Did you ever wonder..."I wonder what started It's A Blessing?"

It's been almost seven years since God started moving in my heart and ordaining my steps to lead me to where I am today and to where our family is with It's A Blessing. 

To explain to you how It's A Blessing began, I need to share two parts.  

 Part one: A dear friend and I were expecting at the same time, rejoicing with each other for the life within us, celebrating each milestone as we passed it, glowing and growing together as friends! And then, she miscarried. I was honored to sit by her bedside soon after the baby passed and was filled with such overwhelming compassion for her loss. 

 From that moment on I had a strong desire to minister to women who have suffered a miscarriage and sensed the need for some type of tangible way to help them mourn their very real loss in an encouraging and healing way. Our family honored the life/death of her baby with a memorial tree. While still expecting myself, she again conceived and miscarried. To honor that precious baby, I designed a beaded bracelet for her with each bead representing her children here on earth, those now in heaven, and some beads to represent comforting scripture verses. That was the first time I ever created and made a piece of jewelry. 

 Part two: When the baby I was carrying was born, God taught me an incredible lesson-through much heartache and many tears. The story is too long to tell here, and will have to be saved for another time. In the end, I approached the women's ministry at our church with an idea and "Baby Blessings" were born! For the next 3 years, each and every woman attending our church, who was pregnant, was blessed by a baby blessing. Whether in the "in crowd" or "lost in the crowd" we sought out the ladies who were expecting and invited them, all women in the congregation and any they would like to bring, to attend. Our focus was not on food and gifts, like a typical baby shower, (not that those things are bad ). The focus was on Christ and on encouraging that Mommy with the Word of God. Each guest brought a bead or picked one out of my selection. The bead would somehow represent a verse they wanted to share with that Mom. While I assembled the beads into a blessing bracelet, her gift, each woman shared out loud their encouragement and verse. In closing we put the bracelet on the Mommy and prayed for her.

 After a few years, the Lord led our family to move to another state and it was with a very sad heart that I had to leave those ladies I had grown to love so dearly. A few nights before we left, they asked me to gather with a few so they could pray with me. What a glorious suprise lay before my eyes. A candlelit path up to the doorway...a room decorated like a victorian parlor...the glow of the fireplace, the beautiful tea services at every table...and the most amazing, God honoring women I have ever known. All gathered together to bless me! No, I wasn't expecting a child. But they each came with a bead they had chosen and took turns encouraging me like I had never been encouraged before! They filled my heart and my mind with so much love and so much joy and then placed on my wrists two blessing bracelets-and we prayed. And we prayed And...IT WAS A BLESSING!!!

 Several years later, when others started requesting blessing bracelets for more and more occasions I was encouraged by friends to turn this ministry into a business. Hesitant at first-not wanting to make money off of something God intended to be given as gifts-I was encouraged that it was an opportunity for many more people to have the blessing of giving...and receiving! 

I hope It's A Blessing has been just that-a blessing for you-or someone you love!