Be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this series!
To recap…
1. I have a passion for words, which I believe is a gift from a God who loves them too.
2. Every word we speak brings life or death. Every word.
So now what?
What’s a word-loving girl to do with all this?
The temptation is to get excited and then fizzle out fast like a cheap sparkler.
But I don’t want that to be my story.
I want to take the influence I’ve been given seriously.
Women today are a force to be reckoned with. We have a voice that no generation of women before us has had. And we have a place online.
Big audience or small, we all have influence.
Like I’ve said again and again, God used Annie Downs to blow me away with truth at the Influence Conference.
Truth about the world we live in and about the powerful voice that women have.
OUR WORDS COUNT.
They matter.
They are shaping our world and the generations that will follow. Those women will be even louder than us.
The internet isn’t going anywhere.
Honestly, the internet is full of hate and garbage and crap,
BUT
it’s also full of young women.
Young women who are going to be online no matter how much anyone tells them not to be.
You can tell them that it’s a waste of time or that they should be doing something in their real life (both of which are certainly true at times) but I don’t think that’s going to change them.
You know what I think IS going to change them?
Life-giving words.
People speaking love.
Women who love Jesus and who shine brightly online for Him (hopefully in their bright and gaudy outfits, because then I qualify).
Annie’s mission is to speak love to change the world.
She challenged us to stop listening to the lie that we don’t have influence. That our online posse is too small.
She told us to add up all of our followers (Facebook friends, blog readers, Twitter followers, Instagram followers, Pinterest followers, etc) and imagine them in a room. (Go ahead, do it!)
Even if you only have a few followers on each of those platforms, you have influence.
If you put those people in a room and tried to personally mentor and disciple them, you’d be hard pressed to do it.
But they are all bumping into you online.
Reading your posts. Looking at your pictures. Listening to what you say and watching how you live.
That influence feels heavy to me.
But in the best way :)
I love social media and I’m tired of feeling guilty about it.
As long as I’m keeping my eyes on Jesus, taking care of my family and staying personally connected with people in my real life, there’s no reason that I shouldn’t be online for the glory of God!
Young women online are either going to stumble upon the garbage out there or the good. I want there to be more good so they have a better chance of bumping into it!
I hope they find Annie’s Blog and that they read her life giving words.
I hope they find mine too.
I want to speak life and love in real life and online until the cows come home.
So that’s what I’m going to do.
I’m going to keep sharing the things that God is putting on my heart. I’m going to keep sharing the food that I’m putting on my plate. I may even share the outfits that I’m putting on each day because I love to see what other women are wearing, so why not?!
I’m also going to pray that God does a work in my heart so that the words that flow out of it are life-giving. Fruit not poison.
I want to speak love each time I open my mouth and I want to repent quickly when I fail.
So let’s do this ladies! Let’s start a revolution of nice girls!
The mean girl is not a staple in our society.
Let’s love the nasty right out of her.
Let’s pray for her and pray that God uses us as His mouthpiece in this dark and hurting world.
If you have a blog, use it for His glory! Keep posting and speak love.
If you have a Facebook account, use it for His glory! Keep posting and speak love.
If you have an Instagram account, use it for His glory! Keep posting and show the beauty that He has created all around.
You get it :)
I can’t wait to see how God uses His girls to further His kingdom!