The Story Behind wordsbytara.com

"We learn best and change from hearing a story that strikes a chord within us."- John Kotter

wordsbytara is based upon the belief that everyone has a God inspired dream; a purpose for their life that is wanting to be birthed into the world.

This is the story behind my God-inspired dream.

Every day I wake up excited that I am doing what I love, which is creating content for wordsbytara.com.  My intention is clear. I want to share ideas, information, and inspiration that will help women to live their God-inspired dreams.

Arriving at this point was not easy. As I wrote in my first post when I launched the site; the journey has been filled with long, winding roads and lots of rest stops along the way. But despite the delays, I remained confident that the desire I had to use my words to help others and to become self-employed would someday become the reality of my life.

The dream for self- employment began to form during my college years, but I did not know it at the time. I was a Sociology major, which in a nutshell is the study of institutions and human relationships. I was inspired by my sociology classes and an internship, where I helped to create parenting classes at a local Red Cross. It was here, I experienced how to combine what I was learning in the classroom with real life. I saw a community in action and the power that was derived when people gathered together for the same cause, which in this case were new mothers wanting to learn how to be the best parents they could be.

I loved my sociology classes! When I say love, I really did. I took every course I could and thought I would become a  sociologist, but instead, I took a detour into the field of social work.

 A couple of years into my new career, the entrepreneurial bug began to bite. It was sparked by my college experience. All I knew was that I had this huge desire to help women, to write and to work for myself, but I wasn't quite sure how it would all come together. With my college experiences never far from my mind, I began to write more. I created a business plan, designed a brochure, a sample newsletter and filled notebooks with ideas of how I was going to bring my desires together. ( I actually still have these items some 15 years later!) 

But despite wanting to make my dreams my reality, it seemed impractical, bordering on irresponsible. I mean I had bills, student loans, a child, in addition to the three years I spent obtaining a graduate degree and work experience. It did not make any sense to throw it all away on a dream. Right?

So instead of honoring the tugging on my heart, I took my dreams and put them to the side continuing to focus on what I had already established for myself. But the life I was creating, never felt "right." With each new position I took, it always felt like I was trying to make myself fit into a career I did not belong in. I kept hoping that if I found the "right job", then I would get confirmation I had indeed chosen my right livelihood, but that never happened.

What did happen is the dream I had been carrying for so many years would never die. I tested out the waters of self-employment when I went into direct selling. I eventually moved into leadership and developed my own team of women. I loved helping my team build their businesses. I loved supporting, encouraging and sharing ideas and information with them. It was the first time in my life where all the parts of my dream came together. I was experiencing the power of community again and recognizing the importance of ideas and information in helping to transform lives. The only problem was I was still working my day job and building a business at night, part-time for three years. I had some of the dream, but not all of it. 

At this point in the story, I must talk about God. During these years of confusion and frustration, God was becoming a bigger part of my life. I feel like I was being challenged in my faith a lot. I also believe that all the missteps and wrong turns taken were necessary in order for me to get to where I am now. They were also necessary for my faith to grow in ways I could never have imagined as that college kid sitting in sociology class.

Fast forward to earlier this year. The yearnings in my heart were growing at an accelerated pace. God was talking to me and I was hearing him loud and clear. He had been talking to me all along throughout all my experiences, but fear seemed to be speaking louder. I don't know the day or the time. There was no particular incident that occurred. I just came to a point where I decided. It really came down to the question of faith, " am I going to live in faith or am I going to continue to live in fear?" I chose faith and have been moving forward in my God inspired dream ever since.

While my business is very much in its' infancy stage, I have a deep knowing that I am on the right path. I no longer question my vocational home, I know with certainty I am in the right place. In his book, Let Your Life Speak, Parker J.Palmer talks about his own journey in coming to understand his vocational home; his purpose. He says, "Vocation does not come from a voice "out there" calling me to be something I am not. It comes from a voice "in here" calling me to be the person I was born to be, to fulfill the original self-hood given to me at birth by God."

The vision I have for wordsbytara.com is larger than what is seen on the pages of the site. I feel God is constantly depositing ideas into my heart and mind. The things that I am being given to do are overwhelming and scare me, but I am learning that it is okay to be afraid as long as I don't let that stop me. Saying "no" to my dreams/purpose is no longer an option.

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We all have dreams and a purpose that must be fulfilled. Each of us has something unique and special to do in this world for the time we are here. What is the story behind your God inspired dream?  Send me an email, I would love to read about it and possibly share it on wordsbytara.com. 

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