This was just going to be an Instagram post but than as I started to try and pour out my heart it got lengthy so I decided to make it into a blog post! I shared yesterday on my Instagram and Facebook accounts about my lack of self confidence and struggle with insecurities and I have to say I did not expect to get the overwhelming response I got. From sweet loving texts, dm’s and comments on the photo, let me first say thank you! You sure made this ole’ girl feel loved! I was neverous about how my post would be received (those darn insecurities sneaking out) but I most definitely wasn’t looking for peoples pity I was just being honest about something that has been on my heart and eating away at my mind. If you missed my post this is what I shared:

“Confidence is silent – insecurities are loud” I read this quote the other day it resonated with me so much it’s been playing over and over in my head. I’ve been told so many times in my life that I seem so confident but trust me friends I am not. I worry far too much about what other people think about me, I try too hard to make people happy even if it means I’m not. I have hurt feelings way too often when people don’t make time for me or show me that they love me, especially when I try to show them they are loved and valued. I’m tired of letting what others think of me really effect me. I am just me – flawed, imperfect and all, but I have some good qualities and I was made by someone who loves me far more than any human on this earth will ever love me. So in an effort to stop listening to my own insecurities I am taking on a new project in hopes that this will spread wide an epidemic of people loving people. No judgement, no competition, no segregation but flawed people doing the best they can to encourage, motivate, inspire and love other people. So tomorrow I will share with you my new project idea and I hope you will join in with me on this journey to love yourself and in doing so loving others because you know how good it feels to be loved!

The project I would like to launch is not something that is really new or original at all and I don’t want to try and claim that it is all my idea but nevertheless I want to see this thing take off, and in so lives to be changed and people to be blessed! We have all heard of Random Acts of Kindness and in a way this is sorta the same idea but with a twist. Back in the begining of January my pastor did a sermon in which he shared about a challenge to Turn Up the Love in 2017 and it stuck with me. Project #TUTL (as I am referring to it) is more than just randomly serving or loving someone you don’t know. I am all for doing random acts of kindness, paying for the guys coffee behind you in the coffee shop line, handing a complete stranger an envelope with a 20 dollar bill in it. Yes all those things are amazing and I encourage you to do them because trust me when I say not only by doing that will you be loving and blessing someone but YOU will honestly feel so encouraged and warm inside as well. I want to see Project #TUTL go deeper I am talking about intentionally loving people that are hard to love, people that offend you, people who mistreat you, the ones that are easy to un-love. In some ways its a lot easier to do something sweet and loving to someone you don’t know, you don’t have a history with or that have never wronged or offend you. But how do you treat the girl that you overheard gossiping about you to your girlfriends? How do you respond to the person who is jealous of your success and trys to minimize your accomplishment. Project #TUTL is not only random acts of kindness but more of a “killing them with kindness” kind of method. I want to be someone who makes EVERYONE feel like a someone! I am in no way saying this idea will be easy but I get excited to think about what life would be like if I can really put this into practice and what our society, what our communities would be like if YOU got on board and joined me in this! So to get started I made a little trip to my local Ikea and grab some cute pink flower pots and than I made a stop at my favourite flower shop Just Blooms to grab some plants. It took a little time, cost me a bit of money but I can assure you the people who receive these little tokens of love today will feel loved and valued and those things are priceless if you ask me. I want to encourage you to get creative in how you show those people that you feel compelled to love on love. Everyone of us has a different love language no one way is right or wrong but just do it in whatever way you can. The most freeing thing you can do for yourself and to the one who has hurt and offended you is to forgive them and love them!