Life, Love, Laughter, Tears and Everything in Between: For the Love: A Beautiful Journey

So it's been a while since I have posted. Life has been busy and I just keep soaking it all in. In case you didn't know, about six months ago, after seeing a post on Facebook, I applied and was chosen, along with 499 others, to be a part of a launch team for Jen Hatmaker's new book, For the Love. Over these months, we were given a copy of the book and a Facebook group was created with us and Jen to communicate about the book. Sounds simple enough, right?

But God had a bigger plan. Through this little launch team, so much more has happened than just the successful launch of a book. This group turned into a place where love and grace and acceptance, beyond what we could have ever imagined, has been found. This online community became a place where many have shared some of their deepest fears and others have encouraged and cheered each other on, and all have lifted each other in prayer. It is a safe place - something that seems so difficult to find in our world today.

This whole experience culminated in a Launch Party at Jen's home in Buda, TX just south of Austin. While we were all super excited to be there, the true beauty came in a more unexpected way. Rather than it being all about meeting Jen, all of these amazing women who have been a part of this online community showed that this community was real. While of course we were all thrilled to meet Jen (seriously, that was awesome!), we were equally thrilled to meet in person so many of the sweet friends we have grown to know via cyberspace. I've been processing this whole experience for weeks now, and still have a difficult time finding words to describe the whole experience.

Not only did I get to experience all that happened with this party, but I spent a long weekend with some amazing women from Houston. Did I mention that I had only met a few of them on one occasion for a couple hours and had never met the rest? Sounds pretty crazy.... I know my husband was questioning my sanity when I explained I was going to spend a weekend in Austin with a group of women I had met online. While in the back of my mind, I was so worried this would not go well, God had His hands all over the entire experience. This group of ladies come from all sorts of backgrounds and denominations and ages. We spent hours visiting about each others lives and struggles, and the safe place from our online group became a real, tangible thing as we prayed and lifted each other up with encouragement.

One of the highlights of the weekend came near the end of our trip. Earlier in the weekend, we were doing some shopping on South Congress. After finding out that there was a Toms store (I absolutely LOVE Toms!) we had missed earlier, this sweet group of women happily let me drag them on a walk way out of our way in the 100 degree heat so I could go look for some cute shoes. While shopping, we were chatting with this precious gal working at the Toms store. A couple of the ladies with me invited her to come hang out with us that evening and to come to church with us at ANC (Jen's church) Sunday morning. While she didn't make it to hang out that evening, we all ended up meeting her for breakfast before church Sunday morning. As we had done all weekend, all of us were real and vulnerable and shared stories of trials we have faced and pieces of our journeys. She joined us for church and later posted this sweet post to Facebook about the experience, and her words sum up the entire weekend so well:

As I've reflected on all this, I've questioned how it all worked so well. The only conclusions I've come to is this - God stepped in and took advantage of this moment. In this moment, we didn't know what to expect, so we had no preconceived expectations for what it would all look like. We hadn't made judgments beforehand, because we hadn't done this before and had nothing to judge it against. We all just loved with Christ-like love.

Which leads me to wonder, "What if?" What if we laid down our judgments and preconceived notions about others or about what we think things should be? What if we just encouraged each other and lifted one another up? What if we just loved the way Jesus loved?

This group of women have been such a gift to me. Although the book is launched and the party has happened, our group continues. And just a few days ago, Jen gifted us with news of Launch 2.0 - for her next book that is already in the works. I'm not sure how or why I got so blessed to be a part of this, but I am so thankful to God for the opportunity. I have so many wonderful new friends who I know will be there for life.

If you haven't gotten your copy of For the Love yet, get it now here! I pray Jen's words bless you as they have so many of us.