Category: Mindset

Belief, Current Events, Faith, Friendship, Love, Mindset

Who Is Pulling Your Strings?

Angela Ireland

Who benefits from your anger and hatred? Is it you? And in what way?

Does your life expand positively because you hate your neighbor or your co-worker? If it does, how?

Do you get a warm and cozy feeling, when your government tells you to a pick a side? If it does, would you please share with all of us?

Would you have visited your friend in the hospital, if you hadn’t heard on the news that because of the color of their skin you can’t be friends?

Or I know, this side or the other is better because they agree with everything you believe and say?

What if I told you that your real enemy is the one that you can’t see pulling the strings, would you believe me? Or would you just say I can’t believe you because they didn’t say that on the news? Or in the school?

Have you ever stepped back to consider, who may benefit from your hatred and your blues? Is it really your co-worker or neighbor or the random person in the store?

Or is there more?

The Bible says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” I Peter 5:8

Friends, your enemy is not the person that you work with or doesn’t look like you. It is the one that allows the devil to rule in their lives. That includes your favorite celebrities and authorities.

It is also the people who benefit from pain and suffering. Those hidden from sight.

The next time the media or the government tells you to believe something, ask yourself, who benefits from division and strife? I can almost guarantee you, it isn’t who you think it is.

In Christian love,

Angela

Upside down
Belief, Faith, Family, Friendship, Mindset

Who Is My Family?

Angela Ireland
At the end of our visit

This is an overdue post. I should have written it in the midst of the visit, but I was enjoying the fellowship too much to pen it all down until now.

Last week, I had the opportunity to put my money where my mouth is. When I decided to purchase our home here in Alabama, I asked the Lord to let it be a place for hospitality and for Bible study, much in the way my family home was when I was growing up. However, my home is not fully furnished yet ( we donated most of our furniture before we moved) and that was my excuse, but that didn’t deter my friends Amy and Alan from coming here for a visit. In fact, the morning of their arrival, I still wasn’t ready, but we got it together before they rang our doorbell that Saturday evening.

Their visit, challenged me to let go of my preconceived ideas that everything has to be perfect before you can host someone. Since the kitchen is the hub of the home it’s where we spent all of our time when weren’t out and about or sleeping. Alan landscaped my front yard as a housewarming gift. They even purchased a few much needed items for us, just because they wanted too. We worshiped together, we ate together, cooked meals, shopped ( founds some amazing items in my local thrift stores) and had the opportunity to fellowship with another couple from my local congregation. But I believe the most impactful part of the visit was on my daughter. She got to have a father figure in her life for several days and to see a godly couple in our home. She witnessed the template! That was by far the best part of the visit to me.

Though, Amy and Alan are off on their next adventure, and I may not see them again for a couple of months, I’m so grateful that through the blood of Jesus Christ, they are my family. And I am secretly praying that they will settle here in northern Alabama after they have seen the whole of the United States.

I could go on and on about how much their visit meant to me, but I’d never stop writing. I guess what I really want to convey is that oftentimes the people who love on you the most may not be your physical family and in my case that has absolutely been true. The people who have walked with me through my grief journey have been my friends and brothers and sisters in Christ and for them I forever grateful.

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.” Matthew 19:29.

After living here in northern Alabama for ten months, I can definitively say that is a true statement for us.

In Christian love,

AngelaChristine

Faith, Love, Mindset, Reflections

Reflection and Resolution

Angela Ireland

I’m here. My daughter is here. We are embarking on a new year and a new life with one less, my son, her brother. Even though it’s been almost a year, it still feels fresh. An open wound still not ready to close. Though, I could sit here and cry and feel sorry for myself, because I could, but I would then be denying the power of Jesus Christ in the midst of midst of my sorrow. He has never forsaken or forgotten me, He has kept every single one of His promises.

God knows and knew what He was doing when He took my boy to be with Him. For a long time, it felt like I was being punished. I still feel that way at times. But, then I reflect on all of the blessings that I have received and continue to receive even in this season of loss, this grief. There are so many emotions right now, knowing that I will never see my boy grow up. He will in my heart and mind always be eleven.

