Answered Phone Call

I have to share with you my friend’s story......

(for privacy purposes, I’m using fictitious names - thanks for understanding)  

On Sunday my friend, Kelly was in her husband’s office at the church that he pastors.  She stopped in briefly to talk with him and the phone rang.  Understand, it was Sunday morning, offices were closed and she typically doesn’t answer the phone at the church office, but she did.  There was a female voice on the other end asking if there was any way she could get picked up to attend their church service that morning.  Kelly asked a few questions, what’s your name? where are you?  The caller answered, “My name is Heather, I’m at a woman’s shelter a few miles away, I just got out of the hospital last night, I’m here because of a domestic abuse situation and I’d really like to attend your church.  If it’s not too much to ask I really would like a ride.”  Kelly talked with her a little longer and got off the phone.  Heather told her that she would be waiting on the corner outside for her to pick her up.  

This was an odd phone call.  When Kelly answered the phone she assumed that someone was calling who needed to know the times of the services or maybe someone needed directions - who would’ve thought there would be a call this early in the morning from a random person with such a need? AND What were the chances that Kelly just happened to be in the church office to pick up the phone?  THIS was a GOD thing!  How cool was that!  

Ok, so Kelly made a phone call to the woman’s shelter to ensure that the call was legit, did some due diligence and off she went to pick up Heather; she took along a guy from the church to ride in the car with her for safety reasons.

During the drive to church Kelly and Heather got to know each other.  Heather shared with her the situation she was in and how she had broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and had been beaten by her boyfriend.  She explained that she almost died and could not go back to the home where she was living and that she needed to get far away from there so her boyfriend would not find her.  She had NOTHING just the clothes on her back and a small suitcase.  She was in a lot of pain.  Defeated. No money.  No strength.

With the help of Kelly’s church they were able to help Heather purchase a bus ticket to make the journey to another women’s shelter that would get her closer to her family.  She was very grateful for the help.

One question that Kelly asked Heather was, “What prompted you to call our church? Did you find us in the yellow pages? or what?”  Heather responded, “While I was in the hospital last night, the nurse that cared for me suggested that I call your church, she gave me your phone number and said that your church would be compassionate and loving. So I called.  That’s how I found you.”

As Kelly and Heather’s encounter was coming to an end, Heather was dropped off at the shelter to get a taxi to take her to the bus station. Kelly asked her one last question.  She said, “Heather, do you have a relationship with God?  What keeps you going.”  To Kelly’s surprise she responded, “My father is a baptist minister.  Several years ago he told me that I could NOT be a part of HIS family UNLESS I got my tattoo removed, I stopped smoking, and I stopped living my life the way I had been living it.  He has put conditions upon me to be accepted.  I’ve done so many terrible things that God could NEVER forgive me.  I am unlovable - God would not want me.”

Through both of their tears Kelly shared with Heather that she IS worthy of God’s unconditional love no matter what she had done in the past and that what she was believing were lies.  God loves you - JUST AS YOU ARE - He created you, chose YOU! Kelly was able to give her some materials to read to help her understand God’s love and forgiveness and then Heather was gone.

I was touched by this story and I have to tell you why;  this is SO Keeping it Personal - I LOVE IT!!  You see it’s the little things that we do that make the most impact AND it’s those very simple things that we do or say that we may NEVER know the impact it has on another life.

The nurse who referred Heather to Kelly’s church DID NOT let the lingering thought pass through her mind - she took ACTION!  She shared with Heather, she encouraged her, THAT IS Keeping it Personal.

Kelly, picked up the phone, LISTENED, asked questions, gathered information, DID NOT pass judgement and that impacted Heather’s life.

The nurse AND Kelly may never know how what they did or what they said impacted Heather’s life, but they took action and it is so GREAT!!  Priceless.

I am inspired by this story.  I was grateful that Kelly shared it with me.  I hope that it inspires you to take action on those little thoughts no matter what the outcome might be.

B.A.B.E

I was NOT feeling well yesterday, the sinus infection or whatever it is that I have right now kept me in bed all day – ugh!!  It took everything I had to get up, get ready and get going to the Christmas concert at our friend’s church.

It took us about an hour to get Hope Presbyterian Church in Ft. Myers – thanks to Google maps on my blackberry, we didn’t get lost! Our friend Bill is the pastor of this church and his wife Andrea Stephens is the author of sixteen books for teens and founder of The B.A.B.E. Seminar Series for teen girls.  The Christmas concert was put on to raise money to support B.A.B.E.

In concert was Ayiesha Woods and her brother Don – they were amazing!!  They did such a wonderful job; delivered a GREAT message focusing on traditions and the real meaning of Christmas.  WOW, I’m soooooo glad we went – what a blessing!

Beautiful. Accepted. Blessed. Eternally Significant.  That’s what B.A.B.E. stands for.  This is the message that Andrea is bringing to teen girls across the country through her ministry – How WONDERFUL!!

I’ve always had compassion in my heart for teen girls, maybe it’s because I get it – I’ve been there. It’s tough growing up, all the drama, boys, friendships, self-esteem, wanting to fit in and then to top it off dealing with all the pressures that society puts on us.  MAN – that’s A LOT of JUNK!! 

While I was at the concert I got to thinking about what the B.A.B.E. message means to me.  I couldn’t help to think that while this is a GREAT message to share with teens that there are older women (and men) everywhere who don’t feel B.A.B.E. – this is a message for EVERY generation!!  I personally struggle at times with acceptance, not feeling beautiful and wonder what my purpose is – and I know others do too!

One thing that Andrea shares is that we were born ON purpose FOR a purpose.  We are ALL Beautiful. Accepted. Blessed. Eternally Significant. and matter to God who created us.   

