Anna M. Aquino

I like to say that I’m a reformed klutz. I haven’t broken a bone in years, and while I wore that label in my youth I would say few who know me since then realize my past. But maybe it’s time I join a support group. We’ll call it Klutz Anonymous, because I had a relapse last week. “Hi, my name is Anna Aquino and I can be a klutz. It’s now been 5 days since my last instance…” Last week I was riding my bike. I was in my own little world. I was enjoying the sun and the crisp fall weather that is finally making its appearance in Central Florida. My mind was far from what I was doing, when all of a sudden I looked in front of me. I saw it coming. It was a branch from a tree that hung out over the sidewalk. I went to duck but there wasn’t enough time. *Smack* my glasses fell off my face. I heard them with a ping hit the sidewalk. It was as if I was caught in slow motion. I went to stop my bike but then the sound that echoed in the morning breeze reverberated in the stillness o...

If you follow my blogs you know I have done a “Prophetic Conditions” series off and on as I have gotten them. We have covered conditions: Prophetic Anorexia, Prophetic Dyslexia, and Prophetic Amnesia. Yesterday I was pondering on all of this again and got another one. It is prophetic constipation. We are so blessed to live in such an age where we have the ability to hear from God on a regular basis. There are prophetic words flying in churches, prophets are delivering them, and you can hear them in your own prayer time. All a prophetic word is is hearing the voice of God whether it is for your life or someone else’s. (John 10:27) The standard is that people try to record them if received in a service on a tape, CD, or even an mp3 sometimes. However, what I have found all too often is many Christians who are used to this have a collection of prophetic words that their doing nothing with. Do not get me wrong God’s word is not limited, but you have to do something with the words...

Last week my daughters were playing with the Nativity Set when I heard a shriek from my youngest, “Mom! I lost baby Jesus!” Knowing my girls and understanding they have a flair for the dramatics without looking up from the book I was reading, I responded, “You can’t loose baby Jesus. He’s there whether you see him or not!” So the search continued. The cries and screams of frustration came from my youngest like an emergency siren. She began looking on the branches of the tree, around the bottom on the skirt, and anywhere she could think of looking for the tiny figurine. She was practically in tears. Perhaps had I been more observant I would have heard my oldest daughter smirking at this point. But since the oldest was appearing to look too I didn’t notice her suppressing giggles. It took about ten minutes before the oldest broke her silence and when she did, she told me through her laughter that she’d been the one that had hid the baby Jesus. The youngest didn’t appreciate the joke, but...

Drum Roll Please……tada! I’m very excited to get to unveil the official book cover for by book coming out in March called, “Cursing the Church or Helping It? Exposing the spirit of Balaam.” Many of you know my story. God called me into ministry at 12 and laid it on my heart to write my first book at 16. The funny part about all of this is I not only argued with the whole idea of me ever writing a book, but I absolutely bucked the idea of me ever writing a non fiction Biblical teaching book. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but I had set out to write my dad’s story on Vietnam. I thought it was going to be easy and the publishing field would just open up to me like Moses facing the Red Sea, but it wasn’t. It was a lot of years of writing many books that range in genre and topic. Doing something like I’m doing today was far from my idea. God just directed me here. While I’ve had a few things published in compilations this is my first full length book that’s been publi...

This weekend my family and I ventured over to Gatorland. I think it’s becoming an after Thanksgiving tradition. I have a major dislike for gators. Call it a Northern girl fear I don’t know, but let’s just say I’m not anxious to jump in any kind of gator infested water. I have grown however to be okay with them as long as their in their space and I have mine. I have never noticed before, but this time when we went, someone had taken the time to decorate every pole inside the where the gators were for the season. Each and every one of them had greenery wound around and big red bows gracing the top. There were even wreaths in the center. Here’s the picture I got. I’ll admit I’m a Northern girl and no where in my mind of decorating for the holidays are there gators, Santa Clauses’ on speedboats in swimming trunks, or lights in palm trees. While in the picture I took someone could have used a boat to do this, there were gator tanks all over that a boat wouldn’t have gotten you the...

As a country tomorrow, we will set back and enjoy our: turkey, stuffing and apple pie. We will stand in lines in the early hours on Friday to kick off the official start to the holiday season and get a good buy on a new gadget we cannot live without. I love the holidays. I love any excuse getting to visit my family and my Northern roots. I love the smell of snow in the air, and Christmas lights. I love spicy scented candles that linger in a firelight room. I love the smell of pine in wooden churches. I love celebrating Jesus’ birthday. I love the time of reflection and renewal. It is easy at the holidays to start to take stock of your life and reflect upon choices one has made. I can understand why people get the most depressed over the holidays. It is hard when you do not live around family, and your holiday meals are laden with memories of days gone by. The choices you have made or have not made are in direct reflection of where you are today. I made a commitment years ...