As I look forward to this new year, I will never forget what happened in 2022, a part of me will be gone forever, but through it all, I am growing stronger day by day. And I have a loving Father, who is the same today, tomorrow and forever. That is a huge comfort to me. I can believe in Him, I can trust in Him and I can share the gospel and live faithfully until my natural death. While I wait to be reunited one day with Ethan. I will accept His continual refinement so that my life might be an example of His mercy and His grace. After all, diamonds are produced under pressure.

So, what are my plans for 2023, you may ask. Stay tuned, I have so much to share. But until then know this, I will shed the remnants of fear and scarcity, that have followed me for many years. My life is too full now for those two to have any place in it. That is why for 2023, I’m going to happily invest in both of my businesses and I will continue to study the scriptures so that I might be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks for the reason for the hope that is in me.

This is not a resolution but it is a commitment to grow outside of the fear and to walk in the victory of Christ. I hope that you will join me.

In Christian love,

AngelaChristine

Belief, Faith, Grief, Mindset

Something to Celebrate

Angela Ireland

I firmly believe that when you prioritize God above all else, blessings just come. Tonight was such an occasion. I am happy to report that on my first attempt, I successfully passed my Functional Nutrition Certification exam! 🎉🎉

Though my heart is still heavy because my boy is not here to celebrate with me, it is because of him that I started this wellness journey.

Please stay tuned for more details that I will share over the coming weeks as I begin to set up my practice.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

To God be the glory!

AngelaChristine

*official certification to be mailed.

Officially certified
Mindset, Wellness

An Unpopular Opinion

Angela Ireland

Let me go ahead and pull the band aid off. You think living healthy is too expensive. Do you know what is expensive? Being sick or unwell. That is really costly. For some reason you think that having “health insurance” somehow lowers your costs. Sure it does, until you try to pay for something that actually promotes health.
The only “health” model that exists in the US is the inevitability that we will all somehow become sick with something that requires us to pay monthly premiums and pay “less” for our inevitable prescriptions.

Why is that even acceptable? Did you know that financially speaking it costs less to be healthy? It’s called a “lifestyle” for a reason. I know what it’s like to have compromised health, I know what it was like for my son to have compromised health and now he is gone. The lesson that I learned was this, never trust the medical establishment with the health of your precious babies and don’t look to them to for health tips. They have no clue on how to become healthy or how to maintain health.

Don’t believe me? Just ask the 80 million Americans struggling with some form of autoimmunity that the medical/healthcare system can’t address.

It’s time to wake up and take control of your health.

Much love!
AngelaChristine

Belief, Faith, Grief, Mindset

On The Edge of Nowhere

Angela Ireland

Where do I belong? Where should we go? Should we just buy an RV and travel from state to state? Those are questions, I ask myself almost daily. You see when Ethan was alive, we knew. We knew where we had to be and when. But now, we’re nomads. Anchored only to the belief that, if we live faithfully we will be reunited with our Ethan someday.

When I show up online, people see the bright shiny Angela doing her best to serve and inspire. What they don’t see is the pain, that still permeates my heart. Though it’s been nearly four months, I am still not okay that he is gone. I will likely never be.

I guess what I struggle so deeply with is the not knowing. Why he had to go and not me? Why am I still here to mourn the sweetest, purest heart that I was blessed to nurture and care for? What lessons does God want me to know? Why do I still not have the faith of Job? Why do I still not know where I belong?

I started the “75 Hard Challenge” on May 9, and knock on wood, I’ve been able to meet the challenge so far. But one of the things that I am learning or I guess I have had to face is the me looking back at me in the mirror. Truth is, this is a mental challenge and it has brought forth some hard truths. Number one, I am not in control, God is and He is the ultimate decision maker. For me to think otherwise is arrogant and rebellious. Two, He loves me and has only the best plan laid out for me as long as I listen to his voice and step out of the drivers seat and sit in the passengers seat where I belong.

