I Love To Tell The Story

I kissed Jon good bye and slowly rode the escalator up to security.  The butterflies in my stomach were about too much to handle.  I was leaving all by myself to the She Speaks Conference - to say I was a little nervous might have been an understatement.  I knew that God had ordained this trip from the very beginning - every thing fell into place perfectly.  It just wasn't in God's plan for anyone to go with me.  I knew it was the best plan but it still didn't calm my nerves that early Thursday morning.

I made it to security - took off my shoes, unloaded my quart size bag of liquids, put my bag on the conveyor belt and made my way through when I noticed my bag was pushed off to the side.  The following conversation happened with The TSA guy and myself.

"Ma'am is that your bag?"

"Yes."

"Do you have anything sharp in your bag?"

"Yes, my razor."

Then he reaches into my bag - grabs any item I had packed and pulls it out. He then proceeds to swab it with some little wet wipe and scan it again.

He says, "ma'am we are all about shapes and colors. For all I know this could be a bomb. What is this?"

I tried my hardest not to laugh too hard when I answered him,  "it's a strapless bra!"

After my response he smiled and put it back into my bag and wished me a good trip!

Right then I knew God was telling me to lighten up, relax, that He had everything taken care of.  I just needed to sit back and buckle up because we were going to go on one amazing ride (and he wasn't talking about the airplane)!

Throughout the three days I was in North Carolina God continued to place me exactly where He wanted me. I was always a little nervous before each session and mealtime. Who would I sit by? Would we have much to talk about?  And EVERY single time God showed up and introduced me to some of the most amazing women with incredible stories. I loved listening to them share their hearts. Several of them were meeting with publishers to share their book ideas. It was so exciting to hear and feel the passion they have for the story God had given them. Some were dealing with health issues. Others had gut wrenching loss. While others had ideas on devotionals or books to share life with your kids. The list could go on and on. 

So why am I telling you all of this? It opened my eyes that we all have a story to share. So many times we hear other people's stories and think wow, I have nothing to offer. My life isn't like that. What could I possibly do to encourage someone on their faith walk? But let me tell you something. You DO!  I often refer to our life as a book and within that book we have many chapters. So maybe you share your whole life story and the ways you knew God walked with you in all of it.  Or it might be one of the chapters in your life story - job changes, the devastating loss of a loved one, physical or drug abuse, your marriage, lessons you've learned in parenting or even your walk with Jesus, the list goes on and on.  We all have something to share to help and encourage others on their walk. Isn't that what Jesus does for us during our hard times and yuck in our life? 

 In 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 Paul talks about this very thing. It says,
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the father who is full of mercy,  the God of all comfort.  He comforts us every time we have trouble so that when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us. We share in the many sufferings of Christ.  In the same way, much comfort comes to us through Christ."

We are meant to walk along side others who are going through the same struggles we've had. If we always kept our stories to ourselves and make it seem or look like we have it all together how can we ever help someone with the very same things we struggled with. Since we lost TJ, Jon and I have a special place in our hearts for those parents who have lost a child. Our stories may not be the same but we all became part of a club that nobody wants to join. We can empathize with them and walk along side them in their grief journey.  It's not easy but what a blessing it is to have those intimate conversations.  Until you experience it yourself - you can't say to someone I know how you feel - because you don't.  You can try really hard to be a good friend and empathize with whatever struggles they are dealing with but the truth is you don't know.  That's why we have to step up and comfort those we do have same experiences with.  We walk along side them and share life.  There is power in that.

So I encourage you - share your story - whatever it is and no matter how ugly you may think it is.  You just never know when you might be the one encouraging another on their faith walk.