Impact over Image – a Faith Journey

One of the things that I love about Thirty-One is the fact that it is a Faith based company.  Before Thirty-One, I never spoke in public about my faith outside of a church setting.  To say that my faith has grown tremendously as a result of being a part of this company is an understatement.

It started with my first National Conference.  Every year, one day of National Conference starts with praise and worship led by our CEO’s husband and his worship band.  How many other companies do that?  I’ve been to some amazing conferences from my corporate career where we had some big-name performers like Beyoncé, Black Eyed Peas and Taylor Swift, but there is nothing like what we do.  Being surrounded by thousands of women in praise and worship is simply powerful.  I was born and raised Catholic and I can tell you that I have never been to a Mass quite like that before!  Have you ever been to a conference like that?

There was a leader at my first conference who spoke about how in this business each time we have a party it’s more about connecting with people and blessing them than about selling bags or booking parties.  She made me realize that sometimes women just need someone to listen to them, hug them, be around them and even pray for them.  I began sharing my faith at parties, little by little, and got to the point where I felt comfortable sharing my faith online as well.

Sunrise service is always led by the fabulous Kelly Ricketts.  She is a self-proclaimed late riser, but she gets up super early to lead us all in praise and worship before the sun is even up!  When it comes to listening to God, this woman has got it down!  She journals and He tells her what to share with us and goodness does she just know how to preach what He puts on her heart!  She also introduced me to my absolute favorite devotional ever, Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young.

This last trip was to Atlantis, Bahamas and WOW were they spot on when they named it Paradise Island!  That place was gorgeous!  During sunrise service, Kelly shared that she felt that someone in the crowd was being called to close in prayer.  Oh man, I was feeling those tugs on my heart, but I was too scared and nervous to step forward.  She asked again.  Deeper tugs on my heart.  Dang it!  I am Catholic, we don’t do things like this!  Okay, okay, God, I’ll step forward.  I stepped forward and prayed in front of over 100 people the words that God laid on my heart.  I wish I could remember what I said, but I’m pretty sure that I spoke about us actually taking time to rest.  It was such a blur!  Have you ever stepped way outside of your comfort zone like that?

Fast forward to the day of the service.  We planned it for a Monday morning rain or shine and told anyone who was interested to meet on the pier about 6:35. Stacy and I met in the gym and got in a quick workout beforehand and showed up still sweaty in our gym clothes with no makeup.  Quite the change from the day before when we wanted to look perfect!  We had no idea what to expect or how many ladies would actually show up.  Beforehand we agreed that even if it were just the two of us there that we would consider it a success.  Do you know what happened?  Over twenty ladies showed up for this!  Out of the 125 women that were on this trip, twenty of them were up before the sun, jet-lag and all with no make-up on, worshipping the Lord.  Talk about IMPACT!  Nobody there was worried about their image or the fact that some were still in pajamas or gym clothes with ponytails and bedhead.  We were there for His great glory!