I would never be celebrating FIVE years in business with out the help of some significant people in my life. This has been a bigger adventure than I ever dreamed. I didn’t know what an entrepreneur was, let alone how to spell it. I for sure didn’t know what it would take to make this work.
I’ve never been a ‘lone ranger’. I need people to brainstorm with, challenge my thinking, encourage my emotional outbursts, and keep me going when I feel like stopping.
FIVE people I am grateful for:
Before this weekend, I would have told you:
But after the weekend at the first ever TRIBEWRITER’s Conference, (hence #tribeconf) I came to own I have been on this journey of writing most of my life.
Jeff Goins, founder and host of the TribeWriter Conference, (Superman in another life) spoke directly to me (though he doesn’t know it) on the very first session.
He challenged us to:
While the weekend was full of excellent speakers with very practical resources and action steps for us, I probably could have left after the first speaker and felt like I got what I needed.
I have struggled ever since Leisha died feeling like I need to write to finish her book, but have been in a battle to rediscover who I am really not just as a writer, but as a woman. All I thought about myself had been put into question when my daughter died. I blogged a bit about this during the weekend. You can catch it here.
But Ally Vesterfelt, of Author Launch really spoke to this as she shared her father’s story as he was near death. As a clinical psychologist and marriage counselor, he had worked with all kinds of people. But his first article as he fought to live was “Dying is easy, Life is hard to do!” Yes it is! I can attest to that! I never considered that Leisha had the easy road in dying. The rest of us had to fight to live.
Ally was just getting started with her challenge to me. Her next thoughts made me know I was going the right direction.
Wow! For her to speak directly to the battle I mentioned earlier means she is familiar with the pain of it. I have been there for the last 9 years. Finding my voice by finding myself. I can identify that it must be truth, it will be raw, and it must feel real or it feels disingenuous to the process of healing.
“More than likely you will find your voice on a path you least wanted to go down. Sometimes the sufferings, not the healings, are the source of greatest transformation of our life.”
She was right! I knew she was!
I was being changed through the sufferings. I didn’t want to suffer. I tried to avoid the suffering, but I knew it when I embraced the ache and walked into the darkness that the greatest transformation occurred.
As I work to finish Leisha’s book, I reconnect with many layers of grief in order to share what I have learned from the last 9 years. That has been part of the mess I have felt recently. But I wouldn’t change the process. I am much more aware of who I am and what I was meant to say!
I understand that I must find my own voice before I can truly help someone else find theirs. While I hope that the book will be used to change one person’s life in an effort to change the world, I know that writing this book has and is changing me.
The story I’m getting ready to present to the world in a few months has been in process for most of my life.
I’m a writer! I have been a writer! I need to write if just to change me!
How’s your story coming?
P.S. Thanks Jeff Goins! For letting go, embracing the mess and becoming a more true version of yourself. You have modeled for me and given me courage to do that same.
Thank you Ally Vesterfelt! For sharing out of the raw, real, truth of your own story. I am one who is changed because of it.
Just because I didn’t write life lessons from all the other speakers doesn’t mean I couldn’t have. I am still just processing the first one. Thanks to all of you for your time, availability and genuine support.
I’m already signed up for TribeWriter 2016. Join me?
Today I’m sitting in a booth at Panera people watching mostly. I had visions of writing- a blog, a chapter, even an email, but I’m just not into it. I’m tired! Discouraged! Weary! Yet I’m not!
Do you ever have those days? When you feel like you can’t do the next thing even though you are excited about it. You even like what you are doing!
A college team of girls and their coaches came in for dinner. I didn’t ask if it was volley ball or basketball, but immediately the space around me was filled with conversation.
As I sat watching I reflected back on my own journey.
When you are young, you don’t think about life ending. You are young! You expect to have all of life ahead of you! You live and dream and plan as if there is nothing stopping you.
