For a long time, I have had this quote hanging on my desk. The quote says
"Until you spread your wings you have no idea how far you can fly"
I have always loved this quote, it has always stood out to me. Because of my disability and my anxiety it has helped me through out my journey in life. It's true if you don't "Spread your wings" you will have no idea how far you can fly or where God will take you, because life is a journey and we shouldn't be living in our comfort zones.
I know I have talked about this and tried to convince myself of this quite a lot. But sometimes "Spreading our wings" is just not as easy as it sounds. Through out a lot of my life I have always tried to push myself and get myself to try new things that aren't as comfortable to me and that are out of my comfort zone. Have you ever tried that with yourself?
I want to use an example of what I just recently did over the summer. I went to the Speak Up Conference 2018. This was my second year going. So I was a little more relaxed, especially because my cousin Carly who is also my CLS helper (Community Living support) was with me. I still, like many other events got anxious. Also, the Speak Up conference is a big step for me especially as a writer to meet other Christian authors and speakers. It is very inspiring to be around christian authors and pastors. Speak up is where writers and speakers go to get encouragement to help them on their journey for writing and speaking and to help grow their ministry. This conference was a blessing and a great way to experience new things.
Throughout the conference, many opportunities are presented. Some experiences that I had at the conference were meeting inspiring people, taking interesting classes on writing and speaking, learning about God, and strong worship experiences. At Speak Up, I have met a lot of nice people who are writers and speakers and who are in ministries. Without this conference, I wouldn't have this opportunity so I am very thankful. Meeting these type of people helps encourage me with my own writing ministry.
Some of the speakers that I really enjoyed this year were Lee Nienhiuis and Carol Kent. Some of the classes I really enjoyed too were Seeking His purpose for your ministry and Prayer that transforms ministry.
As I am sharing this experience with you, you can see that taking big steps like this isn't always easy. Sometimes you have to push yourself, sometimes you have to talk yourself into doing something that you thought you were never comfortable with. You may have to push through the anxiety and fear a lot too. There are experiences like this very often in our lives and they just keep on coming. So taking big steps like this isn't always easy, but it is worth it. What you get out in the end makes you feel great and like you've accomplished something. Let's take a journey together and try things that we never thought we would be able to do and see what great things come out of it.
.