Hi beautiful people! Hope this Tuesday finds you happy and healthy.
There is so much to share with you and we will unpack some of it shortly. I hope you have been taking in all that life has to offer and I do hope life has been kind to you. I am currently completing a fellowship for entrepreneurs in the United States. I applied last year and was excited when I was accepted although it took me a while to process. We’ve just begun but I anticipate this will be a life changing experience. We had our welcome event last week in Texas and being surrounded by over 250 entrepreneurs from Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada was inspiring, encouraging but also at times overwhelming.
As the only representative from Sint Maarten, a small island in the Caribbean, I felt honored to be there representing my country but it also puts things into perspective. As we went around the room and acknowledged the different countries and their representatives, it was a bit difficult. I think they are all amazing and deserve to be there, I just also think more representatives from Curacao, Sint Maarten, Aruba and the smaller islands deserve to be there as well. But I also felt great when I could share coffee from my country with the others. Although it isn’t a product we are known for, it still felt good to be a part of the group. I had something to share. Representation matters. We need more people in more rooms and then we need those people to go back and inspire others back home. We are capable and deserving. I do believe God put me in these specific rooms at this specific time for a purpose.
God works in mysterious ways and I have been thinking about God the provider. When I found out I was accepted for the fellowship, I went into panic mode. How was I going to leave my kids, my work, etc? Over the course of the year, God had everything fall into place. As the time got closer, things just worked themselves out. Even right before my trip, our plan got a bit disrupted but that did not stop anything. Looking back, I am simply grateful to have been able to make it on this trip. As we left the welcoming event and traveled to our respective host cities, we began to question our accommodations and go over expectations. Let me tell you, if you told me a couple months ago, this is where I would be spending my fellowship. I would not have believed you. We have amazing apartments that exceeded our expectations. I would have been satisfied with something half as good. But I believe God is using this trip to show me just how He provides for us. The plans that He has for us are infinity times better than what we can conceive for ourselves.
Our first weekend in our host city I decided to take part in an artists’ open studio event to decompress and gather myself after an intense welcoming session. I was all peopled out. We were walking along following a map we didn’t really know and our first studio encounter was an amazing experience. I think we spent over an hour with the artist and discussing how to merge the past with the current in art. Even finding the studio was an enlightening experience. We then decided to just follow our hearts and the next studio was also a wonderful experience about keeping the kid inside alive. In my mind, I was hoping for an artist from the Caribbean that I could connect to but I didn’t share this with anyone in the group. As we walked to our last studio, I figured I would miss out on that however to my surprise, our last studio was an artist with a Caribbean background. I sat in awe for the first few minutes and just thanked God. For me that day was a reminder to slow down and be present in the moment but to also be still. Be still and experience. Be still and know that He is God. He truly has our best interest at heart and He hears our petitions. Be still and have faith.
That’s all I have for now but I will document more of my experiences. As always, you got this and I look forward to hearing from you as well.
MotherLovingDiva 