When you are in your 20’s, you get a job or marriage that keeps you focused. The job wasn’t what you thought it would be- but hey, it’s a job. You marriage isn’t the fairy tale you dreamed it would be, but hey you are in love. You still have the energy and the stamina to tackle anything in your way, so you keep on with determination.
You hit your 30’s and 40’s and suddenly thing gets harder. You get the promotion you thought you wanted and the family you always dreamed of. Now you have trouble remembering what your dream is because somewhere, someone else is telling you what to do. Your boss, the needs of your kids, the bills that must be paid. You can’t imagine what it would look like to stop what you are doing- if you drop one ball the whole thing will be crashing in on you. So you keep going!
You turn 50! You either lost your passion for The job you had or you got laid off. Now you are starting over again. The kids are going to or finishing college, you are prompted to remember the dreams you had when you were their age. You long for that ability to face the future with such vibrancy and freedom.
i’m not sure about the next 60’s on up. I’m not there…yet!
But what happens if at any point along the way- life would end unexpectedly. What if you die? at 94, or 68, or 27, 15 or maybe 8? Continue reading Life’s Too Short!
JoAnn Fore, the HOPE Coach, challenged me this week to share a porch story. You know! Those times you develop a listening ear and something beautiful comes from your time in the quiet.
The porch I imagined as I read the challenge was the large front porch at a favorite bed & breakfast we love to go to in Holmes County, Ohio. I have sat on that porch and I have met God there. I have wept there, pleaded and cried there. I have celebrated, dreamed and worshipped on that porch.
But we don’t have a porch like that at our house.
Yet often this summer, I have heard the invitation to “come to the tree!”
The big old tree in it front yard is one of my favorite places to sit. Not only do the branches stretch long to provide shade and protection, but at the base of the tree is a wide, porch like bench built by a friend who has a spiritual gift of service. Out on one limb hangs a swing that reminds me of the precious moments our girls used to spend here. Every thing about this spot says “sweet”!
But today, I went out with Lisa Terkuerst’s book, The Best Yes. I had just sat down to read and was struck with these words.
If we want the Lord’s direction for our decisions, the great cravings of our soul must not only be the big moments ofassignment. They must also be seemingly small instructions in the most ordinary of moments when God points his finger and says, Go there. In doing that, we are companions of God with eyes and ears more open, more about, more in time with Him.
I barely read those words when I sensed I was being eaten alive by the swarm of mosquitoes that we have been blessed with because of the intense rains we have had this spring. I was forced to go inside.
To be perfectly honest, I was a little miffed that I had intentionally set time aside to read, listen, & worship out at my sweet spot and the Lord had seen it unnecessary to call off the insect population. ( I know, it sounded foolish as I wrote it too!)
Now I had to go in the house where I was surrounded by a myriad of duties that needed to be performed; dishes to be washed, table to be cleared of clutter, bills to be paid, shelves to be dusted, etc., etc., etc.!
I
sat in my front room looking at my sweet spot from the window. The place I knew God called me to often. The place I could often hear him best, when I finally quit making lists in my head and let Him quiet my heart.
Once again I had to sit inside and not be free to do the important heart work God called me to!
Then I read Lisa’s paragraph again.
If we want the Lord’s direction for our decisions, the great cravings of our soul must not only be the big moments ofassignment. They must also be seemingly small instructions in the most ordinary of moments when God points his finger and says, Go there. In doing that, we are companions of God with eyes and ears more open, more about, more in time with Him.
God had brought me into the middle of my ordinary moments, to see that even here he is present with me. In the middle of the laundry, the dusting and the bills, He is teaching me once again, He is part of these things too!
So now I’m off to worship as I prepare supper for my “working hard all week” hubby who just called to say he’s on his way home.
I embrace this place of worship and service too.
Thanks to a fresh perspective from my view of my porch like tree!
Twenty-four years ago, our daughter Leisha appeared in our world. She messed up all of our plans that day.
