purpose

You’re a world-changer in community

This was the scene at my house on Saturday.   A few of us on Team HeartStories gathered – some of us in person (Taylor drove all the way from Lubbock!), Natalie via live stream, and a few were there in spirit, to invest in an intentional conversation about who we are as a brand, who we seek to serve and how we show up in the world in a way that reaches her.

Saturday “work” meetings are not the norm for us.  In fact, I try hard to avoid working at all on Saturdays, but sometimes it’s the inevitable life of an entrepreneur.  This Saturday meet-up was so well worth the investment.

We decided that if HeartStories was:

    An animal, we’d be a Labrador Retriever
    A type of music, we’d be Kelly Clarkson
    A color, vibrant (fun) red
    A celebrity, Reese Witherspoon
    A city, (a mashup between) Santa Monica, Nashville and Sedona
    A drink, French 75

After all that …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love In Action Loving Others Our Story Leave a comment chat
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A clear vision makes all the difference

Isn’t it funny how sometimes the thing you swore you’d never do becomes the exact thing you do?  I would have sworn on my life, that Scott and I would never build a house.  Seriously.  I just didn’t think our fiery strong-willed individual selves could withstand that type of pressure cooker situation, together.  But after seven years of house hunting, here we are.

We’re six months in to building a house and still alive (and mostly sane)!

It’s been more time-consuming than I ever dreamed possible.  There are more details that go into deciding where every light bulb, plug and switch should go than one would ever even want to imagine.  For this girl, who is generally a care-free, “fly by the seat of my pants” kind of person, there’s this annoying little dash of obsessive attention to detail that emerges at times when you least expect it.  (Like every single time I …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspiration Inspirational Words Love In Action Priorities Purpose Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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Paying attention to pain

Lately, I’ve been surrounded by conversations about pain and struggle.  Conversations about choosing the narrow, difficult road, even when there’s an obviously easier path in sight.

Everywhere I go, the conversation seems to lead back to the idea that the struggle IS the gift.

We’re in the middle of a series at our church called “The Road Less Traveled” taken from the “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.  Every, single, Sunday I’m hearing the full poem read to begin the message.  You know the one, that ends like this:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Our pastor John McKinzie is continually reminding us  “The narrow road is the wisdom road, and few find it.”  (Matt. 7:14)

The narrow road is worth the struggle.

An early morning chat with my friend Holly on a particularly dark day, led to …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspiration Love In Action Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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The hardest step is the first one

This is the one and only pic I snagged last night from the Girls Night Out.  It was before all the ladies arrived and we got lost in a world of hilarious laughter.  But it’s incredibly special to me because this girl is living her HeartStory at age 24, and it’s a beautiful example for us all.

Meet Savannah.  

Savannah is a brilliant fine art photographer, with a sunny disposition, who captured all the hysterical moments for us last night.  The room was her jungle gym, while she climbed anything necessary to get the angle she wanted.  She was on a mission and nothing was going to get in her way!

I have a very sneaky suspicion we’ll be blown away be the story she’ll tell through her images.  

What you need to know about Savannah’s story is that she’s an insurance underwriter by day, and a talented photographer by night.   …

by Crystal Gornto Love In Action Leave a comment chat
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In your struggle, you find your courage . . . and your story

One of my very favorite things about what I get to do for a living, is the privilege of consistently meeting women who are courageously showing up in the world to make life better for others.  By the nature of being constantly on the lookout for women to share their stories and their talents with us at The Girls Night Out, I get to hear their stories.

Their real stories.  

Of course, we usually start with the obvious, their families, their history and the incredible work they do.  But that story always leads somewhere deeper, because these passionate women who show up bravely to make change happen, don’t get there on accident. They’ve always had to fight for it.

Always. 

And the story of the fight?  It’s usually personal.  They’ve had to personally face hardships and endure struggles that most people know nothing about.  It’s what made them strong.  It’s what gives them …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love In Action Love in Friendship Loving Yourself Purpose The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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Where a better life begins

My teammate Heather is working with me on some “clean-up” projects.  She’s reworked our Sponsorship Packages, she’s redesigned event pages, she’s interviewed new team members to fill new roles.  She’s organized and insanely productive.   It’s been incredible.  Recently some of our conversations have been comical.  She’ll shoot me a text with the words: “Out of an abundance of caution. . .” and I respond with something about “Out of a wha-wha?”  We laugh, then I whisper gratitude for having her in my life.  She sees the vision, and she’ll leap to get there, but she takes calculated leaps.

I tend to dance on the edge.

My comfort zone is usually a little beyond that of others around me.  I’ve always thought, calculations just weren’t my thing.  But it’s funny how life changes you as you get older and a little wiser.   Even if you don’t want it to, your brain jumps in and …

by Crystal Gornto Inspiration Inspirational Words Love In Action Purpose Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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