Today Is My Stephanie Nielsen Day

Today is the day I'm going to do some hard things.

It might hurt a little.

It might be a little scary.  

I might not feel strong enough to fight the fight.

But, because I met Stephanie Nielsen, over the weekend,

I'm starting a new tradition.  

Today is my Stephanie Nielsen Day.

She gave me the little push to find more courage within.

Have you read Stephanie Nielsen's blog or book?

You know her as the plane crash survivor and mother of five

who blogs at www.nieniedialogues.com.  

She was so inspiring at the Healthy Woman Conference,

in Evanston, Wyoming, where I was invited to speak in a breakout session (can you believe it?!!!).  

Stephanie was the Keynote speaker, and I met her and her husband (such a wonderful couple!!!)

Stephanie witnessed of miracles, courage, and the importance of choosing your destiny.  And, to top it off, her love story with husband Christian (hmmm how I love that name because that's my hubby's name, too) . . . well, it's the THE BEST ROMANCE YOU'LL FIND!

I am loving her New York Times Bestselling book . . .

 She is truly an Esther of our day!  

She reminded me that
 loving ourselves and the life God has given us is a 

CHOICE we make every day.

So today, I will make the choice to have courage 
and do hard things.  

Because she made the choice to do something incredibly hard things for the good of others--her family--she is now blessing millions.  She made a choice to live and love again, and as she puts it, "I wanted my job back as mother.  Nobody could do it like I could.  I knew my children would suffer without me.  
They needed me."

Surgeries, too many to count.  Unbearable pain and suffering.  A face and body, forever changed by burn scars, making her unrecognizable even to herself.  And yet, she chose to overcome.  She is definitely ONE OF THE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN I HAVE EVER MET.  

I always say, "True beauty is felt more than it is seen." 

I could FEEL her beauty.  It is definitely SOUL DEEP BEAUTY.  

So, today, there are some hard things I have to tackle.

And I pledge to find the courage to triumph over things 

that seem hard, even impossible.

I'm calling it my STEPHANIE NIELSEN day.  

And it's about time.  :))