The following is a post sponsored by Yahoo! Every time someone clicks here to make Yahoo! their homepage, they’re showing their support for Girls For A Change.

I was selected for this opportunity by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

 
I am super excited to be a part of the Girls for A Change campaign as I cannot appreciate where I am in life without those women who helped me become who I am today.

I would first have to thank my mom who is my best friend and role model. She is a woman of God and I am eternally thankful for having the opportunity of being raised in a Christian home. She is such a huge support in my life and while she doesn’t fully understand what it means to live with chronic illness on a daily basis, she never questions my reality and supports me through it all. She has been with me through every surgery and I am so thankful for that. I’m not sure she realizes how much that means to me.

I am also thankful for my college professor (who was also my pastor’s wife) who became a mentor and a friend. She provided so much encourage and support as I struggled with my calling both as a minister myself and as a minister’s wife. We sat many hours both in her office and in her home as I cried, questions, and finally accepted my calling and she was joyful with me in my excitement to pursue the journey God had laid out for me.

Another group of women, of whom there are too many to name, are those who God placed in my path during my many diagnoses. The power of social media has made it possible for me to live each day with chronic illness with hope and empowerment. Shortly after I was diagnosed, I discovered GirlTalk which is an online support group with the ERC. I began as a member and then served as Program Director for several years. These ladies made me feel supported and accepted. Later, I discovered The Spoon Theory which finally allowed me to explain what its like to live with chronic illness on a daily basis to friends and loved ones (so thank you Christine!). Of course, I can’t leave out all of the amazing women I’ve been able to meet through blogging and Twitter. There are way too many to name but each of every one has forever left a mark on my heart and the value of the love, validation, and encouragement is beyond rubies. So thank you all!

If you are thankful for the women in your life, please take part in the Girls For a Change campaign sponsored by Yahoo. Yahoo! will donate $10 to Girls For A Change (GFC) for each person who clicks here to make Yahoo! her homepage by July 1…up to an amazing $10,000! We’re counting on you to help us find 1,000 people willing to make a change worth $10,000 to this fantastic cause. This will only take a couple seconds out of your day and could make such a HUGE impact on the lives of young girls every where. Won’t you help make a change by clicking here?

You can also help by sharing on Twitter! I’ll make it easy! You can just cut & paste the following:

Help make a change! By making @Yahoo your homepage you can help raise $10,000 to Girls For A Change! http://bit.ly/meH2a3 #cleversforachange

About Girls For A Change

Clever Girls Collective selected GFC as the non-profit for this generous Yahoo! campaign because it matches our mission of empowering women to help each other. Clever Founder Sheila Bernus Dowd was a GFC volunteer and member of the advisory board, so we have first-hand experience with their commitment to helping girls become community leaders. Here’s how they describe themselves:

“Girls For A Change (GFC) is a national organization that empowers girls to create social change. We invite young women to design, lead, fund and implement social change projects that tackle issues girls face in their own neighborhoods. GFC empowers girls for personal and social transformation. The program inspires girls to have the voice, ability and problem solving capacity to speak up, be decision makers, create visionary change and realize their full potential.”