Dear Ladies,

A week and a half has gone by since Allume and it is hard to believe that it’s over. There were so many weeks and months of planning and anticipation and then the weekend finally arrived.

I’ve read the various blog entries on the take-aways and lessons learned. I’ve read about the callings impressed and reinforced. I too wrote about what God did during those few days and the change has been constant over the week since the conference.

But one fear keeps niggling at the back of my mind and it’s prompted me to pray for all of us. We had an amazing weekend full of God’s leading. I don’t want us to forget what God did. I don’t want to look back and see that the lessons were just the result of an ’emotional high’ and that we’re right back where we were before Allume.

So, my prayer for you is Galatians 6:9

                         “And let us not grow weary of doing good,

                        for in due season we will reap,

                     if we do not give up.” 

Promise me that you won’t give up. Promise me that you’ll write the book. That you’ll build your community. That you’ll love your family because that is your calling – a worthy calling.

I didn’t get to meet many as many of you as I would have liked, but you are ALL on my heart and I know that  God has a plan for each of us.

Don’t grow weary, I’m praying for you.

This past weekend I attended a conference for writers called Allume. I’d never been to anything like a writer’s conference before so was eager to learn. There were sessions on the practical and sessions on influence and I strove for a balance of each, because I’m a new blogger and only have the vaguest of idea of what the seasoned ones talk about (tweetables, anyone?)

So I sat and listened, soaking up the words and received a gift. But what I received was nothing like what I expected when I started to open the package.

God has been working in me for a really long time and the message is finally sinking in. He has called me to a ministry and that is all I need. He has called me to a family- a husband and children and that is a worthy calling.

For so long I just felt like a second-tier Christian because I wasn’t doing something ‘great’. There were no orphans rescued. No center for women started. But He gently lifted my head and showed me that my calling and your calling are worthy, not because of us, but because of the One doing the calling.

So the art created, the music sung, the words written, and the work done, are all worthy because they are for Him. It doesn’t matter who hears or sees us, because He always does. And the noses wiped, the laundry folded, and the tears poured out over the paper are all offerings to Him.

Let us now take heed to the ministry He has called us to so that we may give Him the glory.

This is the gift He so graciously bestowed upon me at Allume.

I have a confession to make. I have a love/hate relationship with community. One on one and I’m good, but put me in a room full of women I don’t know, whom I have to interact with, and I get a headache struggling not to cry.

The call to community beckons me all the way to my core. To build relationships and bear one another’s heart burdens is pivotal. We are called to do this in the Scripture, but it is a call that can leave us raw.

God has designed us for relationship with Him and with others. He has also designed some of us to be extroverted, others to be introverted, and those in-between. In the past year God has revealed to me that I fall into the introverted category. And I struggle to find my place in the body of Christ because of this. God has designed the church to glorify Him, which means that there is a place for all of us – we just have to find it.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Have you struggled with where your place in the Body is because of this? Do you feel overlooked or asked too much depending on where you fall?

Chime in and let’s build Community!

To anyone looking in on our lives they might think that there was nothing special going on. That all of this is rather ordinary. But I beg to differ. Our life is anything but ordinary. Just look at the baby sleeping in the crib and you’ll see the extraordinary miracle of life and trust. If you could see my daughter from my viewpoint, you wouldn’t see an ordinary little girl, you’d see the amazement and wonder on a child’s face as she catches a ladybug. Just talk to my 6 year old son. He looks ordinary, but when he is praying for his baby sister to walk ‘like a normal person’, I see and hear extraordinary faith. And then there is my 3 year old. He’s just another child in some people’s book, but when his face breaks out into a smile, it’s rather unordinary, if you ask this mama.

And the love that my husband gives me, the way he puts my phone on the charger before he leaves in the morning or scribbles the word ‘beautiful’ on one of my newly printed business cards – those are extraordinary moments.

Lastly, there is nothing ordinary about the love that weaves itself through our lives, the love that is poured out on us by our extraordinary Savioir.

So, if you see us, and think about how ordinary we are, take a second look.

Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson have recently teamed up to give us a webinar series called ‘Discipleship and Discipline’. After seeing it being offered I was intrigued and quickly signed up to do a review. I wasn’t sure what I would be getting at first. I knew it would be good, but thought that it might just be some of the things that I had heard before.

