You Have Influence!

Ashlee // Nicole // Hollie // Nat // Erin // Ashley // Kate // Carrie // Ginny // Me // Bri

Nat // Carrie // Kate // Natalie

Bri // Nat // Hollie // Kim // Carrie // Natalie // Virginia

The amazing conference hosts: Jessie // Hayley // Moriah // Casey

Jen // Erin

I feel like this post has taken me eons to write.
Not because I couldn’t find the words, but more so because I didn’t feel as though I had the right words.

I’m chuckling to myself as I write this because is there such thing as the right words?
I’ve been wanting to poetically pen my experience,
yet it seemed as though every time I sat to write, my mind went black.
For those of you who know me well, you know this doesn’t happen often.

I think often times we think that we only have influence if…
our husband has an important job
we make a certain amount of money
we drive nice cars
wear nice clothes
have a “big blog”
with thousands of page views
and hundreds of comments.

What I realized is that our influence only matters if…
our heart is in the right place
we do for others and not just ourselves
we are open to new experiences
we are willing to be vulnerable so that our messiness can become our witness.

That’s exactly where I want to be.
In an honest place of influence.
Not better, just different.
And being ok with that.

I went to Influence Conference back in October…
to meet new people
connect
learn
grow
be

Even though I spent most of my time in the Strategy track, I blame this on Jami Nato (in a good way),
I walked away with so much inspiration,
so many new ideas,
but most importantly I walked away encouraged.

Here are just a few of my favorite quotes from the sessions I attended:

“Embrace your inner entrepreneur.” – John Saddington

“Your brand starts with your message.”  – Allie Lehman

“God doesn’t need you to serve Him… God says that He’s enough and we sometimes don’t believe Him so we try to do it ourselves.” – Jami Nato

“Your mess can be your ministry.” – Casey Wiegand

I want you to know that even if you didn’t make it to Influence next year, you are still a person of influence.
God has given you a voice + a story….
will you share it?

Until next year friends…