We’re opening the door to God-sized dreams in 2013. So every week we get together to encourage each other {because don’t we all need it? yes, ma’am.}. This week Mary Snyder is here to share about God-sized dreams with you…

You can find my friend, Mary Snyder, over at her blog,  Twitter, or Facebook. Y’all, she’s wonderful, so hop on over and visit her today!

Not sure what to do next? Start with The “Do What You Can” Plan: 21 Days to Making Any Area of Your Life Better

Want more encouragement? You’ll find it in You’re Made for a God-sized Dream: Opening the Door to All God Has for You

There has never been and will never be another you. That means the bravest thing you can do is to be who you already are. Because it’s safer to be like someone else. It’s easier to hide. It’s simpler to say, “I’m not good enough” and walk away. But we need you, friend.

We need your gifts.

We need your strengths.

We need your smile.

When you are who you’re created to be, you become a mirror of the heart of the One who made you. The enemy of your soul will try to tell you to change who you are because he would love to interfere with that reflection. Say no, my friend.

No to comparing.

No to competing.

No to copying.

Instead open your heart, spread out your wings, lift up your head and live with divine confidence. You have much to offer. You are a one-of-a-kind original. No one can ever be better than you at being you. Say yes, my friend.

Yes to boldness.

Yes to beauty.

Yes to being who God made you.

Say that “yes” with all your heart for all your life. Speak it with everything you do and all that you become. Because one of the very best ways to change the world is by refusing to change who God created you to be.

XOXO

Holley

The sink overflows with dishes. Pans and bowls lay scattered across the kitchen. The counters are covered with smudges of who-knows-what. Years ago, this would have sent me into an immediate cleaning frenzy. But tonight I turn off the light and let it go. I step into the warm summer night for a walk with my husband. I read a book on the couch for a few moments. I talk to someone I love on the phone.

When I come back the next morning, the mess is still there. But those moments that really mattered would have been gone forever.

And it turns out my worst fears weren’t realized: the health department failed to show up, a reporter neglected to take photos through my windows, and my in-laws didn’t repossess my husband.

As I stared at my slightly scandalous kitchen and thought about this I noticed the mug on the top of the dish pile. “Live fully. Love deeply. Laugh loudly.” And I nodded in agreement at those words.

I’m a person who craves order. I need simplicity and organization. I believe in keeping the dust bunnies somewhat at bay. But there are times when it matters more to make dinner for your friend who just had a baby and leave the dishes on the counter, actually answer the phone, and watch the fireflies come out with someone you love.

Because the dishes will stay but life goes by and you can never get a single day back.

So every once in awhile, just turn off the light and ignore what needs to be done. And when you come back to it, let it remind you of what’s most important in your life.

Because sometimes a mess just means we’re busy with what really matters.

XOXO

Holley

We’re opening the door to God-sized dreams in 2013. So every week we get together to encourage each other {because don’t we all need it? yes, ma’am.}. This week Stacey Thacker is here to share about God-sized dreams with you…

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From Stacey…

I don’t know about you, but I prefer God to speak loud and clear in my life. I like road signs and markers along my faith journey telling me I’m headed in the right direction. Lately, I’ve even seen His detours as blessings.  But one thing I’ve learned over the past year and a half about God’s voice, and especially as it applies to God size dreams, is sometimes they begin with a whisper.

Hope for the Weary Mom: Where God Meets You in Your Mess didn’t begin with fireworks and fanfare. It began with a whisper. I was in a place in my life where I had nothing left to give. I was a tired and worn thin mom who was fresh out of amazing. I spent a few minutes pouring out my heart to Jesus one afternoon, and after I didn’t have anything left to say about it, He whispered, “Write that. Write that post. Write what you are feeling right now.”

So, when I should have been folding laundry, I sat down and wrote the original Weary Mom post called “Steve Jobs, Me and Being Fresh out of Amazing.” It was gritty and honest and took me all of ten minutes to write.

From that simple blog post so many things have followed:

▪   a deep sisterhood with my co-author Brooke

▪   a blog series

▪   2 e-books

▪   and meeting thousands of other Weary Moms who have felt the same way

▪   God choosing to market our book and do more than we could imagine

Often, I look back on the moment God whispered, “Write it down.” What would have happened if I had passed off that nudge from Him? What if I had stuffed it all back in my heart like I had so many times before? What if I hadn’t written it down?

