Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Forbes.
Alicia, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in Guyana, South America, where education was encouraged but having a relationship with God was not. Nevertheless, I was exposed to some religion while growing up but I did not attend church as often as I should. While living in the United States during my teen, adulthood, and married life, I still did not attend church often. I went every now and then. However, during my married life and with child I realized I needed more. There was something missing, and it was God. I got water baptized and started attending church, but again it was very sporadic. Here and there, whenever I can. I did not take my Christian walk seriously per say. I did not read my Bible daily and I only prayed when I needed something from God.
As I was navigating my life, I was sometimes faced with challenges and I seeked counsel from my elders and received negative and fearful advice. Of course, at that time I did not know that. I would be counseled about various beliefs and practices that were contrary to the Word of God. However, their counsel did not help because I found myself speaking negatively about what I fear. With such counsel, I ended up opening the door to the enemy/satan, which caused panic/anxiety attacks. I had eating disorders and insomnia, which caused disruption in my sleep/wake cycle. I experienced shortness of breath and chest pains. I was very fearful when in public. My ability to think properly and make decisions was impaired. I felt no joy, peace or happiness. I reached out to man again, but to no avail, they could not help me. I began to seek Godly counseling and did my part and leaned on God’s Word and His promises. As time went on fear dissipated.
As I reflect back, here is what I realized. I was a very weak Christian. My mind was opened to negative influences. I was complaining about my challenges instead of seeking God. My association was poor and who and what I was listening to was a hindrance to my growth. I also came to the conclusion that my elders did not know better and that they did not know that they were hurting me. My thought life was havoc. I was thinking of things that I did not want to happen. All these things affected my situation.
Fast-forward to today, I have a better relationship with the Lord. I am attending church weekly, reading His Word and praying daily. I am doing my own heavy lifting by pressing in and seeing what His Word says about living a victorious life, free from fear and all other destructive things that are in this world due to sin. I am prayed up and Worded up, and I am around people who sharpen me.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Some of my challenges were that I had to limit my exposure to negative people. I struggled with disassociating with them because these were people I grew up with and knew my entire life. Additionally, when the people I gave minimal access to my life spoke negative and ungodly things, I had to know when to correct them in love.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I recently co-authored a Women’s Global Devotional book, a bestseller with 130 professional women from four countries and 17 states. This devotional talks about our struggles, dark places, challenges, obstacles, the hard times, and how God’s promises transformed and restored our lives. This Women’s Global Devotional demonstrates how God showed up and delivered us. It covers a variety of topics from singleness, divorce, marriage, mental health, health & wellness, grief, healing, family, faith, business and so much more.
In this devotional, I talked about fear. With all that is happening in the world today, people are filled with fear. And the media has been doing a good job to create fear and panic. Today, people are fearful of not having enough money, becoming seriously ill, racial/hate crimes, and being unemployed to just name a few. It seems as if fear has become the norm. I shared how I dealt with it, the process I used, and how I overcame it. My prayer is that this devotional helps others who are facing similar situations to overcome their challenge.
This book is intended to encourage, uplift, inspire, and strengthen the reader’s faith. It lets the reader know that there is still hope. This devotional book will drive the reader to become closer to God. So, if you are facing fear, loss, unemployment, divorce, death, grief, etc. here’s how to fix it. This devotional book will heal, transform, and change your life. If someone wants an autographed copy, they can grab one from my website at www.aliciaforbesbooks.com.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I could not have done anything differently because that was the circumstances I was given. I believe everything happens for a reason and this situation allowed me to strengthen my walk with God.
Pricing:
- PROMISE Devotional Book is $22.00 plus shipping
Contact Info:
- Website: www.aliciaforbesbooks.com
- Email: info@aliciaforbesbooks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forbesenterprises/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forbesenterprises1
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliciaforbes/
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