Year of YES!

Shonda Rhimes, Devon Franklin, and Me.

Yes is a confirmation or an affirmative response — a positive reply to a question. It’s the most positive word you can say to someone in any language. Yes is also a statement or a declaration. It means to agree to or accept something or someone.

However, as I mentioned in my last post, we often allow fear and disappointment to stop us from saying yes to people, places, and things.

So, it’s no surprise that about two weeks ago, on a trip home, I found myself in the airport bookstore, purchasing the book Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes, creator of hit TV shows Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Private Practice, How to Get Away With Murder, Bridgerton, and Queen Charlotte. Numerous friends have recommended this book to me over the years. But this year was different. I knew I was stepping into a Yes Year, which made sense.

What I didn’t realize or remember at the time was that fateful day a decade prior when I had made a similar declaration. It was July 2014, and I was sitting in a crowded auditorium at One Church LA, a prominent church in Downtown Los Angeles led by Pastor Touré Roberts. The guest speaker that day was Hollywood producer-turned-preacher Devon Franklin.

He shared these life-changing words:

“The thing that we want the most is a YES. The right YES can change everything. God didn’t create you with a no. You came into this world as a YES. It is important to rely on God’s YES and God’s no. That’s real success. A good thing is not a God thing … have the discipline to say no to good things so that you can say YES to the God things.”

I proclaimed that year as my year of YES (I even did a photo shoot centered on my eyes and launched a new blog), but I wasn’t saying yes to myself or my plans but to God and his plan for my life. Saying yes is an act of obedience, and giving God our yes transforms our lives.

Me circa 2014/2015

Here’s what happened in response to my yes. After years of frustration about the direction of my life, I said yes to God’s purpose for me—to become a full-time writer, storyteller, and content creator. Over the next decade, God opened numerous doors for me to realize that purpose in my professional and personal life. Imagine when God does what you have been praying for—your life is forever changed.

I say all of this to remind you and me that saying yes to God is simply a confirmation of His promises—things that He has spoken over our lives since the foundation of the world.

So, back to Shonda and Devon—the homies who inspired this post. Here are three lessons from them …. Well, really, Shonda and her book informed the points below, but I digress.

Say yes to daily writing. Beyond being a book about all the things that Shonda, who is an extreme introvert, said yes to back in 2014 (the same year as me), from graduation speeches to magazine covers and 100-pound weight loss, among other milestones, this is a book about how to write your story authentically, vulnerably, and unapologetically. While I don’t agree with every view expressed in the book, I love that Shonda peeled back the curtain on her writing process and character development. She describes writing as her first love.

When you love something or someone, you spend time with it daily, nurturing and caring for it. That’s how love works, similar to obedience to God’s plan for our lives. It’s a daily yes.

“Perfect is boring, and dreams are not real. Just … DO … You say, “I want to be a writer” – guess what? A writer is someone who writes every day. Start writing.” - Shonda Rhimes.

Say yes despite the fear. When an award-winning author and bona fide writing genius wakes up every day afraid of her voice and unsure of her worth, you already know that fear does not care about your talent or your accolades, only that you never do the thing you were created to do on this earth. The only way through is to do – do it afraid, do it anyway, and do it every day.

Say yes to the right tribe. This year, more than ever, I will be intentional about bringing together a community of writers who want to hone their craft and create content that inspires and changes lives. Shonda has a team of writers who work on her TV shows and help her develop engaging and memorable stories that will resonate with global viewers. You can’t do it alone.

So, one yes this season for me is creating and launching “The Writer’s Lounge,” a subscription-based service for aspiring and new writers to learn best practices, tips, prompts, and invaluable resources for writing and publishing their God-given stories. I'll share more about that in the coming weeks. In the interim, what are you saying yes to this year?

As a friend reminded me today, the world needs your yes.

Tell me in the comments below so we can hold each other accountable.