If a 12-Year-Old Can Leave Behind This Kind of Impact… What Are You Doing With Your Life?

And yet there's a story behind all of it that I'll get to as we dive into today's episode.

But what I want you to come away with is the takeaways that I had.

Because of course, while I was there, of course, I was overcome with just sadness.

Even though the people who spoke were amazing, even though it was wonderful finally getting to meet Jenna's mom for the first time.

But leaving that memorial service is when it all kind of hit me.

If a 12-year-old little girl can have this kind of an impact, what am I doing with my life?

My friend, this is episode 439 of Grit Grace and Inspiration.

SPEAKER_02: What if it all feed it?

SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna live like I up, my friend.

This is your host, Kevin Lowe.

And man, I am so glad to have you here today.

My hope is that you stick with me all the way through to the very end of today's episode.

Because, well, at the very end, I have a really special surprise for you.

But more importantly, I have to believe that what I have to share, the takeaways that I had after attending the memorial service for this little girl named Jenna, I have to believe that they just might mean everything to you.

So I want to give you a little bit of context before we get started.

How does this story begin?

Where did this story begin for me?

And it happened to start on Christmas night.

Now, typically I split Christmas between two sides of the family: my mom's side, my dad's side.

Yes, my friends, don't we all just love the juggling act of the holidays?

But this year happened to be a little bit different in the fact that I didn't go to my dad's side of the family for Christmas.

So instead, here it is, Christmas night, the day was winding down, and I get a call from my dad.

He was on his way home.

And our phone call started off just as I would expect.

Me finding out about what kind of food they had.

What did he win at the crazy gift exchange?

But then the conversation shifted because he told me that at the start of dinner, his brother, my uncle, had made an announcement letting the family know that one of his employees that he just found out that her daughter passed away the day before on Christmas Eve.

That little girl was Jenna.

Now, the story of how this little girl got to this point is insane.

It's how one little thing can lead to another.

And before you know it, the dominoes just keep falling.

For her, Jenna was a huge fan of horseback riding, and she was doing indeed what she loved to do the most was out riding her horse.

Now, I'm not gonna pretend that I know all the details, but the gist of the story, from what I understand, is that Jenna was riding her horse, and she happened to fall off her horse, and I believe broke her arm, or at least hurt her arm, enough so that she had to be taken to the hospital for just a normal x-ray to check on things to be sure that her arm was okay.

That would be the first domino to fall, because what no one expected was that they would end up finding that there was way more wrong than just what happened on that fall.

This little girl, she had cancer, and she would begin a fight for her life.

Now, this wasn't a long, drawn-out process.

I think it all happened pretty quick.

She started going for treatment, she started traveling around the country, meeting with different doctors, all trying to help this little girl.

And all of this would come up to about the time of Christmas.

She had recently traveled across the country for kind of a last-ditch effort, one more possibility, one more treatment to save her life.

And yet it was while she was gone, undergoing this treatment, far from home, that her body had enough.

And this little girl, as brave as she was, she would make the decision to go home.

Now, as I said, this was the first time that I'd ever heard about this story.

First time that I'd ever heard the name Jenna here on Christmas night, as my dad's telling me about her passing.

And of course, I was captivated.

I was sad.

I was in shock.

And I did what all of us tend to do.

Go on Facebook.

You start looking it up, wanting to learn more, to find out more.

And that led me down a rabbit hole of finding a Facebook page for Jenna's mom.

And I started reading all the posts that her mom had been making over, I don't know, about the past year, documenting this journey of her daughter, this fight for her life.

And ultimately, I became friends with her mom on Facebook, started following her, and she continued to document her grieving process.

And one day, she would end up posting just a short poem that she had written about her daughter, about her daughter's love for riding horses.

And I took that as an opportunity.

I took that poem, expanded on it a little, and through one of my pure loves, is I turned it into a song.

Now I'm no musician.

I've shared here on the podcast before that I create music with a combination of a love for creative writing paired with today's modern technology.

And that's what I did with this poem is I turned it into a song.

The song is titled She Rides with Horses.

As a matter of fact, if you listen all the way through to the very end of today's episode, I'm gonna be sure to play that full song for you so that you can hear the full story of this little girl named Jenna.

But what happened is, is I created the song and I reached out to her mom with hesitation because honestly, I wasn't sure if it would be a help or if it would be upsetting.

But I sent it to her anyways, just in a simple Facebook message.

Her response was beyond humbling.

She loved it.

She wanted me to publish it on my artist channel.

She wanted to be able to share it with her friends and her family.

And my goodness, the song, it went viral in my little world.

All of her friends, her family loved the song.

They're still listening to it today.

But it was because of that song, because of that outreach to this mother who was grieving that put me in the position of being at Jenna's Memorial Service.

And that is what brings me back to today's episode and how this episode relates to you.