Many months ago I wrote two different blogs: one on prophetic amnesia, and the other on prophetic dyslexia. I’ve been joking that I should start a series because I believe the Holy Spirit gave me another one. It’s prophetic anorexia. In the physical anorexia is sadly on the rise especially among young girls. In writing this blog I’m not trying to demean those that suffer from anorexia. If you do then get help! It’s a horrible epidemic. There is a spiritual prophetic anorexia going on in the body of Christ that needs to get addressed. This is when God tries to tell His people something and they don’t want to hear it, so they don’t receive it. In a sense they vomit it out of their mouth. They reject what God is saying. However, I believe the spiritual body needs the words of God. They need the written Word of the Bible, and the prophetic word. John 6:63 (NIV) The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and ...

Told and retold in my families history is an encounter between my grandparents when they were newly a family. My grandparents married very young and had my dad early. My grandfather has an amazing ability to acquire random things. I have decided that it really is an anointing because I’ve watched him over the years have the ability to resell the items for more than he got them for in the first place. As the story goes my grandmother sent him out to get a part for the car. She was a new mother, and money was more than tight. Grandpa came back with a horse. Honestly I don’t know how exactly that exchange went down, but knowing my grandmother I’m sure she wasn’t too pleased with the outcome. The story is still told today in the midst of laughter and family time. Many people feel that often God does the same to them. They pray and pray for one thing, and then get angry or upset that it seems something else may manifest. While a horse was not what my grandparents wanted it was ...

I retell this story every year. If you have heard it a dozen times sorry, but as I get new followers all the time, I feel it bears repeating. Eleven years ago this morning, Dan and I got in the car and moved from Ohio to Florida. However, our story did not begin there. In fact, God had led us up to that decision. Dan and I met through very unusual circumstances. We were living three hours away from each other. Despite all the drama that surrounded what happened, we both knew early that God was orchestrating our relationship. A year later we were married, and living in Pittsburgh, PA. Dan was finishing his degree at The Art Institute. We both knew that God was going to move us somewhere other than Pittsburgh. We began praying and seeking the Lord. I will never forget the day I was driving from work and I felt the Holy Spirit say to me that we were going to move to Orlando, and Dan was going to work for this one specific company. When I got home and shared that with Dan he w...

I got the opportunity this week to read Don Nori Sr.’s new book “Supernatural Destiny“. Without hesitation I am adding this book to my top five list of books everyone should read (and no I‘m not just saying that, I truly mean it). In it, he talks about how God supernaturally called him to found Destiny Image Publishing and how he has labored along with his family to see what God has spoken come to fruition. I am actually going to wait a few days and go back and read it again. As I read about all the struggles, triumphs, tears, and victories, I found myself in tears. There were so many things that he wrote that Dan and I have found ourselves in similar places. As I read his story, it made me realize yet again, that Dan and I are not the only ones who have ever found ourselves in the plan of God, and struggled to see His purpose in all of it. I truly respect the fact his words were honest and from the heart. He was not trying to paint a glossy picture that he always knew everythi...

Last week in my study time I had a “heavy reavy” I wanted to share. If your not familiar with the term “Heavy Reavy” it’s a divine moment when something clicks about the Word. I was readying this scripture in Isaiah 55:10-11 (esv) 10 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. I have personally heard this scripture preached on quite a bit. The most typical thing people use it to preach about is when God speaks eventually those words will bear fruit. It absolutely means that. But in my head last week, it was if the Holy Spirit took this scripture a bit further. In John 1:1-2 we learn that Jesus is the Word. John 1:1-2 (NIV) In the beginning was the Word, and t...

It is well known in my family that I have a history of issues with motion sickness. I don’t remember when we officially discovered this: Maybe it was the time that I spent the day at the pool in the sun and then was put in the back seat of my grandparents fairly new car to travel through the hills of Southern Ohio and I puked everywhere that told us this, Or maybe it was the time my uncle decided to travel through the mountains of Gatlinburg with the side door open in the van. Perhaps it was the issues I had with vertigo as a child but whatever it was it was learned early on that I would be fine as long as I got to sit in the front seat. I am better as an adult however; I still cannot read in a long car journey. Many people suffer from spiritual motion sickness. They have become nauseous spiritually and they do not understand why. Just like how one gets motion sickness in the physical it applies spiritually. James 1:6-8 (NIV) 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, b...

