gracious honeycomb

I experienced an outpouring of gracious words this past week. For those of my family and friends not on instagram or you just don’t check it often, let me give you a little recap.

A few weeks ago, my dear friend, Melissa, talked me into reaching out to a local sweet lady on instagram we follow to ask if I could send her a couple of my gift boxes. Her name is Tina (known on instagram as to_mimishousewego), and she’s a Mimi to 6 grandkids. Her insta page is full of entertaining, decor, air fryer & insta pot recipes, shopping, and all the fun stuff. In fact, one of the candle companies we started carrying in our shop is because she highly recommended them. The reason for sending her the gift boxes was to get her honest feedback on our packaging, products, and just any tips since I’m a new business owner. She’s got a knack for beautiful presentation and only recommends things that she absolutely loves, so I was looking forward to hearing what she thought.

Fast forward to this past week, when she received the gift boxes. I was certainly not expecting what followed that day. She shared every detail of the gifts on her insta stories (it’s like a video that can be viewed for 24 hours), and she absolutely loved them! Goodness, she was SO kind and gracious. People started following our Blackberry & Honeysuckle instagram page and orders started coming in right away!!

The response was completely surreal and I was simply overwhelmed by God’s goodness.

The next morning, I read the following quote posted by She Works His Way on instagram.

This reminded me that I never want to loose focus or get so caught up in what others think or say. My prayer for my life in general is that God would receive the glory for anything good in it.

During my devotional reading that morning, God really spoke to my heart.

“Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” – Proverbs 16:24 (ESV)

I was so grateful for all of the kind messages I received from Tina’s friends. The sweetest notes were words of encouragement and well wishes for the new business. Gracious. Isn’t it a beautiful thing when we encourage one another?!

After I finished reading and jotting down verses that spoke to me, I noticed that somehow I accidentally read the wrong chapter. My reading plan for the day included Proverbs 13, not 16. I think God was trying to tell me something. Has this ever happened to you?

I was sensing a theme that morning, and here are a couple others that stood out.

“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” -Proverbs 16: 3 (ESV)

“Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.” -Proverbs 16:20 (ESV)

All of this reading got me reflecting on the many times I’ve felt unqualified, doubtful, fearful, and so on.

Today, I want to speak to anyone in a place of transition, in a place of uncertainty or feeling similar thoughts. Quite honestly, the doubt and fear doesn’t fully go away.

Just about every day I pray that God guards my heart… from my own emotions, thoughts, opinions, you name it. There’s a bunch of mess that can clutter our hearts and distract us if we aren’t careful!

In fact, during this same week I found out that some important shipments arrived damaged to clients. Talk about emotions. Not a great way to leave a first impression. Ugh I was so caught up in disappointment and funk that day. This is just a teeny tiny example compared to so many other important issues. The point is – life is messy. It’s not always going to go smoothly. Sometimes we look at others and only see the pretty end result, that we forget the real moving pieces behind the bigger picture and purpose.

Maybe you don’t need encouraging today, but maybe there is one person that does. This is for you. God sees your heart and He sees you. Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Commit your hands to the Lord. Trust in Him. Get in His word. He may have something sweet to say to you, too.

Let’s spread some gracious words to someone else today!