3 Things I am EXHALING from She Speaks:

Sometimes, there are no words.

 

Like now.

 

But I desperately want you, my precious reader family and friends to know how immeasurably grateful I AM for ALL of your  prayers, encouragement, texts, cards, Facebook messages, offerings and gifts.

 

I revisited you and your well wishes throughout the unforgettably emotional weekend.

 

For your kindness, and His grace I am #eternallythankful

 

MANY of you helped with editing, others prayed for traveling grace, while a few designed, printed and cheered us along the crafting process of one pagers, proposals and business cards.

 

For your willing hearts and individual fingerprints along the way, thank you.  A million times plus one more, thank you.

 

You shared ideas.  We dreamed together.  You spoke truth.  YOU allowed God to use you to bless others and THAT my dear, precious friends is seriously what doing life together looks like.

 

She Speaks saturated my soul with breathtaking, gut wrenching stories from women all over the map.

 

It was such a humbling experience to hear so many testimonies of raw hurt and betrayal, made whole through His redeeming grace.

 

In addition, the Proverbs 31 Ministries conference was out-of-this-world organized.

 

The best of the best and nothing less.

 

 

I cannot lie.

 

I cried and UGLY CRIED more than a couple of times.

 

My hands were clam-y from the relentless note taking.

 

AND I have never been so emotionally depleted and physically exhausted IN ALL MY LIFE!

 

It was worth every. single. second.

 

I’m certain it will take days, possibly weeks, maybe a year or more for my feeble heart and mind to process the entire intake.

 

So for today, I will share 3 things I am exhaling from my time at She Speaks:

 

—> UNRUSH ME

Lysa TerKeurst opened with a profound message…UNRUSH ME. It was a timely message to so many, but a divine appointment for me.

 

The week before the conference, on the way to the beach, I had written out all of my current obligations.

 

The list was excessive and stressful to look at.  It exhauseted me to write it out and the thoughts of living it made me want to cry.

 

The list had me quoting the movie Frozen, “all good things, all good things” …but the problem was simply, too many good things.

 

Lysa’s message and new book, The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands, encourages us to say no to some things in order to be able to say yes to the best things.

 

That will look different for each of us.  As for me, I re-evaluated my list yesterday with my Momma’s help.

I had set my life “to the rhythm of rush,”   leaving no room for His best yes for me.

 

No more.  I realize now that I can not pour into the hearts and lives of others from an empty, exhausted soul.

 

I am in the process of stepping back and sorting through my best yeses for this season.

 

You can too!

 

–>FEED MY SHEEP

This point alone was worth the conference.

 

We live on a farm.  We have sheep.

 

I’ve marveled time and time again at how the sheep follow the quiet cowboy

(if you’re new here, that’s what I call my better half, because he’s worn slim-fit wranglers every single day for three+ decades and seriously loves horses almost as much as he loves me– like it’s a tie..I digress…)

 

Our sheep (and other critters) love him and follow him and trust him to lead them to the best.

 

They know he knows the way to the best pastures.  They trust him to take care of them.

 

Our pastures are different but the call is the same.

 

Take care of, minister to, LOVE the ones God has entrusted to YOU.

 

Do for one what you would like to do for a thousand!

 

This truth pierced my soul.

 

So often I get caught up in the crowd.

 

DO MORE. FOR MORE.

 

Truth: we CANNOT be ALL of the THINGS to ALL of the people.

 

He has entrusted to me a unique family, certain friends and a very specific realm of influence.

 

I am to shepherd well, those He has entrusted to me.

 

I am to tend to those He has already given, already assigned to me.

 

To those whom much is given much is required, right?

 

The same goes for you.

 

Our sheep are different.

 

I will never look some of your sheep in the eye, nor will you mine.

 

We are to shepherd well those He has entrusted to us. 

 

and all the people said, “AMEN.”

 

–>LOVE INTENTIONALLY

 

My new favorite word is intentional.

 

I have found that when I am not intentional, I am messy.

 

Sloppy, lazy. I miss things. I am late. I lose things.

 

Intentional= to do something on PURPOSE.

 

I want to live ON PURPOSE.

 

Parent with intention. Teach with intention.

 

LOVE INTENTIONALLY those He has entrusted to me.

 

I don’t want to miss the opportunities He has for me.

 

Do you?

 

May we look for and share intentional acts of love.

 

There is more. So very much more I want to share, and I will.

 

But for now, know this: I went to She Speaks expecting good things.

 

Mission accomplished.

 

The truth of the matter is, I went expecting good things and came back with even GREATER things.

 

I guess you could say, I went to find out if our story was a print worthy story. The answer I was given, “yes.”

 

I was particularly encouraged by Zondervan’s representative, “I love your title…and you definitely have a story.   Keep doing what you’re doing, speaking and writing for Him.”

 

I will heed her words of wisdom.

 

In addition to my meeting with Zondervan, two other publishing houses have our one pager to read  and one other took my complete book proposal.

 

I passed out lots of business cards and made LOTS and LOTS of new friends.

 

It truly was a glimpse of glory.

 

What’s next?

 

I wait and pray for His perfect timing.

 

To continue my quest in writing thel manuscript: one sentence, one story, one chapter at a time.  Choosing each day to :

 

 

Because I truly believe, the best is yet to come.

 

Love y’all…thanks for stopping by