Today I am reminded that being brave for just a moment can change your life in a single day.  Three years ago on Jan. 13th I was sitting in front of my laptop sending emails to the Texas churches I had played at over the years, hoping to possibly move to the Austin area.  I hadn’t reached out to any of them in at least 5 years and was fully expecting these pastors to hit the delete button or respond with hostility-not knowing what they had heard regarding Dez and I.

One pastor in particular I could not find on the church website so I had to do a little extra digging in order to message him.  I messaged a dozen others and after finding the lone pastor on facebook-for whatever reason-couldn’t bring myself to hit send.  His was the church I wanted to attend.  His teaching was far and away better than the multitudes I’d heard nationwide.  He had always struck me as a trailblazer with an open mind and thoughtful responses, it would have been most upsetting to me if he were hostile.  His message sat in my drafts all day and night.

The next morning I pulled it up again and talked myself out of sending.  I had so many church hurts that I couldn’t take one more.  I noticed none of the other pastors had replied which only added to my anxiety.  Hours passed and still crickets.  I put Dez to bed and watched a movie looking out at the freezing Iowa winter.  Before I went to bed I pulled the message up again, threw caution to the wind, and hit ‘send’.   I immediately regretted it and knew that it would end badly!  A few minutes later I heard an alert on my phone.  A reply!  The ONLY reply!  It was positive, even cheery!  I messaged back and a dialogue began, then a friendship, then a romance, and eventually a proposal 🙂

I almost didn’t send that message to Pastor Allen Rigg  🙂  What I was certain would be yet another setback, turned out to be a game changer.  One moment of not being afraid to fail-changed the course of my life.  I’m sooo glad I hit send!

What have you been talking yourself out of? What risk are you afraid to take? How will you respond when someone reaches out to you?

Be brave and kind this year! You never know what can happen 🙂