REfill with PreachSista!
On a cold and overcast winter day in December 2019, Michelle Loyd-Paige - founder and CEO of PreachSista! Inc.- became all too familiar of the truth behind the statement "you can't pour from an empty cup". Coming face-to-face with her own weariness. Michelle embarked on a journey of self-awareness and replenishing the depleted areas of her life. The devotional, Refill with PreachSista!: Practices for Replenishing and Flourishing, is one of the outcomes of her journey.
This faith-based devotional introduces the reader to the twelve categories of practices (intentions) Michelle identified as a path to flourishing. Each practice has its own chapter. Each chapter follows a pattern that begins with Recall – naming and remembering a practice. This is followed by an invitation to Recharge – reading a meditation, Reflect – writing a response to a journal prompt, Rehearse – reciting an affirmation, and a moment to ReFill with brief prayer. Each chapter concludes with recommendations to Redirect – four to seven suggestions of thoughts and behaviors that may help steer someone away from depletion and move towards replenishing and flourishing.
Book excerpt:
Something needed to change if I wanted to get back to a state of wellbeing. Something needed to change if I wanted to be able to honestly say, “it is well with my soul”. The first decision that I needed to make was to identify my “want to”. A “want to” is the combination of motivation and commitment. It’s the “why” you decide to do something with a healthy dose of a strong emotional drive. I decided that my “want to” would be grounded in 3 John 2.
(re)centered a 30-day realignment
Just as cars can get out of alignment, so can we. God’s word tells that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, our steps are ordered by the Lord, that we have all that we need for life and godliness, and that Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly (see Psalm 139:14-16, Psalm 37:23, 2 Peter 1:3, and John 10:10b). These are promises that can be a source of encouragement and serve as a compass for how life can be.
But then life happens. Life gets busy. We find ourselves driving down the bumpy road of unexpected negative health diagnoses; we hit the curbs of job losses; we lose a tire to the potholes of the lack of rest; we (barely) survive accidents that shake our sense of safety and purpose; we are thrown off-balance as we hit the speed bumps of failed relationship; and (if we are honest) we are a little behind on regular maintenance sessions with God. Life happens.
The core of this realignment journey is journaling. More specifically, journaling as a spiritual practice. Using journaling as a spiritual practice is recognition that true realignment must include God as a part of the process. The 30-day journey includes meditations, prayers, and biblical passages for connections with God, and blank pages for holding your thoughts and reflections.
Day 1 (chapter 2) begins with setting your intentions for the following twenty-eight days. Days two through twenty-nine are divided into four weeks (chapters 3 through 6). Each week is themed – Looking Inward, Looking Outward, Looking Upward, and Looking Forward. Each week begins with a short meditation and prayer. Each day of the week has a journal page for reflection and each page includes a journaling prompt. Each week ends with a short weekly review. The thirtieth day (chapter 7) includes a set of affirmations and rules for realignment to stay (Re)centered.
A bodacious spirit
A Bodacious Spirit: Following a Divine Call begins with an exploration of one woman's answer, "what does it mean to be bodacious? What does it mean to be spirit-led? What does it mean to be a woman with a Bodacious Spirit? and What does it take to follow a divine call?" Over the course of eleven chapters, author Michelle Loyd-Paige, shares the nine Bodacious Spirit principles she asserts are the essential components for following a divine call -- especially as a woman. Each principle is stated as a combination of an attribute and an action forming the acronym BODACIOUS.
Written as a devotional with pages for reflections, A Bodacious Spirit, invites readers to consider nine attributes and nine actions of admirable spirit-filled and spirit-led women of the Bible. Each chapter that follows the introductory chapter identifies a Bodacious Spirit principle, invites the reader to make it personal, offers a brief prayer, and closes with two pages for reflective journaling.
This devotional is appropriate for individual or small group study. This devotional was written by a Christian woman for Christian women; however, the principles are transferable to men and youth.
_________
The book will first be available at the 2026 Preach Sista! Fresh Anointing Conference.