In 2016 I had discovered my life call. God had told me to let JOY loose. But I was having such a difficult time figuring out how. After all, I was in a season of extreme sadness and overwhelm, so it felt kind of impossible. Thankfully, over the years I had discovered (by living it) that literally nothing is impossible for God, so at least I had the wherewithal to try to respond.
Ok…so now what?
This blog was my first step. I knew how to write and I enjoyed it, so it made sense. I just had to learn all the nuts and bolts of blogging and navigating that space. Since I wasn’t working yet, I became an Amazon affiliate, hoping to earn a bit of blogger kick-back for recommending products. Funny though, unless you go hard at that or have thousands of subscribers, that doesn’t seem to be overly lucrative. But that wasn’t the heart behind this blog anyway, so it didn’t really matter.
Clarification
Instead, I discovered I was certainly not alone in my quest to find JOY. Readers continually connected with me in the comments, through my Facebook group, DMs, and by downloading ebooks or subscribing to my prayer prompts and joy journeys. It was apparent that many, many people were discouraged by joylessness. So my life call was being clarified and confirmed. If I could be even just a small part of their journey back to JOY, I wanted it. I began to think in terms of meaning and legacy in each post and conversation. As God revealed things to my heart that I sensed were for more than just me, I shared them here.
Taking a next step
In 2017 I began in a part-time role as a Pastor of Worship. I had served in similar roles before, but the new lens of my life call clarified further how and why I was to minister. It shaped my questions and conversations. It informed my Bible study and my pastoral theology. It reminded me how important it is to be transparent, but to keep my confidence in Christ prominent in my writing and speech. It amplified my awareness of the need people have to be able to lament, but how crucial it is to help them express their faith and lean into the JOY of the Lord as their strength. In fact, my thinking was shaped to understand that sadness actually paves the way for JOY. What great news for me and all of my sad friends!
Getting healthy
I’m really thankful that the Lord whispered to me that my overall health was significant to my JOY journey, and not separate from it. For instance, I hadn’t realized before how inter-connected my emotional and mental health are with my physical wellness. I hadn’t known that gut health was pivotal for healthy serotonin levels, or that the products I use on my body or around my home could have a detrimental impact on my hormone levels.
In 2018, God started to lead me to resources about these kinds of things. I started out my joining a gym, and then adjusting my diet to eliminate sugar, wheat and dairy. Drastic, maybe. But my reading about inflammation fueled my desire to know if that was an underlying issue contributing to my symptoms. I was desperate enough by this point that I would try basically anything. I literally knew God was calling me to pursue JOY, and I would obey my life call at all costs.
A Fateful Conversation
By the time we moved to a new neighborhood, I realized something was still missing. Though I continued with clean eating, exercise, rest and everything else, I was still not combatting some of the most significant issues: poor mental health, brain fog, and extra weight. I was frustrated, and wanted an answer. I believe the Lord answered my frustration through a conversation over cookies. Our backyard neighbors arrived on our doorstep with a delicious gift on day #1 to welcome us. Very sweet! And in that initial conversation I learned that my new friend was a Young Living distributor. My interest was piqued, because I had heard heard of oils before, and wondered if perhaps they could help me. (Remember, I said I was ready to try anything at this point!) Although I didn’t ask about it immediately, I was curious to start to learn, and began to take notice of her posts on Facebook, and the healthy life she obviously led.
Fast forward a bit, and I decided to bite the bullet and grab a Starter Kit of awesomeness from Young Living. What did I have to lose? At least if it didn’t work, my house would still smell good and I’d have a kicky new diffuser. I didn’t know that I had just taken another step in my life call.
What do oils have to do with my life call?
Well, a lot actually. But I’ll paint it in a nutshell. It was like a lot of light switches suddenly went on:
- My energy increased
- I slept more deeply
- The melancholy I had perpetually felt lifted
- I was able to better manage anxiousness
- I finally started to drop pounds
- And I found a whole new tribe of friends who became a positive and encouraging force in my healing journey.
It was literally within that very first month of consistently using my oils that I knew I needed to make forever changes in my wellness routine, so I grabbed the subscription box to discipline myself to ditch toxins from my life and intentionally incorporate plants on the daily. Each month I made a few new changes, and learned new things from people’s stories on our education groups. I was soooo thankful to have friends help me, so it never felt overwhelming. Very naturally, I started to tell people about my successes too, and people were asking because some of them were very noticeable.
So, about selling stuff… how does that relate?
Something happened not too far in to my journey where I sensed God was developing my life call. It was kind of outrageous, but I thought He was asking me to start pursuing Young Living as a business. This was cray cray because a) I have never considered owning a business before and b) the one time I tried sales during college, I was fired after only one week. 🙂 But somehow, I sensed this was the next step I needed to take in pursuit of my life call to let JOY loose. The part that wasn’t crazy to me was the correlation between essential oils and JOY. I had already experienced incredible emotional wellness by using oils and oil infused products. If I could share that with others so they could pursue JOY, why wouldn’t I??
God was up to something more in me too. Because it was the first time in my life that I actually felt like choosing to pursue an income that had no ceilings was the right thing for me to do. And I knew it was because He placed a massive dream in my heart that would let JOY loose in people, and I needed significant finances to make it happen. He was showing me a path that would help me spread JOY while still pursuing another avenue to share it. How like God to give me what I needed to pursue HIS call. He is my Provider!
Letting JOY loose all along the way
And so here I sit. I’m healthier, I’m happier, my community has grown exponentially. I’m learning what it means to be a business owner and to be grateful for no ceilings. As I’ve learned more about my company and the way they lead in this industry with integrity, and standards like no other, I’m continually grateful! When I see the way they empower women, impact economies, and care for the people in the communities surrounding the farms they own worldwide, I’m amazed.
My team is growing. The culture within it is one of the healthiest I’ve ever worked with, full of prayer, encouragement, gratitude, shared resources, and glory given to the Lord for the transformations we see day after day. Within my team, I’m part of letting JOY loose. As I share about my wellness journey with others and walk alongside them in theirs, I see my life call being let loose. By helping others begin to realize their life call to stay home with their kiddos, help their husband feel freedom to find employment he enjoys, pay off debt or pursue missions work, my own JOY explodes. And as I strategically grow my own income, I can envision the fullness of my life call–that big dream God has birthed in me–poised to explode. I don’t know about you, but that makes life so hopeful!!
I never knew that God would call me to own a business to flesh out my life call of ministry. I didn’t really imagine how that might happen outside the walls of what I already knew. I’m grateful beyond measure for the relief and release I’ve found in my own physical and emotional wellness, so inspired by the stories of others who have opened themselves up to natural wellness, and I LOVE to walk this journey with them!
YOUR life call
Have you pursued the Lord yet about His great design for you? Have you started to explore how He might want to help you flesh out YOUR life call? Do you feel like the least likely candidate to be part of a network marketing company that helps people find holistic wellness? I’d really love to chat about that. What if the Lord might want to flesh out your dreams too, and fuel them as part of an incredible community? It’s one of my favorite conversations to have, and I’d love to have it with YOU.
If you’d be willing to share your life dreams with me, I’d be honored. I’d love to pray for you and explore it with you. Maybe we will one day run together!
Elizabeth Joy