Because when I left Jenna's Memorial Service, I couldn't help but think about three simple truths.

Three truths that keep us from making an impact as big as this little girl.

Three truths that if we adopt, if we take to heart, I believe we all stand a chance at living as big and as rich as this girl did, as Jenna did.

The first truth is simple.

Life is not measured in time.

It's measured in impact.

You can live a long life and leave very little impact.

Or you can live 12 short years and have your impact felt in the most magnificent way.

That room, it was full.

I don't know the exact number of people that were at her service, but I'm gonna say it was anywhere between 100 to 200 people.

There were people that she went to school with, children who were so brave and so amazing, who got up and spoke, who read poems they had written about their friend.

There were members of our community, our county sheriff, he got up and spoke.

He had been involved in Jenna's story and had helped the family with fundraiser events, and he was there.

That room was full of people because of the impact that this child made in just 12 short years.

Again, the truth, it's not the time, it's the impact.

So if you're stuck measuring your life's worth by the time, by the achievements, maybe it's time to reconsider what's really important.

Because I have to believe what's important is the impact that we're making on those around us.

The second truth that hit me was this idea that we're not lacking love, the ability to love.

What we're lacking is giving it, is showing it, of telling the people in our lives how much they mean to us, how much we love them.

We all get in a trap of thinking that there's time, that we all have time, that we'll call that friend tomorrow, that will say I love you the next time I see them.

We'll send a card that we'll do something special for them next week.

But my friend, what I came away with was the truth that time is not guaranteed.

Tomorrow is not for certain.

All we have is right now.

So what I want you to understand is that if there's somebody that you've had on your mind, I want you to pick up the phone and I want you to call 'em.

Text them if you want to text them.

Reach out to them and just say hello.

If you or me keep waiting for the right moment, the right time, then we're waiting too long.

And we are way messed up with our priorities in life.

Because letting somebody know how much you love 'em, how much they mean to you, that needs to happen right now.

The third truth is kind of an extension.

A simple understanding.

That we keep living like we have time.

I said it earlier.

We think that tomorrow is guaranteed, but it's not.

We keep putting off dreams, putting off ideas till the time is right.

Now I get it.

Even though it sounds good in theory, we all just can't run out and start doing everything we ever dreamed of.

That's just not realistic.

But we can start.

Because if we are constantly waiting and thinking that tomorrow is when we'll do it, that you'll travel when you retire, that you'll propose to the person you love when the time is right, when everything is perfect, that you'll start a family, when finances are better.

My friend, as I said, this is the reminder, the biggest reminder.

Time is not guaranteed.

Right now is the only guarantee that any of us have.

So if there's something that you have on your heart, let this be your reminder to do it right now, to do it today, to stop putting it off any further, because we never know when that first domino is gonna fall.

So what I want you to understand is I don't want you to come away thinking that I'm trying to scare you into action.

I don't want you to let this just go.

Instead, I want you to ask yourself three simple questions.

The three questions that I asked myself after attending Jenna's service.

Who have you said, I love you to today?

What have you thanked God for today?

Who needs to hear from you?

Who have you been wanting to call but haven't?

Who in your life needs a little extra encouragement?

A reminder of just how much you believe in them?

My friend, pick up the phone, open your mouth, speak the words.

If there's people in your life that you love, that you know need love, my friend, by golly, show it to them.

Tell them how much you love them, let them be reminded that you love them.

The truth is, life isn't measured in time, it's measured in love.

And if a 12-year-old little girl can have shared that much love in just 12 years, then what are me or you waiting on?

So again, what I want you to leave today is with one simple understanding.

The time is not on our side, but the ability to leave an impact to make a difference, that is.

That is what we control.

So I encourage you to make an impact.

My friend, my hope is right now, there's somebody in your life who you're thinking of that you need to reach out to.

That there's a dream that you've been having, that you've not been chasing, that you start to pursue it.

I want you to take action right now.

Let this be your wake-up call to start living the life that you're supposed to live.

And as promised, to end today's episode, I'm gonna play for you the song that I made about Jenna.

She runs with horses.

SPEAKER_01: Some souls are meant to stay still, come and run, ever slowing down, put dust on their boots, winding their hair, and a heart that knows freefore fear ever came.

Horses were just on the stuff.

They were how she moved to the world.

Don't you want to tie one time?

And I'll leave a man carrying more than any time.

Words don't stop to never hear Straight, Straight the T.

But even let it stay so gentle, never let it take the night.

Don't stop, still because when the body gets out of the heart, still paint, still stop, still paint, still pay to be a lot of time.

She just learns how to live on.

She's not gone, she's everywhere.

In the quad, in the egg, in the air, and every host that runs to speed in every period.

She runs with hosts, the way No Hospital, no way left, days a bit.

She didn't lose her battle.

She finished her race, and she's still running through endless pastures, wild and free.