What stirs your heart?
•Posted on April 21 2015
BLOG SERIES 2: LOVE GOD. LOVE WHAT YOU DO.
'When the world is whispering who you are not, God is whispering who you are.'
What a great tagline from MICI Girls Magazine and one that certainly embodies a wonderful woman, who encourages girls everyday to take note and understand the value that they are Made In Christ’s Image.
Say Hello to Carly Thomson.
This is just a snippet of the work she does.
- Carly is an upcoming best selling author of the Truth Seekers Series - a collection of Christian short novels for pre-tween girls.
- Editorial Director of MICI (MADE IN CHRIST’S IMAGE) Girls Magazine
- A Speaker who works with pre-teen girls in her local church, community and worldwide
- Currently completing her Master’s Degree in Christian Studies
- An one of the hardest but rewarding jobs in the world, as an amazing mum to 3 adorable gorgeous looking young boys
Inspirational hey! Which is one of the key things that attracted me to Carly when I read and see weekly, the great blog articles and works she is doing online through MICI Girls. It was inevitable that we were going to connect. What I love about Carly is that she is a woman who has taken her experiences of many personal battles, overcome them through God’s Grace and spirit and now makes it her cause to not only teach girls, but challenge and train them to know and understand their identity in Christ. As a Brand Coach to Christian women, you can see why I would just love to hear what she has to say:)
So here she is answering just a couple of my key questions:
What 3 valuable pieces of advice or tips have you have received or would give to someone trying to decide what it is it they love to do for a living, how to go about doing it or how hard can it be to make a living of doing what you love.
1. Do what you love.
Figure out what stirs your heart, what is it that you just love to do? What are you naturally good at? Generally what we love to do and what we are good at align. Mind you it’s not always like this and sometimes we really have to work hard at what we love to get better at it. Tip: If you want to try to figure out what you’d love to do for a living try writing down things that you love to do in one column and things you are good at in another. Then pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a creative ideas around how you can use these gifts and passions to serve Him.
2. Take risks.
No one ever said that ‘living the dream’ was easy! It’s scary to step out in seemingly crazy wild faith…to not know what the cost is going to be. You might have fear of failure, rejection or of what others might say or think…but my greatest fear is to have not taken the risks I needed to take in order to live out the fullness of the life God had planned for me. I don’t want to be old saying, “I wish I hadda’ given it a go…” Push the ‘feeling’ of fear aside, step out in wild faith. Trust that God is with you and for you in this and if you have missed it, He knows where you are and will use it to your advantage.
3. Making a living takes time.
I’m still not there with making a full time living doing what I do (writing Tween-age girls Christian novels and being the Editorial Director at MICI Girls Magazine). BUT I’m on my way. It does mean working some crazy hours at times, sacrifice, and a whole lot of free labor…but for me it is a labor of love…something I KNOW God has called me to do. I realize there is a season of sowing beforehand and am willing to do what needs to be done so that His message of identity found in Christ gets out there.
MICI Girls on Instagram and their motivational posts for girls
Ha Ha! Love this question…and so hard to answer briefly! I draw from so many scriptures and have incredibly supportive and inspiring people in my world. But I’d say in the last few years the story of Esther has spoken very deeply to my heart and life.
I have spent much time studying this inspiring story and have had the Holy Spirit impress much of it on the way I choose to live this wild faith journey with Jesus. I love to imagine these bible characters beyond the words we read and ask questions about the way their heart and minds have been shaped toward God over the years.
I imagine Esther would have had to choose to ‘stay the path’ as in stay committed to trusting God and believing in His goodness. Having lost her parents so young and later to be taken into the palace would have been really difficult situations for Esther. She would have questioned why God allowed these things in His providence. If God really is good then why…? Haven’t we all asked that at times?
Asking questions is SO GOOD! It takes us into deeper places with God, it helps us understand more of who He is and the things that He is at work on within us. Asking questions shapes our Christian worldview to being more like Christ.
I imagine Esther asking God all kinds of questions along the way in her secret place… That place where it’s just her and God, freedom to speak and ask and theologize. Freedom to pout and be corrected in the kindest love, to just be loved as she is and lead forth in His strength, beauty and love.
When she said the infamous, “If I perish, I perish” (Esther 4) Esther had spent time in her secret place, had fasted and had others fasting and praying with her. She was a woman who found her strength and direction in the secret place. She found the tenacity to say, “YES God, whatever you are asking of me I’ll do it, even if I perish because I know You, because I know that saying YES to You is only ever a great thing for not only myself but for all those in my world…”
So I guess what I’m saying is, I draw inspiration from Esther’s example of being a secret place dweller…I too am a secret place dweller. That’s where I go when things are tough and when things are good. I go to Him for inspiration, for strength and for guidance. I go to Him to be breathed into when I’m weary of the journey, the fight, the tears sown in love. The secret place is our place where I am so loved that I can go out once again in love to do what He has asked me to do. I can think on those God has entrusted into my sphere of influence, pray for them, find inspiration to share with them and to find inspiration for myself.
Check out MICI Magazine (an Australian Magazine for young Christian women)
Thank you so much Carly! I'm in constant appreciation of her identity shaping skill set, as I certainly can resonate with all of her tips and love her interpretation of how she defines Esther and frames her views towards an amazing young Queen. Someone should tell Carly she has a gift of inspirational writing for a living:)
If you have pre tween girls why not consider her books for a cool unique gift. Check out the book trailer here of her first book in the series - The Princess and the Door.
Truth Seekers Book Trailer: The Princess and the Door By Carly Thomson. Video by Sunday Gracia.
Purchase the Truth Seeekers Book series and eBooks here and download the Free Truth Seekers Devotional Guide she has to accompany it.. such a cool idea for girls!
Want to get to know Carly more? Check out www.carlythomson.com
I love supporting Australian Christian Women Entrepreneurs so please check out MICI Magazine and MICI Girls.
Not your typical Australian Christian publication and blog.
When you are on Instagram check them out at:
@micigirls
@micimagazine
You can connect with them on Facebook too:)
Link here: MICI Girls
Link here: MICI Magazine
Blessings and success!
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