share your story

What's your poison?

by Karmen |

True story.

I’d have been a drunk had it not been for Jesus.

But this story isn’t about me, and it may not be about you. It may be a story about your mother, brother, father, sister or your very best friend.

We all have someone who wrestles with addiction.

I met Elizabeth at the airport in Texas. She and I were both scheduled to volunteer at the IF:GATHERING. We met online, talked via text and worked out the details for her pick me up at the airport. My first impression: her music choice, friendly smile & cracked phone screen let me know, I had just met my next forever friend.

Elizabeth has a heart the size of Texas. She ministers to and works with children in her local church, has a desire to mentor young women and is desperately in love with Jesus.

She is crazy talented. Her Etsy shop, PurposedCreation is where she markets her INCREDIBLE wire jewelry. She made this red, beaded bracelet for me and named it, The Karmen for crying out loud!!

How can I not be flipped over this girl!

More than I love her jewelry or the work she is doing in and all around her community, I love her heart.

Elizabeth sent this post to me last week and asked me if I thought it was ok?

Ok?

It’s WAY more than ok! It’s brave. It’s REAL, raw and no-doubt one of the most transparent post I’ve read in a l-o-ng time. This is a snippet of her personal journey. You may agree or agree to disagree with part or all. I simply ask you to read it. And in the midst of it -find grace.

Our prayer is for your to be encouraged as you continue to love your people who may be entangled in the snare of addiction.

It is my absolute pleasure and honor to introduce you to my friend, Elizabeth…

Addiction.

This word is darkness to me. It’s a word that makes my hands tremble and instantly makes my brain flash with millions of memories. It’s a word I hate. It’s a word I’ve skirted around in multiple blog posts, referring to it as a ‘situation’ or ‘life-altering thing’- but never have come out and said to the world wide web: I know, and love, someone who struggles with Addiction.

Addiction is dark and twisty.

to read more……..

THE THINGS WE DON’T TALK ABOUT: ADDICTION

Much love,

P.S. Once you’ve read Elizabeth’s post, take a moment and ask God to show you, ONE person, you could share it with <3

What’s your poison?

by Karmen |

True story.

I’d have been a drunk had it not been for Jesus.

But this story isn’t about me, and it may not be about you. It may be a story about your mother, brother, father, sister or your very best friend.

We all have someone who wrestles with addiction.

Elizabeth has a heart the size of Texas. She ministers to and works with children in her local church, has a desire to mentor young women and is desperately in love with Jesus.

She is crazy talented. Her Etsy shop, PurposedCreation is where she markets her INCREDIBLE wire jewelry. She made this red, beaded bracelet for me and named it, The Karmen for crying out loud!!

How can I not be flipped over this girl!

More than I love her jewelry or the work she is doing in and all around her community, I love her heart.

Elizabeth sent this post to me last week and asked me if I thought it was ok?

Ok?

Our prayer is for your to be encouraged as you continue to love your people who may be entangled in the snare of addiction.

It is my absolute pleasure and honor to introduce you to my friend, Elizabeth…

Addiction.

Addiction is dark and twisty.

to read more……..

THE THINGS WE DON’T TALK ABOUT: ADDICTION

Much love,

P.S. Once you’ve read Elizabeth’s post, take a moment and ask God to show you, ONE person, you could share it with <3

One BRAVE thing a day

by Karmen |

Stretching nice and slow, leaning in, willing ( but not really) fingertips ready for the next passerby……

I jerked back just before it skimmed the tip of my finger!!!

whew, that was close

“Mommm, you’ve got to! This can be your brave thing today.”

Man.

I was so close to a pass when he spurred me with the challenge.

It’s my fault. I started this whole “gotta do one brave thing a day thing.” Dang it.

Deep breath.

As I began to stretch my arm again, pep-talking myself, “it’s just a ….”

“HURRY MOM! HERE IT COMES! HURRY BEFORE YOU MISS IT!”

