality and the list goes on and on and on. But let me share three keys with you guys on how to move from a Church girl into a woman of God.

But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.

I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s womb
You have been My God.

1. A woman of God sows a good seed (Mark 4:14)

That sowing and reaping thing is a real thing, guys. A woman of God sows seed into a solid ground; a good ground. The word is the seed and we sow it by applying it and living according to it. So a woman of God builds her life on the word of God. Now is the time to sow seeds of righteousness, love, and faith in order to see a plentiful harvest that will please God.

What we need to understand as godly women is that the decisions we make today determine our tomorrow. We want to be legends, we want to leave a legacy of faith. So, as godly women, we have to understand the principle of sowing and reaping and all it comes with it: the soil, the watering, the light we expose the seed to and the pruning determine the fruit we will once have. But above all, we have to understand that we can not bear fruit apart from God.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

2. A woman of God prays

"Read your bible, pray every day, if you want to grow." Us Church girls know this song from Sunday school and now it's time to apply it. In order to grow from a church girl into the woman, God has called you to be, you need to pray. Let me say that again ...you have to pray, pray, pray and pray some more. A relationship is built by consistent communication. If I talk to you three times a day your my husband, that's it (kidding). And if you manage to talk to someone three or four times a day and keep checking up on them, how much more should we do it with God. We can not call ourselves His women if we don't even talk to Him and spend time with Him in prayer.

3. A woman of God finds her identity in Christ

A really big step I had to take, to become the Ashley you see today is surrender. I had a very vivid plan and idea of who I wanted to be, the lifestyle I wanted to live, the job I wanted to have, the partner I wanted to have a family with and I planned on squeezing God somewhere in there just to bless it, once I'm done doing all I want to do. And when I realized that it doesn't work like that and that God had another woman in mind when He formed me in my mother's womb, I had to surrender all of it to Him and fall in love with the woman God wanted me to be.
God is such a good God, you guys. Looking back, I see how He changed me gradually. You're not going to wake up the next day and just be a changed person. God works all the time and we're never done learning. God took secular music at some point, then He took away the TV shows I've been obsessed with. He changed my circle of friends. He changed the way I speak and think. He just removed things to get closer to me. In order for God to do His perfect work in you, some things just have to go. We can't be in this with one foot in and another foot out. 

In order to become a woman of God, you have to find your true identity in God, find your worth in God, place all your expectations in Him. And when He reveals to you, who you are through His eyes...fight every day to become this woman.  

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!"-Luke 1:45