As I write this, it’s early on a Sunday morning. I’m in my office, and I can hear the birds singing outside. It’s a peaceful time at my house. The house is quiet, and it seemed like a good time to sit down and put into words my feelings about this last week.
Our world is pretty strange right now. We have a global pandemic. And everywhere people are impacted. Business are struggling, people are also struggling. For me personally, my business of teaching workshops came to a grinding halt almost 3 months ago when the public library where I hold workshops said they were not going to be allowing any public use of their meeting rooms at least through May. No worries, I thought. I also had workshops scheduled at a local restaurant. The next week, restaurants were closed as well and could only offer curbside pick up or delivery. We began to hear new words, like “social distancing” and “a new normal.” Children were transitioned to online school only as schools shut their doors. And, sadly, much of the world became angry. It became political. And instead of pulling together, people became polarized. If you stayed home, wore a mask, etc., then surely you’re living in fear. If you didn’t do those things, you were inconsiderate of others. And the two factions just couldn’t seem to find any common ground.
I love social media. It lets me stay connected to friends everyone, and I’ve built much of my business there. Yet, it began to wear on me. I found myself needing to simply unfollow many people, people I loved and respected, but they were so angry that I just couldn’t continue to fill my days with that. And it was sad. Add to that, I couldn’t do my workshops, nor could I have my meetings in person with my networking group. Yes, we met on Zoom, but it’s just not the same thing. During this time, three friends lost family members, and my greatest frustration was that I couldn’t go hug them and sit with them through their loss. It became, for me, a pretty sad time. Not fearful, simply sad.
An Intro to Something New
My friend was having an online party. It was with a company I’ve heard of before, but honestly I really hadn’t looked at them in a very long time. But hey, I’m sitting at home, so I went! And I fell in love with the products.
Mary & Martha is a faith-based company whose mission is “Women Building Women up in Faith & Business.” I love that mission because I’ve always been focused on inspiring others to grow their business and my faith has always been a big part of that. The vision to “Bring Eternal Hope & Encouragement to every home, every day” is also something I love about it. Then there’s the products. I made a wish list, and oh my was it a big one.
I don’t know about you, but I never like to pay full price for anything. And in the direct sales world there’s a thing we call “kitnapping,” meaning you join the company just so you can get the discounts. I knew I wanted these things in my home, so that’s just what I did, simply for the discount.
Then a funny thing happened. I started digging more into things with the company. It began to speak to my soul. There’s an upcoming book study, which does 50 days of encouragement using the Word. I put out a call to my friends asking who might like to do it with me, and ten people raised their hands. All Christian women, who, like me, were in need of some encouragement and some reminder of who we are. So, I gave them the information and they ordered their books.
I got my book early because I had ordered it from my friend’s party. It came yesterday, right as I was really doing a bit of soul searching. Should I put more into this company? Should I just do it for the discount? Where is life really supposed to go right now? The book is called “Cheering You On” by Holly Gerth. And right there, in the very first reading, I saw this:
You guys! That’s my life verse! It’s one I have claimed for several years now. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that this is the first thing that came up in this book at a time when I’m at a crossroads. I believe it’s a message that this is a good place to invest my time and share with others.
And so a new journey begins. This week, I’ll be doing a live “unboxing” of my kit when it arrives. I would love for you to join us to see it. You will love the beauty, the message, and the possibility. You’ll find us talking about all of it this week at Inspiration Station VIP Lounge. Come join us!
