continued from “humbled“//part 2 [some of this I posted in my original announcement post of the #StyleForJustice trip, but here’s the full post] [I had to post because TODAY, TODAY these dreams really are coming true! I’m headed to Austin to get on a flight tomorrow morning for Rwanda!]
Let me just back up, and remind you that I am a dreamer. Let me remind you of what I posted on 12.3.13 here.
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“If you know me, you know that I like to dream. I’ve never been much of a dreamer before the past few years, but now I can’t stop. You see, I think dreams are like stories. Everyone has one, sometimes we are just afraid to say them out loud. That’s been on my heart a few months, yall. If you aren’t dreaming, are you pursuing? Dreaming doesn’t mean everything you dream about is going to happen, but if you don’t dare to dream, will you ever know? That’s why I’ve made it a habit to speak my dreams out loud. To really go for it. [even though it is scary!]” |
My habit of “dreaming out loud” has taken me some pretty amazing places. On a mission trip with our church in spring of 2011 to El Salvador to tell stories with pictures, on a trip to Rwanda with Jessica to photograph Jack going from orphan to son in 2011, in March it took me to Uganda with Sole Hope as I led my very first blogger trip.
Another dream I’ve been dreaming for awhile, VERY OUT LOUD, has been to be able to go on a storytelling or ambassador trip with Noonday. While getting to travel with Jessica to visit out artisans + also visiting our artisans on other trips alone should have been enough..I wanted to do it with our Noonday family. Jessica had been dropping hints to me about a big storytelling trip this summer and my mind and heart couldn’t help but dream! What if!?!?! It seemed [and is] way out of my leauge. a total long shot that I would even be concidered to be a participant on this dream trip.
well, friends i’m here to tell you that dreams really do come true! Something that I had literally dreamed out loud with a friend HAPPENED TO ME! Something that in my words was “the craziest thing in the history of the world that would never ever happen” happened! y’all! a true “oprah moment!”
saturday morning at the Noonday Ambassador conference after Jen Hatmaker + Jennie Allen had spoken to our crew, Jessica got up and started to announce this big story telling trip that Noonday would be taking to Rwanda this summer in collaboration with International Justice Mission [what?!?!!!] She goes through every name + short bio of each of the 5 big time bloggers that were invited on this trip, and then she proceeds to say something to the effect of…there are a few blogger ambassadors who bring a good amount of traffic to our Noonday website, and it wouldn’t be fair for them to not get the opportunity to go, would it? She says she has 2 names on the list, and then she asks me and Paige to come to the front. I hope I get to see the video of that one day.
Knees shaking, heart pounding, tears streaming….I walked to the front hand in hand with my good friend Paige, as we stood in front of our Noonday sisters and through tears, told them what this trip meant to each of us. I was praying short prayers as Paige talked for the Spirit to speak through me when it would be my turn to get the microphone – and the words that flowed? DREAM YOUR DREAMS OUT LOUD! I spoke of how God had completely humbled me the night before. “I started to believe that there was something more, that there was a bigger story“. my final encouragement?
[me + Paige!]
dream. dream big. say your dreams out loud. you have NO IDEA what God is up to.
Hey, I'm Wynne!
Hi, friend! First, I truly am so giddy that you are here. I want you to know I believe in you and all the ways you are growing towards living a more intentional life. I genuinely hope you are encouraged from our time together here.
A little about me, I’m a type 7 on the enneagram, a total extrovert + people lover, entrepreneur, connector, storyteller, people gatherer, and passionate wife, mama + friend. I feel most alive when I’m exploring new places and surrounded by people I love. Give me a day in the outdoors disconnected from wifi, and I am a happy girl. I run on oat milk lattes, Jesus, gratitude journaling and kitchen dance parties with my four kids.
Welcome, come on in!
so scary. but so encouraging. you have a gift, my dreamer friend.
[…] few weeks later, I was surprised at our annual Noonday Ambassador conference with the opportunity of a lifetime to go to Rwanda with a group of incredible story tellers representing my beloved Noonday, and soon […]
[…] with Noonday Collection + International Justice Mission. Just this very week last year, I was surprised with the news that I would get to join these incredible women/bloggers/writers/artists on this trip and the […]