If you listen to this week's podcast you'll find that we're talking about coincidences and how God moves- spoiler alert- they're one and the same.

Have you ever had an experience where you needed something, like a very specific amount of money or you were dreaming about something particular and out of nowhere, out of the blue, it just happened? Your dream came true or you were blessed with the exact amount of money you needed?

I have and it's a very cool experience.

In this day and age these experiences are typically brought back to the receiver.

"Look at what you accomplished!"

"You attract so many good things!"

"The universe is working for you."

These are very new age concepts. The law of attraction, manifestation- they're basically a way to accept blessings without attributing them back to God. It's a belief system that spreads like wildfire through pretty quotes and journals and in my personal opinion, it's dangerous for Christians to mess with it.

I'm speaking from experience here, it's not fun to deal with. At first it feels nice because you start to see yourself as powerful, capable of anything and "enough" but as the Bible teaches, that's just not truth. We are not capable of having life outside of Jesus because we deserve death. It's by grace, through faith, that we are saved and that we get to do life with Jesus and live it to the fullest and more abundantly. (Ephesians 2:8 & John 10:10) That is where that pain and "sentence" is washed away in the gift of life that He gave to us freely.

Like I said, it's fun at first but slowly and surely it becomes more overwhelming and there is a ginormous amount of pressure on one's shoulders and when they feel like they have to manifest, attract and provide everything for themselves.

To the outside, on social media, it looks all pretty and fun and empowering but having done some real life with some of these coaches and having tried it for myself, I can tell you it's far from pretty. There's a lot of straight up lying, manipulation, a lot of tears and a lot of pain.

Now obviously, this is my experience, as a Christian who stepped outside of my relationship with God to do things on my own. I should've known better (1 Corinthians 8:5-6) but I was tempted and I took the bait. It looked nice to have "all the wealth" and receive an unlimited amount of "abundance" only what I found was quite the opposite and I've never had more abundance than when I'm walking with Jesus.

If you've had a different experience, that's totally your story and journey, this is just mine. Keep in mind I'm speaking from a Christian perspective with the Bible as my reference. If that's not what you believe then know that I'm not judging you or trying to hold you accountable to it. Unlike a lot of Christian's portray, that's not how it works. This is your own journey with God and how you handle that is between y'all. I'm just here to share my experience with how God has worked in my life and continually pursued me.

During this time I was in a very dark place. I was overwhelmed, although I was saying my affirmations I was still in a very dark place and I was struggling to stay afloat physically, mentally and financially. It wasn't until I stepped out of it, asked God for forgiveness for doubting His infallible plan and accepted His everlasting grace and love that I started to feel whole again.

What's beautiful though is although I felt like God was quiet, He never stopped reaching out to me, He fought for me. I just couldn't appreciate it or see it until I came out of the darkness I was in.

Looking back I can remember so many times when He spoke to me through friends who reached out, gifts from family members, little blessings that would pop up here and there and even through my relationship with Dustin. He continually reminded me that He was there and that He desired a relationship with me.

I typically find that when God is speaking to me it comes in waves. I used to think that in the silent moments it meant that He didn't want me anymore. But I came to realize that it wasn't that He was turning His back on me, rather it was a time that I needed to sit with Him in solitude, in silence, and reflect and seek answers in the word. Those moments aren't always fun but they're where I've always seemed to grow the most, where God has met me and healed my heart.

I know it can be easy to write off fun blessings and coincidences, things we've attracted, or earned through karma- but I assure you that those blessings are from God. He's pursuing you, whether or not you're a Christian because He loves you and He wants to have a relationship with you. It's the best relationship you could ever be in because it never fails, it's everlasting and it's fulfilling in a way that no other relationship will ever be able to truly sustain and fulfill you.

If you've walked the line of Christianity but you're not 100% sure about it, either because it's confusing or you've been scarred by the church (been there, done that a few times, not fun) or something else is holding you back, I really encourage you to seek God and ask Him to reveal Himself to you. He will and it is magnificent.

xoxo - Ry