Three, Job was not blessed abundantly because he did not sin, but because he never wavered in his belief that God was the giver of all that he had and that He would provide and was worthy of praise, no matter the circumstances. He just trusted and believed, even when he lost all of his children in one day! He grieved but did not stop trusting God. That is the lesson, right?

Just like Job, I may never know why God has allowed me to experience so much grief over the years. But what I do know is that, God has a plan for me, not one of evil, but a future and a hope. I just have to believe that He will and to live my life according to will and to seek His counsel daily.

“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” I Peter 5:10

In Christian love,

AngelaChristine

Nowhere

Belief, Mindset

We Are What We Believe

Angela Ireland

What occupies your mind? Does your work align with your values and beliefs?

I spent nearly 24 years of my life trading my time for a paycheck. In that time, I sacrificed what was most important, not because i wanted to, but because I thought that I had no choice. Ultimately, my only son died as a result of choices that I thought we right, but later learned that they were wrong, it was a hazard of the profession that I had chosen.

Since my son’s death I have had many sleepless nights and more time to study the Bible and to remember what my purpose is here on this earth. I have had the opportunity to speak to my sisters in Christ about maintaining their physical health and the best gift was witnessing my daughter commit her life to Christ through baptism into his kingdom. Acts 2:38.

We only get one life and in the grand scheme of it all, it is short. So while there is still breath in my body, I will heed the advice of King Solomon, who penned, “ The end of the matter, all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13&14

So again, I ask, “what occupies your mind?”

Mindset

Still There Is Much to Say

Angela Ireland
Northern Lights

I apologize that I have skipped a few weeks of writing. My mind has been elsewhere with taking care of children and building a business. It seems that when I try to write, the words don’t flow as freely as they once did. I guess I am too often in my head.

I am too often in my head because I prioritize myself instead of you, the people who have been so kind and supportive of this blog. So, let me say this, you are all in my thoughts and I will be releasing new material soon. Until then, know that this space has been a blessing to me as I continue to grow outside of my comfort zone.

Even when we know we’ve outgrown our shell there is something comforting that keeps us holding on. I find myself in that space more often than I would like to be. But it’s time and there is still so much more that I want and need to say.

In Christian love,

AngelaChristine

Belief, Faith, Friendship, Mindset

I Get Paid To Do What I Love

Angela Ireland

Most people spend a lifetime working and building someone else’s dream. Planning one’s life around two weeks of vacation and that three percent raise. Oh and then there is the retirement, annual meetings to make sure you have enough to last through your golden years. That was me until I got divorced.

I mean I was comfortable climbing the corporate ladder. It was okay to have a company car, travel and vacation once or twice a year; but when I was faced with two life altering experiences, autism and epilepsy followed by divorce. I had to rethink what I thought made sense because in my new life, it no longer made sense.

So I made a decision to walk away from my comfort zone. To push myself out on the edge, because now that I am 50, sitting in the easy chair, isn’t easy. It’s hard, it’s lonely and it’s meaningless. Serving others gives meaning. Six years ago, I moved to Georgia for the sake of my son. I asked my daughter to make a sacrifice and my husband at the time to do the same. The transition was harder than I imagined, painful actually. The struggle was real. We endured and we still endure. My children and I endure, my ex-husband decided he was done, so he moved on.

But there is light, fortunately there is always light, if you’re willing to walk into it. So I did. I decided that time and financial freedom were worth every bit of pain and sorrow I’ve experienced these past six years. What I have to look forward is only going to get better. Not because I have a crystal ball, but because I finally get to do the one thing that really matters, and that is to love and to serve.

Today, I received a comment on a post from one of the individuals, I have been fortunate to serve through Plexus. She reminded me as to why I love this job so much. It is to give hope through health, gut health specifically. I don’t have to create the products, I just have to share how everyone can benefit, if taken properly and consistently. That was just the boost that I needed to push myself these final weeks of 2021. So I will. Will you join me?

“But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” Deuteronomy 30:14

It is and I will do it!

In Christian love,

AngelaChristine

Testimony