Cultivation was our word for this month.
It means “to prepare for the raising of crops,” “to protect and encourage the growth of,” “to cause to grow by special attention or by studying, advancing, developing, practicing, or publicizing.” It also means ”to improve by labor, care, or study.”
Now you are probably wondering what is it that we are cultivating or what is the relevance?
All day I kept hearing the word PEACE.
I thought to myself, cool that’s easy! I am all about the peace. But what I found was quite interesting and profound.
The Hebrew word for PEACE is translated to shalom (Shaw-lome’) , which means completeness or wholeness, soundness and welfare (According to the Strong’s concordance).
Having peace means being in the state of wholeness + completeness and without the deficiency of lack.
I went further + began to look at the word PEACE in Greek. It is translated to the word eiréné which means one, peace, quietness + rest. (According to the Strong's concordance).
Wow! so peace means more than just being calm and avoiding conflict.…
Seeking to understand the meaning of those words helped me to have a better understanding of the intention behind this season of “Cultivating Peace”.
With each season comes a lot of unknowns which for most of us is not ideal. Not knowing means that I have to trust, which is scary and risky. It’s letting go of my control in hopes that I will not have to experience the uncomfortable parts. I have found with each season of my life, good + bad that the Lord does not leave when he leads. He is with me every step of the way + I do not have to do this alone. I may fail + even stumble but my Heavenly Father is still there with me.
I know this to be true because even in my darkest moments he still met me where I was.
To be transparent, last year I went through probably one of the darkest season of my life as a woman , mother and wife. In the beginning of the year our family experienced betrayal from a close friend of ours and it left me angry and bitter. I began to distance myself from a lot of people because I was afraid that I would be hurt again. Though it happened directly to my husband, my husband chose to forgive and move forward. But I couldn’t! I held on to the anger and bitterness that lead me to isolate myself from every relationship + to smoke the pain away. But the lord had better plans for us. During that season my husband ended up getting an AMAZING promotion within his company that allowed him to work remotely and be engaged in his family’s life. Though that was a huge blessing, that still wasn’t good enough at the time.
Our family business was outgrowing our little space in our condo and we needed to expand. So we began looking for homes that would have enough space for our business so that I could still work from home. We would put in multiple offers and nothing. People were going above asking price and waving inspection. I felt like everything was being stripped and taken right out of my hands… again.
I begin trying to scale my business & was so consumed with my business. I wanted to make more money so that I could get the home I wanted and that no one could take that from me.
Again.. Bitter.. Angry… Smoking my pain away… and keeping it pushing.
I was soooo numb.
I began to neglect myself and family. Sooo consumed with finding something to make me feel better.
Fast forward, we ended up finding a house.. I didn’t like it nor want it because of its stale smell and outdated wall paper that literally was in every room. This was not my ideal home… AT ALL! I wanted a move in ready home so that I did not have to put any work into it. Just perfect and ready!
I was so angry and over EVERYTHING!
I started to notice something… God's hand.
2 weeks after getting the home we had a contractor come in and remove all the wall paper so I would hang out at the place while they worked. Negative thoughts begin to flood my mind , then all of a sudden I heard worship music in Spanish blasting through out the house as they worked on our home.
I had so much peace! The worry & negative thoughts left. I was in complete Awe!!! Like “Wow God! You care about every detail, especially this one!”
Later , After a few weeks of being in our new space I heard the Lord clear as day. He said “ Alexis, you cannot have a successful business, without successful home.”
After I heard those words. I fell to my knees in tears & shared with my followers on Instagram live. I knew in that moment I had to share my humility with those who may have thought that I had it all together.
Because I didn’t. I was struggling!
God wanted me to make room for him so that I could experience the fullness of what he has for me. He wants my life to truly reflect His goodness! I holding so tightly to anger and bitterness , there was no room for peace. His peace!
After that encounter I realize I thought I knew what being a great wife , mother daughter, sister , friend and entrepreneur looked like. Some of my identity was wrapped up in people, performance and things. In the midst God spoke very clear to me. TAKE CARE OF HOME first. That meant what I allow in it physically, mentally and spiritually all mattered to God. I noticed when I actually took charge of my mind and made more thoughtful decisions things began to shift. The way I cared for myself changed. The way I cared for my physical home changed. The way I cared for my family changed. I noticed God was REDEFINING me. In this process I grieved over what I thought I WANTED & realized this is exactly what I NEEDED. God wanted the AUTHENTIC ALEXIS. Which meant I had to face things I shoved under the rug, head on. He wanted all of me so that he could heal me. And in that, my family gets the healed me. The healed me is showing a different way of living for my children & my children’s children. Because a healed home is a healed society.
That is why it is my God given mission to cultivate Peace within my home because our future + our society depends on it!