Growth and development come at a price, but your growth is the plan of God. Stop pretending and be honest with the Lord and yourself. Look beneath the veil and stop hiding, and the Lord will heal what's exposed. Take my hand and we can continue this walk, taking off our veils together.

The Jonah Spirit is more common than you may think. Though your feet get tired of running, the worse part of the situation is the repercussions of the mass exodus from your calling. You think stinking like fish guts is bad? What about a lifetime of bad choices because you refuse to listen, trust, and obey? While you stand stagnant refusing to grow, continuing to do things your own way, the obstacles you face will be a continuous cycle of dead ends. All roads will lead to nothing. Growth and development come at a price, but your growth is the plan of God. One thing I realized is I had to take the veil off! I had to stop pretending and be honest with the Lord and myself. This was the key to open the locked door to my growth. Once I looked beneath the veil and stopped hiding, the Lord was able to heal the exposed and only then could the birthing processes begin. Healing is a continuous process, and the Lord is all here for it! If you take a walk with me through a moment in time, I can give you snippets of my healing journey. Take my hand and we can continue this walk, taking off our veils together.

Maxine Franklin is a mother of four, born and raised in Ontario, Canada. She has served in her local church in various ministries, including praise and worship. As she began embracing her calling working with young women in her church back in Canada, she accepted her title as "Auntie" among the young women as she helped guide, pray for, encourage, and minister to them. She also stepped out of her comfort zone and began working closely with the Ladies Ministry president who saw her gifting and worked with her on several Woman's ministry nights, giving Maxine the opportunity to develop topics, facilitate discussions, and minister to the women in her local church. Maxine has had a love for writing since her youth but had put it aside as she got older and entered the world of parenting. Her gift would eventually come back to the surface with the help of much encouragement and her life as a spoken word artist began. Her poetry and spoken word pieces can be found on her Instagram @her_life_her_story. Maxine has since relocated to the United States and has taken another huge leap of faith returning to school to pursue a degree in communications. Maxine is a lover of the Lord who hopes to encourage women and spread the love of Jesus Christ in her own special way.