See, sometimes God size dreams begin with a whisper, in the place where we are poured out, and He actually has an empty space to pour Himself in.

As I look at 2013 and continuing to follow this God size dream, I’m leaning in close enough so He doesn’t have to shout and His still small voice is the only one I can hear. This will require me to be still and sit long with Him in the quiet early morning hours. It may even mean I have to listen on laundry day because apparently He likes to speak softly to me while I’m folding whites. Since I have mountains of laundry, this gives God ample time to speak to me.

:::

Q: What about you? How has God spoken to you about your God size dreams? Are they whispers, too? I’m guessing more than a few are. I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

{Stacey Thacker is wife of Mike and the mother of four vibrant girls. She is the co-author of “Hope for the Weary Mom: Where God Meets You in Your Mess.” You can find her blogging at 29 Lincoln Avenue and on Facebook and Twitter, where she usually hangs out with a cup of coffee in her hand}

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Not sure what to do next? Start with The “Do What You Can” Plan: 21 Days to Making Any Area of Your Life Better

Want more encouragement? You’ll find it in You’re Made for a God-sized Dream: Opening the Door to All God Has for You

photo by ashleigh290

I’ve mentioned a few times that I have a Cyber Sabbath. In other words, I unplug for twenty four hours each week. I often get asked, “What does that look like exactly?” so I thought I’d share a bit more about that in a post.

First, the backstory. I found myself getting exhausted by social media. Even though I loved connecting with people, over time my life just began to seem louder and louder. And social media never sleeps. Never stops. So I started feeling as if I couldn’t either. It seemed as if I stepped away from my screen then surely I would miss something vital…

Will you come read the rest with me over at (in)courage…

P.S. Just a reminder friends,  if you live in the Grand Rapids area, I’d love to have coffee with you in person on Thursday the 13th. Click here for more details.

…it’s time to make coffee.

Happy weekend, friend!

P.S. If you live in the Grand Rapids area, I’d love to have coffee with you in person on Thursday the 13th”

photo by ewan traveler

Summer speaks to us in different ways than other seasons. She says to us, “Pause, savor, feel warmth on your skin.” It’s easy to miss her. She’s quiet, you know. She whispers from the bright red of strawberries that kiss your lips when you taste them. She beckons from waves that stretch out along the shore like a welcoming party. She calls your name through fireflies that invite you to dance in the early dark.

She’s God’s gift to us. A reminder of fullness and grace, rest and beauty, sweetness and abundance.

Will you take a few moments to listen to her with me today? I overlook her almost every year. Then I find myself at the end of September wondering how I missed all the wonder.

Step outside or glance out your window for a moment–just a moment–and look up at the sky. Feel the sun brush your skin, see the flowers dressed up in swimsuit colors, wave hello to a newly hatched robin taking her first hop across the lawn.

Each one is a miracle, ours for the enjoying.

Like strawberries on the vine.

XOXO

Holley

p.s. Are you in the Grand Rapids area? If so, I’d love to have coffee with you in person next Thursday! All the details are here.

photo by davedehetre

We’re opening the door to God-sized dreams in 2013. So every week we get together to encourage each other {because don’t we all need it? yes, ma’am.}. This week Kristi Griem is here to share about God-sized dreams with you…

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From Kristi:

I stood, looking out over the swollen Ganges river. The rains had been so hard, the river was past overflowing the banks, taking out homes and businesses on the river bank edges. One business the raging river had not taken out completely was the local brothel. We had woven through the brothel on bamboo-lashed narrow walkways, seeing children playing under their mother’s beds, women washing clothes, and men coming out of room after room, before and behind us.

My God-sized dream?

That the 10,000+ women in Calcutta, India would be freed from the sex trade. That the 300 women I walked by in Berampore that day, would be in sewing rooms, working in dignity, with their heads held high.

The one thing I have learned (and am still learning) about God-sized dreams is that He is and does immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine. In the midst of the horror and hopelessness that was the brothel, I saw Him. I saw Hope. God is in the business of doing more than we can ask or imagine. He is interested in YOU, my friend. He wants to accomplish in you, more than you can ask or imagine. He wants to work through you, more than you could ask or imagine. And He wants to do more…more than you can ask or imagine.

You may be suffering more than any woman should suffer.It may be abuse, singleness, child-lessness, divorce, loneliness, a broken heart.