Both of their eyes fixed on me, I stretched my almost shaking arm back into the cool water just in the nick of time, “I DID IT! I touched the squishy, make my skin-crawl-EW! stingray- ugh!-gross!!”

And then, I’m almost sure that I threw up in my mouth.

“EW! they’re so slimmmy”…

“Yea, but you did it mom. You did your one brave thing today.”

“I sure did, boys. I sure did.”

Our family adopted this little charge of doing one brave thing a day a little over a year ago.

It’s been fun and funny.

I don’t remember the exact day we implemented it and there was no grand plan or theology behind it other than we want our boys to become brave young men.

And as it is with anything else,

practice makes perfect

Or at least practice makes it easier, right?

We’re not systematic about it really. The opportunities usually present themselves.

This past weekend, while at a wrestling match, the younger wanted a snack from the concession stand.

He asked me to go get it for him. I said no. He threw me a sad-ish head-tilt. I threw one back at him, smiled and said, “Go for it! Go do your brave thing today.”

It works.

I don’t know why it works other than when we started it, we meant it. (#beconsistent)

In the beginning the boys were more timid, less eager, as they began to go in to pay for gas at the local service station, ask questions for themselves verses me asking for them, retrieve stamps from the post office, etc..

They have recently began to look for ways to BE BRAVE themselves, challenging each other and have even challenged J and I to be more brave.

“Do not do for children what they can do for themselves-“

Is a line I read years ago, before we ever had our boys. It stuck.

Our BE BRAVE mantra is really nothing more than training for real life.

You and I know all-to-well that life is full-to-the-brim with hard things. Things that challenge us and take us out of our comfort zones.

So why not start now?

Accompany us, will you?

You and your people, join our tribe, in our ONE BRAVE THING A DAY journey.

Remember, there is no formula other than to look for one BRAVE thing a day.

Seek out that brave thing that stretches you or your tribe just a smidgen.

And then when you find yourself surprised by how brave you actually are-try another and then another.

Our bravery will look different.

Maybe your brave thing is to make a wrong right?

Maybe you will visit an old friend?

Maybe you’ll reach out and touch a slimy stingray!

Maybe you’ll start a new job, a new business, start a new relationship?

Maybe your brave thing is to try a tomato?

Maybe you need to share your testimony, start a blog or a podcast!?

Brave is contagious.

When you are brave you make others brave!

Start small. Dream BIG. BE BRAVE! dear ones

BE BRAVE!

oh! and then–> share YOUR BRAVE thing with us in the comment section below.

I can’t wait to hear from you!

sweet dreams y’all,

what's a great way to get your mind off of your mess?

by Karmen |

A thousand years is but a day and a day a thousand years…

There are moments when life is happening that feel like they will never end and then they do pass…

And years go by and it feels like it happened yesterday.

Yesterday marked a decade since we delivered our little Karson.

As my fingers hit the keys to spell those words I feel like I’m speaking of another woman’s story and yet- I’m not.

I wanted to write a reflective heartfelt post yesterday about how life is tough and how God is faithful but the words and sentences for lack of a better word felt scrambled. But I couldn’t muster it. Life ten years later is different and busy and hard in different ways.

The story would come and go and felt somewhat forced hence –no post.

But tonight in the quiet, with the herd at wrestling practice I feel impressed to exhort you with few meanderings that won’t let me be..

My dear, dear friends~

Friends of ol’, new friends, friend who feel useless, disconnected friends, friend who feels used up or unusable, undone, unappreciated, incomplete or unloved.

#1 You matter.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made no matter how fat you (and I) feel or far you (and I) may have derailed in 2014.

NOTHING can separate us from the love of GOD.

Absolutely-not-one- stinking thing it too terrible-or-bad or too sad that He can’t use for good.

NOTHING. GOD IS GREATER than all of it!

Let’s EMBRACE that TRUTH and MOVE ON!

With my whole heart and until I die I will encourage YOU with that truth and this one->

#2 YOUR story matters.

Yada, yada, Karmen will you leave it alone?

No, and here’s why.

