In Honor of You {& the Difference You Make}

The doorbell rang soon after I got home from dropping off a thank you note at my neighbor house. Surprised to see Janet standing on my front porch, I listened as she held up an envelope and explained: “Renee, this is the most amazing thank you note I have ever read; you have a writing gift and you need to use it.”

I was puzzled. It was only a thank you note after all. 

Yet Janet’s words of affirmation stayed with me all afternoon. Her confidence made me wonder if God might  use my words to touch the lives of others.

Prayers for direction had filled pages of my journal that month as I struggled to figure out what I was good at.

A few weeks later I attended a women’s dinner series at my church. Taking notes on a napkin, I thought about how nice it would be for the message series to be captured in a booklet so we could remember and apply the lessons in our everyday lives. Then I got the craziest idea: maybe I could write a study guide to give to other women who want to go deeper, too.

Quickly, doubt filtered my idea through reality: Who am I to think I could write something women would want to read?

Unable to get the thought out of my head over the next few days, I finally told Janet. Much to my shock she loved the idea. And she claimed the women’s ministry team had been praying for months about a gift to give the women after the dinners and that this was an answer to their prayers.

A few weeks later, they asked me to write a study guide. I nearly suffocated under the weight of insecurity, but Janet kept encouraging me, praying for me and telling me she believed in me.

With her prayers and prodding I wrote it, and over a thousand copies were given away. Then I wrote another the next year, and then another.

As I think about the impact of Janet’s words on my life and ministry sixteen years ago, I’m reminded of Elizabeth and her words to Mary when she arrived to tell her cousin she was pregnant with God’s child. “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her! Luke 1:45

What a difference it must have made for Mary to have Elizabeth believe in the promise God proclaimed over her. Today as I think about a thank you note that started the legacy of my writing ministry years ago, I’m so grateful I get to encourage YOU because Janet believed in and encouraged me. 

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Here I sit, sixteen years later, sharing this online study living in a promise I pray almost every day. “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all I ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within me.” Eph 3:20

This month, I want to honor the difference you make in my life and in each other’s lives through something we’re doing at Proverbs 31 Ministries to recognize and honor women like you and Janet through Legacy Cards we’re sending to those who have touched lives and impacted legacies:

I’m getting one for Janet and my mom {for Mother’s Day}, and a few others who have impacted my life and my legacy.

And today I bought one in HONOR of YOU my amazing online study friends!!

Each time you leave a comment and share your heart, your prayers, your journey with me and with each other — God uses it to spur me on and to encourage one another in so many ways. Whether it’s a few sentences or a few paragraphs, when I read how Jesus is loving on you, how you’re loving on each other or how He’s speaking to you through His words or something I wrote in my book or my blog, it’s a huge deposit of encouragement!! So thank YOU for sharing that part of yourself with me and with us! You impact my legacy sweet friends, and I am so very grateful!

For more details about our Legacy cards click here.