I have been abundantly blessed in life by a crew of really wonderful, godly and challenging women. Although no longer geographically close as a result of many sweet life adventures, we do attempt on a semi-regular basis to remain close, even if we have to settle for email. The way these women have impacted my life is truly amazing and I learn so much from them with every. single. interaction. They make me a more grounded and godly woman, a better mama and a hopefully a sweeter friend! Thanks for the reminders and encouragement lovely ladies!
I sent them an email right after I found out that I was going to Making Things Happen! first to share my excitement, but more importantly to ask for prayers. I am convinced that big things are about to happen...cheers to being a little bit better each day and a high five to the ones who pave the way and hold your feet to the fire!
Hi Lovelies,
Just thought I'd send a little random Monday afternoon love and life update and prayer request. Life at the Stoks house is good...very very busy, but good and sometimes a little stressful.
Before I continue with the prayer requests, have any of you every heard of Lara Casey? She's a blogger/wedding magazine editor/speaker/Jesus lover, mama wife and encourager, and I stumbled upon her blog a few months ago and her daily encouragement and open and honest dialogue about her faith and where she is at are seriously amazing. Her story is so inspiring. So inspiring that I had this insane idea to write a grant proposal for funding to attend her conference. I figured her material could be shared and inspiring for middle schoolers and staff. (honesty check...I actually wrote it because I really needed some sort of inspiration and emotional recharge or I was convinced I'd be dead by the time June rolled around) anyways, I GOT THE GRANT! God is so good!!! and I'm super excited! Amazingly, I have gained the support of not only by building professional development committee and principal, but the district as well. So, I get to go on a little trip (all by myself) to North Carolina to attend the conference. Anyway, I'm not sure what it is, maybe her red hair that I'm identifying with, or the fact that from a million crazy ideas, but I have found myself drawn and daily encouraged by her writing and work. Soooo...I am hoping to get excited and have a little soul/spiritual recharge when I go to North Carolina. I'm attending the conference in Chapel Hill, March 12-15th. In a nutshell, I feel like God has really been working on and preparing my heart for what I'm about to hear and the ways I want to change how I'm spending my time. I would greatly appreciate prayers as I go through this process, I have no doubt that God has big plans for me, I just can't put my finger on what those are exactly (seriously I'm still working on that patience and trust thing!), all I know is that at this point I really want to be more creative, spend my time working with and for people who fill me up instead of drain me and I want to share and encourage. Pretty broad right? This is scary for me to think about, and really scary to contemplate leaving something I know and that is comfortable and pays the bills, but I'm exhausted and burned out and feel my heart has been stirred to make big changes. So, I'm trying really hard to not buy into the fear and paralysis that happen with contentment or status quo, and instead, I'm going to trust God because he can make pretty amazing things happen! So that's all, just a random email for a Monday afternoon, but if you think of it and want to send a few extra prayers for me to be brave and to trust and have a little clarity I'd LOVE it!
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
A
P.S. We're coming to visit, March 22-26th! Can I please see you then, I'll be fresh off this conference and hopefully super excited about big and new things!
Excited and grateful! Thanks for stopping by!
xo-
A
No comments:
Post a Comment