Hey y’all! It’s me, Liv.
I cannot believe The Colorfully Candid Paradigm has been existence for five whole years! Where did the time go? It seems like yesterday that I was sitting around my kitchen table with seven incredible women, three of whom would join the board, to found The Colorfully Candid Paradigm, Incorporated. I will be forever grateful to those seven women who poured their hearts and soul into the founding documents and the first event.
It’s pure comedy to think of what a novice I was when I planned that first event. We served cold cut sandwiches outside of the resort we stayed at upon arrival, and the volunteer team was so limited, the moms who had signed up to attend the retreat ended up jumping in to give us a hand! I am literally laughing right now as I remember it. I’d failed to realize how long some activities would take, and I’m sorry to say we still haven’t hiked up that entire trail at Fletcher’s Canyon in Mount Charleston even though we’ve been back quite a few times. The conference room we’d rented was almost too small to accommodate us, and although I could go on and on, it somehow made it special.
Friendships were formed. Healing took place. I saw the miraculous unfold before my eyes as girls shed their baggage to enjoy newfound freedom in Christ. I thank God for 2014 because it was the year I chose to shed my baggage too. The weight of comparison I carried affected my life significantly in the worst of ways. The need for approval from others has left me paralyzed in the wake of their absence. The insecurity I experienced was debilitating, but God had spoken a word. That year, my desire to say yes to Him overwhelmed anything else I felt and I said, “yes.”
Today, I’m writing to ask you: what have you withheld a yes from? Zechariah 4:10b reads, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.” You get it right? You don’t have to know everything, have gone to school for it, be an expert on the subject matter, or know the ending. The Lord rejoices, delights, smiles, even laughs as He watches you begin the work. Trust me, you’ll laugh too. Let’s talk. What are you going to do this year? What are you going to return to? What are you going to accept?
Love you with my whole heart,
Liv
