I never thought much about storytelling, really, until I started blogging almost six years ago. I certainly didn’t think about telling my stories. But when I started writing here something cathartic happened. My past bubbled over into my present, and I couldn’t shake it.

I wanted something good to come from stories that brought me so much pain and so much joy. I figured that if nothing good came from them then they were lived in vain, in a sense. Desperate to make my stories have a purpose, I slowly opened up and began telling them one by one.

Then the emails came. Messages from all of you, from all over the world, telling me thank you and that you understood and that you made a different choice because of something I wrote.

There was redemption.

I began to think that I’d live those stories again if it meant they would help someone else. I saw a glimpse of the bigger story. The past started to make sense.

Every living person has a story to tell. And for every story there is someone who needs to hear it. And the person who hears it creates their own story with possibly a bit of how yours changed theirs. Then, they share their story with someone new. Your story can change the world. 

We need your story.

This year the (in)RL Conference is all about story-telling. I want to invite you to a community where your story is hoped for, needed, and welcomed. Yes, that can be a little scary. But at the same time it’s freeing.

Someone is waiting to hear your story. Someone is waiting for your story to change their world.

If you’re not familiar with (in)RL, it’s a two-day conference in April right in your hometown wherever that may be. Women from around the world host the (in)RL conference in their homes or local coffee shops or even churches. And you’re invited. Regardless if you don’t know anyone yet, you’re still invited.

Registration starts today! And it’s FREE!

Here are all the details: 

When: The (in)RL Online Webcast kicks off on Friday, April 25 and (in)RL Meet-ups follow on Saturday, April 26.

What: In 2012 we explored the nitty-gritty of community. Last year we took a closer look at what it takes to stay rooted in community, even when sometimes walking away would be so much easier. This year we’re looking at the power of story. No matter how much life you’ve lived or what you’ve walked through, you have a story. And girl, we need your story! More than 30 women in different stages of life will share their personal testimonies and stories of community, the messy and the beautiful and the beautifully messy.

More Info and Registration: Go to the (in)Courage website here to learn more about the past (in)RL conferences and to register for a meet-up near you (or to host your own)!

Extra Fun Stuff: We’re giving everyone who registers a free backstage pass to all (in)RL content from 2012 & 2013! {access expires April 24, 2014}

AND

Anyone who registers on the www.inrl.us page on January 15th will be entered to win a FREE Allume Conference ticket!

New This Year! Instead of charging for (in)RL, we’re offering a Giv(in)g opportunity. Click here for more details.

Do you have any questions? Feel free to ask me! I hosted (in)RL the first year and attended last year! If you live in NC, I’d also love to meet you at this year’s meet-up! 

The Mosaics came together by accident really. We all wanted to do this blogging thing right, and the experts said that a mastermind group was the way to go. So we set out to do just that. We met in a private, online group, about ten women who had never met, to learn about blogging, build a platform, and help each other out. The funny thing is I can’t really remember a time when that’s what we were about. Or when the shift occurred. Or even if there was a shift.

Before I knew it I was running to my computer to type out a prayer request. Not just any prayer request, either, I heart-felt, secret-type of prayer request. In only seconds responses poured through our little secret group. The Mosaics picked up my burden. They began praying. My circumstance began changing.

And so it continued. This small community of women, prayer warriors, sitting in homes in every corner of the country pouring out love for almost-complete-strangers.

Our name became our identity. Mosaics for Him – pictures for Him, of Him – because after all, God designed community. Way back when in that perfect Garden He created someone to pour out His love onto. Then He created another and another, eventually wanting community so much that He sent His One. All so we could be in community with Him.

We are all Mosaics – pictures of community with our Creator. We were made for community.

Community is messy and hard and sometimes not easy to come by, but it is necessary and essential and God-created. We live in a time when community is the hardest and yet the easiest all bundled together as one. (in)Courage helps to make it easier. (in)Courage is an online community for women. It is a mosaic of how God intended our lives to be lived – together – laughing, loving, praying, weeping, carrying one another’s burdens.

I want to invite you to a place where you can find community right where you are. It’s where the hard part of reality meets the ease of online and women come together in-real life. It’s the (in)RL Conference, and it’s free and happening all over the world – literally – on April 27th! 

The (in)RL Conference is where women connect online and come together in-real life for a day of relaxing, laughing, eating, and learning a little more about doing community – the community God intended, with Him and with each other. It’s like a retreat that you don’t have to travel far away to attend!

