King's Daughters

I have been accompanying my lovely daughter, Lorah-Kelly , on various photo shoots lately which has been loads of fun.  Each time she ended up sneaking in a few photos of me so I thought I would share them with you just for fun.  The first shoot we did was for the cover of my new book, Esther or Delilah? .  I sat on the sidelines directing the shoot and caring for one of the model's baby as she braved the cold.  You can see the full photo shoot here and below is the sneaky one Lorah took of me! The following day we did a family shoot in the park.  Myself and a friend were on the sidelines playing around with some umbrellas. Lorah decided to photograph this too!  See more of the umbrella photos here . I highly recommend getting Lorah to take some photographs for you, at the moment she is running a special where you only pay for the photos you want and not the shoot. Email Lorah at lorah@lorahkelly.co.uk for more info.

After having a very long season of rest I am more than ready to get stuck into 2012.  2011 was wonderful, stressful and tiring.  Lessons were learnt, personal character was challenged and I found myself stretched in many ways.  King's Daughters has grown from a blog into a Girl's Night and then into a conference! Looking ahead I can see that there is much more to come and I am more prepared for and excited by the challenges than ever before.  I would love you and/or your church to join us on our King's Daughters journey in 2012, we will be getting stuck into Being a Wife as well as much more. Why not start a Girl's Night in your area too? Please contact me for more info about the study notes.  Here are some highlights from 2011: Jan - The 'Being a Woman' journey began and resulted in a Being a Woman book Feb - We started our Girl's Night which has resulted in some beautiful friendships Mar - My second book, Secure on the Rock , was released

Photo by Lorah Kelly www.lorahkelly.co.uk 2011 has been the most amazing year and I firmly believe 2012 is going to be even more awesome!  In order to get read for 2012 I am going to have a little rest from my computer and reboot my system so that I am refreshed and ready for what God has planned!   Have a lovely Christmas, please consider buying some lovely books or one of our Cd's as gifts for your loved ones and I will see you back here on King's Daughters in the New Year, ready to start the year off with a 21 day Daniel fast. 

Laying awake at night, tossing and turning, I realise that I have a long way to go in order to be in green pastures and by still waters.  As I have considered this new season of being still I realise that there is another layer to this - being quiet.  In order to fully reap the benefits of this awesome season I need to quieten my mind from all the things that keep me awake at night and I need to literally be quiet - not talk. Quieting my thoughts is disciplining my mind to think of other things.  Instead of meditating on the work I have to do I need to intentionally force my mind to ponder on more peaceful things.  I am the sort of person that is on the go all the time which is why I have to have seasons of rest.  My mind needs to rest, my body needs to rest and my spirit needs to rest in God's presence. Proverbs 21:23 Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles. Quieting my mouth is another challenge for me.  There are times to be bold and say things that

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God;... Psalm 23:2 ...He leads me beside the still waters. It is with great conviction that I feel God calling me to still waters. He has called me so that I can know the He is God and so that He can restore my soul. Understanding the seasons in my life has been an essential key to my survival & to my joy in this life - not so long ago I even preached on this very subject.  I have found many people love being called to busyness and to do things for God but few people love the 'still' seasons.  Most people completely avoid God's call to be still.  I too have been guilty of this in the past but not this time.  It excites me to see what beautiful green pastures He is going to lead me to and I am thrilled to know that I may have some time out to rest by the still waters. Practically though, what does this look like in my life?  STOPPING! That's the first thing that this means to me.  I have to stop saying yes to everything

It is with great vulnerability, fear & conviction that I am going to slowly start releasing my books on this Blog. I will begin with releasing chapter previews of each of my books that I have written & not been brave enough to publish. God has done such amazing things in my life, He has take me from a place of darkness and filth and showed me His ways. As much as I am embarrassed about where I have come from I would be even more embarrassed if I didn't share what He has done in my life. Your comments and feedback are valuable to me as I will edit and mould my books according to your comments. If you have stories to share that will benefit other readers then please feel free to share them. My only motivation is to bring hope to the lost and dying world that we live in. Please join me on this new journey, perhaps together, we as King's Daughters can make a difference in this world. Love Angela xxx

Today is a really special day, Daniel started school! For Daniel it was a little different from all the other children though, he had three women fussing over him and shedding tears as he walked away into his classroom. Lorah, Jordan & I took Daniel to school this morning and made such a fuss! Daniel wasn't fussed at all and got on with this new season in his life with confidence. Oops better stop blogging and rush off to fetch him, wouldn't want to be late on his first day. Here we go again, Lorah, Jordan & I off to fuss some more.