How do you feel?  What does this message mean to you?  If we strive to feel like B.A.B.E.S think of how life changing that could be to ourselves and others around us.

Go, move, decide, do SOMETHING!

I often ask myself, “Why is it so difficult for me to___________________?”  Here are just a FEW things that I’ve used to fill in the blank: exercise, have more patience, be a better listener, not judge others, forgive, pray, organize the junk drawer in my kitchen, accomplish the things on my list, simply make a to do list!  I could ramble on for quite some time naming the difficulties I have but the one that has been hitting me like a ton of bricks recently is………give up control.

I’ve been doing A LOT of soul searching, reading books, and praying to find the answer and it FINALLY came to me.  The answer is Fear.  It’s that simple……….It is difficult for me to give up control in EVERY area of my life because I FEAR the unknown.  I’ve been fooling myself for years thinking that I had all the answers and that if I could just maintain control in EVERY situation and relationship it would be best for everyone involved.  Seriously, I thought that…….silly me!!

How was that working for me? NOT VERY WELL!!  I was miserable.  My life was out of control.  The very thing that I thought I was controlling was OUT OF CONTROL!  I crumbled, I was defeated, I couldn’t do it anymore, I hit rock bottom (that experience I will share in another blog).

As I look back to that time just a short six months ago, I am grateful.  I’ve embraced the experiences in my past and have chosen to find the good in the bad.  But, now what?  Changes needed to be made or I would end up right back where I was……miserable. 

I thank God for putting people in my life who speak truth to me and kick me in the butt to tell me what I NEED to hear not what I want to hear.  It wasn’t enough for me to just be grateful, embrace my past, find good from the bad, etc.  I needed to do something about it.  I needed to take action – UGH!!!  Taking action may be one of the most difficult things to do sometimes.  It’s easy to talk about it but to actually do it IS WORK.  What I’m realizing is that if I am NOT taking action I’m either getting “stale” or falling backwards and I do NOT want to go backwards and to me stale stinks!

So, baby steps…………to give up control.  Remember this is just one of my difficulties/challenges/character defects – but you gotta start somewhere, right?  I’m taking baby steps to give up control and trusting God with my life.  He goes before me and paves the way; I want His plan to be my plan.  I want to grow NOT be stale, this is the desire of my heart.  The daily challenge for me is I want to take my control back, out of fear!  My simple prayer is this, God your will be done, not mine.  I’m saying this little prayer no less than 100 times some days and He is piece by piece showing me his plan and I LIKE IT!!!

I truly believe that one piece to the puzzle is Keeping it Personal.  God woke me one morning at 3:00 a.m. with the Who are we….on my heart.  I couldn’t go back to sleep until I had it all typed up and saved on my computer.  A month later were taking action.  We’ve decided to go, move forward, and like my husband often says to me, “do something!” As we start this journey down a path that is unknown to us we are trusting God to pave the way.  With keeping it personal we want to be a blessing and make a difference in the lives of others by sharing our experiences – which in turn blesses us.  That’s what we know right now. 

Leah and I want to encourage you connect with us with your comments, feedback, and suggestions; we WANT to hear from YOU!!  We are going to do our best to provide you with a daily KIP; this is a suggestion/idea on ways to keep it personal in your interactions with others, via our blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

So much to be thankful for………Happy Thanksgiving!

Who we are...

Keeping it Personal: not as in keeping it to yourself. It’s not, NOT sharing with others or being in your own private thoughts and keeping IT……….what ever IT may be to yourself. Not ‘keeping it personal’ in the selfish sense of the phrase similar to a child who wants this to be “mine, mine, mine” or an adult who doesn’t want to share a good idea, thought, or compliment.

We’re keeping it personal – we’re about the relationship, sharing what’s real on a personal level. We’re taking the “impersonal” out of what society has made impersonal to speed up the process, to get going with the next thing. We want to inspire you to keep it personal in your daily interactions. Inspire you to look for the moments where you can impact the lives of others around you by sharing your experiences and your story. By freely giving compliments and encouraging words to others. We want to motivate you to reach out to others by keeping it personal, by using your special gifts and talents; by being real, honest, kind, genuine. We want to educate you and provide you with ideas that will impact your life, which in turn, you can share to impact the lives of others.

Keeping it personal is what customer service lacks. Keeping it Personal is what can turn an acquaintance into a life long friend. Keeping it Personal is what can give someone hope who is hopeless- because you were transparent and shared a story they could relate to. Keeping it Personal and sharing your passion could be the start of an organization to help a family in need or a homeless/runaway on the street. Keeping it Personal is dropping that personal handwritten card in the mail. Taking action with those lingering thoughts; NOT ignoring them. Keeping it Personal is taking the time to make a phone call to the person who’s been on your mind. The personal touch may be just what one person needs on a particular day to bring joy to their world.

Our mission is to be a daily reminder for people to keep it real by keeping it personal. Through sharing our experiences and our stories online, we hope to inspire you to keep it personal as you connect with your community and others around you.

Who are WE? We are simply two women, two mothers, two daughters, two friends, two aunties, two sisters-in-law, two wives, two children of God who have come to realize through our own past experiences on this journey of life, that keeping it personal is what keeps us grounded. We have not mastered this by any means or claim to be perfect, but are striving to keep it personal in all our affairs. We find joy and fulfillment by reaching out and sharing with others; and in return we grow and are inspired by what others share with us in their stories and experiences. Our hope is for others to find what we’ve come to realize.

Keeping it personal is a community of twos. We hope to attract and influence a community at large who share our vision of keeping it personal.

Teri and Leah