 About two years ago God did something crazy with our family.
My husband and I decided to step out of working in full time ministry and move into our RV. We were walking by faith and living completely open-handed before God. It was a WILD season where we thought we were moving and upending our entire life for God to only lead us right back to the community we were already serving. Into our open hands fell a non-profit called Twelve. It's a mentor-based organization that partners with local schools and coaches in Fort Mill to help student athletes understand the message that "who you are > what you do." It's incredible. Weekly, I get to watch my husband rally mentors and pour into students. My kids retrieve balls at baseball and cheer on the Fort Mill Yellowjackets during football season. I get to sit behind the scenes to run social media and write all the things. Our whole family is involved in this project of investing into students lives and we get to watch them grow into incredible young adults. So, today I want to pull back the curtain on that side of my work life as a nonprofit owner and share with you a writing I just did for Twelve, geared toward our #SpringSwingforXII campaign. You ready to here "Why We Should Swing for Hope Over Hype"? Let's go...
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 I am going to be honest. The beginning of 2023 has been hard for me. I decided to
leave my full-time job at the end of 2022. For many different reasons, it was time for me to step away from that role. One of those reasons is that I have decided to pursue music in a fuller capacity. Honestly, it is scary but I feel like it has been something God is prompting me to do. If you ask me what that looks like, I will give you the same answer I have been telling everyone who asks…I don’t know yet. I have some ideas and hopes for what it could look like. The main goal is to glorify God with whatever I create and hope that whoever listens is reminded of who God is and who they are in Him, but I have no concrete plans yet. I am still figuring it out…waiting, planning, and dreaming. It is very difficult for me to write and share this. Here's why...  Dear Sister,
Truth Moment: sisterhood can be messy! I had a little sister for 40 years. And boy, could we fight. Like knock-down-drag-out, stop touching my stuff, no you can’t go with me to the mall - FIGHT! But no one could wedge a fight between us. We were sisters! She was also the person that knew me better than a lot of other people. She knew my hopes and my dreams. She knew when I was hurting and when I was winning. She knew I was having twins before I did. And was there to support me when life got heavy. She was my sister. My sister passed on December 23, 2022, and even though we lived across the country from each other, her departure has given a different weight to the term sisterhood. So, what does sisterhood really mean...?  I recently was part of a relationship night where people submitted questions for me and
one of my friends to answer. We got this question that I ended up thinking about a lot. When I first read it, it seemed like the answer was obvious, but the more I thought about it and how I was going to answer, the deeper the answer seemed to become. This was the question….  So often I am completely stilled that the God of the universe would answer my greatest and deepest desire with the story that he has.
From as early as I can remember, I have always dreamed of being a mom. As the oldest of four children, I always felt like I was my siblings' second momma. When I was little and someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always “a mom”, or “I want to work with orphans and love them as my own.” It's funny how God plants those little seeds in our hearts from the youngest of ages. However, God's timeline was different from mine, but gracious. It was perfect. The miracles he has worked in my life have drawn me closer to him in ways that I never imagined possible. He took that desire to care for orphans and children and made it my story through adoption. So, THIS is my story and my greatest heart’s desire is to use all for His glory…  What if we've missed the true point and focus of boundaries?
As Christians, or even those of us who just want to be "a good, moral person", we like to put boundaries on everything, right? Don’t watch R-rated movies… Don’t log on to this website… Don’t hang out with those people… Your clothing needs to at least cover this much… we can only spend x amount of time on social media. We could keep going and going and going. We love to ask, “What?” What’s the boundary? What’s the furthest I can I go? What’s the line between good and bad? We’re really focused on WHAT IS THE LINE??! Typically we stop there. But, when a Biblical boundary line is drawn, God never gives a WHAT without a WHY. Here's what I mean…  You are so blessed. Do you know that?
In case you don’t know quite how blessed you are, let me shoot you some statistics:
But, sometimes we forget, right? We’re surrounded by all this stuff all the time and we start to take it for granted. Or worse, we start to speak a word of ownership over all of these things that simply isn’t true. Do you know what that word is?  The New Year. A clean slate. A fresh start. I am always so inspired as I take down my Christmas decorations, clear out the clutter and get ready for a reset in my life. I like to open up a fresh new calendar with endless possibilities wondering what God will bring into this new year.
Walking into a new year can be equally exciting and terrifying. What will you have to walk through? What will God use to teach you? What blessings will be coming? What hardships are awaiting me?  The new year is sneaking up on us and, if we're honest, we don’t have it together. So, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to offer some ideas on how to walk out the next year with intentionality in a very corny way. BUT, I’ll bet we remember it! Ready?
Let’s start here with this Bible verse: “The Lord your God wins victory after victory and is always with you. He celebrates and sings because of you, and he will refresh your life with his love.” -Zephaniah 3:17 (CEV)¹ The context of this verse is God rejoicing over the restoration of His people. We are now grafted into the family of God because of Jesus. When we turn toward Him, I imagine He celebrates over us like He did over Israel. We bring Him so much joy that He sings! He will “refresh your life with his love.” So, let’s discover how to live with intentionality in the upcoming year using REFRESH as an acronym. Ready?  This is an excerpt from "This Will Be a Sign to You" , December 18.
“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” -Colossians 1:16-17, NIV God isn’t Santa, He’s sovereign. But, we like to imagine Him as Santa. We desperately seek happiness and fulfillment. So, when something seems bad or a negative emotion arises, we try to run from it. Basically, the rule is this: If it’s bad it’s Satan. If it’s good it’s God/Santa. The reality is that bad things can happen and God can still be working them out for our good... |