Rennie was supposed to be leading a huge dedication service of the new worship center at our church in Pennsylvania. She was being born just as they ended the service with a dedication of the new generation that would grow up in this place. Others had to fill in for Rennie!
She messed up lots of days since then too! Just like every baby does when they grow up in our family. Days become messy and nights interrupted. Plans get changed and that is expected! You know, or at least you realize quickly when you bring a child into your life they will forever change you. All three of ours have left a mark on us so significant that we know we are better, stronger, even holier as we have spent many more hours on our knees. You have too if you are a parent. It is what we do when we come to the end of ourselves and want more for our child.
Leisha also messed up our lives the day she died. That was eight and a half years ago. Another mark on all of us that have forced us to look at all of life from a new, yet broken perspective.
It is out of that perspective that I write today and ask for your prayers.
Days after Leisha died, we gathered every picture we could find of her and discovered her tapes and journals. It was in her most recent journal that we found ‘her book’. If you flipped it over and upside down and opened the cover she had begun to write her own story.
Chapter One
Once Upon A Time…
By Leisha D. Burrus
How many stories do you know that begin with ‘once upon a time”? Well this is one of them, or so I thought. I was born April twenty-eighth, nineteen ninety one. But wait! I am getting ahead of myself. I guess I should start where it all began.
My parents met in high school. … she begins to tell the love story of her dad & I.
As I sat there reading it for the first time, I could imagine this book was to be full of adventure and relationships and truth. Such truth! Because even in the short chapter that was written, she had spoken much truth to my heart. But just as Leisha had penned these few words to begin writing her story, she died. Not only was her story unwritten, but her life unlived.
However her words “I should start where it all began” was a telling of my story and of the journey of her mother and father and all that was her heritage because she was born into this family.
I knew the moment I read her words that it was meant for me to finish. Her story started mine. It was as if she knew I would need a jump start. Earlier that morning I had picked up my Bible to continue reading where I had left off the day before. I read these words from Revelation 1:
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.
19 “Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen.
I felt as if Leisha was writing these words to me.
“Mom! When I saw him, I fell at his feet…and He put His hand on me and said…! Now Mom you’ve got to write! Write down what you have seen- what’s happening right now and all the things are that going to happen. You can do it Mom!”
So I am!
Yes, I’m writing to finish the story Leisha started; her story and mine. I don’t know how this story will impact yours, but it is my prayer that it will give you hope. Because my primary goal is to write about the many ways this Living One who died showed up in our story. Click To Tweet
That’s the real story- in my life and yours!
So this birthday, I am asking for your prayers as I do just that! Will you pray as I finish the story! I have set my heart to finish writing, and publishing it by Leisha’s 25th birthday on April 28, 2016. I have much to process, record and learn before that time. But it is a thing I must do next.
Would you be willing to be on the prayer team for Lovely Traces of Hope! That’s her name for her book! Whether or not it is the final title, I don’t know yet. But it seems fitting.
If you will join me, please sign up here.
I will add you to the group and send out periodic emails with updates and requests.
Whether you sign up or not, will you pray right now that I see this to completion. My heart needs it done.
Thank you from a fledging author!
Kathy
Happy Birthday Leisha!
I have been working on material for the new group which starts May 6th called UNIQUELY U: MAKING THE DIFFERENCE YOU WERE MADE TO MAKE. 
I ran across this quote that stood out in my mind.
Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.
― Shannon L. Alder From https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/legacy>
I have recently thought much about the legacy people leave as both my mother-in-law and my father are celebrating their 80th birthday within a month of each other. So much of what we have remembered together with them and friends who came to celebrate with them are the stories. Stories of people who left their mark. Stories of events that significantly changed the way people thought or behaved. Stories of a life lived in such a way that it made a difference in the stories of others.
So I can’t help but ask the question of myself, and now you. What are the stories of people who have made a difference in my life? In yours?
“Your story is the greatest legacy that you will leave to your friends. It’s the longest-lasting legacy you will leave to your heirs.”
