Throughout my life, I can look back and see God’s divine grace at work. There are so many times in which He has provided, protected, and encircled me with His grace. I’ve shared these occurrences with my children, close friends, and other family members. Now, I’m feeling an overwhelming urge to share one such instance with all of you.
Life often comes at us faster than a run-away freight train. There’s no time to prepare, and so many times we find ourselves simply reacting to the situation that’s placed in front of us. Covid presented our family and our small business with such a situation. During that time, the days led to weeks, weeks to months and months to years. Never in our wildest dreams could we have predicted or planned for a reality in which we were told that we could no longer work…no longer make a living. Our hopes and dreams of building this business seemed to be most certainly thwarted. During this time, I PRAYED… HARD. I repeatedly begged for God’s guidance. “Please Lord, show me the way”, I’d pray. Should we forge a new path? Should we wait it out? “Lord, please just give me a sign!”
We threw ourselves into doing things “out of the box” We revamped our website, offered specials to push online sales, and did targeted advertising to promote generic growth. During this time we were able to participate in a few fundraising efforts that helped with our own morale as much as the recipients! They were a blessing in so many ways. Finally, the market started to reopen, and we were able to participate in a few “small scale” events. Once again, we were able offer our products to the public, albeit in a very truncated version of the events that we were accustomed to. Still, it was something…and I continued to pray,” Lord, please show me the way. Is this my path, or should we find a new one?”
Very soon, God began to speak in such a loving, and compassionate way. The first occurrence happened in August of 2021, when I witnessed the actions of a customer who had just moments earlier made a purchase from my booth. She sauntered away and then, as if on que, suddenly stopped, turned back and walked up to me. She looked me straight in the eye and said, “Keep doing what you’re doing…It’s great!” Now, you might be saying…THAT was a coincidence, NOT GOD! Admittedly, I too had to be hit over the head with God’s voice, because he kept repeating to me this exact same scenario over and over again. Each small event that I attended, God sent a messenger to give me His word…and it was always EXACTLY the same….”Keep doing what you’re doing” Within the course of a month, I heard this message six times. The last occurrence was in September of 2021. We were ending a particularly hectic day at a festival. We’d had several frustrations, one of which was losing many cases of candles that suddenly crashed to the ground upon unloading. Hot, tired and overwhelmed, it was finally time to pack up this show. I literally watch the crowd pass by my stand one by one as the festival ended. I happened to notice one lady that literally never made eye contact we me. She passed my stand, and a few feet away, she suddenly stopped in her tracks. She did an about face and started marching directly toward me. When she approached my table initially, she simply looked around as if she might want to make a purchase. In the end, she just looked up…and said…”keep doing what you’re doing”…she took my hands in hers…she said, “I know it’s hard”. She looked at David and said, “I know you worry”. Then she said….”God speaks to me, and He wants you to keep doing what you’re doing”. At this, I could no longer hold back the tears. God…made for sure I knew that it wasn’t just COINCIDENCE!
I want you all to know that I am no special person, and I certainly don’t deserve any special attention from God. The truth is that our God is an awesome God. He wants a relationship with all of his children. All you need to do is accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and believe that he forgives all your shortcomings. I owe everything to Him. It is all Him. To my customers, many of whom I now consider close friends, thank you for your love and loyalty. I truly feel that Mam Jam’s Candles has the very best customers around. If my testimony offends anyone, I make no apologies. It is the truth and if it can touch or help one person, then it was worth the telling. God bless you all.
~Tracy
Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:9