I’m learning to trust my gifts again.
And maybe you are too.
Maybe you know that God placed something meaningful inside of you, but you have struggled to name it, trust it, or understand what you are supposed to do with it.
Maybe you once felt deeply connected to your creativity, your voice, or your sense of purpose, but life became louder. Responsibility took over. You entered a new season. You experienced disappointment, rejection, motherhood, burnout, or change—and somewhere along the way, you stopped exercising the gifts that once made you feel most alive.
Or perhaps you have never lost sight of your gift. You simply need encouragement to believe that it matters.
A reminder that it was given to you intentionally.
A reminder that God chose you to carry it.
A reminder that you do not need to become someone else before you can begin nurturing what He already placed inside of you.
That is why I want to introduce you to Princess Amaya.
Princess Amaya is learning to trust the light within her, just as I am learning to trust my own gifts again. And through her story, I hope you will begin to recognize, remember, and grow the gifts within you too.
As God reveals more to me about identity, purpose, and what it means to steward what He has placed inside of us, I want to share what I am learning with you so that we can grow together.
Very recently, I found myself having to rebuild that trust after walking away from my original YouTube channel for four years.
At the time, the content had become too heavy for me. I was entering a new role as a mother, drawing closer to God, and becoming someone new. Although I did not fully understand it then, that was my winter season.
It was not a season in which nothing was happening.
It was a season of hidden growth.
But I had forgotten what it felt like to exercise those gifts online.
I had forgotten what it felt like to create freely, share my ideas, build something from my imagination, and trust that what came naturally to me could still be meaningful to someone else.
Returning to YouTube did not instantly restore that confidence.
I had to begin remembering who I was as a creator.
I had to trust my voice again.
I had to trust the ideas God was giving me.
And I had to stop dismissing the things that came naturally to me simply because they came naturally.
That journey is where Princess Amaya began.
And that is not only Princess Amaya’s journey.
It may be yours too.
Just like Princess Amaya, you have been given something worth growing.
Your gift may not appear as a glowing pink light or cause flowers and gemstones to bloom around you, but it carries its own kind of power. It may bring clarity, comfort, beauty, wisdom, organization, healing, creativity, leadership, encouragement, or peace into the lives of others.
You may already be using it without realizing how significant it is.
You may be afraid to use it more fully.
You may have dismissed it because it comes naturally to you, because it does not resemble someone else’s gift, or because you have not yet seen where it belongs.
But before you can fully grow what is around you, you may have to trust what God is growing within you.
Princess Amaya’s story is an invitation to do exactly that.
As she learns to recognize, develop, and steward her power, I hope her journey reminds you that your own gift is worthy of the same care.
You do not need to have it all figured out today.
You only need enough faith to stop dismissing the spark.
Why I Created Princess Amaya
Princess Amaya was originally created for me.
She became a visual representation of the part of me that still believed there was something worth discovering, developing, protecting, and growing inside of me.
She reminded me of the gifts I had carried since childhood—the ideas, imagination, creativity, encouragement, storytelling, insight, and ability to see meaning beneath the surface.
Those gifts had not disappeared during my winter season.
They were still there.
They simply needed to be remembered, exercised, nurtured, and entrusted to God again.
Princess Amaya represents the process of returning to what God placed inside of you before life became loud.
Before disappointment made you question it.
Before responsibility caused you to place it to the side.
Before comparison convinced you that it was not important enough.
Before you became so accustomed to using your gifts for other people that you stopped recognizing them as gifts at all.
She is helping me learn to trust what God placed inside of me—and now I want to share her with you.
Welcome to the Becoming Kingdom
Princess Amaya’s story eventually grew into the Becoming Kingdom: a faith-filled world centered on identity, purpose, spiritual growth, and the courage to become the woman God created you to be.
The Becoming Kingdom is not being introduced as a perfectly finished world with every path already mapped out.
It is growing as I grow.
As God reveals something to me, I will bring it into this world through narrative stories, personal reflections, visual symbolism, and faith-based encouragement.
Some stories will explore the gifts we have forgotten.
Some will explore the false voices that have caused us to doubt ourselves.
Some will examine the seasons in which it appears that nothing is growing.
Others will remind us that purpose does not always arrive through one dramatic revelation. Sometimes it begins with a tiny spark: an idea that keeps returning, an ability you have always carried, or something you loved before you learned to question whether it mattered.
This is also a continuation of something I began years ago through the Ashontel Diary, where I shared pieces of my life, what I was learning, what I was walking through, and what I hoped might encourage someone else.
Princess Amaya carries that same spirit forward.
Only now, the diary has become a kingdom.
And instead of waiting until I have completed the journey to tell you what I learned, I want to invite you to grow with me while I am still becoming.
My Winter Season
My winter season was an important part of this journey.
It was the season when I stepped away, drew closer to God, embraced motherhood, and experienced growth that was not always visible from the outside.
I have shared more about that season in these two videos:
In those videos, I share more about what that period of my life meant, the gifts I was still exercising in person, and how the beginnings of the Becoming Kingdom were already present—even before I completely understood what I was building.
Winter was not the end of my gifts.
It was where their roots grew deeper.
And now, I believe I am entering a season in which God is asking me to bring some of those gifts back into the light, steward them more intentionally, and allow them to grow.
Grow With Princess Amaya
I am sharing Princess Amaya because I want you to understand this journey and grow alongside me as I grow.
Through her stories, we will explore questions such as:
What did God place inside of me?
What gifts have I overlooked because they come naturally?
What parts of myself did I leave behind in another season?
How can I begin trusting my voice again?
How do I develop and steward my gifts instead of only dreaming about them?
And who might I become when I stop dismissing what God has already given me?
You do not have to have every answer before you begin.
I certainly do not.
We can discover, remember, develop, and steward our gifts together.
You will be able to follow Princess Amaya’s stories here on the blog and on my YouTube channel. I will also be sharing her on Instagram, where you may see her stories and encouragement more frequently.
After watching the first Princess Amaya stories, let me know: Would you like to see more of her?
And is there a part of your own identity, purpose, or God-given gifts that you are learning to trust again?
Welcome to the Becoming Kingdom. 🌿💛
Princess Amaya’s story is a collection of faith-filled chapters created to remind us that what God placed inside of us was intentional, beautiful, and worthy of being nurtured.
I am still learning.
I am still growing.
I am still becoming.
And I am grateful that we get to walk through this kingdom together.
The Verse I’ve Stood On
One of the verses I have continued to stand on throughout this journey is Psalm 37:4:
“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” — Psalm 37:4, KJV
This verse reminds me that becoming is not about forcing our lives into a picture we created on our own. It is about drawing closer to God, allowing Him to shape our desires, and trusting Him with the gifts, ideas, and dreams He placed within us.
And He really does give us the desires of our hearts—sometimes by bringing a dream to life, and sometimes by revealing the deeper desire beneath it.
You’re Not Stuck. You’re Becoming.
If you have been feeling stuck, uncertain, or disconnected from yourself, you may not be failing.
You may be in a life season.
You may even be in a winter season—a time when growth is happening beneath the surface, even if you cannot see the evidence of it yet.
Understanding your current season can help you stop judging yourself by what you are not producing and begin recognizing what God may be developing within you.
To discover the life season you may be walking through, download the Life Season Screening Guide below.
[Download the Life Season Screening Guide]
You are not stuck.
You are becoming.
xoxo
Chauntel 💛
Follow me on Instagram for more 🙂 https://www.instagram.com/askchauntel/
Blessings!