This morning I woke up, and of course checked my twitter (I'm going to pause right there and say
how grateful I am that I am checking twitter instead of facebook, like I was 2 years ago).
I feel that after 10 months blogging I have officially conquered the "facebook" demon.
It's funny, a year ago as much as I loathed the time suckage that social media had presented in my
life, apparently it never sucked enough time and life away from me to quit completely.
Either that, or I was just obsessed. I am sure I was not the only one.
I am one of those "facebook quitters." Where if I feel overwhelmed in anyway, facebook is the first thing to go. Because its the last thing I need to be worrying about, the last thing I need to be checking.
Yet I will do it several hundred times a day anyways.
So I will shut 'er down. I get texts from my friends all the time asking if I'm ok. Or I seem to be a running joke that "Julie shut down her facebook again.' But I know what works for me and I intentionally become unaware of what people think or say about me or anything else, just for a few days or weeks.
But, as I was saying, I opened my twitter feed this morning and I saw that #influenceconf was trending on instagram and on twitter and as cool as I think that is, I had been contemplating
all weekend on whether I wanted to "write" about the conference or just organize
my thoughts and put them into action.
Part of me wondered if people were tired of hearing about it & I hate to bum anyone out.
This is why I call it the big "I" word.
So I'm just going to briefly share a few things that had captivated my heart this past week and then later in the week, I share some more photos.
I have been battling the past few weeks with where I want my blog to go.
I feel as though in the 10 months I have been blogging, I have tried a little of this and that, but in the end, writing is what I love and I fully intend on being intentional in my time spent on the computer.
I realize the giveaways and fashion posts get me more comments and followers and exposure, and I am grateful for & not completely opposed to those things, because I have fun with those, but I want to be intentional with my life, live intentionally & this includes my time spent in social media and not just to do it to suck time like I used to do with facebook. I want to develop myself as a person & pursue what I know God has put inside of me. I'm so excited about it. I can't even begin to tell you.
Eeeesh. I can't even believe I am putting those words out there. That freaks the heck out of me. But why not? This desired jumped inside of my skin only about 2 weeks ago and I can only assume somehow, in someway...it's God. I think. Maybe? I'm not sure what, not sure how, not sure when. It's just a thought. A thought that I didn't care for a year ago. No matter how many people told me "Julie, You NEED to write a book" it simply wasn't a desire. It's funny how God placed the desire in me RIGHT before the conference, so I would come away completely inspired to be bold and intentional with my life. I would feel like what I have to say DOES have influence.
I completely connected with the hearts of these leaders and speakers. In particular..Emily Freeman, Casey Wiegand & Jessi Connely. Everything I have been wanting to say and share and be all came out in their words and their hearts this past weekend. I feel like seeing art and beauty inside of people, and being the Jesus that people need is my strongest desire.
In all my mess and awkwardness, I want Jesus to be seen.
And if that means to be brave and to be real and to embrace all those weird little uncomfortable, scary, questionable desires in me, that not everyone understands or is passionate about, then it does.
Because he is able to shine in SO many ways THROUGH different kinds of people TO different kinds of people. This weekend, I learned to keep being the Jesus that people need. And these women were a glimmering example the of Jesus that we all needed to go out and do the same
in OUR sphere of Influence..
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| more pics to come later this week |
I could go on and on and tell you about the time I cried while talking to Casey Wiegand, or how awkward I felt smiling and pretending I was a part of random conversations when I didn't know where my roomies were, how old I felt when groups of girls would "guess how old I am" or how extremely grateful I am to have meet so many of these amazing women in real life that I have gotten to know via blog and twitter and instagram this year. (That's still just so crazy to say!)
I could tell you all my thoughts and plans for my blog, my life, my family from this point on,
but for right now I just want to say Thank You to ALL the lovely women who listened to Jesus, did this big scary thing and put on this conference, but definitely touched so many hearts and connected so many of us in a much more real way to each other and to finding our purpose and passion in Jesus.
17 comments:
It was so fun to meet you, though I didn't get to talk to you much...so much to do, see, hear, and pray about! Looking forward to what's next for you!
And P.S. Write that book, girlfriend. :-)
yay! Love that picture :) And YOU! And how you could already put some of this stuff into words! I need to do it before I lose it all but have no idea where to begin. Love you sister!
Love this post and just for the sake of sharing (LOL), I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. Haha
xo,
janmloves.blogspot.com
Looks like fun!!
can't wait to hear more and see your pics... sounds like an amazing weekend! =)
I wrote and published my first book when I was 17 and, really, though my writing style has definitely evolved (thank goodness!) since then, I can't tell you how much it means to me to always have that book on my coffee table. I did that, those are my words filling those page, and how special that is! Go for it, Julie! You're wonderful!
I can't wait to see what happens with your blog. I bet it'll be good!
xoxo
you ARE being Jesus to people...your blog shines. Jesus is all over it girl. :)
I quit Facebook too, over a year ago, and I don't miss it! I was so happy seeing all of the instagrams of all of you girls together! Wish I could have met you all! Someday maybe. xo
love this post! looks like you had an amazing time. hoping to go next year! xoxo
hahahahaha! "smiling and pretending I was a part of random conversations when I didn't know where my roomies were" I bet that would have SO been me!
I need to email you.
Julie- it makes me so excited to hear what you took away from that conference. YOU are such a good writer and that has always been what I was attracted to over here, so I kinda gasped with joy with just the thought of a potential book from your brain. I'm also really happy to hear that you it helped you find (to quote a Michael W. Smith song)"Your Place in This World" Bah ha ha... ok I think that's a first quoting an old Christian song but I know you know the song and my sense of humor so ... yeah..there ya go. Keep on rocking/walking it out girl~
great post.! the conference sounds amazing!
Being the Jesus that People Need soooo resonates with me!!! That's why i feel i'm here! To try sooo sooo hard with my broken, messed up, partied up past, my short tempered tendancies with my crazy kids and family to be a blessing of a real mama who loves Jesus and to be a "real" source of encouragement. I'm a hot mess and Jesus still loves me so just look wha the can do for anyone else! Haha! Y aknow? So are you going again next year? I def wanna go! We should be roomates!
I LOVE this post! Love. Can't wait to see what is in store for you!
Your post is so refreshing! I thought I was the only one who has been feeling the Facebook blues lately. Everyday i contemplate just turning it off and i think this post may just be what I need to finally unplug from it. I am SO SO SO glad i found you on the follower blog hop. Definitely following now!
Tara
http://tarabelle-adropofink.blogspot.com/
another reason we're twins: it became a running joke among my friends, too, that i had shut fb down again. i deactivated it completely summer before last and started a new one in april and have actually managed to keep it up the whole time. haha!
i agree with so much of this post. Nish said her session, "if you're going to write it, make it count," and although she was talking about dangerous blogging, i think it applies to all blogging, and to life in general. if we're going to claim His name on our blogs and in our bios, we should make every last word count, in His name, for His kingdom. i can't wait to read more of your thoughts about the conference!
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