Sometimes you receive an email and almost delete it because, spam, obviously.
But then you decide to get a little risky and you open it to find it’s the real deal, legit and 100% meant for you – without all the “Please can you send one million trillion dollars because I’m stuck and you’re my last hope and I’ll pay you back if we ever meet” promises.
Oh, those jokesters.
And so maybe you open the email only to find that you’ve been asked to accept the honor of Alabama Woman Blogger of the Month.
And then maybe you think sentences with lots of exclamation marks in your head like This can’t be for real!!! Better check again!!! Oh my goodness it’s legitimate!!! Wait, now what do I do and what do I say and all these words have disappeared from any language I may have known at some point!!!
And then you write back and accept the honor because OF COURSE and then you think the words will come.
And then they do.
For the month of February, I’ll be posting each Monday over here, sharing His words for His girls with some absolutely fantastic Alabama women bloggers.
Whether you live in Alabama, the beautiful, or not – click over and join us.
Because as only He would have it, the theme this month is using your voice to change the world. COME ON. I can’t even contain myself. Because right up there at the top for five years now, these four words:
It just takes one.
That’s you, girl. And me. And Alabama girls and moms and college students and everyone in between.
So I’m here. Writing about your one voice, one life, one story and the million little opportunities to shape the world around you.
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I get it. It can be scary. Because there are broken places and worn out spaces and maybe you’ve been waiting for years and you’re losing hope. Maybe you’ve given everything you have but when you look around there’s no one there. Maybe you’ve been mended but all you see now are the cracks.
I’m going to ask you to risk.
I’m going to ask you to share.
I’m going to ask you to speak.
I have been the one on the ground, weeping and broken and sure that I could never believe in love or trust again. I have waited for years and hoped against hope only to show up once again just to find I’m still stuck in the same ‘ol chapter.
I have been there.
But in these broken places, this holey mess has become a holy offering as He pours Himself in.The cracks allow Him to pour right out.
The pain of my community walking away cut so deep I promised myself I would never trust again, but He uses good community to heal us from bad community.
Year 17 brought with it a scar on the back of my head from brain surgery, but year 20 brought the realization that scars are signs of survival and they are beautiful. My story isn’t perfect and sometimes it would be easier to stay quiet, but something inside me pokes around and whispers “they need to hear.”
Don’t you feel it, too?
Click here to continue reading.
