It is done! Time to celebrate!

Hi friends,

I am so excited to say - it is done! Pink Impact 2010 was all that we dreamed and more! Thanks to all of you for your participation, support, prayer and encouragement. Not only was I personally blown away by God's grace, power and purposes for us - but our entire team - all 400+ volunteers and our staff - were transformed by the experience. What a joy to work with so many God-honoring people. What a joy to worship with so many God-chasers!

I hope you are filled with hope, determination and potential. God broke up our soil, planted an amazing amount of seed in our hearts, spoke His blessing over His work, and now we wait to see! In due season, you will reap a harvest. I would love to know more about what he did in your heart - so if you dare - post a comment and testify!

It was an honor to share my testimony with you. Thanks again for all the positive feedback and encouragement. It was my pleasure to stir your faith in His faithfulness. I hope you feel the authority of God on His word and that you are determined to overcome! Many of you asked me for more details or to even write about the prayer portion of my teaching. I'll do my best to get some of that done in the next few weeks.

Now comes point 3 of my talk - rest! I'm going to rest. I want you to rest. Don't "blink" past this moment! Stop and really appreciate His presence. I wrote in article in Studio G about what to do after a mountain top encounter with Christ. I hope you will take a moment and check it out. In the meantime, thank Him for your pink blessing - whatever it was.

Thanks for the read - I love you dearly! You are very pink!
Jan

The In Between...

Pink Impact 2010 Operation Alpha is now history!

What an honor to serve with Priscilla, Christine and Caroline! Miriam and Kari are incredible. The women that I work with are amazing! Watching all of us work together to create an environment where women can receive a word of truth has been a blast. Love my job - just saying!

What an amazing group of "special agents" reported for duty! You went some places in the spirit I couldn't have imagined and experienced a sense of unity I had only dared to dream about. Thanks for totally going for it! Thanks for your faithfulness! Thanks for your willingness to show up. Praying for you tonight and trusting God will encourage you as you head back home.

Now we are in the "in between"...

I know there are a many packing their bags tonight. They are running around getting everything ready so they can set aside the daily in order to encounter the sacred. They won't be disappointed!

Me either! I'm finishing up a load of laundry, celebrating my husband's birthday and checking my checking account balance. Just the ordinary things of life that we do everyday. But...at the same time...I have a song in my spirit and a skip in my walk. I can feel the vibration of His spirit and His word. He's near to us! More to come. Surprises for all of us in the next few days.

Whether you are coming in or going out - please know we love you! You were prayed for today! We believe in you. We think you are awesome. You are a world changer!

You are so PINK!

Love,
Jan

PS Would be honored if you wanted to follow me at on Twitter or Facebook. You can click on the icons to the bottom right on this post. I'd love to be your friend! Thanks.

Let's hear it for the girls!

This is our daughter Ashley. Beautiful if I do say so myself. Ashley is a sophomore at Dallas Baptist University majoring in business and having the time of her life. She has a gift for making friends. This is a picture of her and her roommates - Beckett, Kaitlin and Sasha! What a team they are!

When she was a tiny little girl she met her first real friend - Lindsi. I wish I had a picture to post here! They were both in diapers and toddling around when they first met. During the first few years, we lived down the street from each other, attended the same daycare and spent a lot of time together. Now they are miles and years apart - yet still friends today!

I so enjoy meeting her friends, watching how they interact and relish the fact that she has so many. I even, on occasion, get to be friends with her friends. This is Ashley and me with Jenna and Jillian - her first friends at Gateway! Jenna's getting married in a few weeks - wow! - that's hard to swallow. Ashley and Jillian are her maids of honor. Jenna and Ashley love to go to concerts together! They really grew their friendship around music, and photos and fun!

Jessica is another one of Ashley's first friends when we moved to the area. I think all they did for the first two years is take pictures and hang out together. Today, they don't get to spend a lot of time together, yet they have developed a sweet relationship that has lasted through transitions and seasons. Thinking of them together makes me smile! This is Jessica and Ashley.

Jessica's been up to something really special. Not only is she an amazing musician and a busy part of the Gateway worship team - but she's started a little business on the side that is starting to grow. Jessica makes the most beautiful pieces of jewelry.

I recently received a gift from Cassie, another friend of Ashley's. This is Cassie and Ash. It's a beautiful necklace from Nuvintage Jewelry - Jessica's business. It's fully of beautiful buttons and tiny seed pearls. A show stopper! I'm looking forward to proudly wearing it at Pink Impact.

All of her hand made pieces are so unique that I asked if I could share it with you. Jessica was kind enough to send me her links so that I can help you check it out. I love that she is making something beautiful with a biblical message. She makes rings, bracelets, necklaces, head bands, picture frames and who knows what else in the future. I bet a see a lot of her pieces at Pink Impact. If you like jewelry - click the links below and stop by for a visit. Encourage a young entrepreneur!

My girl is especially good at making friends and being a friend. I'm proud of her. I'm proud of her roommates, and Lindsi, and Jenna and Jillian and Cassie and Jessica. That's not all! I'm proud of all women who are doing their best to be a great friend and an amazing woman! I'm proud of you.

Don't you love the chance to build up a young woman? To encourage her in her early endeavors? To help her find a friend or a purpose?

Let's celebrate young women! Do what you can when you can to lift them up, to be their friend and to take some real pleasure in watching them grow!



Let me know if you are a Nuvintage Jewelry fan!


The mission of Nuvintage Jewelry is based on Proverbs 31:25a: “She is clothed with strength and dignity.” This line of handmade jewelry is designed to be not only a fashion statement, but also a reminder of God’s unfailing love toward His children, His daughters, His princesses. A fight for purity and holiness. A war for innocence. A battle for true love’s sake. A beautiful, everlasting Dad and daughter dance across a land fashioned by the One who fashioned us.”

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Restoration in progress!

Yesterday I had my first hair salon appointment in 10 months! My little tiny bit of hair seemed enough to justify a shape up and color before Pink Impact. I went dark ... still deciding if I like it better than my gun metal grey and silver that came in naturally! Either way - it's beautiful to me! I so enjoyed everything about my time from the consultation, to the shampoo and finally the trim.

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As she was shampooing my hair I was taken back to two experiences. The day after Mark shaved my head, we made a trip to the Survivor Gals salon for them to take a look at what was left. The sweet ladies there comforted me as I was still so weepy. One of the things they did was put me in the shampoo chair and wash and massage my very tender bald scalp. I remember the lady rubbing my head with some pureology products that smelled good and big tears sliding down the slides of my faces. She just said "It will grow back." That was a hard day.

Second memory - It was my honor to take my sweet friend - Lee Ann - for her first hair cut - post chemo recovery. She waited to trim until hers was about an inch long all over. I picked her up and drove her to another awesome friends home who was a stylists. We laughed and talked and enjoyed the celebration as she had her hair shaped and colored and styled! That was an easy day.

Some days are easy and some days are hard!

You just keep going.

I am so grateful for the will to live that seems to be planted deeply in each of us. There is a sort of persevering, pioneering spirit in us! Press through. Hold on. Try again!

There are rewards for perseverance. You get to places you would have never been and see things you would have never seen. And sometimes you experience pain you wish you could have avoided.

I have decided I would rather have experienced the pain of this season, than not have persevered! Pain is a small price to pay for understanding great joy! It's a small price to pay for knowing the comfort of the Holy Spirit or the victory in Christ Jesus. It's small in comparison to knowing that death has lost it's sting. It is small in comparison to the sacrifice of Jesus.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”- Hebrews 12:2

Let's fix our eyes on Jesus on this Resurrection Day! He arose! So shall we.

Love,
Jan