Changed Hearts:
I AM Woman
Changed Hearts: I AM Woman
Angel Walston
Who am I? Biographies always give you a list of all the great things about a person but they leave out some of the not so pretty pictures. So instead of giving you all the good stuff, the best way to describe myself is a sinner saved by grace; a woman who is completely nothing without Christ. I don’t have all the answers, I don’t have it all figured out, but I trust the God that does. I rededicated my life to Christ in 2006 at New Life Ministries Church in Bridgewater, VA, which I still attend. It was here that I truly gained an understanding of what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ versus simply just going to church. I was taught the unadulterated gospel and was encouraged to really learn it for myself and truly live for God. Through the leadership of Bishop Charles Thomas Sr. and Pastor Henry Eggleston, I was guided in my relationship with Christ which led me to wonder what exactly God has called me to do.
A passion was birthed in me to want to help women unite and grow in Christ. The only problem was I wasn't really a great woman to other women! God truly broke me down and showed me the error of my ways while also showing me the beauty in having a support system of other women who can encourage you along this journey. He showed me how as women we have a tendency to covet what other women have. We have this competitive nature to always want to be “better than” the next woman. We put our values in the way we look, the clothes we wear, or the man we have or don’t have instead of realizing that it is in Christ and Christ alone. God showed me a need for a change and that change had to start in myself first. A change from thinking that all women are out to get me. A change from not trusting women. A change from blaming "them" and looking at what I could change, myself. A change to unite women to turn their hearts over to Christ and to encourage and support one another in this walk. From that came Changed Hearts: I AM Woman.
Changed Hearts: I AM Woman, was birthed from a number of failed friendships with women and being tired of being “that woman.” I talked a bit about my story of how all of my friendships with women had failed and how I was not the greatest friend in my blog "So We're Friends?". I loved watching the TV shows that placed women against one another in catty ways and I liked the drama as long as I wasn’t the focus of it. I eventually realized that the bad rep that women get is not just a stereotype created by society, but it is what we have created as women; I wanted a change. I wanted women to have other women to turn to, to encourage them instead of putting them down or basking in their pain and failures. Instead of being associated with bitterness, jealousy, envy, competitiveness, backstabbing, and catty behavior, I wanted to hear the word women and think support, encouragement, love, unity, and sisterhood. I AM Woman is a bold statement that says I AM Woman and I am strong as an individual and I can also be strong with my sister. I don’t have to tear down another woman in order to build myself up. I will encourage other women to live out God’s best for their life. I AM Woman and we CAN unite. My desire is that you will be pushed towards Christ and learn of His love and how to share it with others. God bless you.