One thing I know-He is in the business of doing more than you could ask or imagine. He restores hope to the hopeless. He turns hard hearts of stone, to flesh. Where ever you are, what ever type of captivity you find yourself in today, this I know: HE loves YOU. He cares for YOU, and nothing, nothing goes unnoticed by Him.

I walk through the streets of Songacchi (the largest red-light district in Calcutta), and see women with no hope, no life left in their eyes. I walk through the grocery store here, in the US, and see the same hollowness. While I am still learning how more MORE He is able to do, and still find myself in awe of all He IS doing, I believe that He wants to do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine in your life,today. If that means restoring a relationship, healing your heart, or any other circumstance you find yourself trapped in, He wants to do more than you can ask for. The women in Berampore didn’t ask to be there. It was not their choice. They were tricked, trapped, or traded in the sex trade.

I am asking that He would do immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine, that those women-and you-would know the Hope of the future He has for you. Did you know He has plans for you? He has plans to prosper you, not harm you. And all of this will be more than you can ask or imagine.

What I know about God-sized dreams is that there is no limit. There is no limit to what God can do, what He can accomplish, and the no limit to power He has through His children. {That’s YOU!}

Join me in helping to give women jobs with dignity, out of the sex trade. Become a part of the freedom story. Every Freeset product purchased helps employ a women out of the sex trade, so she can have a job with dignity, making products…no longer being the product.

Kristi Griem  is the president of Freeset (USA) and is honored to be a part of the Freeset freedom story. She is passionate about freedom, justice, sustainability, and all God has planned for you. Kristi makes her home in Alabama with her husband and two children.

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Not sure what to do next? Start with The “Do What You Can” Plan: 21 Days to Making Any Area of Your Life Better

Want more encouragement? You’ll find it in You’re Made for a God-sized Dream: Opening the Door to All God Has for You

I’m home from our trip to California! {Mark & I}

We step across rocks the color of midnight and sand that seeps between our toes. Every few minutes my beautiful friend Dee pauses and points, “Look there’s a starfish!” or “I see a crab!”

I stare into the tide pools to discover a world all its own. Starfish the colors of sunset. Sea anemones opening up to wave their tiny fingers as if saying hello. Hermit crabs scuttling across the ocean floor on missions known only to them.

All of this exists all the time.

But we only see it at low tide.

I think of low tide times in my life–moments when it seemed the waves of joy were swept out to sea. I felt exposed, vulnerable, as if everyone could peer inside my heart and see exactly what was there. And I always assumed it was not beautiful.

But what if that isn’t true at all? What if in the moments of “low tide” in our lives God’s hidden work becomes most visible in us?

Dare to let someone look into your heart and see hope stretching out like starfish, sticky sides refusing to let go or give up.

Dare to let someone watch the closed spaces within you open in new ways that make everyone around you braver too–even if they never say so.

Dare to let someone catch a glimpse of your mission in this world and how small, awkward steps can lead to big, glorious things.

Yes, of course we want our hearts to stay hidden. We don’t like feeling exposed. We’re human, after all. But that is not how we live. We’re meant for a rhythm–a going out and coming in, filling and emptying, low and high tide. Joy and sorrow.

Hours later I stand at the edge of the beach and watch the waves crash. The space where I walked earlier has become invisible. But I know it’s there. When I close my eyes I can still picture it. It changes how I think of the ocean. It changes how I think of myself.

Don’t be afraid of low tide, my friend. It will not last forever. And the parts of your heart you’re afraid of having others see are more beautiful and full of wild grace than you can even imagine. While you sometimes wonder if you’re doing okay, the world just might be watching in wonder.

XOXO

Holley

p.s. Friends don’t let friends miss great deals like this: You’re Made for a God-sized Dream is 50% off at LifeWay for this week only. Woo-hoo! It would be a great summer read or fall study for you or a group. I’d love for my words to get to hang out with you and your peeps.

We’re opening the door to God-sized dreams in 2013. So every week we get together to encourage each other {because don’t we all need it? yes, ma’am.}. This week Courtney DeFeo is here to share about God-sized dreams with you…

I was in New York City with my sister and my mom when it happened.

I was a grown woman with a job. A retired high-school dancer with mediocre talent. However, the emotions almost took my breath away.

When these ladies took the stage and began the show, I was captured. I wanted to literally leap on the stage. I remember the years I danced (probably 10+ years ago by that point). I literally felt like I was watching a dream of mine dance across the stage that could never be mine.