Every year, at the end of the year, I like to make a photo album of all the highlights of that year. I sat down a while ago to catch up on this and realised that I haven't done one for two years. It seems that since we planted the Church , life got very hectic and simple things like taking photos & making memories took a back seat! Why am I sharing this with you? Because it is important, probably the most important post on my Blog yet. More often than not, great memories are intentionally made, they don't just happen. You have to take time out of your busy schedule and focus on making a memory. Even the simplest of things can be memorable if you take the time to soak them up. One of my fondest simple memories is of Daniel & Amy dancing . It was a very special moment that I could have missed if I didn't take the time to light a fire, put on some music and just sit down with them in the living room. Another moment was when Eric & I decided to take lunch breaks t

My morning coffee had barely been absorbed when it all started! One band member had over slept and wasn't going to get to the studio on time. Stress started mounting and quick thinking was required to get things on track. Contact the other band member and change plans, get Daniel & Amy ready earlier than planned and rush out the door to the baby sitter. Check. OK we can do this. Stress mounting, baby food flying, not quite the same excitement as yesterdays recording day. More bad news, the baby sitter wasn't answering the door, now what? There is no way we can record a CD with two little people running around. Time is ticking, stress is mounting and plans are falling apart. There is no excitement at all about today, what a enormous change from yesterday. It's as if Monday was the high and Tuesday we all came crashing down to a low. Well that's how Tuesday of last week started. Tomorrow we are back at the studio so I thought I would wrap up my tales from l

Huddled in the corner of the studio, I was sitting holding back the tears whilst telling myself to stop these silly thoughts. I knew I was being pathetic and there was no way I was going to cry about it! So I sat there, giving myself a telling off all the while trying to look like I was alright. The band looks on from the other room, oblivious to my inner turmoil. It's hard for me to hide my feelings, my face always gives my feelings away, so I thought I'd better put some distance between me and them so that they can't see my struggle. The band have been awesome, incredibly supportive and regularly offering lovely comments about how well I was doing. Their kindness was consistent all through Monday and Tuesday, but this was crunch time, the final vocal recording time. The pressure was now on! All through Monday and Tuesday I have been on this roller coaster ride. One minute I hear the play back of a song and am really encouraged thinking that I don't sound too bad

It's only Wednesday morning and I have already learned so much this week! I am out of breath from the intense roller coaster ride that I have been on and it's been both wonderful and scary all at the same time. Although it has been amazing I have also learned so much and have so much to share with you, way too much for one Blog post so I may stretch it over a few posts. Let's me start by telling you what I have been up to :) On Monday morning our church band, D7 Band , started recording our very first album! I have the awesome privilege of being involved as one of the songwriters and singers. Keep in mind that D7 Church was born on 1 December 2009 and we have only started writing our own songs since then. Also keep in mind that none of us are professional musicians so this is a HUGE thing for us as a band and as a church. Personally, I have no singing experience and never in my wildest dreams did I ever see myself doing something like this. For me, this has been an

I have been so very inspired lately, much more than usual! It's so wonderful finally realising who I am and what God wants from me in this life. I have often longed for this kind of freedom in my life and for years have felt so trapped. At the time I couldn't quite identify what it was that trapped me but I knew I wasn't free. For most of my life I was trapped in insecurity and at other times I was lost and couldn't figure out my true identity. Other seasons I found myself trapped in sin and in other seasons I was trapped in busyness. The list could go on forever but in each season of my life I have desired the freedom that I know God desires for me too. Finally I have begun to taste that freedom. I know it is only the beginning too, how exciting, there is so much more to come. The Bible says in John 8:36 that if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. This is the freedom I always desired, the indeed sort of freedom ha ha. The truth is, t

I have noticed lately that joy is really precious but sadly it is easily lost. I have happy moments but what I would really like is a joyful lifestyle. In the Bible there are verses that say that our "joy may be full ". I really long for that, that my joy may be full. It sounds secure and constant, to me it is not a fleeting moment but it is a lifestyle. In the Bible in Galatians 5:22-23 it speaks of joy as being a fruit of the Spirit, so how do we get the fruit of the Spirit? Like any fruit from any tree, it has to grow from a seed & over a period of time & in the right season. John 15: 4 gives us a key and that is to abide in Jesus. So these are the things I am considering in order to lead a joyful lifestyle: 1) What things in my life bring me joy? 2) What of these things conflict with my priorities in my current season ? 3) What of these things are actually unhealthy & will produce bad fruit in my life? 4) What of these things are going to produce good

