Later that night, Lisa lead a "break out session" for all the women between 11 and 29 (narrowly made that window). The generous ladies at Celebration church had provided dinner for us, and our table slowly filled with the few of us that were on the upper end of the age bracket (no shame, folks, no shame).
Lisa opened by talking about her 4 boys at home, and her one granddaughter, and then she moved on to how important the upcoming generation is.
"Ladies, I have prayed for a generation to rise up and take the church to a new level of believing in God," she said with passion. "I. Have. Prayed. For. You.
"You live in a time where everything you do is transparent, and everything you do is up for critique. You need to be careful- if you listen too long to what others think about you, they will define you," she said.
"And here's the thing: friends can be the guardians of your dreams. But you are also the guardians of theirs. Don't be silent when your words may encourage someone else. Your painful past can be preventative to someone else's future."
After she finished talking and left the stage, I quickly realized that a line was forming in the back of the auditorium to talk to her. Well, dang! I got up and walked to the line, managing somehow to get to be the second in line (there was a group of girls in front of me all together) and I waited as the group had decided that one of their own was a perfect fit for one of Lisa's single sons. I listened to them "pitch" their friend, and they spent probably 10 minutes talking to her. Finally, Lisa saw me, had recognition, and she started to part the teenagers with her arms stretched out to take my book and my sharpie from me.
Once the girls left, I asked her if she had read my note yet.
"I haven't had a chance yet!" she almost cried. "I know Hannah has it, I promise I will read it!"
I just giggled at her and said, "Don't worry, its not urgent, I just wanted to be sure you saw it and know where it is."
With this, Lisa opened the book that had been one of my sidekicks in the very early days of loss. I had great quote underlined, and several pages dog-eared for quick reference for when I was feeling defeated. Lisa shook her head as she opened to the title page to sign, and she hesitated with the sharpie hanging over the page as if she didn't want to mark in it.
"Hey, this is totally fine to mark up- look at all this writing I did all over it!" I laughed at her.
She continued to shake her head and said, "No, its not that, it's just that I know who you are, and who you are destined to be."
And with that, she signed my book, hugged me, and I went off to the auditorium.
"Lovely Brave Amy-
I am proud of you!
Lisa Bevere"
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