The first thing that struck me is that Sally Clarkson and Sarah Mae have a heart for their children and secondly a heart for moms. They truly want to see us succeed. And, if you are struggling as a mom, this series would be a definite encouragement.

The webinar is broken up into 4 days and you can watch the sessions at your leisure. I thoroughly appreciated being able to pause the video and re-watch a section so that I could mull over what was being said.

I don’t want to give away too much of the good stuff, but this series was awesome! God really worked to help me view my children and parenting in a different light.

Two of the many things that I have taken away from the series so far have been the idea of getting to know your child, really know them, and what they need as a little person. Are they introverted, extroverted, shy, outgoing, need extra hugs? And, secondly that I need to accept them where they are. For me this means giving of my introverted self to my extroverted son. It means that I can’t expect my other son to have complete self control at the age of 3 because, well, he’s 3.

Sally said something that has burrowed into my heart, and I hope that it will for you, too. She said that once she gave herself over to the task of mothering, she fell in love with her children (not exactly a direct quote). That’s my hope for all of us, that we fall in love with our children.

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A few weeks back our family joined some friends at the pool for some Sunday morning fun. My kids hadn’t been to a pool all summer and I thought this would be a good time to get it in before the cooler temperatures of fall arrived.

Everyone was having fun jumping and splashing, just enjoying the time when my friend moved to the deep end and executed a perfect cannonball. My husband went next and they took turns while the kids lookned on. I sat with Baby V watching them.

Now I’m not the strongest swimmer, so I didn’t take too much interest in the activity. But then a thought over took me. I could either sit there for the remainder of the time watching, or I could take the risk and dive in, too. I decided to take the risk and realized that it was a lot more fun in the water than it was in the comfort of the chair.

There have been a few times in life in which I’ve felt as if I’m standing at a precipice and I have two choices. I could either take the risk and do the ‘thing’, whatever it may be, or take a step back and stay comfortable. Once again I feel as if that choice is before me. I can either stay comfortable or I can take the risk to write and build community.

For some people things like this may seem like a no brainer, but so many times the fear of failure holds me back. But not today. God’s given me a voice and I won’t let fear keep me ‘comfortable’. And I won’t let being comfortable keep me from action.

What is that ‘thing’ that you’ve been wanting to do but have been fearful to try? What is your ‘cannonball?

Write words. Write thoughts. Write nuances of life. These are the things that I have recorded since I was fourteen. Every day I sit and have recorded the thoughts that stream through my head, at first immature and then blossoming into what spills out today.

I never thought that I had anything to offer anyone. No talent such as painting, drawing, sewing. All these talents run rampant through my family tree, but they stop here at this branch. It wasn’t until this year, sometime in the spring that God whispered to me that my gift is words. And, that painting something doesn’t always mean you use brushstrokes.

So, now I write with abandon, finally finding the room to breathe. I’ve stopped trying to cram myself into someone else’s mold. The moment I donned the title ‘writer’ was the moment that I felt like I’d come home. I told a friend once when asked why, that I cannot not write. The words swirl and are forced out like life blood spilling. And that is what it is when we write – our life spilling out onto paper for others to read. My words are my love offering to you, whomever you are.

I’m joining Lisa-Jo Baker in her Five Minute Friday post for the first time. Today’s writing prompt is the word ‘True’. Five minutes starts now:

The word is ‘true’ and I wonder what that really means. Is there a tangible to this? Can I put into words, paint a picture of what is true? At the beginning of my day I read the Words of Truth from the One who lives and breathes Truth into my life, but somewhere along the day I forget and start beleiving the lies. The lies that say that I’m not enough, that the math and dishes, and the diapers, don’t matter. But then God uses His Words to whisper to the most tender places of my heart, that I am His and that is the biggest truth that I need at the moment. That the God who is love dwells in me – that is true.

I see the smiles on my children’s faces, feel the hugs and taste the kisses, and those things are true because those are driven by love. They are gifts of love from a Father who has lavished love on us. So today I will think on those things that are true. The truth of His Love and Redemption.