― Steve Saint From <https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/legacy?page=2>
For me, I have bee thinking a lot about the people who have most influenced my life.
Besides being my parents, my father was my Pastor, since I was 2 years old. But he also had side jobs to provide for our family. He had a lawn business when I was young and would plug us kids into ‘jobs’ as soon as we were old enough. He taught me how to work with integrity and the value of a dollar, since it took a while to start making $1 an hour.
My mother was my Sunday School teacher, piano teacher, sewing, baking & cooking teacher. She taught me to love people- and their stories and the love of planning events that connect them to each other. She also taught me a love of writing- most recently several years of writing her “Grandma Remembers” letters to her grand kids each month.
My mother in law was also my favorite teacher. English, Speech, One Act Plays, Literary coach, and Class sponsor were some of the ways she influenced my life. That was even before her son became my boyfriend.
My father in law was the county agent and he was involved with my 4-H group and other events I participated. He was a tall man and everyone looked up to him physically. But he also had a way of connecting with a shoulder squeeze and a laugh that made you feel like this ‘big’ man liked you.
My Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Flick mentored me through college life, even as Flick was my college professor, voice coach, choir director.
But there have been many other stories that have surfaced too.
Each person – and many I didn’t share about here- has left a mark in my life. They have made an extraordinary difference being their ordinary selves.
We don’t usually know who those people are. But we can be intentional at leaving the kind of difference we were meant to make.
Do you know what yours is?
Let’s have that conversation.
The actual questions and answers will depend on you!
Cost for the class is $20 per session or $150 if you pay for all 8 sessions by May 1st. (that’s a $10 savings)
will include:
Register by emailing Kathy@greenhopecoaching.com. Write I’M INTENTIONAL in the subject line.
Let’s be intentional about making the difference we were made to make!
I just had a birthday! It is one of the middle ones not ending in a 0 or a 5. It’s a non-consequential birthday! Not one we celebrate in a big way. Just another birthday.
But birthday’s always make me stop and think. Perhaps they do you as well. Another year has passed. I find myself asking,
What did I do in the past year that made any difference?
What do I need to be about in this next year to make the difference I was meant to make? Click To Tweet
Sometimes we get caught in the trap of being so busy we don’t stop to ‘ponder’! I love that word ponder because it denotes a slowing down, maybe even stopping to sip a favorite cup of tea. We take time to notice. We look around and see the new buds on the trees and the new blooms in the garden. We breath in the air, still crisp, yet warming. We feel the sun on our arms that have long been covered by winter coats.
Birthdays, Holidays, especially the New Year cause us to ask questions about our life. I know I’m not the only one pondering questions. I talk to many who are. Friends, Family, clients- so many are asking questions like:
Or we find ourselves saying things like:
Even this week as Rennie was listening to the trailer for the new movie Batman vs. Superman (No, I’m not endorsing here- just using as an example) I heard a woman say something like,
“We get so caught up with what we can do, we haven’t asked what we should do.’
How do we know what we SHOULD be doing? Who says what we SHOULD be doing? How do we know when we are doing it? Or not doing it?
Sometimes life gets so busy doing things we feel we SHOULD be doing. But somewhere after doing that for a while, we are suddenly forced to stop and ponder!
Were we so caught up with what we SHOULD be doing, we lost sight of what we were MADE to do? Click To TweetThat’s a question we will be asking at the new group Green Hope Coaching is offering in May!
We will be asking the questions
The actual questions and answers will depend on you!
Cost for the class is $20 per session or $150 if you pay for all 8 sessions by May 1st. (that’s a $10 savings)
will include:
Register by emailing Kathy@greenhopecoaching.com.
Write I’M INTENTIONAL in the subject line.
You have much to offer you world!
You make an extraordinary difference in your world being your ordinary you! Click To TweetEven if you don’t see it!
But … there are many things we can do to intentionally make the difference we were meant to make.
Are you ready to take the challenge?
Join us! Email me today!
