Anna M. Aquino

It was the summer of 1996 that I found myself on the doorstep of Marion Christian Center in Marion Ohio. I had just gotten out of high school, and had a hunger for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and didn’t know what to do with it. I had just walked out of one of the hardest seasons of my life at that point, and didn’t realize the toll it had taken on me. I was young and was in desperate need of some spiritual guidance. It was only a few months later that I sat in Dr. Watson’s office in tears. I’d been carrying the vision that God had called me to write a book for a few years at that point, and I thought the idea was crazy. Dr. Watson believed in the call of God on my life. He taught me what it meant to be an eagle Christian. God used him to lay a foundation for ministry. Dr. John Watson founded Marion Christian Center. He held an academic PhD and years before had moved across the country to Marion, Ohio to help found a college. He not only did that but founded Marion Chris...

I have heard over and over again on the prophetic wave of what is going on among the church in these days is that “these are days of change.” It is beyond just something I have heard for my own life, but prophetic voice after prophetic voice has confirmed it throughout the body of Christ as a whole. I began to think about this, this morning and it was as if I felt many including myself at times are swimming into the things of God. We’re going past the ankle deep waters, past the knee deep, we’re going past the waist deep waters (Similar to the vision in Ezekiel 47), but wait a minute we’re wearing ankle weights or things of our past that‘s weighting us down. How are we supposed to swim? It is time to take of the ankle weights and swim. Why do we hold onto “weights” or things of the old like sacred objects? I think that sometimes it is because we lie to ourselves thinking that by holding onto the past we are maintaining some kind of control. The root of all of that is fear. If ...

One completely random fact about me is not only do I hold a BA from OSU, but I also spent time while working in jewelry sales earning a certification in Diamontology. Most people do not know what that is. . .in short I know a bit about diamonds. I found myself referring to some things about diamonds a few times in the last several days while ministering to people, and as I sat at my computer trying to feel where God wanted me to minister today, I thought I would relay those things here. Diamonds start out as a lumpy piece of coal. Their carbon that actually set off a certain amount of heat. It takes years of pressure from the earth to form a diamond. I mean many years, like millions. When someone uncovers a raw diamond to the untrained eye, it would look like a piece of junk. However, to a trained eye they see underneath the mess. There then taken to polishers and cutters. Those stones are individually looked at to be cut into the right shape and size for that stone. Parts of that ...

While my family was gone on vacation we had swarms of wasps stage a hostile take over on the front portion of our house. I’m not exaggerating in the least. There was a particular bush right beside our door I’ve always hated and we started to take it out because of all the wasps. We’d get a branch out and a very animated swarm of insects would come out of the bush and aim for us. We found around six nests in it. As a whole I’ve already been stung five times and my husband a couple of times. We’ve gone through five cans of wasp spray, and had to cut down two bushes in the front of the house. We still have to run through our front door so that no one gets stung because now we have a bunch of angry homeless wasps lingering around our door. As both my husband and I have spent quite a bit of time fighting with these little critters this week I got to thinking about how this fight can be like an all too often occurring spiritual battle in our lives. Going on vacation is a great thing...

Hello! I hope you all have had a great few weeks. We enjoyed our vacation immensely. We had some great family time. I made contact with a few bookstores and even was able to schedule a book event in my hometown of Marion, Ohio on December 11th for the devotional I’m in coming out this fall. If you live in the Ohio area, please mark it on your calendar! It’ll be an awesome time to get to see all of your faces! I want to share today from some things the Lord dropped into my spirit while we were in Canada a few weeks ago. Isaiah 54 is a scripture that God has brought me back to at many times. In fact, for a couple of years I was stuck in verse 2 and 3 for a while. So when I felt the Lord leading me back to that scripture I internally groaned a little thinking what have I not gotten out of this scripture, but God’s word is so multi-faceted. He has a way of showing you things you’ve never seen before. I felt him direct me to verse 7 and 8 that day. Isaiah 54:7-8 (KJV) “For a smal...