Last week my girls had a day off of school. It was a beautiful fall morning. The breeze was flowing and the sun was shining. The girls and I rode our bikes to the park. We had a good morning. When we were on the way back my youngest decided she didn’t really want to leave and I was trying to encourage her to stay focused. Instead of trying to leave she started finding weeds that resemble flowers and picking them to give to me. It was sweet, and at first I kept saying “Thank you, now let’s go.” She’d move a couple of inches and then find me more flowers. I started to get frustrated. She started to get caught up in finding me more flowers. “We’re leaving!” I tried a different approach. Finally after getting quite frustrated with her I found myself saying, “I want your obedience not your flowers!” I was trying so hard not to squish what she was doing yet when it came down to it she wasn’t obeying what I was saying. In a sense her heart motive was sweet because she was trying to bless me, ...

I am blessed to have such a super awesome daddy on this earth. As many of you know my dad served a tour in Vietnam in 1967 and 68. He wasn’t just a drafted army man, but was a grunt soldier for most of that time where he lived in horrible conditions. My dad just also happens to be quite the prankster and the story about the pig poop and grass hut in my family happens to be one of my favorite. Daddy’s company was coming into a village and he and his friend Rob went to go checkout a hut that was a bit away from the village and up on a small hill. Now typically when you checked out a hut you were supposed to have three men, but this day it was only dad and Rob. It really was a difficult scenario. Many times the huts were entrances to the system of underground tunnels and you never knew what was in that hut, or who could be waiting. Dad snuck up one side of the hill, while Rob took the other side. It was in these moments of silent fear Dad noticed that one side of the hill had p...

Last week I got a turndown for an event that I had been waiting to hear about for sometime. Truthfully I’ve been turndowned so much in this industry they don’t usually get to me. But this one did. Without going into details I believe eventually I’ll get to do this event, but for the project this time I can see why it ended in a turndown. I don’t believe it was me, but the project for this event, etc. In a classic me response I came back with boldness. I told them that I would like to be considered for future projects. Then went to my couch in my office and bawled. With the miracle of texts and phone calls my pastors, sister, and friends rallied around me encouraging me. I got back up and started to rejoice for that turndown. After I was done feeling sorry for myself I realized that there are some issues in my life that I need to work on. I had a God encounter as a result. I know it might sound strange, but I’m actually grateful for the turndown now. Don’t get me wrong, I was disappoint...

I should have known it was going to be one of those mornings when I woke up and came out into the kitchen to hear my youngest go “Shhh Mom’s up!” I accept that I do not always wake up in the best of moods but I do think I have gotten better and are not as bad as some. Then I see my youngest coloring a beautiful masterpiece and motivating her to start getting ready for school is equal to convincing people to stay on the Titanic as it sank. Trying to motivate her I yelled, “Why don’t you get dressed while I make your oatmeal.” She ran to her room and I hear the sound that makes mother’s cringe in the morning, “Mom, I don’t have any uniform shirts here!” So I walked to the clean clothes that need to be folded. I try to sift through them not finding anything and trying to watch the oatmeal as it cooked. Quickly I picked up the basket, and knocked over the ironing board and the iron hits the garage floor with a thwack. I do not think it broke. Dumping all the laundry on the livin...

When I went to Ohio State University I lived on the 23rd floor of Morrill Tower for a year. If you can see the picture it’s the closest tower in the background. One of my favorite memories from college was a couple friends and I once snuck into the Horseshoe Stadium. It had been the first snow of the year, and a magical crisp feeling lay like fog above our heads. The sky though dark radiated like a majestic wonder around us. The gate hadn’t even been locked and we found ourselves out on the football field. As I walked out into the famous field I felt so small. The snow began to fall and it was a moment that if I could capture it in an image, I would. It’s this memory that often when I think of fall and football I find myself nostalgically remembering as if it’s a snuggly blanket on that chilly night. When Dan and I moved to FL, I had this idea in my head that it would only be for five years. We are nearing our eleven year mark. While I still maintain we’ll be here for a season, we refu...

On Monday I finished the rough draft of my latest book I’ve been working on. That brings me up to 15 books, 4 screenplays, 2 children’s’ book series’, a college curriculum, a woman’s devotional among some other things here and there. I started to laugh thinking about the first time I felt God called me to write a book. I remember struggling with such fear and feelings of inadequacy. I kept thinking God surely you must have gotten the wrong person. Did you switch my file with someone else’s; do you forget I can’t do that?! Really God, are you sure? As much as I struggled to believe what I felt God was saying I knew I couldn’t deny it. The more and more I tried the more I knew it was God. Today over 17 years later (wow that makes me feel old) I know God saw destiny in me even if I couldn’t. So often people have their own destinies bubbling up ready to burst on the inside of them, and they simply are too afraid to try and keep shoving it down. Here’s a classic scripture about talents. I’v...

