With the counsel of the Holy Spirit at work in me and the angels/guides given charge over me, I have been advised to take a break from social media. I am unsure for how long.

I have written for many reasons in my life, including for many of you whom I love so dearly. However, the Spirit is beckoning me away for a season to embark on a journey where I write a story entirely for me, from me to me. There are some things I need to pen, words and feelings I need to write to my own heart. It’s a prescription I’ve been given for my healing path.

It’s time for me to slow down, make a fire, light a candle, drink a cup of tea, watch the clouds, get still, and simply be with me for a little while, for an extended while. And while I love you all so dearly and while your many life-giving words have helped me to heal, I must absorb all your words into my heart and walk a portion of this journey and perhaps the remainder of it with my Maker. There is a single, solitary Voice that guides my steps that is of utmost importance as It teaches me how to heal. I want to be a good listener and position myself to do so.

This doesn’t mean I stop writing or sharing my journey, it simply means for a while there are things that need to be written in the secret chambers of my heart.

Almost one year shy of forty years old, I must say I am eager to embark on this season of transformation. I understand what is happening full well. It is time.

I recently wrote to my Mom regarding this period of time as it emerges in the life of an eagle. When a eagle get older and weak because of worn out feathers, which slow down flight speed and maneuvers, the eagle will retire away in the rocks and will pluck all its old feathers until it is completely bare. It waits until a new set of feathers grow and comes out of its body. The eagle will stay in the hiding place until all the new feathers comes back to make it fly dynamically and royally again without much effort or toil. This happens at about the age of 30. What happens is that when the eagle reaches the age of 30, its physical body condition deteriorates fast making it difficult for it to survive. What is really interesting is that the eagle never gives up living. Instead the eagle retreats to a mountaintop where over a five month period it goes through a metamorphosis. It knocks off its own beak by banging it against a rock, plucks out its talons and then its feathers. Each stage produces a regrowth of the removed body parts, allowing the eagle to live for another thirty to forty years.

There are times in our lives that we must look back and take stock of our lives, the good AND the bad experiences we have been through, and realign ourselves with the original intentions we set forth when our soul purposed to come here. This is my season to soar high and nestle myself in the cleft of the rock, sheltered and held in the shadow of the Almighty. There are things that must be plucked away in order that I too may gain new life and fly again, dynamically and royally without effort or toil.

As I said to my Mother and I will say to all of you, I’m sure when the Mother eagle watches her young soar to the hidden place to pluck out its feathers and bang its beak upon a rock, she struggles as her offspring endures this awful, excruciating process. However, any wise mother eagle knows that in order for her child to LIVE a long extended LIFE, this is a process her child must endure. We trim the rose bush so it can bloom again. Does not nature give us all the answers we are searching for? #lookatthebirds

I may be taking some time to hide in the cleft of the rock and my body may appear to be deteriorating. However, in actuality I am just completing a metamorphosis so I can mount up as an eagle and soar majestically once again. I am simply extending my LIFE. And I, like you, must trust this mystical process of rebirth and growth.

Every eagle soars for a reason. I’ve discovered mine. If you haven’t already, find yours, and enjoy the flight. Soar well, my friends, and soar high.

I’ll meet you in the skies.

All my deepest love and sincere gratitude for all that you are and have been to me,

Misti Rains Howell