What if God wanted to use you?

This last week started a marathon of final college visits for my daughter. The disadvantage of having a mother who used to work in college admissions is that my children have been subjected to my insistence to do as much as possible to get a feel for an institution. We drove 16 hours in 2 days because this mom thought it was a good idea to try to get the full story behind the pretty brochures and the scripts of an information session and tour.Somewhere in that first drive as Annika dozed off to sleep, I was left alone with my thoughts about college. It occurred to me that for many of us, whether we liked school or not, we do very little after our formal education to continue to develop as people, as leaders, and as difference makers.At our best, maybe we listen to podcasts, read books, and subscribe to blogs. In the pace of our culture, these are great ways to strengthen our minds and continue to be learners. Yet even with these tools, we’ve mostly resorted to becoming passive learners.For others, professional development is so far down the list of urgent things, we rarely get to it. I’ve been there before.A few hours later, as we sat talking to the head of one of the academic departments, I found the student in me being awakened. It reminded me of how good it feels to be intentional to learn and grow. And while I’m not here to encourage you to go back to college, I do want you to take advantage of opportunities to become all of who God made you to be.[bctt tweet="Take advantage of any opportunity to become all of who God made you to be."]On November 3, 2017, the LeadershipWorks Conference will be in full swing. There will always be reasons why you won’t make it happen, but what about the reasons you must make it happen?LeadershipWorks is about you. No matter if your influence is over children or corporations (there are more similarities than we want to admit), you’ll personally be both encouraged and challenged.But the opportunity is about more than just you. God will use every one of us who’s willing to make a difference in our city and beyond. I encourage you to take one day for yourself and dive into LeadershipWorks. You’ll leave feeling good about your investment in yourself and in this city. You’ll gain a vision for what could be in your life – and in the city – as we unite individuals from all sectors of Memphis and the surrounding area. And on a personal note, you’ll add some more girl power to the mix. We want more women involved!Learn all about the 4 great keynote speakers and registration information here, and sign up before the early bird price expires at the end of this month![bctt tweet="God will use every one of us who’s willing to make a difference in our city and beyond."]