DAY ONE: SACRIFICE
At 3:50 AM, I awaken to a stream of text messages revealing pain, fear, and an emotional and spiritual breakdown that proceeded an apology that she would not be in attendance for the Summit. My spirit said to call her. It was now 4:11 and the call was less than 60 seconds. “I read everything you have sent, I know it hurts, get to the Summit. I can’t talk long, but I feel that you should get there.”
As I surprise the attendees by entering through the back door, to my all-time favorite song “Intentional”, I immediately lock eyes with this servant leader. In that moment all I could think of was ‘SHE MADE IT! She grew BEYOND her pain and circumstances and she got here! What a sacrifice!’
How many times do we want something, but there is a conflict or it’s not a good day, or the action requires us to stretch? How often do we allow our circumstances to determine what “makes sense” for our next move? So many times we speak faith, but rarely allow God to show us what is in store because it may hurt too bad to fall, fail, bruise our heart again, or face public humiliation. As I reflected on the women who traveled from Chicago, DC, Houston, Orlando, and South Carolina, to unite with us here in Atlanta. I was so grateful for their level of sacrifice. Our presenter for Global Imports and Exports had literally just returned from China and made the sacrifice to invest in attending the Summit to lock arms with women she had never met. She had never met ANY of us face to face, yet her obedience got her here.
With the holiday season underway, it’s no secret that budgets get tight, time with family is priority, and deciding to travel and attend a Summit that was just announced a few weeks prior, forced everyone to pause and DECIDE if this was an experience that they were willing to sacrifice for. After reading their words of gratitude, seeing women literally breakdown and transform before my eyes, and hugging women for minutes upon minutes at a time because we didn’t want to leave; empowered me to continue to see sacrifice as an investment, not a risk, not a bad thing, but a seed. Each Servant leader sacrificed to be with us, and for their obedience, we were all rewarded and awakened by their presence.
The Leadership Summit, held November 13-15th, in Atlanta, GA was a forum that welcomed servant leaders, entrepreneurs, and women of excellence to lock arms together to experience and discuss intentional leadership and intentional living. With a unique mix of transformation sessions and hard hitting business development sessions, the leaders each came away with a NEW VIEW on life, business, and their purpose.
Continue reading more about NEW VIEW for the next seven days as our CEO, Tierra Destiny Reid, shares thoughts from the heart on what it felt like to experience such magic and power.
Day Two: Enough
Day Three: Trust
Day Four: Faith
Day Five: Power of Knowledge
Day Six: Fear
Day Seven: Success