My Princess House Journey, Part 6, Learning the Ropes

As my days with Princess House progressed, slowly my days began to have a pattern. I'd do Princess House parties 3-5 days a week.

I'd get up in the mornings, feed the children, pack the diaper bag, pack my Princess House bags, and load the car. Then I'd go to the sweet lady's house who babysat my children, and drop them off there. I'd then drive to wherever my Princess House party was for that day. Usually it was anywhere between 5 minutes to 3 hours to drive.

I'd do a cooking demo for the guests at the party, take the orders, wash & pack up my cooking demo kit, collect and repack my catalogs, and drive home. Often, I'd get home sometime the afternoon or just before supper.

I'd come home, feed the children, give them baths, tuck them into bed, and start a load of laundry. I'd clean up the dishes (sometimes, the dishes didn't get done), do more laundry, and then process the bookwork that went along with that day's party. Often, I went to bed at midnight or 1 AM. I'd fall into bed, exhausted, hoping that my babies would sleep all night.

The next day, I'd do it all over again.

On my days off, I'd try to sew or clean or catch up on domestic duties.

I really, really loved my job...I met the most wonderful people, and the majority of them were the most gracious and kind people to work with. I often listened to singing or sermons on the way to or from the parties, and it was my time with God. I learned that praise is a huge part of victory...especially when I didn't feel like praising God at all!!!!!

Life on the whole continued to be rough. One day in particular, as I was driving an hour and a half to my party, I wept as I drove. It had been such a hard evening the night before, and that morning, had been equally tough.

My phone rang. It was Charity.

"Hi, Glenda, how are you?" she asked.

I decided to be honest. "Not very good," I managed to say, with tears streaming down my face. "I am considering calling the hostess and telling her that I am not feeling up to doing her party this morning." And I poured out the sad tale of the stressful evening and morning I had just endured.

"Oh, no, Glenda, you don't have to do that! Here, listen to this," and as she spoke, I heard Charity thumb through the worn pages of her Bible. She hurriedly turned to Revelation 1, and began to read about Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness, and the First Begotten of the dead, the Prince of the kings of the earth. "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us Kings & Priests...I am Alpha & Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, saith the Lord, which was, and is, and is to come..." And she continued to read about John's vision of that Beautiful City, and as I listened, my focus turned from my troubles towards the place where my heart really began to yearn for. She instilled a love for what I could not see, and for what is to come, into my sad heart.

The longer I listened, the more I was healed.

Five minutes before I reached the Hostess's house, I stopped this most precious reading of the Word, and told her that I was almost at my destination.

"Glenda," Charity commanded, "you go in there and testify of the goodness of God. Tell those ladies how big your God is."

"I will," I promised. I hung up and dried my tears. I asked my God for strength I did not possess. I decided to extol the praises of Him who had washed me from my sins with His own blood.

And I went to that party. I knocked on the Hostess's door. I looked around her house, and noticed how beautifully decorated it was. I complimented her, and she smiled. My heart skipped a beat when she smiled. I decided in my heart to see if I could get every single one of the guests to smile that day.

I also encouraged them to keep their eyes focused on God...that He was bigger than anything they faced.

The funny thing was, that afternoon as I headed home, I realized that my spirits were lifted. My focus had been shifted from how hard the way was, to how big my God was.

That wasn't the only time that scenario happened...if I was particularly discouraged, Charity would read chapters of the Word to me as I drove. I listened intently, the healing words flowing across my wounded heart. It was music to my ears. I decided that the Word of God is alive, and not only that, but possessed healing qualities.

The year ended, and I had, to my surprise, not only paid my rent and all of my bills, but I had all of my back-bills paid and up-to-date.

Charity wanted more for me. She wanted to see me pay off my debts. She began to talk to me about going to a big Princess House Conference in California. I promptly turned her down...I didn't have the money to buy a plane ticket, or to pay for the needed expenses.

"Ask for a loan," she told me. "You will pay it off, because you will learn so very much."

I groaned. I truly didn't want to beg. But at her insistence, I sat down and figured out how much it would take for me to go, and I went back to one of my mentors. I asked for a loan. My mentor looked at me intently, pulled out his checkbook, and wrote me a check.

I looked him straight in the eyes. I said to him, "I will pay this back as soon as I can."

"I know you will." he said.

I turned away to hide the tears that wanted to flow. Such kindness to someone like me was almost beyond my scope of imagination.

I flew to California April of 2011. To my astonishment, I was the number 1 consultant in personal sales at the conference.

As I sat at the conference beside Charity, suddenly over the loudspeaker came the words, "From the Salsano Zone, the Lapp Division, Consultant Glenda Joseph."

Charity gasped and clutched my arm. "Glenda, that's you they are calling for!"

"What?" I couldn't believe it.

Sure enough, from out of nowhere came a couple of Home Office employees. They escorted me to the stage in the front of the room, helped me climb the stairs to the stage, and the CEO placed a crown on my head. I was shell-shocked. I wasn't expecting that!

The crowd cheered wildly. They weren't expecting this "Amish-looking" girl to be the number 1 consultant! I had come out of nowhere, and swiftly risen to the top, the CEO told us later.

I didn't say much, except that I kept telling Charity that I couldn't believe it. But in my heart of hearts, I remembered in desperation kneeling in prayer months before, making a vow to God that I would honor Him at every party I ever went to, and talk about His goodness no matter how hard it was. I remembered how He had begun to prosper me after that prayer. I knew where my success had come from, and I hoped that everyone else knew it too.

Charity & I in California, when I earned a crown for being the #1 Consultant in personal sales.

I learned so much from that conference. I took notes on everything I learned. Once again, Charity couldn't find me because I was hanging out with people who were way more successful than I was. I'd often asked them, "What advice do you have for me? What made you so successful?" And I'd scribble what they would say into my little notebook.

Charity took me to the Pacific Ocean, and I was awed to see the West Coast for the first time. But I shed hot tears into the cold ocean water, wishing with all my heart that it had been EJ who had taken me there. How I wished that we could be walking the ocean sands, hand-in-hand.

But it wasn't so.

I lifted my eyes to those blue horizon where the ocean met the skies in hazy shades, and I prayed once again ever so fervently for his redemption.

My first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean

I learned so much from that business trip that I paid off that trip from the first week of business back home. How happy I was to come back to my mentor and hand him a check to pay back the money I had borrowed! He looked mildly surprised, and wordlessly shook his head with a pleased grin on his face as he pocketed the check.

I worked hard. Little by little, I began to pay back my debts.

Charity not only taught me about PH business, she taught me how much God loved me. She taught me that the Word of God heals the heart. She taught me to respect others who disagree with me. She taught me to stand still. She taught me how to rejoice in what I had. She taught me the power words have, and I learned that it truly does matter what we say...life and death really are in the power of the tongue. Over and over, she set Hope in front of my fractured heart...Hope in what my God could do.

She taught me that what I cannot see is so much bigger than what I do see....

P.S. -This is such a real, raw part of my story. When I look back, I see the Hand of God written all over it.

-I hope that you all can accept this as my story, and nothing but that.

-I really hope that God shines through. He's been such a good Father to me in the absence of family close at hand.

-Charity was used of God to cover so many heart teachings that somehow I had missed in my life. I'm so grateful to her to this day...she is my "second mom." If it weren't for her, I'm not sure that I would be where I am today.