United States of America
In 2011, I lost everything. My furniture business, which I had built into a 14-million-dollar company, crashed and burned after the 2008 financial crisis. My husband and I were in the middle of building our dream home, and we lost it. Our church family abandoned us, and although we came out with a roof over our heads, I sank into a deep depression, feeling like I had experienced a death in the family. Grief comes in many ways.
I decided to volunteer with hospice to get out of my own head, and serving others became a major key to unlocking my own healing. I eventually began dreaming of a new business, and what materialized in 2012 was a bakery called Marche de Macarons. In 2019, I opened another business, Blue Poppy Designs, and just after I signed the lease on a new workspace, COVID hit.
I remember that day so clearly – we got the word that everything was shutting down; ten of the festivals where I had paid for booths to sell my goods for the year were canceled. I came home dazed and sat down at the kitchen table with my husband, Rob, who said to me, “Amy, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but if anyone can reinvent from nothing, you can.” It was as if God was speaking through him, to remind me of the strength to overcome that He’s granted us all.
Those words became the fuel I needed to move forward through the pandemic. As I put my energies toward turning the macaron shop into a to-go business, Blue Poppy’s wholesale market took off in a way I never expected. In 14 short months, Blue Poppy went from being sold in one shop to nearly 400 in 49 states.
I learned through these experiences that failure is not final. I try not to spend a whole lot of time crying over things that don’t work, because I know what will work is right around the corner. After all, faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
His Divine Providence will inspire the right idea with the right opportunity even when it seems impossible.
Amy Shippy, Blue Poppy Designs, Lottiebelles, Lady BizWiz
United States of America
It was in the spacious confines of the Target family bathroom, alone, where my world was knocked off its axis. It was 2011, and I found out that sunny morning in early April that I was pregnant with my fourth child…nine years after my husband’s vasectomy.
I had just received the beautifully printed invitations for our eldest daughter’s high school graduation; our second daughter was 15 and in the throes of adolescence, and our youngest was 10 years old. My husband and I had only recently begun going out on dates again.
After three stick tests and a blood test, a very long walk around the block with my husband, we were forced to accept it-we were going back to the starting line of parenting. We would be parenting for a total of 36 years.
I was reminded of the old Yiddish adage, “Man plans, and God laughs.”
After our baby came, Skye Lynn, the adjustment was very difficult. I endured a horrible postpartum depression and left behind my music career for a season. I began writing in the late hours of the night when I couldn’t sleep, which led to a blog and then a book of family stories, “The Secret Life of a Doctor’s Wife.”
Over time, I recovered, and Skye became the joy of our home; our older kids gave her a thousand nicknames, songs were written for and about her, and we all continue to delight in her as she has become a talented visual artist and animal enthusiast.
How do we handle the unexpecteds that come to us in life? We may struggle during the adjustment, but in the end, we trust that God knows what is best for us.
Rebekah McLeod, author, musician, storyteller
Germany, United States of America
After 14 years of marriage, I found myself in a foreign country with a 13-year-old son. I was in a challenging mental state, and I was all alone, no family, not many friends or associates to talk to. All my sadness, thoughts, and concerns were bottled up and festered.
I started to bury myself in my jobs, neglecting “self-care” and needs of my teenage son. My family in Germany was not supportive of me marrying a black man, and for the most part, cut off all communication with me. I felt ALL ALONE in a loveless world. I had to take a look at myself and my relationship with God.
I started with simple conversational exercises, just to be able to lift all the pressure that built up inside, then went to prayers for the ones around me and started to forgive people for the things done to me, which lifted a lot of weight off me. Through spiritual guidance, I achieved inner peace and was able to concentrate on self-care and ensuring my son is taken care of. Those were the two most challenging years of my life that in the end, helped me grow to be the woman I am today.
Alexandra
United States of America
My parents have always had a tumultuous relationship. I always knew they loved each other, and from what I’ve been told, their early years were very happy. They were high school sweethearts, and they both became born-again Christians at eighteen and married shortly after their conversions. Within five years, they had three daughters, with me being the middle child. I remember growing up in Word of Faith church, a Pentecostal congregation in downtown New Orleans, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, small groups, choir rehearsals (Mom sang and Dad played the drums), and we also went to school at the church. Our lives revolved around the church, and my parents had an open-door policy for church members who were struggling or just needed a hot meal.
When I was in 6th grade, my parents left the church. I didn’t fully understand it as a kid, but it was a combination of church politics and poor leadership that caused a lot of pain, especially for Mom. She refused to return to church until many years later, and although Dad made a couple of half-hearted attempts to bring us kids back, we never seemed to find a place as a family that felt like home again.
Mom and Dad began growing apart in our teenage years. Mom had a lot of health complaints and spent time going from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what was wrong. She was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, depression and restless leg syndrome and ended up addicted to many different prescription drugs. Over time Dad began going out at night to play pool (billiards) and compete in tournaments. Eventually Dad had an affair, and the marriage ended. Mom went into a recovery center and was able to stop the drug use, and she never stopped praying that God would restore their marriage.
In 2003, after seven years of being separated and divorced, my parents remarried. It was a sweet time; we celebrated Christmas together as a restored family. My parents were happy and in love again. We knew God had done something special for our family;
He had answered many prayers and our hearts were filled with gratitude.
Over time, some of the same unhealthy patterns in their relationship began to emerge. Dad had worked as a carpenter, and then owned his own computer business, but he had become heavily involved in fitness training and diet coaching in the 2000s. Mom had no interest in the world of gyms and bodybuilding and restrictive diets, but she tried to go along with it for a while. On November 7th, 2010, my parents’ 40th anniversary, Dad announced that he had met someone at the gym and he was leaving Mom. She was shocked; we were all shocked. I was living in Virginia at the time with my husband and three kids, and I remember thinking that I needed to fly down and be there for my mom. It felt like I was going to attend the funeral of a marriage that was over… again.
I had been listening to a message on our identity in Christ and I was so overwhelmed with sadness that I dozed off on the couch.
I remember being startled awake by a voice that said, “Your dad has forgotten who he is. Call him and remind him.”
I picked up the phone and called him, and he answered. I began speaking truth to him, saying, “Dad, you are a son of the living God! This is not you, you are not acting out of your true self!” He began to weep and asked me to visit. I booked a ticket and was there a couple of days later. When I arrived, Dad had plans to run off with this woman. Yet while I was there, I sat at Dad’s feet and sang over him, “How deep the Father’s love for us, How vast beyond all measure, That He would give His only son, to make a wretch His treasure….” and something changed. Dad believed many lies about his life and about how God would ‘bless’ this ungodly relationship he was in, with a woman who was married and had two kids. The woman’s husband called Mom and told her he wasn’t going to stand by while she wrecked their family; we decided to take the same position.
Mom and I and my sisters prayed like never before. We agreed this was a demonic attack against our family and we wouldn’t allow the Enemy to win.
Within three days of my arrival, the affair was over and Dad understood that he had made a colossal mistake. Mom decided to come home with me for a month to rest and recover, and God blessed that time together.
It was difficult for Mom, but she decided to go back to Dad. It has been twelve years since the second affair, and they are still together. Dad has committed to being there for Mom to the end.
Rebekah
