My goal is to shine the light on who we are as God’s precious children so that we can unleash our God-given potential and become our best selves.
The Ripple Effect
Right place. Right time. Right Words. Why it’s so important.
I had lost all sense of purpose at a point in my life; I was lucky enough to have other people who were walking in THEIR purpose to help me along my journey. They didn’t do anything special. They were just in the right place at the right time to say the right thing. It changed my outlook and changed my life. Because of them I could be in the right place at the right time to adopt my precious son. It strikes me every day to think that if they hadn’t been there to encourage me, my life would have never changed and my baby boy would still be waiting for a family. This is the ripple effect we all have on the world. My heart is that if you’re struggling, you came across this blog at the right time and I can encourage you along the way.
Anne’s inspiration for writing
We became parents to an 11 year old boy in the foster care system that we had never even met before.
Let me back up.
My husband and I decided to do something “crazy” and adopt a wild little pit bull from the shelter. Little did we know the domino effect it would have on our lives. There were chewed pillows. Chewed doors. Chewed shoes. Chewed EVERYTHING! It took some time, but we did it. Roxy became the most amazing dog ever.
Once we had felt confident enough that we had conquered the world of wild Pitbull puppies, we really felt like she needed another pal to romp with. And our chiweenie was having NONE of it. So that set us in a search for another “buddy” for our pittie.
I don’t know what happened.
Somewhere along the way, we ended up taking a wrong turn on the world wide web and landed on an adoption website, instead of the animal shelter page!
And … the rest is history.
Yeah, it was an unexpected surprise in life! It also became the catalyst of me becoming an author.
As two first-time parents, we were in for quite the undertaking. Our lives began to be filled with all new adventures, challenges, love, laugher…and lots and lots of tears. There were so many new things our son needed to know about life (you can check out some of those stories on my blog), that I began think about what I needed to hear as a young person, and why I struggled so much, even into my 30’s. Around that same time, our son began begging (and by begging, I mean he used every argument in the book) for a cell phone. A lap top. A tablet. A cell phone. A smart watch. No. No. No. No. No. And No. I love you, buddy, but there’s a lot you need to learn about life before I hand you the keys and freedom to the internet.
So, I began to write down “lessons I would teach my younger self,” and lessons I knew my son needed before having anything that connected him to the internet. The project grew. And grew. At one point, I realized it actually needed to become a book.
And it was then that I realized the most important lesson our son could ever know. It’s one, and only one thing.
Identity.
You see, everything we do in this life pivots on one matter: what we believe about ourselves. Every choice, every attitude, every thought, and even the ability to overcome adversity stems from how we see ourselves. Without realizing what our identity in Christ actually means, we’re bound to make choices and treat others in a way that cause us to “miss the mark” of who God created us to be. I’ve seen this in my own life, and particularly when my life felt defined by failure. And seeing my son transform from not knowing who he was to embracing his God-given identity was one of the greatest joys of my life.
Kevin went from a having a gigantic ego (just being real here), and insecure, to a secure, confident and compassionate young man. I had seen that same change in myself years before (again, just being real!), and I knew it was the foundation of our identities that changed everything.
When Kevin first came to us, he felt unwanted and unloved. Forgotten, let down, and tossed around from home to home, Kevin needed somebody to believe in him. He needed somebody to remind him that he is wanted and loved. Speaking identity into his life was GAME CHANGING.
Today, our beautiful boy is doing amazing at nineteen years old, and we couldn’t be more proud of him! Kevin’s passion to speak life and identity into the next generation is unsurpassed by any young person I have ever seen. And I’m not saying that just because I’m his mom. Ask him what God means to him. Kevin stops in his tracks, his eyes go to a deep place, and a slow smile spreads across his face. His first words usually are, “Where do I even start? Do you have that kind of time?” Then you will hear phrases like, “Hopeless sinner finding the Grace of God.” “A kid not expecting much out of life gets transformed by The One who gave him life.”
With a determined look in his eyes, Kevin tells me, “My heart breaks for a generation that doesn’t know who they are. I know what that’s like—to not know what you’re worth.”
Every week, Kevin shows up at church with a soccer ball or frisbee. He seeks out the kids who are struggling and going through rough patches and looks for ways to speak into their life. There is a message burning in his heart. “You’re created in the image of God. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Loved. Valued. Priceless. Enough.” He wants to be a youth pastor. Whatever Kevin wants to do, I know he is going to do great because he knows who he is.
Here is where it lands: We hold within us an incredible power to change the pain and suffering in this world when we begin to take hold of our “why.” Our “why” is our unique God-given purpose. God could, of course, do this all on His own without our help. But He has made us like Him; with a longing, an aching even, to impart into the world around us with the uniqueness of who we are. Because He loves us, He works intricately through our unparalleled why to pierce the darkness in this world.
I’ve learned that to discover our one-of-a-kind why, we must know our Who. They go hand-in-hand. We find our Who when we begin to see ourselves through the eyes of Jesus. He proved to us that even at our worst, we were worth dying for. In the light of what He did on the cross, we discover just how loved we are and how valuable we are. With the “priceless” stamp of God at our center, we become our best selves.
Yes, we can instead choose to fill our lives with pretenses and possessions. We can seek our worth in everything else. But the gift of who we are will never be revealed when we find our worth in anything less than the cross. Why would we want anything less?
When your Who and your why meet Jesus, you become the most powerful, unstoppable version of yourself, becoming who He created you to be!
I hope I’ve inspired and given you some food for thought. I would love to invite you to follow my journey, and see how you can make the world a better place by just caring!
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This site is dedicated to the orphan, the abandoned, the outcast and the lost; may the family you were meant to find come soon.
You don’t have to have kids to be a part of helping the next generation; you just have to want to make the world a better place. ~Anne Day
Author Anne Day 