Every big milestone has a bit of a backstory. They (whoever they are anyway!) say not to compare someone’s end to your midway, or their highlight reel to your everyday practice. I think this is wise, in my life and in yours, so we’ll rewind to the almost beginning.
In 5th grade, I was trying out a lot of different new abilities. I was singing, I was doing gymnastics, I was writing. I was trying to talk my mom into letting me shave my legs. I was mastering deodorant and lip gloss with varying degrees of success. I still remember the boy I had a crush on and also my science teacher who was the first young woman I really remember calling something out in me.
That’s really my whole story. Women believing in me. Women who spoke into my life, even when it felt like a risk. It is risky to take a moment to insert yourself into someone else’s day. It’s presumptuous to think you have something to say, or that they want to hear it. It is risky and it can very well be life changing.
In high school, I had two women who loved me when I was unlovable, and who read to me about a Jesus I didn’t yet know. They sat with me and cared for me as I was, kind of wounded and busted up like every other 15 year old girl I knew. They walked me through a season of wanting-to-want-to-know Jesus, and into the time when I had an undeniable experience with the Holy Spirit. They knew the Hayley before I met Jesus, and loved her with just as much guts as they loved the Hayley after she met Jesus. They were bold and fearless when it came to serving a bunch of broken teenage girls.
The day I moved my few belongings into my first college dorm, I was racing to just get on with it. I had stockpiled toiletries and school supplies and every organizer on Earth. I was stinking ready. After my mom left for the evening and I was officially “in college”, I peeked my nose out of my room and across the hall. I stared straight into the open door of the most confident senior young woman. I didn’t know she was going to breath life into a pile of weary and dry bones that had become my faith after just a few short years of being a believer.
There have been countless other women who have nudged me on, closer to the Lord, closer in community, and closer to the way God made me to be.
In 2015, I have the crazy and enormous privilege of writing a book with my real life, honest to goodness, dear friend Jess Connolly. We are writing a book for Zondervan called Wild and Free (well, that’s the working title anyway). It’s the kind of book that I hope will nudge you to find more of God’s goodness and freedom in your life. It’s there, because He’s there.
So, I guess this is my way of saying, “Yay! I’m writing a book! A real life book I’ll be able to visit at Barnes and Noble!”. It’s my way of saying thank you to the women who’ve gone out on a limb and uttered words that were true, and challenging, and good. It’s also my way of acknowledging what a risk it is to insert yourself into someone’s life. I hope this will be the kind of book that interrupts your life as you knew it and causes you to hit pause. I hope it’s the kind of book that meets you where you are and leaves you changed.
If you’re the kind of person that likes a good backstory, I hope you’ll follow the hashtag #wildandfreebook on Twitter but mostly Instagram. :) My co-author Jess and I will be sharing bits and pieces along the way. Hopefully it will tide you over, because the book isn’t slated to release until next Spring! We’re excited and working hard for you already!