So much has happened in the last 4 months and I have not kept you up to date. Hard to believe that when I logged in to Trinity’s Angels it had been so long since the last post. My apologies. I think in my mind I thought I had actually written – well since at least every day I think about what to write and post. So bear with me – over the next few days I will bring you up to date.

In April I went back to Lima, Peru to serve on the women’s weekend retreat for Tres Dias Peru #3. I was so glad to see all the people that I had become friends with. The greeting was amazing and I felt right “at home.” Friendships were solidified and deepened. There were many opportunities to meet new people along the way some of whom were women from Ecuador. And at that time little did I know that I would serve in Guayaquil, Ecuador just 3 months later on their 1st Tres Dias weekend! The retreat was a fantastic experience, as always. Lives changed, people affected and seeds sown. I learned a great deal there about leadership, myself and dancing in my passion.

During my time there I had the opportunity to travel to Cuzco and Machu Picchu with Jerry and Lori Stewart and their family. They served as the directors for the Tres Dias men’s and women’s weekends, respectively. Cuzco is a wonderful town, with cobblestone streets, gorgeous churches and warm Andean people. Quaint and inviting. Walking through the town I felt swept back in time. I handed out chocolate and bracelots to the kids. The only things I had to give them. The poverty is striking and hard to overlook as it is everywhere. Where to begin???? is all I kept thinking. One person at a time … is what I heard.

We took the train from Cuzco to Aguascalientes to catch the bus up the twisting, switchback mountain road to walk among the ruins of one of the 7 wonders of the world. It is absolutely breathtaking. Machu Picchu is exactly as pictures portray this amazing site. From the moment I stepped on the grounds I was in awe and marveled at this place, imagining what it must have been like to build it and live there in the midst of activity. Truly it ranks as a place to visit before you die.

On the flight home I thought about all the has been opened up to me in the past year and what lies on the horizon. How my path and purpose have been defined, changed and redefined. Barely two weeks after returning home, I was on the Tres Dias team for weekend #39 in North Texas in May and gave a talk about Leaders. I struggled to write the ending while flying at 32,000 feet back to Dallas. It wasn’t flowing and I was frustrated. Then I realized that God was showing me I AM a leader, a Christian Leader. I thought I was writing this talk explaining what it takes to be a leader but I had it all wrong. God was leading me. The realization set in. It wasn’t about me talking about leadership, it was God showing me, giving me examples through the people he had placed in my path the past few years. It was humbling for me and through tears I finished the last of the talk and it flowed perfectly. In that split second of realization, God summed it up … He was telling me – I am a Christian leader. Strong and powerful, yet complete with tears, feelings, empathy, love and compassion. Each of us are leaders whether we know it or not. People are looking to us, and, at us as examples. Do you realize the impact you are making right where you are?

Leading in His Mighty Grip,

Stephanie