You can register for (in)RL here, and find a meetup near you here. I will be attending (in)RL in North Carolina. I’d love to meet you there!

If you have any questions about (in)RL, please let me know!

Did you attend (in)RL last year? If so, what was your experience? 

Over the past few months, since Baby Girl was born, I have craved community like never before in my life. I don’t know what it is exactly – the lack of sleep, constantly wondering if I’m doing motherhood “right”, isolation of being home all day, or maybe a combination of all of these things – but for some reason my typical introverted, loves-to-be-by-myself self just wants someone to talk to in-real life. My online friends are wonderful, and their prayers and support mean more than I can tell you, however they’re not flesh and blood to me right now and sometimes you just need the real thing.

Ahhh, then comes the (in)RL conference! The online/in-real-life conference for when you just have to have flesh and blood!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-5axInVxlw]

(in)RL is an online conference hosted by (in)Courage where you invite your in-real-life friends – (in)RL friends – to come together for girl-talk, spiritual refreshment, and fun! Think of a FREE girls weekend where you can kick back and enjoy without having to pack bags, arrange babysitters, and hop on planes!

Last year I hosted an (in)RL event right in my home. The best part about it was a new friendship I made with someone I had never met before and the authenticity we experienced by just being ourselves.

Today is launch day for (in)RL 2013 and your opportunity to sign-up to host an event in your hometown or sign-up to attend an event someone else is hosting.

Read below for all the details, and please let me know if you have any questions!

About: (in)RL was born out of two years spent listening to women in the comments at (in)courage craving local, real life community. Derived from the social media acronym “IRL” or “in real life,” (in)RL is an invitation to share what we’ve learned about community and encourage women with stories and suggestions for connecting deeper in real life.

What: Last year we explored the nitty-gritty of community. This year we’re taking a closer look at what it takes to stay rooted in community when sometimes just walking away would be so much easier and tons more convenient.

Women share stories of how they’ve chosen to stay through hard marriages, challenging parenting, worthwhile friendships. How choosing to stay has freed them more fully and unexpectedly than if they’d cut and run.

Every group will participate in an online video study and discussion questions.

When: The (in)RL webcast kicks off on Friday, April 26 and (in)RL meetups follow on Saturday, April 27.

Cost: It’s FREE!!

Registration: Register at www.inrl.us

{If you register on Monday, January 14th you get a copy of the (in)courage 365 Daybrightner while supplies last (US residents only)}

Gift for You: FREE copy of (in)Courage’s first eBook Best of the Beach House 2012.

Think of it as a FREE girl’s weekend away that doesn’t require packing or plane tickets, where women can kick off any expectation of perfect, set aside their fears, their shyness, their worry that they’re not good enough, and find some of Jesus’ words of rest woven into every video shared at the conference.

Will you join us for (in)RL 2013? 

This past weekend I joined hundreds of other women around the world in hosting the (in)RL conference in my home.

In the middle of vulnerability my door opened and in walked four women who God ordained to meet me there, with Community, in order to create a place where we can learn and serve and love more fully.

But there was one woman in particular that God brought to my house, and this woman is who my (in)RL meetup was specifically created for. Her name was Jessica, and she came without having ever met me or anyone else, and with a heart opened wide for whatever may enter. Full of courage. Full of risk. Full of a  head full of what-ifs, she came. Authentic and real, she came.

Shortly after I opened the door and invited Jessica in she said to me , “I’ve been here ten years, and I still don’t have any girlfriends. I need girlfriends.” Later as we discussed a webcast she said out loud, “And I can’t help but wonder if I’ll see any of you again. If you’ll want to see me again. If you’ll want to be my friend.”

This is the reason (in)RL was created. This is the embodiment of Christ coming into our homes, our lives, or communities so that we can love and be loved.

Jessica reached out to Community, and she met her there. I reached out to Community, and she met me there, too.

Here are a few pictures from our (in)RL conference:

It’s starting – the talk, the prep, the plans – for the first (In)Courage conference that we can all attend (in)RL!!!

In April (In)Courage will host it’s first (in)RL conference in cities all over the world and in our very own homes!

Have you signed up yet?

Check out the (in)RL meetup closest to you below.  If you live in the High Point, NC area, then I would love for you to join us!  I’m hosting!