OTHERS NEED YOUR STORY!

The people in our workplace, the grocery store clerk, your banker, neighbors, cousins, inmates in jail.

Who better to encourage a woman endearing life with an alcoholic than one who has endured life with an alcoholic?

Who better to encourage one who has lived through divorce than one who has endured divorce?

Who better to council and advise someone in debt up to his or her eyeballs than one who has been maxed out and now is debt free? (oh, Lord I want to be debt free!)

Who better to encourage one who has lost loved ones than one who has suffered loss?

This is not rocket science theology but for whatever the reason many women (and men, if they would admit it) feel like a big ZERO.

Like they have nothing to offer another.

I heard an alarming statistic last week about how lonely and “unneeded” people in our society say they feel. I wanted to scream at the radio, “IT’S A LIE, Y’ALL! YOU MATTER! OTHERS NEED YOU! FOR REAL! ”

To the skeptics: (because I know you’re there. I am one.)

You say, “How do you know others need me?”

HAVE YOU BEEN OUTSIDE and ENGAGED with the public recently?

More than EV-UH people are desperate for community, a sense of belonging and hungry for CONVERSATION with a REAL PERSON not a FLAT SCREEN.

If you still don’t believe me, I invite you to come to the feed store, visit with us and engage with the public.

We have a warm heater and a bench, just for sitting and visiting. (And hurry, right now it’s clean. We have rearranged and it is lovely. Do-stop-by.)

True story: A precious woman and her daughter came in the store today looking for chicken feed. The daughter went on to say her mother had rescued a ROOSTER from the side of the road that had fallen from a chicken truck nearly a year ago. It had a broken foot and a damaged wing. She began to share about how the rooster had become a burden for her elderly mother on a fixed income.

When I asked, “Would you like to get rid of the rooster?”

The daughter instantly replied, “YES! We would LOVE to give it away. Do you know of anyone who would want it?”

We told her we would gladly take the rooster and find it a home. The mother, who appeared to be very shy, nodded graciously as the daughter told us they would go and get it and bring it to us later.

Annnnd she did, just a couple of hours later.

As we transferred the rooster from her pen to ours the shy, mother gave me the biggest hug, “THANK YOU Hun, THANK YOU.”

The point of that lil’ story

WE NEED EACH OTHER.

To help carry and share burdens <3 (and roosters)

How can I help others?

I’m still a mess.

EMBRACE this one too—> WE ARE ALL A MESS.

Some admit it while others still resist.

God takes messy, surrendered people and births AMAZING MESSages of His grace upon grace upon grace.

What better way to get our minds off of our messes but when we are helping others get through theirs?

I wish we could sit down and I could have coffee with each one of you (because I care about you and love coffee) and I wish I could look you in the eye with this heart message but until then please know…..

YOU MATTER.

YOUR STORY (has a PURPOSE + ALL. OF. IT—> matters)

Surrender it to the One, true and living God and ask Him to help you help someone.

But know this, as I reminded the inmates Sunday afternoon, BE READY.

When you ask God to provide an opportunity for you to help another and you make yourself available HE WILL MOVE.

Speaking of BEing READY…

and NEEDing each other…

I covet your prayers.

As I speak at the jail again this Sunday. The women are sad, downtrodden and many in desperate need.

Pray for them, will ya?

I am super excited to be speaking at the ladies retreat in Chelsea, AL January 23 & 24^th of this month. (Thanks, Hannah Shirey Burton for the invitation)

I will also be traveling to Austin, TX the first of next month to serve at the IF: GATHERING. IF you are not signed up for an IF: LOCAL gathering contact Jeanne Manning or me for more details via Facebook .

And last but not least …the other lil secret is getting really close and it’s going to be great and PS-we are not growing our family and it’s not the manuscript for the book. Holy Moly in the sweet by and by one day…it will be done…the book not a baby.

Amen.

love y’all

PS- If your women’s group is looking for a speaker of truth, who loves to laugh..connect with me..I’d love to join!