influenced.

i'm messy (with my feelings and thoughts, not house or self image messy - just to be clear)and this post is probably going to be pretty messy, because I have so many thoughts going on, that i could lay them out and plan them out, but i get too excited about writing.
so here it goes.

influence.

we've read a ton about it in the last couple of days. i know i've read at least a dozen posts on it revolving around the influence conference that just took place a couple of weeks ago.
i didn't attend, but i feel like i did.

disclaimer: by no means do I want to minimize the impact that the conference had on the attendees because I'm sure it was way more powerful than what I'm going to write, and I hope no body feels like I'm trying to jump on a wagon I wansn't on. i almost backed out at publishing this post because of it, but went with it. (did that make any sense at all???)

at the risk of sounding like a broken record, when I came back to blogging, I knew I wanted to make an impact or to be inspiration to my readers. the first thing that hit me when I started blogging again was this influence conference everyone was so hyped up about. i was bummed i didn't know about it sooner because of my blogging break but went on about my business.

 a few days later, all the recap posts came. man, was i blessed!
even by not attending i was able to read what God had done for all these ladies that had the opportunity to go. This was just by reading about it, just getting a snippet of it and from the bloggers that so graciously poured out their heart through their posts, and this post by no means gives the actual event justice. But beyond the hanging out or the meeting bloggers face to face, I could see that God used that time for the blogging community to be more influential in the way we blog. and to speak from the rooftops about how He is the center of it all.
that was so much affirmation of where my blog is to go. Through all those posts, I was so influenced to be an influence. I've never thought of myself as someone that could influence anybody. I'm just ordinary, nothing exciting, but the One that lives in me is extraordinary and that is everything in itself.

so, i guess the point of all of this, is that lots is coming from this end of the blogsphere, and please be patient as i try to roll it all out there. i have so much that the Lord has placed on my heart and i'm not quite sure how to even begin. One thing I know though. God is being loud and clear that we use this space to tell our story..ahem, His story that He's beautifully writing through all of us.

even though I may not get the chance to meet all of you all in person, i want to be as influential as i possibly can and i thank you to the heavens and back that you are following along to encourage me and share with me what God has been doing in you too. A new series is coming in the next weeks and I'm beyond excited. Will you help me pray that it be what I'm hoping it is - influential?

now, one small change. i've added the reply button to my comments.
at first i was hesitant because it requires you to come back to see my reply and that might be a hassle (i hope not!), but i was having so much difficulty replying to comments when a person had a noreply-comment account. the last thing i wanted was someone thinking i didn't care about the time they spent commenting. so this way everyone gets a reply from me and we can have more of a conversational feel!

phew! that was a long post and i hope i didn't ramble too much and that somehow i inspired you to be more influential too!

until next time lovely friends,