{"id":418,"date":"2018-10-29T10:39:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/being-influencer\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:15:36","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:15:36","slug":"being-influencer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=418","title":{"rendered":"Being an Influencer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Okay….this is longer than my usual “long”, but it describes major influencers in my life. When I come to Tulsa, I squeeze in as much as possible because there are so many precious friends and family here. Yesterday was no exception. First was attending mass at my home parish and sitting beside my Tulsa \u201cfamily\u201d who mean the world to me. My godson brought us all together when he was a very sick newborn. My husband and I fell in love with this family long before his birth, but it was his little precious and vulnerable life that cemented us all together. Isn\u2019t it amazing how what seems to be the worst of times, brings out the best in people and the best of times? Owen is 13 now so it\u2019s been 13 years of watching God perform miracle after miracle in his life. Since my husband passed away, Owen has taken his place beside me in church and he still holds my hand and wraps his arms around me with abandon. Be still my heart! I was thrilled to have lunch with them and seeing the two youngest in their costumes for Trunk or Treat that followed. This family has been amazing influencers in my life.<\/p>\n

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After church and before lunch, I made a couple of quick visits to see two amazing \u201colder\u201d women. My first visit was to see Margaret, the mother of my brother-in-law, She lives in a skilled nursing facility, If you need a pick-me-up, go see her. I walked in her room and she was beaming from ear-to-ear and excited to tell me \u201cI\u2019m 96 years old now! Just look at these paintings on my walls. I painted them all!\u201d Margaret is a dear, optimistic, light-hearted friend that as long as I\u2019ve known her, her outgoing, and warm personality made me feel loved. She influenced me.<\/p>\n

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Then I headed over to spend time with my mother-in-law. I took her dinner the night before and we caught up then, but yesterday I savored our time together once again. She’s gone through a lot physically, but now that she lives with Karen, my husband\u2019s sister, she’s become stronger and filled with so much vitality. She boasted \u201cI\u2019ve gained five pounds!\u201d And that says a lot! I can\u2019t begin to tell you how much she has influenced my life — the most of which are her prayers for us. I asked her \u201cWhat are you going to do today?\u201d She quickly responded, \u201cI\u2019ve got lots of calls to make!\u201d She has a list of people she calls to encourage. She is sure not done yet. She\u2019ll be 96 on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

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Lastly, I made my way to another dear friend and mentor. Oh, how I love this precious saint, Sister Marie Pierre. After 50+ years of ministry, she retired and lives in a small space at St. Joseph’s Monastery but it is everything she hoped for in this season of her life. A few months ago she had a pretty bad fall and had to have hip surgery. I was shocked to see that she was waiting at the door with her walker for me when I arrived. She wasn\u2019t setting any records, but she was up and moving. Another nun waited with her and she asked: \u201cAre you a teacher?\u201d I replied, \u201cYes, I am, but I\u2019m also one of Sister Pierre\u2019s children.\u201d We made each other cry as we shared sweet memories, and about our future….getting to graduate to heaven. We talked about how our loved ones and the saints and Jesus are cheering us on to the finish line. I could tell she is longing for the day when she’ll go home, but in the meantime, sitting at her feet, feeling God’s presence and His peace all around her, is the place to be. God continues to use her to touch our lives. She has MANY children — of course, not biologically, but she sure had a hand in raising many of us in the ways we should go.<\/p>\n

Why do I go into so much detail about my life and share it on social media? One, it will be forever an archive to remind me of those people who passed my way. I\u2019m quite sure they were all a part of God\u2019s Master Plan for my life. Placing value on those people and acknowledging them as precious and valuable makes them matter in the grand scheme of God\u2019s almighty handiwork. I love to give credit where credit is due. Each teacher, mentor, encourager, family member, friend, and even casual acquaintance are strategic in God\u2019s wisdom to co-partner with Him. I am so grateful for those who helped \u201cmake\u201d me. <\/p>\n

The point is to embrace God\u2019s plan AND people that come into our lives \u2013 there\u2019s a reason for them all. I\u2019m so thankful that mine has made me purposeful in my mission and determination to finish strong. Perhaps you\u2019re thinking of your own life and those who have contributed to who you are today. Maybe phone them or pay them a visit to let them know how thankful you are for them. Why do I go into so much detail about my life and share it on social media? One, it will be archived to remind me of those people who partnered with God to fulfill His Master Plan in my life. Acknowledging them is giving credit where credit is due. Each teacher, mentor, encourager, family member, friend, and even casual acquaintance are strategically placed in our lives by God. I am so grateful for those who helped \u201cmake\u201d me. <\/p>\n

The point is to embrace God\u2019s plan AND people that come into our lives. There is a reason for them all. I\u2019m so thankful that mine has made me purposeful in my mission and determination to finish strong. Perhaps you\u2019re thinking of your own life and those who have contributed to who you are today. Maybe phone them or pay them a visit to let them know how thankful you are for them. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay….this is longer than my usual “long”, but it describes major influencers in my life. When I come to Tulsa, I squeeze in as much as possible because there are so many precious friends and family here. Yesterday was no exception. First was attending mass at my home parish and sitting beside my Tulsa \u201cfamily\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[168,1083,1084,1085,1086,683,1087,1088,973,1089,1090,43,1091,1092,1093,1094,302],"class_list":["post-418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blessing","tag-church","tag-family","tag-friend","tag-friends","tag-friendship","tag-gods-plan","tag-godson","tag-influencers","tag-light-hearted","tag-mentor","tag-optimistic","tag-outgoing","tag-sister","tag-sister-marie-pierre","tag-st-josephs-monastery","tag-tulsa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8728,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions\/8728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}