Writing a new bio

"Paula is a fantastically fascinating speaker...a captivating and compelling story teller...a glamorous and gifted writer...and a super-duper, totally-nifty teacher of God's word! You MUST have her speak at your next ladies event! Women will laugh, women will cry, women will clap, cheer, and sigh!"

Ugh. I spent most of the day updating my bio information for the Christian speaker sites that my ministry is listed with. That means that my bio has to somehow stand out in a sea of thousands of other Christian speaker bios. What to do, what to do. Should I brag like a sailor, wow them with humor, promise them goose bumps? Or...I could be honest, genuine, and transparent. I can even be bold. Bold is good. How about boldly, honestly, transparent? I finally settled on just doing my best to prayerfully portray myself as I really am.

My vast years in the ministry (that would be about 10) have taught me to trust God to open the doors he wants opened for me. As a former Dir. of Women's Ministries at our church (I was the woman in charge of picking our retreat speakers) I'll admit to being a tiny bit annoyed by some of the pimped-out bio's out there. I would usually sit there reading and think, "Hello! We all know you wrote your own bio yourself."

Anyway, my prayer is that as I get older, as I grow in the Lord, as I mature as a woman of God, and as I hopefully grow in true humility, I will refuse to brag. And know you what? It's hard to actively promote and market yourself in the arena of Christian Speaking and Writing and NOT brag or grandstand.

When I began in ministry more than 10 years ago my pastor, Eric Stovesand, encouraged me with this scripture: Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips. Proverbs 27:2