To me, it seems, that influence has everything to do with
timing. The Lord gives us these little pockets of time and windows of favor
with people and if we see them and recognize them, we can seize them and use
them. Sometimes our pockets are actual chronological time where for whatever
reason, we have the ears and the eyes of some people. Maybe our pockets are
situations – the Lord gives you a blessing or a piece of pain and in turn, you
have some influence with people in that similar season. Whatever it is, a
situation or segment of time – it’s abundantly clear that if you don’t steward
your influence, it fizzles. You misuse it, you lose it. You try to overstep it
and it’s gone.
We see that, with this conference. We see this fresh
generation of women who aren’t approaching life or the internet or business by
happenstance. They see the potential of their own influence and they want to do
it correctly – and we want to shepherd that well. We don’t know everything, we
aren’t doing it perfectly – but we’re just as zealous as you are when it comes
to knowing that this tool we have in our hands, this influence, it has to be
wielded for one Purpose and one Name alone – His.

Anyhow, the other day I feel like the Lord opened my eyes,
straight up to this, in my own life. It was a weekday afternoon and I had what
felt like a million things to get done while my kids had their “quiet rest”
time. I’d spent the whole morning have some sweet time with them and knew as
soon as they were settled, I was going to have to get going. I had emails to
write and laundry to start, dinner to prep, and just stuff to do. My husband,
in all his lovingness, had dropped by a hot venti coffee on his lunch break,
knowing I was a little tired and needed some extra pick me up to get through a
few hours of work when I could be resting.
But as I settled into my stuff, my sweet four year old
ladybug was restless. She was tossing and turning, trying to get comfy. She
tried reading books, she tried a movie, she tried playing quietly, and nothing was
working. I was frustrated and just wanted her to REST so I could dig in and get
it all done. But I knew it wasn’t coming. I knew those restless legs and her
restless heart need her mama, RIGHT THEN.

And I started to understand influence even more. It’s just
this short little season that you have when the Lord can use YOU – to speak
life, to comfort, to encourage, to cuddle. And so I stuck the hot coffee in the
fridge for later, closed the laptop, laid down right beside her and let her do
her worst. She spent two hours petting my face and giggling and telling me what
was on her heart. Sometimes we’d lay still and watch a movie, but mostly we
just ministered to one another and cuddled and acted like mama and daughter.

So sometimes it’s the hour on the couch and maybe sometimes
it’s the morning on the blog. It might be the afternoon at the coffee shop or
the datenight with your husband. But today, you and I have influence with
someone – probably more than one someone. We have their ears and their eyes and
their hearts, and we can point to Him or we can just shuffle through those
pockets of influence, with our own eyes on our own selves and our ears trained
to our own thoughts.

Let’s listen closely today, gals, and see what He has for
us.

Let’s see where He’s given us influence.