INSPIRATION

My family was beyond blessed to spend thanksgiving Thursday with some dear friends that unfortunately we don’t get to see as often as we would like because: 

1. we live 2 1/2 hours apart
2. 3 active and highly involved teenage girls between us
3. A 3 year old little boy that keeps my amazing friend on her toes 
4. My job and well…life! 

My friend is what People Magazine would name “The Most Beautiful Person of the Year” every year running that I have known her; 1997. First off she is “disgustingly”drop dead beautiful on the outside and on the inside.  She is a Jesus lover, wife of a retired pro football kicker and highly involved mother of three.  She is a full on FITness freak which is “hardly” noticeable by her tight ripped arms and legs. (Eye roll). To make matters worse, this chick-a-dee gets smoking hot ready every single day. She wakes up at the crack of dawn to get all cute and fixed and stays this way all day long.  Even her workout look is fully done and darling!

This young woman is every girls nightmare friend because there is literally nothing she cannot do!  Maybe sing…but I’ll have to double check that. Anyway…every single time I’m in her presence I’m blessed by her influence.  In some form or fashion, she will stimulate me to pray more or to create and paint a wall or even cook something new.  Ok, I THINK about cooking something.

Joy is the original inventress of do it yourself! She began an early career in DIY with makeup and hair artistry.  She can cut, curl and color hair in likety split!  She has a flare for decorating anything and everything such as people, tables, rooms, homes, and SOULS!  She is gifted with a knack for big DIY projects and quite handy with power tools!  Oh, yeah, she builds stuff, like with her bare hands. She built…literally the home she lives in and almost everything in it!   Joy also teaches bootcamp, bible school and in her spare time from birthing babes, she wrote a bible study book! The Sword and more BS by Joy Elliott  which is available at Amazon.

 Ok so by now you should be hearing the Whitney Houston song playing in your head “she’s every woman it’s all in…Me.”  In the midst of her active life, Joy has also survived breast cancer THREE times!  Yes, three times and her therapy involved chemo and radiation!  I can’t even begin to describe her journey other than to say…Joy is every woman!  Her zeal for living and fighting like Jesus is beyond amazing!

Being in her presence is sheer JOY!

 What inspired me the most this visit?  Surprisingly it was not some fantabulous arm or ab workout. It wasn’t the way she arranged her fresh flowers at the top of her mantle or the sweet 16th birthday day she just threw for her daughter!  It wasn’t the perfect toilet paper holder in the guest bathroom or the new way she styled her hair.  Nope, this visit was all about an escalator.  Joy shared an awesome prophetic story about a fist fight she is having with an escalator. My friend who has conquered cancer, hosts multiple parties in a week, serves her church and family, constructs and designs everything from scratch, raises kids, cooks and keeps her man happy all while looking FIT and flawless…is also human!  Who KNEW? She admitted she has felt much like she is taking two steps at a time on an escalator and she can’t seem to reach the top.

ESCALATOR INSPIRED

Gosh haven’t we all felt like this at times? I did what every good girlfriend does or should do. We poured a glass of wine and ran for her closet.  I looked into her beautiful brown eyes and gave her a good old fashioned pep talk!   As we discussed her situation and broke it down, I arrived at a conclusion.  Even “strong” women need encouragement. Even “women who do it all experience tiresome or unappreciated days and require  inspiration!

Yes, even my friend who perspires joy, servant hood and beauty, desires encouragement.  Joy may feel like she is on the never ending escalator to nothing ville but she isn’t!  I assured her that she and her hubby are living the American Dream.  Her escalator may be on overdrive because she is knee deep in raising three active kids but overdrive isn’t forever!  I reminded her that the PTO will eventually stop calling, room mom isn’t forever and her kids will grow up and leave.

  I concluded with, we should all remember that escalators are a ride!  A resting point from floor to floor. Escalators are a break from taking the stairs and a way to look around and not be closed off in an elevator!  We need to be present and enjoy the wild ride that each of us are on! Lastly, ladies and gentlemen be aware that the even the “strong” people in your sphere need encouragement.  They need love and they need to draw inspiration from somewhere or something.   Perhaps a simple thank you or I’m so appreciative for _______(fill in the blank)

Maybe, it’s a great bottle of wine and your friend named Joy!
 Have you recently been inspired?  Share…we can never have enough inspiring stories.   Where do you get an inspiration FIX?