A few weeks ago I was driving back from the grocery store with I came across and intersection. There were probably twenty five ducks and they weren’t being very quick about crossing the road. I thought at first if I drove very slowly then they would move so that I could get home, but that wouldn’t work. The ducks took their own precious time crossing over to get to the pond on the other side of the street. Then I half considered getting out of the car to hurry them along. However, there were already a couple of people gathering to take pictures of their voyage and I really didn’t want to look like a crazy woman trying to hurry them up. So I sat in the car and waited….and waited….and waited. While I didn’t look at my watch, it felt like at least 15 minutes until there was a hole in the pack of ducks were I could get my car. Half of them were on one side of the street and the other half on the other. This is not my picture. I thought about grabbing one but I didn’t. It can fe...

Greetings awesome peeps! Today I am going to make this rather short. I am in the middle of working on my next book tentatively entitled “Turpentine and India Ink.” Recently someone emailed me this video. Truthfully when they did I thought, “Geesh…I don’t have time to sit and watch a half hour movie. However, I felt since it was coming from a particular person that rarely recommends I watch things like this I decided to take a moment and watch it thinking I can always turn it off if it turns boring. This film put together by the ministry of “The Way of the Master” is an amazing documentary. It needs to be watched and I would say that half hour was a good investment of time. I even made Dan and my oldest daughter watch it later. In the time you will save by reading my lengthy blog today, take the time to watch this film and pass it along. There is a mandate that we share the truth behind this film. You can find it by clicking on this link below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

When I was in college at The Ohio State University, I tried for about 2 weeks to ride my bike on campus. It was really a good idea with all the walking I had to do, but the pedestrian and car traffic at OSU is a bit scary. I have joked that it prepared me to walk in New York City. It resembles that. What made me stop riding my bicycle at OSU, is I was riding in a parking lot and was hit by a car. It was not just a little “got hit”, I rolled up on the hood of the vehicle after impact. Fortunately no one was hurt. Really, that was a miracle, because I had rolled up on the hood of the car and hit the windshield. I got back up much to the amazement of the car driver and went on my way to class. However, ever since that day I will admit I have carried a bit of a phobia when it comes to riding a bike. It’s not that I cringed at the sight of a bicycle or that I would never ride one, but I was just a little scared when I got back up to ride especially if I was in areas where there w...

This weekend (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday) I had the awesome privilege to set in a conference at our church and listen to Dr. Saddiki teach. This conference was life changing. I feel like I have been a sponge trying to soak all this revelation in. If you know me, I have no problem shamelessly promoting people that I think are awesome. If you’ve never heard of this mighty man of God go check out his website at http://www.wisdomministries.org/ I confess until about a month ago when I just happen to catch him on the TV show Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural I had never heard of him. But God is doing awesome things through his life and ministry and I recommend the Jesus in him. One of the many things that really stuck out in these days of teaching that I want to mention is the revelation he brought forth on: Mark 11:23 (NIV) “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen...

Posing for the camera? I’ve mentioned before about my love of the Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio. I was thinking about the other day how we used to go up there at least once a summer. When my friends and I were older we would frequent the Magnum ride. At the time it held many a world record for longest and highest coaster around. If you’re a coaster lover it is a coaster of coasters. I’m sure it’s records aren’t still holding but it is an awesome ride. I remember how it was probably one of the first ones that had the cameras in the ride that would take your picture during it. I know now that concept is pretty standard, but then it wasn’t. My friends and I would figure out where the cameras were so while we were on the ride we’d pose for the camera. We’d rush down to the bottom to see our pictures on the screen. I remember seeing some funny pictures of all of us. We never bought them but had fun posing for the camera. The thing is, we were so busy posing that,...

When I was a kid growing up in Central Ohio, I can remember this ride. I don’t know if it was at Cedar Point (which I have to say is one of the best amusement parks ever) or if it was at a carnival. I’m thinking it was at Cedar Point. Anyway this particular ride was in a circle. You got on the ride and everyone put their backs to the circle facing inwards. As the ride would start it would spin really fast. I remember thinking I would hurl at one point. It would raise you up while it spun. Eventually as you keep spinning the floor drops out. Because you’re spinning so fast your body is stuck to the back of the circle and you don’t move. You become a living science experiment on inertia and gravity. I was thinking about this ride the other day thinking about how if it wasn’t spinning very fast before the floor fell out what would happen? You’d fall to the ground. It reminds me of a tribal African professor that I had in college telling the story of when he first went on an amusement ...