I watched the show through hidden tears, pure joy and secret regrets.

I remember this similar pain another time when my dream to be a manager in the Chick-fil-A Marketing department came to a crashing halt with childbirth.

I LOVED my job. I loved brainstorming. I loved the cows, the people, the company, the free food, the leadership training, the Godly environment and the personal growth. My personal dream to be successful in my career met up with another personal dream to be a mother. I had to follow God and what He laid on my heart and I quit my job. It felt like my arm fell off.

After I had my two girls, I was restless. I wasn’t in search of money or a job or something to do. I wasn’t bored. I just knew that God had given me some gifts and talents and I didn’t want to waste them. I wanted to use everything he put in my brain for others. For HIM! I wanted share what I knew, influence others for good, empower moms and light up little lives. I wanted more for my kids than what was out there and I knew I was capable of making it happen.

God thrilled my heart when he whispered this: you didn’t throw away Chick-fil-A that job. I am about to use it – all of it.

And, he did. In March 2011 (my girls were 2 and 4), it became so clear what I would do – I swiped, with permission, my husband’s bonus. I bought the site (LilLightOMine.com, now CourtneyDeFeo.com), had logo designed, trademarked the name, began product development and hired a web agency.

In October 2011, just 7 months later, I went live with two products (ABC Scripture Cards and My Lil Money Jars) and a Facebook page. It has been a year+ of insanity, bumps, and dependence on the Lord. I have endured tears, support, silence, insecurities, mistakes and prayer. I have also enjoyed crazy unexpected blessings like Lysa TerKeurst blog post and Sandra Stanley guest post, ABC Scripture Cards on The View and Light ‘Em Up idea reaching 70K this year! God has continued to remind me He is in this.

Things I NEVER dreamed to be:

Floridian, mission trip person, author, speaker, Jesus freak, blogger

Things I DID dream to be:

Rockette, marketing executive, guest on Oprah, mom, wife, leader

As I look at that, I giggle. Then, I realize it was a “before God” and “after God” list.

At this stage in my lie, I am not interested in pursuing any dream (big or small) unless it is from Him or for Him? You too?

I often think of the unexpected blessings I have received because I said YES! I get to be a part of His story. He let me be a part of getting His word into thousands of homes this past year. He allowed me to receive heartfelt, raw emails from mothers needing a friend and some guidance. He let me hear from countless women how they have grown spiritually because of Lil Light O’ Mine.

Oh, it is worth it!

I’ll take the comfy couch for blogging over the glamorous lights of the Rockettes ANYTIME … for the gift of being on the front row of God’s will for my life.

No matter the dream, I know this.

It won’t be perfect, smooth or easy – but it will be worth it. He will knock your socks off when He says YES and you say YES. Together you can work His plan that was created before you were ever born.

“The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.” Psalm 139:16 The Message

About the Author: Courtney DeFeo is the fun mom who believes our kids can light up the world. She is the author of popular mom blog Lil Light O’ Mine at courtneydefeo.com which seeks to “empower moms and change little lives through innovation in the home.” She is also the creator of ABC Scripture Cards and Light ‘Em Up through Lil Light O’ Mine. She is passionately pouring out her gifts of creativity and innovation on moms all over the country. She is the proud wife of a servant-spirited dad and is mom to two skipping girls, ages 3 and 5.

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Now it’s your turn!

We’ve been walking the path of God-sized dreams together for a few months now. Will you share an update with us about your dream? Let us know where you are with it–the happy and the hard. Tell us how we can pray for you and your dream too. Share that in a post and link up

So we can all find each other, please include this God-sized Dreams button in your post. Also, love on your fellow God-sized dreamin’ sisters by leaving a comment on the post before yours.

Summer is here and we’re going to take a break from the God-sized dreams link-up. We will still have fabulous guest posts every Tuesday so be sure to keep coming by! Go out and enjoy your life, friends. Everything will unfold in God’s perfect timing. I’m heading to California to see my friend and God-sized Dreaming sister Dee Kasberger and will be taking a few days off from the blog and all things digital. Looking forward to connecting with you when I’m home again! XO

Not sure what to do next? Start with The “Do What You Can” Plan: 21 Days to Making Any Area of Your Life Better

Want more encouragement? You’ll find it in You’re Made for a God-sized Dream: Opening the Door to All God Has for You