Year of Joy

I slid into Christmas worn out and depleted. Gifts were wrapped, Rolling Shack shows were done for the year, and it was time to sit and reflect. 2018 was a big year of transition for The Marketplace. There was a tremendous push and pull, wanting to step into the future and not being quite ready. The last few days of truly reflecting and sitting with the Lord has been some of the best moments of 2018. I found peace in where we are going but more importantly I started to get really excited. I sat at my drawing table and started designing. I reached out to many of our partners and started brainstorming for 2019 and how we could continue to push the envelope in design and collaboration. I started ordering like a crazy person! We have a ton of new things coming in! I met a new group from Guatemala that has such a precious heart and a truly unique product.  I got to see The Marketplace in a whole new way; building deeper relationships with our groups and designing more unique products that will have you all saying “wow!” But what I realized that I was lacking was joy. I had been so caught up trying to get everything done that I didn’t take time to celebrate the victories. I was just so busy working through the day to day operations and moving to the next thing on my to do list, that I stopped dreaming. I began to lose the joy of The Marketplace. God often reminds me that while The Marketplace is helping people around the world, it is also His special journey with me.