We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michelle Conner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Michelle, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
My resilience comes from my dependence on God and the relationships I am surrounded by. When I was a single mom at the age of 21, I was facing many challenges and I was lost in many ways. I was seeking comfort, support, and guidance from sources that were most definitely not fulfilling. It was during this time, I committed my life to following God’s plan for it the best that I could. I accepted His forgiveness and sacrifice through his son, Jesus. This decision helped me begin to mend and seek relationships with family and friends that were there to encourage me and my little girl.
Shortly after this, I met my husband, Josh, who was also a single parent. We met and fell in love quickly and were married shortly after. Learning to parent our children together along with their biological parents taught us many things. I definitely began to develop a resilience and persistence through the challenges, knowing that building healthy relationships with all parties was best for our kids. Fast forward a couple kids and a move across the country from Texas to Maryland.
It was in Maryland, that we only knew a few people so we were thrust into a new community, having to build new relationships. That we did, we built a community of friends that we would call family. We had our 5th child in May of 2010 and I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer in October of 2011. Our family was suddenly faced with a life changing challenge. We had 5 kids from ages 1 to 15 and my husband was in the peak of his career. I was also the director of a 5 week summer camp program at our church. Reading the statistics about my diagnoses caused a lot of fear and ultimately led me to surrender. I knew that the only way that we would make it through this time was to lean into God. I also had a dear friend give me the strong advice to allow people to help us even if we didn’t think that we needed it.
I went through surgery and 6 rounds of chemo all with the enveloping support of my friends and family both far and near. Our family came through to the other side, I believe stronger and more resilient because of the relationships and community that we had surrounding us.
Fast forward again to 2014, our family moved back to Texas. And in 2016, I felt God calling me to obey my promise to follow His plan for my life. He began to challenge me to seek out community in a new place and a community that would be a little uncomfortable to walk into. It was at this time, that I began a non profit called Grace Like Rain. Grace Like Rain was started to provide a helping hand to moms and dads facing crises. We sought to walk alongside them providing community and support as they walked through some of life’s toughest circumstances.
Over the last 7 years, Grace Like Rain has grown to be a $1.7 million dollar non profit that rebranded to Giving Grace and now serves both individuals and families that are facing homelessness. We empower change to overcome homelessness and housing instability, one life at a time by transforming lives through resources, relationships, and community, all with the love of Jesus. This growth most definitely did not happen without challenges. The resilience to keep pushing forward though most definitely comes from my dependence on God and the amazing community of people that surround the work we do on a regular basis.
Our family also has grown in the last seven years. After cancer, we thought we were done having children but God had other plans. We have adopted 2 children, one at the age of 14 and the other at 8 months. Fostering and adoption definitely has come with challenges but again we learned together as a family. And because of that, we have only become stronger together.
Walking through cancer, one of my favorite sayings was: “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” We live in a world full of beautiful people created by God who have been affected by lots of broken and messy situations. Hard and horrible stuff happens on a regular basis but the beautiful comes from the opportunities we get to learn and grow through the mess and the relationships and community that is built as we grow together. My resilience comes from God’s continual grace through my relationship with Jesus and the people in this world that encourage and equip me along the way. I have learned that we will have storms, in fact lots of storms, but it’s how I dance through them that will determine the joy, the peace, and the strength that I have during them and after.
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Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I included a lot of this in the first question. The thing that most excites me about the future is the Love First community which is a passion project of mine. Love First is our grand vision for a life-changing community campus that will include housing, paired with supportive services, for up to 75 families. It will provide a place of transition and growth for families in Denton County seeking to break the cycle of homelessness and housing instability and transform their life!
Homelessness and housing instability are affecting a growing number of families each year in Denton County. Stable and affordable housing is vital and we believe that in combination with community and relationships, transformation occurs. Love First will provide a holistic solution.
This project is where we will see that full vision for Giving Grace all come together in one place. It will be where we can provide resources and supportive community and relationships all together in one place. I believe it will be a small piece of heaven on earth. A place where we can walk through the messy in life together and find the beauty and joy in life.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. I am not superwoman! In fact no one is. We need each other to make it through this life. We also need to give ourselves and others a whole lot of grace as we walk through life. 2. I love to help others tell their story. I believe that it is in the story, even the sometimes messy details, that we truly see the beauty of it all. We get to see how all the pieces work together and we get to learn from the story.
3. Strengths based teamwork is key to developing great organizations. I read Strengthfinders 2.0 when I was leading the summer camp at our church. Learning how to identify each others strengths and utilize each of our giftings together as a team has truly helped grow anything that I have had the opportunity to lead.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
The past 12 months have been full of learning how to balance a large family and the responsibilities of leading a growing organization. I am continually learning to not be so hard on myself. I can only humanly do so much. I have a limited capacity even though I don’t want to believe that. Therefore, I am continually learning to set healthy boundaries between work and home and ultimately how to let it go when I don’t have time for it all. I am continually learning more dependence on God. I have to do what I can with the time I have and then I have to give it to Him and trust Him. Teamwork and communication is very important both at home and at work. I have to communicate both my abilities and my limitations so that we can work together to move towards a goal.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.givinggrace.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/givinggracetx/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/givinggracetx
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@givinggracetx
Image Credits
Hannah McGinty for a couple of them.
