Anniversary of My First Public Speaking Moment About My Story

I typically post on Tuesdays, and Fridays. But I wanted to acknowlege Aug 1. It is one year today since I stepped on stage at my church and was asked to speak about my story. Thankfully it was only 5 minutes, because I was a nervous wreck and 5 minutes was long enough to break into the public speaking world.

I thought I would share with you the written version in form of a blog post, as it’s a glimpse into my story. If you scroll down to the bottom you will also find the video stream…which I haven’t watched since the day of.

My name’s Holly, I’ve been coming to EC for 5 years and I serve on the first Impressions team.

The core verse I’ve chosen today is from Hebrews 12:1-3 MSG: “Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in.

Jesus never lost sight of where he was needed, why he was here, and what his purpose was. He was focused. He was determined. He could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, humiliation, rejection, accusation, whatever. He wasn’t shaken, he wasn’t distracted from his purpose.

In a world full of comparison it can be easy to lose sight of the purpose God has placed on your life. I can easily lose sight of the purpose God has placed on my life.

I am a planner. I carry multiple notebooks at once -

I like to plan and I like to be prepared. So at 25 I planned my dream wedding. Things seem to be going to plan the only thing was it was my plan and not God’s plan.//

I got so caught up in what everyone else in this “stage” of life is doing I didn’t take time to reflect on what God‘s plan was for me.

It was on February 1, 2020 … only weeks before the wedding and I decided I needed to end the planning, call off the wedding, and end the engagement and relationship altogether. //

As it says at the beginning of the verse, I quite literally had to strip down. Strip down my pride, my pain, my planning. I had to leave the thoughts of what will people think? what about the last deposit on the venue? What about all the wedding party and my relatives and my friends? What about the shame? Will I recover from this? Is there really something better for me out there? Am I making a terrible mistake? Where do I go from here?

The list of questions goes on and on.

I had to be stripped of my plans to give God room to show me His.

On February 2nd of 2020, I walked through the doors of canyon meadows theatre (the south campus at the time) and made the claim that EC was my church, and from that day on I would build new relationships.

It was a process of 4 years to root myself into EC. But this past year has been beyond what I could ever imagined!

I was the girl who came in last, then after the service grabbed my m&m cookie and left as quickly as I could.

Now they have to tell me to leave! — I highly recommend plugging into a small group.

During the past 18 months there has been more than enough curveballs thrown my way that I couldn’t plan for, but I have to remind myself - Jesus has already been where I am. He’s already ran this race. Like the scripture says, so have the many that have gone before me.

So my question to you today would be…

Are you running the race He’s marked out for you? Or are you running your own race?

Are you stuck? Have you been running a race that doesn’t feel right any more?

Is there things you need to let Him strip off?

From my experience, getting rooted in his word, in his church and connected to his people is where you will find rest and bear incredible fruit. It’s where the race makes sense.

Don’t lose sight of the plan God has for you. No matter how defeated you may feel in this moment he will meet you where you are and fill you up with more than you could ever imagined possible. 

Keep going.

Pastor Jonathan once said in a sermon: Sometimes we fight Gods plan to EXIT, because we want to EXTEND.

Let me tell you from personal experience, if God’s giving you an exit it’s because he has extraordinary waiting for you on the other side!

I’m not saying it’s going to be easy or pain-free but In him you’ll find the strength to walk through the valleys and with him you’ll enjoy the splendour of the mountain tops.

Jesus sees what you’ve walked through and he’s already been where you’re going. 

Don't let the fear of shame or the thoughts of comparison be the reason you quit running or the excuse to not even try, that’s not God’s plan.

This church is here to cheer you on,You’re qualified, keep running!