Some of you may remember when my header looked like this!  If you do – then you have been following Women Living Well for a REALLY long time!!!  I’m still not sure how people found me that first year…my link was SO long – www.WomenLivingWell-Courtney.blogspot.com That “dash Courtney” part – who does that? lol!  What was I thinking when I typed that in?  Obviously I had not read ProBlogger yet! :)     But that was my web address when the Rachael Ray Show found me - clearly God’s hand was in that – because they found a needle in a haystack! 

So I’m all grown up now with a more mature header and a simple dot org name but the same mission and purpose for writing.

Last week I made a 5 minute video of The Story Behind Women Living Well and I’d like to share it with you!  So here it is:

In the video, I shared that as a teenager my dream was to become a missionary and take God’s word to the world!!!  I had read many missionary stories and I was ready to get my jungle gear and head off to far lands to do something great for God!  And I failed.  After graduating from Bible school with my 4 year degree, I married my high school sweet heart, got comfy in America and never went.  This is something that has haunted me for over a decade.  The tears sting even as I type this right now – the sting of failure…the sting of guilt - knowing my life is so cushy while many of my college friends are on the mission field now – right this very minute –  facing hardships that I will never know. 

At one time, I thought, well maybe it’s God’s will we just financially and prayfully support a lot of missionaries since my husband has been blessed with a good career.  Maybe that’s why God gave me this burden…so we sought out missionaries to be committed to…but it didn’t scratch the itch of my teenage dream.  I shoved this dream deep down inside and pressed on in life with women’s ministry in my church, evangelism in my sphere of influence and having babies!

Then one day – I started this blog thing…you know – the one with the dash and the bubble bath logo lol!  Expectations were low – it was more of an outlet than a ministry…but then something happened…people started reading…more and more people…and emails started coming in from Australia, Scotland, Brazil, Japan, Egypt, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Argentina, Croatia, Hungary…

One day as I looked at the part of my site meter that shows a map where my readers are located…I had a full circle moment and a rush of tears!  God had done something beyond my dreams…something unimaginable to me – he had allowed me to “go into all the world” from my kitchen computer!  My teenage dreams were coming true – but in a way I could not image as a teenager (peeps – I’m so old they didn’t even have cell phones back then – much less the world wide web!). 

So I’m living an Ephesians 3:20&21!

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Never stop dreaming great things for God! 

Every woman has a dream – from the young girl waitressing in the corner diner, to the mom with 5 kids just trying to survive the day, to the woman with the corner office.  God has placed those dreams in his children’s hearts for his glory and though our dreams may not play out as we have planned in our minds – God will use those to guide us to his will for our lives. Be patient, pray and be in God’s word daily and go forward in peace “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 1:6)

Walk with the King!

Courtney