Lovely Traces of Hope

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Day 23 I hear Leisha

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Thirty plus years ago, when we were trying to figure out what to name our 3rd daughter, I recalled a musical written by Michael W. Smith and Andy Stanley called The Big Picture: A Youth Musical about God's Providence.

It is the story of a group of young people who are dealing with two teens from their group being in a tragic car accident. The boy was in the hospital. The girl had been killed. Her name was Leesha. (You can find more about this in my book Lovely Traces of Hope ) There was a song in the musical called "I hear Leesha".

We felt like the world needed another Leesha who was sold out for the Lord and making a difference in her world. So we chose that name, and changed the spelling to LEIsha.

I told the Lord, "I never want to use this song at my teen age daughter's funeral".

But we did!

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(Day 3) When HOPE is a SOMEONE!

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Listen to the DAY 3 Video to hear how God used some SOMEONEs to show HOPE to me today. Then read below about a SOMEONE I’d like to introduce you to at an event August 28th.

I’d love to hear your comments below about how HOPE shows up for you today

When Ren and I got married, SOMEONE gave me a book called Creative Counterpart : Becoming the Woman, Wife, and Mother You Have Longed To Be. (Hmmm? I should probably go back and read that book again)

Anyway, the author was SOMEONE by the name of Linda Dillow and her writing connected deeply with me. So as her other books came out, I was quick to pick them up and share them with others.

Over the years, I had opportunities to meet Linda, then sit and chat with her after a speaking event, then correspond via email in a mentoring relationship. Our family even got to housesit for Linda and her husband, Jody while they were traveling for a season. Even though we only had a brief time with them directly, living in their home taught me much about this SOMEONE that I knew God had brought into my life for a reason.

Kathy and Linda at Kiev conference 2002

Kathy and Linda at Kiev conference 2002

In the fall of 2002, I was invited to lead a worship team from our Ohio church for a women’s conference in Kiev, Ukraine. Little did I know, the speaker for the event was SOMEONE named Linda Dillow. She was in the middle of writing her book “Satisfy My Thirsty Soul”. Our time together in preparations for the retreat turned out to be life-changing for me as a woman and a worshiper. I was and am eternally grateful for the role she has played in my life.

Linda and Kathy at Surprised by the Healer Conference 2015. She’s holding the manuscript of my book.

Linda and Kathy at Surprised by the Healer Conference 2015.
She’s holding the manuscript of my book.

It was no surprise when I was looking for SOMEONE to write the foreward for my book Lovely Traces of Hope, that Linda would be my first choice. (You can read what she wrote here.) As you read the pages of my book, there are many times when Linda’s words to me are being channeled to you- either from her books, her emails, our conversations. There are times when I give her credit. There are times when I didn’t even realize that Linda was the one that first introduced me to the thoughts or the scriptures. So here’s me saying ‘thank you’ publically once again for the amazing ways God has used this woman in my life.

The exciting thing for me is …that same SOMEONE, Linda Dillow is making another appearance. And we are inviting you to join us.

Linda and her daughter, Jessa Dillow Crisp will be speaking at the Community Bibile Church in Omaha, Nebraska

HOPE conf.jpg

on Saturday, AUGUST 28th.

The topic is HOPE!

Since not all of us can travel to Nebraska, the women of our church in Ottawa, Ohio and the GREEN HOPE COACHING community are co-sponsoring a live-streamed event locally for women in the area.

If you live nearby you can come too. If you live in Omaha- you can go there. OR you can even arrange to live stream the event to your own personal device.

You can find out more about all of that - and save your spot to join us -
by clicking here. <—

If you are reading this, you have to be amazed how God used SOMEONE

  • to buy me a book as a young bride

  • to write books that change lives

  • to plan the conferences

  • to invite the friends

  • to mentor women

  • to be a ‘bringer of HOPE’

Could you be that SOMEONE for SOMEONE?

Check out the details- Save your spot for the
FIND HOPE CONFERENCE
for women

www.ottawamissionarychurch.org/hope-a-conference-for-women

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(Day 1) Join me for 30 DAYS OF GREEN HOPE

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Day 1 of 30 DAYS OF GREEN HOPE series

Because sometimes you need to not do it alone. Join me for 30 Days of Green HOPE!

On August 16th, it will be 15 years since our daughter Leisha ran off to heaven. I have been ‘celedreading’ this year for 15 years. The anniversary that marks that she had lived as long as she has been gone.

From past experience, I know that anniversaries and birthdays can throw a grieving momma for a loop. I can go into the depths of the grief tunnel all over again if I’m not careful. Now I know that I will always be a greiving momma! I can’t NOT be a grieving momma just because she was my baby and I will always feel the loss of her different than anyone else in my life. It doesn’t make my loss more or ‘righter’ -
it is just my own.

This year, I really want…

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She would have been 30 on Thursday!

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She would have been 30 on Thursday!

I've dreaded this year - this birthday for nearly 15 years. In a few months Leisha will have lived as long as she has been gone.

I hesitated to share this with my GHC community. But the truth is, I haven't been doing well, emotionally, spiritually, mentally or physically. A huge part of that is that I have had some 'BIG" things going on in my life in a very short amount of time.

But that isn't all of it.

For the last 6 weeks I have been 'stopped" -

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Moments that Change A Life

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I promised I would share my RED SEA moment with you. A moment that was forced on me when my daughter Leisha died and I fought to keep living. God had to show up if I was going to survive!

My Red Sea was a terrifying journey through a dark and dreadful grief tunnel much like the path led through the RED SEA for the Israelites. I didn’t know how I was going to survive the grief tunnel any more than the children of Israel knew how they were going to get out of Egypt, or get through the Red Sea. It’s not a path I ever wanted to take, but it was the ‘less frightening’ choice.

I felt as if i was wallowing in mud up past the top of my head and I couldn’t move a finger let alone breathe. ..

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LOOKING AT THE BIG MOMENTS THAT CHANGE YOUR LIFE

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We are living in an unprecedented time in our world today. This is a season we will not soon forget - nor should we. However, often we get so caught up surviving the ‘moments’, we do forget to pay attention to what we are noticing in the middle of it all.

So what if we use this time to pay attention- not just to this moment, but to the moments in our lives that are even now speaking into what and how we are experiencing this uncertain time.

What are the moments when God showed up and touched the very heart of you?

Think about the significant moments in your past; moments you remember