More Than a Mile

I recently finished reading Nikki Barrett’s book, More Than a Mile and I was inspired by her story because we are not defined by  where we come from, or the environment we grew up in.  If God has a plan for you (and I believe He has a plan for us all) then nothing you can do will offset it. Here are a few points that stayed with me once I finished the book.

• One of the things Nikki struggled with when she was younger was feeling like she didn’t fit in with her family. As a matter of fact, she said she used to look for adoption papers, that’s how convinced she was that she belonged to another family. This made me wonder if so many of us feel this way as children because we’re trying to fit into our parents’ expectations based on our own need to be loved and accepted by them. What do you think?

• Nikki discussed her battle with body image issues for several years. Like her, I’ve also had challenges with weight. I would often compare my body to the images I see in magazines and on television which eventually made me realize how much society influences our definition of beauty. They tell us we should be a certain size and shape, and if we’re not, they provide ‘advice’ on what we can do to meet their standards. Why can’t we just be who we are?

• Do you ever feel like you’re not where you’re supposed to be? As if you don’t recognize your life? I sure have. So often I think we’re colonized into living a certain way and following a particular path due to other people’s expectations or influences that God’s voice gets drowned out.

• If you’re anything like me, before you make a decision about a venture, you want to know all there is to know about it. Well, sometimes you have to commit to putting your feet on a path without knowing every twist and turn. I figured this out while reading Nikki’s story of how she and Greek (her husband) began their business Plumbed to Perfection after his employer started having problems with the business. Greek and Nikki decided to take a leap of faith without having all the answers and they haven’t looked back.

Not only did these points stand out of me while reading More Than A Mile, I had an opportunity to speak with Nikki about them as well. You can check out our chat below.

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