About Me
I have 4
children, 7 grandchildren and a call from the Lord to train and teach
the body of Christ how to connect their worship to their work and to
walk as Kings in the Marketplace, carrying the gospel of Christ to those
the Lord puts in their path.
My LAST full time job was at Budget Printing, a small print shop in Texas. My freedom date is October 13, 2009!
I was raised in Texas by Christian parents who took me to church from as early as I can remember. They certainly didn’t do everything right, but my brothers, my sister and I all turned out well. I am the oldest of four, followed by my sister, then two brothers. Our baby brother Bobby died in 2001 at the age of 31 from melanoma, leaving a hole in our hearts, a wife and a daughter who was only four at the time.
After teaching Sunday School and leading the congregational singing at a small country Baptist Church for over 10 years, my husband and our son and I now attend a large inter-denominational church. Our two oldest daughters have married and one lives a couple of hours away while the other just returned from college and got a job teaching High School Algebra nearby, her new house is just a few miles away. The youngest daughter is a licensed cosmetologist, her dream since she was a little girl. Our son is a budding musician and working on earning his Eagle Scout rank. He is also active with the youth and the drama team at our church.
Jeff and I married at the age of 17 in 1979, divorced in 1982 and remarried in 1983. So on August 17, 2011 we had been married most of the time for 32 years. I asked Jesus to come in to my heart somewhere between 4th and 8th grade. Even then the enemy tried to derail my walk with the Lord as I had an accident that delayed water baptism for a week or so after it was planned. As a teenager, I rededicated my life to Jesus while I was involved with an active youth group at the church where I met my husband. As a broken wife and mother in the floor of my living room in 1996, I cried out to the Lord to ‘please take this heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh.’ I believe it was at this point that He filled me with His Holy Spirit in a way that I had never known before. He changed me that day and I know that He has a wondrous plan for me – I also know that if He never did another thing for me, I would serve Him faithfully all the days of my life.
You would
not have a true picture of me with out some good information on the work
I am involved with. The story starts back there in 1996, as I endured a
time of discipline and reprimand from the Lord. I did not work outside
my home for 4 years. During that difficult time, I learned that I could
not live without Jesus. I learned the Word as I never had before, and I
learned to hear His voice. I learned that the words I let come out of my
mouth impact my life in a way that I had never understood before. As
some of the pressures eased in those years, I was able to learn how to
use a computer, and then the internet. I love the process of figuring
things out!
I began to write an article I titled WestConnect in our small town newspaper that ran for two years starting in 1998. It was published as plain talking internet and computing information for regular people to easily understand. I also wrote in green crayon an affirmation that I thumb-tacked on the wall above my computer and said out loud every day. “I earn $500 a week, working in and out of my home providing products and services…” I still have that somewhere – need to pull it out so I can quote it correctly. The faith I used to speak those words brought to reality a wonderful job in 2000 where that figure was my salary, plus I earned commission with the job title of Internet Specialist working for an independent Yellow Page publisher who was implementing an aggressive online advertising program.
My first sale was to a lady who worked for her mom and dad in a small print shop. She invited me to Aglow, a worldwide women’s ministry and we became close friends. In Nov. 2002, after she and I both had gone through many changes and challenges, she asked me how I liked my job – I was now selling Yellow Page advertising because the company had been sold and the Internet department terminated. She wanted to know if I might come help at the print shop, her father had passed away, they had an employee who was pregnant and would I consider going to work for her – not right away – but when she needed me? I told her I loved what I was doing and wouldn’t know how to leave, but that we would pray about it, and if the Lord wanted me over there, He would make a way.
He did make a way – and I told my sales manager in February about the conversation that had taken place last November and that I believed that the situation that had arisen was an answer from the Lord. Whenever she calls, I will go, and this situation is the reason why. She didn’t call until June, and when she did, I left the job I loved and went to work for her. I had made almost as much money in the first six months of that year as I ever made in a whole year that I worked at the print shop, but I knew then as I know now, it was an assignment from the Lord.
Imagine my
surprise when 5 weeks after I started – she FIRED me! What had happened
was that God showed up at Budget Printing and saved the Plant Manager. All
the details would take several more paragraphs, so I will kind of skip
to the next God-incidence that brought me to where I am now, after a
little more history.
The skills the Lord has developed in my life started with the gift of the family he placed me in. I learned unconditional love, service, faith and tithing. I also learned perseverance in trial, work ethic, developing talent and a love of learning. My parents turned me in as a recruit lead at a Tupperware party when I was sixteen and I sold plastic on and off for thirteen years. I overcame lots of objections in my head standing at my kitchen sink as I imagined the places I would some day be. With Tupperware I learned how to stand up and talk to people and that I can sell what I show. I also learned how to recover when I broke items in demonstrating them!
I didn’t know then the concepts of the positive confession or even positive thinking, let alone how those ideas would connect to the scripture. I waited tables, balanced deposits, entered medical data and sold Certificates of Deposit in the aisles of Walmart as a retail banker. I learned how to conduct employee counseling and discipline including terminations and how to talk to and listen to people in all sorts of situations. I even performed singing telegrams!
As a result of the opportunities I have been given, I have learned many valuable skills, but most of all I have gained the confidence that come from understanding who I am in Christ and the realization of what I am without Him. The Lord’s people are the ones who I most love to connect with. That said, I love to make connections in all kinds of ways, especially when there is an opportunity to meet a need and glorify the Lord at the same time. The Lord has made so very clear that He knows where I am and what I am doing and He is guiding me every step of the way.
Things don’t happen the way they have happened for me without God’s intervention and grace. There have been many breakthroughs, blessings and guidance through the things I have described above. I didn’t even finish the story about how it is that after I was fired, six months later I was asked to come back. The Lord clearly spoke to me as I drove back that first day something that was so outrageous I knew it had to be Him.
Now my friend is married to that Production Manager, there is a worship room in the print shop and I am the President of the local Aglow Lighthouse. I left again in 2006, at the Lord’s leading – and later when I needed to get another job, my first interview was back at the original location where the print shop was when I first met my friend. After working there only a few weeks, I was again asked to go back to the print shop, that was three years ago October 10, 2009.
I do work at home, mostly keeping up with a busy toddler these days, but also doing business consulting and websites on a limited basis. My regular hourly rate is $40, my ministry/non profit rate is $25. My websites require no monthly hosting fees, and if I think what you want is more than I am willing or able to do, I will let you know, and maybe refer you to another company.
I am so
ready now to spread my wings into the fullness of the calling He has
placed within my heart. “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you
your heart’s desires” Psalm 37:4 NLT
