What if you believed it? What if you really truly, way down deep in your soul, believed that your story mattered?
What if you lived in such a way that created space, opening the door wide for conversations and community?
It’s as easy as beginning with three simple words: what’s your story?
You don’t have to be a story-teller to tell your story well. You just have to be willing.
When I fell in love with the word ‘story’ last summer, God began to teach me that to keep our stories to ourselves is to deny Him glory. Suddenly I was sharing that there is power in your story. Within days I began asking near-strangers on coffee dates and the first words to tumble out of my mouth were “So, what’s your story?
I got a few blank stares and a couple “umm, what exactly do you mean?” mumblings, but I would quietly offer to share first and before we knew it, the coffee was cold and our hearts were knit together.
I’m convinced nothing binds hearts together as quickly as story.
This past weekend you gathered with friends and strangers alike, opening the doors to your home and to your heart, and inviting women in.
You risked brave and shared your story and found community. You did it.
You discovered that building bridges instead of walls is risky, but it is worth it.
And this past weekend? That’s exactly what you did. You decorated and prepared yummy foods, all so that women would feel at home. You clicked play and then pressed pause so that you could share in real life – because that’s what it’s really about.
We’ve gathered some of your sweet words from this past weekend and have been reminded all over again – our stories aren’t really all too different, but each one is important.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful hearts and stories with us this weekend! Thank you for trusting community one more time. Thank you for choosing to step out brave and believe that community happens when we lay down the stones and offer empty hands to hold.
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All of these words, my own, up on (in)courage… and I sat and read the comments and looked at the pictures of all the faces and was struck that this – this is online community. And this is real life community. And this is the holy but ordinary in between.
It can be done. The broken beautiful can find community again.
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