I receive more invitations to speak at retreats, church events, and mothers’ groups than I could responsibly accept without neglecting my family and my ministry responsibilities. Saying yes to all of them would mean saying no, by default, to the people closest to me.
So I have developed a simple filter: does the topic sit inside what I actually know and have lived — motherhood, marriage, women’s ministry, the nursing journey — and does the season of my family’s life have room for it right now? Ecclesiastes reminds me that every good thing has its proper season (Ecclesiastes 3:1), and a season saturated with yeses to everyone else eventually starves the people who need my yes the most.