I have only three friends! This isn't because I am a sad loner, this is because I am selective and specific about who I call a friend. So many people come to me and say they want to be my friend but what they are really saying is that they want me to be their friend... if you know what I mean? What they are really saying is that they want me to be there for them, me to stay in touch with them, me to run around after all their needs. When the time comes that I have a need or when perhaps my world starts falling apart, where are all these people that said that they wanted to be my friend? Nowhere to be found - the relationship has become work and they have run off to find someone else who will make them happy! This is not a negative, have a go at people post. This is a let's get real post. How many friends do you really have? I am passionate about building a church where people really care and where real friendships are grown. Of course we serve each others needs, of co

I can honestly say that I have never loved life as much as I do now - not ever! The things I am doing, the people I am meeting, the purpose to each day and the sense of destiny is incredible. As I sat pondering on how happy I am and how amazing life is something occurred to me. All this time my potential has been inside of me! I know that sounds obvious, but think about it for a minute. In order to have such joy and contentment, in order to live such an amazing life, all I have to do is be me. The more I discover what is already inside of me, the more amazing my life becomes. Some of what comes from inside of me had to be developed and matured and that required a process through the seasons of life. For example, I look at my role in church as executive pastor, and see that the years working as a project coordinator in a large London based construction company served as my season of preparation! I could not do what I am doing now as well as I am if I didn't embrace that season.

A lot easier said than done I know, but really try to get the most out of every season of your marriage. Try see the bright side & if you are lucky enough to be married, try to remember how great it is to have someone to walk with you through the season you are in. In this photo we are in the pouring rain, it was our wedding day & it was an outdoor wedding in a lovely park in London. Thankfully the rain only came towards the end as we were leaving. But take a look at our faces, we are so unbelievably happy & the fact that it was raining didn't bother us at all, in fact it made quite a nice photo for the final photo in our wedding album :) I can't really take credit on this occasion for choosing to enjoy this particular season (the rainy season) as I was too ecstatically happy to notice! There are other season though when I have chosen to ignore the "rain" & look at the brighter things in my life. Most of all when things get tough I just choose t

Today I am going to start two new categories in my Blog - Dreams & Bible Study! I have come to realise lately the importance of both of these areas. For some reason this past birthday was a life changing one. I didn't realise at the time but looking back to last December (only a month ago but feels like forever ago) I see how things have changed for me. I turned 36 & for some reason being 36 has made me look at life very differently. First of all I started seeing how short life is & how little time I really have to do everything I want to do with my life - and there is a lot I want to do. Secondly, being 36 has made me look back at my life & how much of my youth I have missed out on. Until now I have kinda acted like an overgrown teenager, perhaps because I "missed" a huge chunk of my teenage years I probably felt like I had some catching up to do with the fun stuff. But turning 36 definitely changed the way I see myself. I feel older, much older

We have so much news so thought I would update you a little bit! On 27th December we celebrated Amy's first birthday! She tried to blow out her candle but couldn't quite get the hang of it so we all helped her. I can't believe she is 1 already, the last year has just flown by! Today was so much fun, we had our first snow of the season & it was a really good snow! The best I have seen in England since I have lived here - yikes and that is 9 years now! So of course we had to build a snow man :) What fun have you been up to so far this year?

It's that time of year again - what fun! I love all the gift wrapping, baking, parties and all the fun around Christmas time. One of the things I like to do is sort out the children's toys to see if they need anything new. Well needless to say this year they don't need anything new, what they did need was a ton of batteries for all the old toys! Look at the photo above, these are all the toys that they never played with because their batteries had run down. Well, thanks to my wonderful mom and dad who bought us a giant pack of batteries, they are now all working! I do however realise why I let the batteries run down though - all these toys are noisy!!! Oh well, all good fun. So what are you doing to prepare for Christmas? Love

This Sunday I had the privilege of preaching at our church. Preaching is a love hate thing for me but whether I am loving or hating it I do find it a real privilege an honour to be communication the heart of God to our Church. This message is all about the seasons of life based on Ecclesiastes 3. One thing is totally 100% guaranteed in life, and that is that things will change. God has appointed the times and seasons, the events of our lives, the happy and the sad, the easy and the difficult. God exalts and humbles the same person. He raises nations up and brings them down. The great thing is that God is in control, he has a plan & he works everything together for good so we can have a great life. The painting above is one that Lorah painted after one of our lovely summer holidays. I thought it would be nice to include it for you to see. So who wants to count how many times I said 'um'? Listen to the full message here .