Miracles happen if you believe

What an amazing month! Yesterday ended the Mary Kay year for me, and it was amazing. I've always heard over and over at Mary Kay events that June is the month of miracles and most of the miracles happen in the last 48 hours of the month. I never dreamed I'd see on happen to me.



One of the mirrored table lamps.



My biggest goal this past year was to be a consistent four quarter star consultant. Each quarter, I finished it up EARLY and not on the 15th of the month. And each quarter, I got a prize. The first quarter was a rustic iron blanket rack. The second quarter was a voucher for business supplies. The third quarter was a three piece tote bag, purse, and wristlet set. And for the fourth quarter I got a pair of beautiful mirrored table lamps.


I cannot wait to set them up on my nightstands by my bed! This month, at Seminar, I will have a special invitation to a special function for being a 4-quarter star consultant. And at that function, I will get to spin a wheel for an additional prize. I have no idea what prize I will get. I've been told there's everything from jewerly to electronics. So we'll just have to wait and see. Also, because I was a 4 quarter star consultant, I will be receiving a necklace with a star key on it.

At the end of May, my sales director, Laura, gave me my numbers for the year. I'd thought I was at about $12,000 retail, but I was wrong. I was actually closer to $16,000 or $17,000 - I don't remember which - and all of a sudden a new prize was within reach. That new prize was a chance to earn the National Princess Court of Sales for retail sales of $20,000 or higher. So I was between 3 and 4 thousand that I'd need to get in for the month. I set my goal for Princess Court and decided I was going to go for it. I knew I'd be placing an order around the 15th of the month that would move me up to the ruby level of star consultant. Once that order was placed, I had just a little over $2100 retail to do in 15 days. So I was going to work hard.



The jewerly that will be given at Seminar for earning Princess Court.



I let my customers know of some of the specials I had going on (discounts for coming to my meeting, etc). And I got to work calling, texting, emailing, meeting people, just going about my life. I had my eyes on the prize and I was going to work hard to reach it.

On June 12, I discovered a water leak in my apartment. Actually 3 leaks, and my apartment wanted me to pay for the damages because they were unable to get in to make the repairs. (Yes I'm a horrible house keeper and my apartment was a DISASTER!) So for the next several days, I was at the apartment tossing things out and cleaning up and just getting rid of things (hence the blog posts with books up for grabs) with the help of a friend and her teenage daughter. Truthfully, without my friend's help I'd never have gotten it finished. So my cat and I packed up the minimal things we'd need (litter box, cat food, cat carrier, clothes, etc) and headed over to my mother's. My mom was currently on vacation in Alaska and so we camped out there while repairs to my apartment got underway. Needless to say, we're still at my mom's as the apartment complex is still working on the apartment. The bathroom floor has been replaced and now they just need to do the sheetrock and I can move back in.

Yet, through being displaced, I still was working towards the goal of Princess Court. On June 22, I sent out several texts, emails, and Facebook messages to my customers asking for their help. I even did a blog post on the 23rd. I offered my customers a chance to be entered to win a pampering basket of goodies by spending $50 or more. Basically if a customer ordered $50, she got her name entered once, and then an additional time for every $50 past that. My customers responded. I had emails, texts, calls, and online orders coming in left and right. I'd write down what all they ordered on a sticky note, head to the apartment after work and pull the products and then plan my delivery trips. Because I was still working at my full time job and still reading books to review.

On morning of Saturday June 29, I'd gotten in $465.50 in sales since the texts were sent out on the 22nd and had no clue how the rest would come in the next couple of days. I went to my sales meeting that morning firmly believing that somehow, someway God would provide the amout that was left. My order was ready to go. I just needed the funds to show up in either my bank account or my propay account. With all of the sales and what was already in my bank account or propay account, I was sitting at $714.30. In short, I needed a miracle.

I arrived back at my apartment on Saturday morning after the sales meeting to check my mail. In my mail box was the typical stack of things - fliers, bills, a letter. Oh look a letter. I opened it up and I found a sweet note from one of my author friends that said "I believe in you. Use this to help finish your goal." The this was a check for $800. This author friend isn't a customer of mine. Just a friend who believes in me. I pretty much started crying right then. Because I knew God had just showed up in a really big way. So I stopped in the apartment office to pick up the package that was delivered on Friday (a book to review yay!) and to find out about when the sheetrock would be replaced. Then I headed over to the bank to deposit it into my account.

That $800 added to the total of $714.30 was pretty much the EXACT amount that I needed to finish. It was all in my bank account. On Sunday, I made a couple of product deliveries to people at church who wanted to pay via credit/debit card. So I get home from church, process their cards, and then place my order. My order ended up being $15 more than what I needed to complete Princess Court. Of course, I double checked my numbers about 10 times before hitting submit.

One thing I've learned through all of this is that God likes to do things in a BIG way. When it seems impossible, He moves in such a way that it can only be from Him. I didn't ask my friend to send a check. She just decided to do so.

The song lyrics (or at least part of them) from the song When You Believe by Whitney Houston kept playing through my mind.

There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail
It's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe somehow you will
You will when you believe

When you believe...Miracles happen. I am proof of that today.

So what is your miracle?