We are on snow day #13!…I think-?  Everyone knows I love myself time with my babies all warm and snuggled together in the shelter of our home.  But just as many here have experienced it hasn’t been always been warm going for days without electricity.  Plans have been cancelled, postponed, rescheduled and cancelled again causing the Martha in me to surrender and the Mary to embrace flexibility.  Children have been stuck inside with ‘nothing’ to do giving them great opportunities to curl up with a good book, pull out decks of cards to play Peanuts, and experience what life is like without indoor plumbing.  All in all, it’s been a good stretch of our faith to see God provide in ways big and small.  It has given us a new perspective of gratitude for the everyday grace we take for granted in what seems like a continuous snow storm that rears its icy head just as everything seems to get back to routine.

This blustery wintery season takes me back a few years.  I had earnestly prayed for the Lord to speak to me about what my purpose is.  Many leaders in our church at that time had been led by the Lord through dreams.  So I asked the Lord to do that for me.  One night after not sleeping well due to my health I prayed that the Lord would show me what my purpose is through a dream.  That night I had a vivid dream that I was journeying through a snow storm on foot with several women.  I could feel the bitter cold walking against the wind and snow.  Some of their faces I could see…and others I couldn’t.  I was encouraging them that we WOULD make it to our destination.  God WOULD get us there!  When we were almost there, I was having trouble and struggling through the deep, deep snow and pushing against the icy wind.  With these short legs, it’s no wonder…and no…I wasn’t wearing heels!  😉  Just as I was about to give way to the wind, the ladies all rallied with me and encouraged me not to give up so we could reach the finish line!  We made it through the storm and celebrated together at our warm destination!  I awoke with joy for I had found my purpose.

I am here to journey with women through the storms of life.  I am here to share what God has done in my life to help them.  I am here to serve.  I am here to worship.  I am here to give.  I am here to love.  In that, I am blessed.  In that, I am encouraged.  There are seasons that they bless me.  There are many days that they serve me and God uses them to get me through.  It is a beautiful and awesome privilege.  It happens in the everyday.  In ways big and small….earnestly praying and interceding for my sisters in Christ…dropping off a Starbucks to a tired mama or meeting someone for tea….meeting one-on-one or in groups…hosting a bible study in our home or simply praying with someone the driveway…helping lead worship for hundreds or sharing a verse with a friend who needs to hear God’s voice.  I love every minute…because it’s why I’m here.

This is a direct result of women pouring into me…from the time I was a little girl and continues now!   I’ve been speaking in the past and looked out to see the beautiful woman I was referring to from 25 years ago unexpectedly in the audience just smiling away!  So many women have served the Lord the way He asked them to and from teaching Sunday school to texting a shout out to see how I’m doing.  Again…it’s in the everyday that these relationships help form who we are and how we’re navigating this thing called life.  I am so grateful, thank you, Lord for these countless women who have given so much so that God could accomplish His purpose.

In a few weeks a committee that I am a part of is hosting a Women’s Event called Flourish.  It is an event that is focusing on just this…living out the beauty of the gospel together.  I am so passionate about this because it’s part of why I’m here!  If you’re searching for what you’re supposed to be doing, or why you’re here, or why God is asking you to walk through a particular storm…maybe this could be a spark to seek His purpose?

I don’t know what storm that you are facing, friend.  Maybe it’s continuous and starts back up just as it seems to calm down.  Maybe you feel stuck, unable to move or do anything.  Maybe your comfort and protection has been stripped away.  Perhaps all your plans keep falling through.  But please know, there is a Shelter.  I know because I am no stranger to the storm…I’ve been there…I’m still there.  Sometimes Jesus calms it, and sometimes He takes us safely through to the other side.  Be sure, even the wind and waves know His Name.  And if you need a friend to walk alongside, please know I’m here!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.  And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.  2 Corinthians 1:3-7