This beautiful gal is Rivera Douthit, a new friend I met at the She Speaks Intensive conference. I was honored when she asked me to write a guest post on her blog.

Please visit her beautiful site to enjoy “grace[full] conversations” about restoration, healing, and freedom in Christ. Rivera’s desire is for women to know Jesus intimately. She writes about marriage, dating, friendship, parenting using relevant day-to-day stories that indirectly point people to Jesus and what it looks like to have intimacy with Him in every aspect of life.

Mending Fences

Scared but smiling, I knocked on Lisa’s door and invited her over for coffee—her, and 89 other neighbors. We had never met before, but I was finally caving in to a crazy idea to start a neighborhood Bible study. The fact that I didn’t know many of my neighbors didn’t seem to bother God, but it had caused me months of angst!

Our roles were reversed on the day of my Open House as Lisa knocked on my door—coffee mug in one hand and a Bible in the other. I called it the Neighborhood Café, and Lisa and I became friends as neighbors, friends, and women from church continued to gather together every other week in my living room.

Lisa’s quick wit… Read more.

Bonus Giveaway!

I am giving away a Neighborhood Cafe Planning Guide and a package of Espresso Mini-Magazines and Leader’s Guide ($24 value) on Rivera’s blog!  To register to win, leave a comment ON MY GUEST POST AT HER BLOG.  OR for those who would rather not comment, you can simply subscribe to Rivera’s blog!  All entries must be in by Wednesday, March 20, at 2 pm EST.  The winners will be announced on Rivera’s blog on Thursday, March 21.