On Friday, I had some events happen that I thought I'd share. I finished my 14th book! It was a bit of a stretch for me, and it's still in rough draft form, but I finished the draft. I still need to go back and proofread. I'd like to add about another 4,ooo words but I got the draft done. I have about another 6 books roaming in my head right now. I can be a real workaholic if I let myself. Then, about an hour later, I went to check my mailbox. The timing couldn't have been worse. Sitting in my box was a turndown from a publishing house on my 13th book. I had been waiting to hear from them on this since June. (many of you are thinking I thought she had a publisher? I do, for my non-fiction. However I'm believing God for a fiction publisher. Books are published on an individual contract basis...) The turndown was not because these people didn't lik me. It wasn't because they disliked the manuscript. However, it was because the book didn't fit into the spec...

Last weekend I found myselfat my girls' school doing volunteer hours. Their school requires that every family put in a set amount of hours every year so that their children will get a spot for the next academic year. In the years we've had kids at the school, I have done various things for my parenting hours like: weeding outside, gone to PTO meetings, colored at home, and guest taught, etc. Saturday after spending two hours wedding in the front I was led to the Media Room. I was only explained my next job would be one of organization. Really if it got me out from the outside and into the air conditioning, I didn't care what I would be doing. Boxes waited for me. Hidden and shoved in what seemed to be every nook and cranny of the room were boxes and boxes of cords, wires, cables, computer mice, and telephone jacks that had been thrown together for years. They were a tangled mangled crazy mess. Every time I thought, There could be no other boxes full of them, I found more. T...

When I was in college I worked in the set construction department at The Ohio State University. There was a particular student that had liked me. I knew he did. He ws a nice guy, but I was just coming out of a very complicated relationship, and for a lot of reasons I knew this man wouldn't be a good idea for me to date. Inevitably the day happened when he and I were talking while we were cleaning our paint brushes from fauz wood graining the base boards for an upcoming set. He smiled and looked back at me. He paused in reflection and in the moment as he asked me out, someone on the other side of the shop started to use the table saw. I'll admit I lied. "What? I can't hear you!" I responded. Soon the table saw stopped. I knew what he'd asked me, and I felt bad for lying. I was trying to come up with a reasonable excuse in my head for when he repeated the invite, but he never asked again. Consequently I met Dan a few weeks later but that's another story. I w...

It is quite concerning if you start watching some of the recent documentaries that has been done about our food supply. Fillers and high gructose corn syrup is being put into our foods at an alarming rate. High fructose corn syrup is a sweetener that has been known to make you gain more weight, and raise triglyceride levels that can lead to a higher risk of a heart attack. Really, it is just a sweetener and has no nutritional value what so ever. It fills you up so you do not desire the nutrients. On the surface, it might make something taste good but on the inside, the value is questionable. Many in the kingdom can begin to be like 'High Fructose Corn Syrup Christians' if their not careful. Sure, they might look good. They might play the role of a Christian on Sundays, but deep down there is no real depth to them. There is no real value to the kingdom because it's all surface. It's like the fillers in processed meat. It just fills you up, and isn't the real thing. J...

Several months ago I was having a moment. I was sad because some changes were happening in out lives: we had some friends move, I was getting frustrated and annoyed at some different events, and I'll confess my attitude wasn't the greatest. I was so busy focusing on my own drama that I couldn't see past the wall of self-pity that I was building around me. I know I'm not the only person that has had these moments. I am just being honest. So I had a random epiphany moment where I realized I should start leaving comments on other people's facebook pages. I know my solution sounds simple but as I began to do that, I got so excited. I looked at my page and my list of friends and thought who else can I compliment? Doing that helped me knock down my wall of self-pity and made me start to look at those around me. Most of those individuals I did that to responded in such a way where I made their day. They had really needed to hear a kind word in that moment, and my little on...

During our trip to my Ohio homeland, the girls, my mom, dad, grandfather and myself went to visit a small Amish store about a half and hour from my parents house. This is always a really nice change of pace for me. In this small store you can buy homemade pies, baked goods, Amish cheese, candies, and some knitted items I believe. It’s really a small building on the edge of a working Amish farm. My favorite story of visiting once happened several years ago. My husband and I asked the woman if they had a loaf of bread we could buy, and she opened up the wood burning stove and took out a freshly baked loaf with her bare hands. I had to giggle when she put it on the counter in front of us. I had a picture I took outside their barn but it would upload right on the blogger post so I grabbed another similar online. I really wanted to grab a shot of a little boy who was my youngest daughters age because the he was adorable and really caught her eye, however due to my knowledge of ...