Anna M. Aquino

When I was a kid there was a game show on called “Press Your Luck”. In this game show I remember that there were several squares that lit up around the board and wherever it was lit, when the contestant hit the stop button was what you got. Which usually ended up being money or a prize unless it was the character called a ‘Whammy’. When a person got a whammy this animated figure would come and take all your winnings away. Many people today treat faith like they do luck. But I assure you there is a big difference. The definition of luck is good fortune: success that seems to happen by chance. The definition of faith according to Hebrews 11:1 say, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Faith is not luck or good fortune. It is being sure of what God has said. It is knowing that despite the circumstances around you that God is truly God and no one can talk you out of it. In Matthew 14:22-33 there is the story of Jesus walking on the water. All the ...

In the hours spent reminiscing of Pastor Arthur stories over the last few days I got to thinking of this story and thought it would be fitting to share it with y’all as a blog this morning. A little over three years ago Dan and I were in the process of selling our house and buying a new one. For four years of going to Freedom we’d lived an hour away and the concept of being only a few minutes was refreshing to us. (Seriously we spent four years napping and lunching in the back building in between Sunday services, but that’s for another blog) The day came for us to close on our old house and buy this one, but I got a call the bank for the closing decided to wait for the next Monday but they assured me we’d close. My grandparents and my mom came down in an RV to help us move. So after a lot of discussion back and forth the seller of this house agreed to let us move our stuff in their garage and we’d just postpone the closing. Believing there wasn’t an issue all my electric and pho...

Many of you have heard the story of how Dan and I got to Freedom Life Church almost nine years ago now. Long story short, I had always known that it was very important for Dan and I to be in the right church during this season of our lives, and there were things God needed to impart to us and wherever we were to go. I knew that these people who were supposed to shepherd us for that time were praying us there too. Even longer story short I heard God tell me to go to Central Flordia. On a Monday we left Ohio, on Tuesday we arrived in Florida, and through a series of events on Wednesday we were at Freedom. Pastor Arthur got up on the platform took one look at Dan and I and began to prophesy to us that we were right where God wanted us to be. He began reading our mail as they say in prophetic churches. He knew these things by the Holy Spirit. In the years following Pastor Arthur and Debra have come to mean so much to us. It has been our privilege and honor to serve them through the years. ...

An old friend of mine used to have a saying, “Life sucks then you die.” If he’s reading this I hope he knows how much I love him and I pray for him. But that kind of attitude is not how God wants you to live. The character of Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh series is another good example of a negative character. He was always moping around as if he was convinced if it rained it was only on him. The world was out to get him, and ‘no matter’ it was all gray anyway. It can get very easy to get wrapped up in that kind of negativity. In fact Elijah did out in the wilderness. He was all alone and kinda got the “I’m all out in left field and every one left me syndrome.” But as a child of God you must realize that God has a abundant joy for you, and wallowing in your own self-pity will get you no where. Nehemiah 8:10 Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the ...

As a prophetic and vision driven people one of the hardest challenges, in my opinion, is to be able to see yourself at point B and still have to live in point A. God’s timing is never our own. It can get very frustrating in the waiting time. For myself I never expected for things to take as long as they have. I often say that it’s true “you can do All things through Christ that strengthens you,” but maturity in the Lord has taught me you don’t get there over night. Some years back after the birth of my first daughter God gave me a revelation one day. I think I was frustrated over something she was doing and I said to the Lord, “Yup you really knew what you were doing when you didn’t have any children on the earth.” To which I believe I heard God chuckle and respond, “I have millions of them on the earth.” That got me thinking. Would it be possible if we treat God the very way our children treat us? “Daddy!” As we stomp our feet, we cry, “Let me be done!!! Are we there yet? When are we ...

My kids are usually good vegetable eaters, but about a month ago I decided on some fresh Brussels sprouts. That didn’t go over well. My youngest looked at them and without even batting an eyelash looked up at me and said, “My grandpa told me that you had to feed me cereal.” To which I laughed and she still had to eat one. There are things in life that you must do because that’s what God wants you to do whither you like it or not. Right after college I had two different job possibilities opening up for me. One would have been an internship in my field. It had no insurance but I was young and I could have worked something out, and the other was a job selling high end jewelry. The Lord spoke to me to take the jewelry job. I wasn’t too happy about that situation, but later it worked out to be a total God thing. Because of that job when I moved to Pittsburg after I married Dan I could just transfer, and in the craziness that happened later and we were unexpectedly pregnant I had prenatal co...

I currently teach a kids group at our church for children between the ages of 1st-5th grade on Wednesday evenings. About a month ago we were playing the game telephone. I was trying to make the age old point about gossip. That most times, by the time it gets back to you it’s not what started and it’s always taken way out of context. My husband started the phrase, “You’re momma wears combat boots.” Of course the phrase seemed very innocent, and by the time a dozen kids got the message I think it turned from, “your mom has poop” a few times, to “She has boobs.” The exercise made my point. Proverbs 11:13 says, “A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.” and 1 Timothy 5:13 says, “Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.” It’s sad today but, is oh so true, that one of the top five reasons people don’t go to church regul...

When I was in the 6-8 year old range my sister found me in my room crying. I was really upset. After a lot of persuation I finally told her what was wrong. With tears in my eyes I wailed, “The Russians are going to take over Mexico and then they’ll be right there!” Then the story came out. We’d been learning little bits about the Cold War in school. This was before the fall of the USSR. The teacher evidently had told a room full of kids that the Russians were eventually going to take over Mexico so they’d be close to the US. At least that’s how I remember it. I always was a kid to freak out over things and this was no exception. By the time I got home I was thinking of where I would go and hide in case of a Russian occupation. It’s become an inside joke to my family when I get overly worried about something to just say, “The Russians are going to take over Mexico.” The Russians didn’t take over Mexico. The USSR fell marking history forever. My fears were unwarranted and unnecessary. I ...

Sometime ago I was going through a season where I was incredibly frustrated. Things weren’t going how I’d planed, and I kept telling the Lord, “I just can’t do this. I just can’t do this.” As a result I had a dream where I was back in my hometown and I was across from the mall. I was going to walk to my mom and dad’s house which would be quite the walk. It’s about a 10-15 minute car ride. As I was going to start walking I put a pile of bricks in my backpack, and started on my journey. I remember thinking in the dream why would I put bricks in my backpack. That’s making an already long journey even harder. That’s when I felt the Lord reveal to me that by my negative words and attitudes I was putting bricks in my “spiritual backpack” making it harder for me to get anywhere. For years I’d known that God wanted me to write my first book and I spent years frustrated about it. I kept saying, “I can’t do it.” A few months after Dan and I first came to Freedom, one of the pastors then began to...