honestly, if you have a vision and it’s big – chances are, you aren’t going to want to go alone at it.  About a year or so ago I had a vision for what it could look like to welcome my Haven + Flourish community leaders (for my young living business) into my home for a weekend retreat.  

listen, I love this kind of thing more than the average person. I want all the people in my home. I want you to walk in the back door without knocking. I want to create such a peaceful environment that you feel comfortable taking off your mask and simply being WHO YOU ARE.  This is who I am and who I was created to be, and this can all be summed up into a phrase that one of my mentors spoke over my life years ago: HAVEN MAKING. Jessica spoke into who I was becoming back in 2014. She told me that I was a “haven maker”, creating safe spaces for women to belong.  

Ever since then I have truly lived into who she saw I was becoming, and who God has created me to be.  Someone who invites others in, and gives them a place to belong. I want to open the door for everyone.  For people to come into a space I create and feel safe, known, loved, and free. A few weeks ago I got to live into that calling and it was one of the most beautiful thing I have experienced since I gave birth to my miracle girl 2 years ago.  

as I wrote this, the tears had pretty much not stopped flowing since Megan, Margaret, Lauren, Christina, Adreinne, and Valerie left my house.  I’m a slooooooooooooow processor but I want to document this while it is fresh as best as I can. The words these girls have used to describe our weekend have been water to my soul.  

“…because she opens the door for everyone.  We can be free and known and loved when we are in her haven. …no one is left out or unseen…”

“gratefulness for YOU and your yes and your gift for making space for people to feel seen and known…Feel like it was the life raft God threw me to grab hold of in a season of feeling like I’m drowning. I can’t really articulate it all….but I’m just so grateful”

They have lifted me up and reminded me that there is SO MUCH POWER in speaking our vision, laying down our insecurity + fear, and boldly making steps towards the passion and calling that is bubbling up in us.  What if I had said NO to this vision? What if I hadn’t had the confidence to pull it off?

Back to not being able to go at it alone….

I told this vision (boldly) to my “trail girls” back in December.  My trail girls are the ones I summited a mountain with this summer. The ones who have watched me do hard things that were way out of my comfort zone.  anyway, I told them this vision and they immediately jumped to action: “we want to help!” For months they (and other “hometown” friends of mine!) helped me clarify this vision.  They gave me ideas, asked me questions, encouraged me, and felt just as much a part of it as I did.

I couldn’t have said YES without support, and they gave it to me freely.

The weekend neared, and there were many a text, email, voice message back and forth to make every. single. detail. work out.  I was overcome with emotion at the way they supported me and my vision so you can only guess how surprised I was at the response I got when I voiced this.

“honestly, I don’t even feel like I”m doing this to serve you.  We genuinely love what you are doing so much and are so honored to be a part of it.”

THIS IS IT YALL.

People want to be invited in! Every single one of my friends that “helped” me ALSO was blessed.  There is so much joy in giving, and especially when we can give with our gifts!

Don’t sit there and think you have nothing to give.  Let me give you some tangible examples of how they served me, because I bet you can see yourself in one of these/

Risa took Rivers with her and her 2 kids to the gym and the park so I could clean

Carly took Asher to Chick Fil A for lunch with her daughter (ashers friend)

Danielle brought her baby over, and helped me do some special hand lettering + put together a cheese board

KJ + Jen drove through and got our favorite dessert, lit candles, put out wine glasses, started a fire and encouraged us in our life story telling

Sally cooked her famous scones + quiche and served us breakfast

Michelle helped cast a vision for decor and hospitality, and let me borrow her juicer

Audrey + Ashley used their storytelling gifts through their photography

Allison led us in Yaweh Yoga

Rees arranged flowers, swept the kitchen floor, picked up pizza…..

And there were many other friends who offered their prayers, support, and encouragement via texts!

GUYS!  

Your friends want to be a part but they cannot read your mind.  

A few of these girls offered on their own to help, but most I ASKED.

I humbled myself and said “i can’t do this alone” and they stepped up.  

It was THEIR JOY AND HONOR

It meant that they got to be a part of this beautiful gathering of souls.

I guess what I want to say is, invite your people in.

Dream big, and then don’t feel alone.  

I told my Haven + Flourish girls that even if they didn’t come (which I’m so glad they did!), that my heart was so encouraged to see that my hometown people CARE ABOUT WHAT I”M DOING.  Sometimes the enemy wants to lie to us and make us feel that what we are doing doesn’t have an impact, but that is a LIE. We are all busy people, living our own lives, and sometimes we just need a reminder that our people are for us.  

It doesn’t  happen overnight.

Relationships take time to invest in.

And intentionality leads to growth.

And belonging.

stay tuned, because next I get to share sweet stories from our weekend!