When God Fills in the Blanks

For the next 9 1/2 years, late at night when I couldn’t sleep, my mind would wander to random weird things, and before I knew it, thoughts of the reunion I was supposed to be in charge of would pop into my head and make me feel sick to my stomach. “I’m horrible at planning things and I’ve lost touch with so many in my class. Why did I do this to myself?… ”

Finally, this past summer was time for the “rubber to meet the road” and for a reunion to come togeth- er. There were certainly times of frustration in the planning process, but with some hard work, things started to come together – and then the week of the reunion it hit me like a ton of bricks what the purpose of this 10 year journey was.

I admit that one of my struggles in life has been loving people like I should. They say “hindsight is 20/20” so I try not to beat myself up with this, but I do regret not loving people more back in high school and beyond. Even though I didn’t agree with many of the decisions people in my class were making, I do regret just cutting myself off from so many instead of working to build a meaningful relationship that could have helped point souls to Christ. Some people may seem surprised at this since I do feel that I make an effort to come across as a friendly person. I loved people, but not enough to sustain meaningful Christ-like relationships with them.

The thoughts of this reunion had made me feel queasy for the past 9 1/2 years, but in a sudden moment it seems that Christ opened my eyes to the purpose of what caused me so much distress for so long. I knew that I had a weakness with building meaningful relationships, but it took me years to realize it, much less pray for it. Thankfully the Spirit made intercession for me and answered my prayer through what I viewed as a curse for 9 and a half years. I needed to learn to genuinely love people more. This reunion forced me to get involved with peoples’ lives…people I hadn’t seen in forever…people that I didn’t think I really had anything in common with. The reunion came and went. It was a small one, but such a blessing I never saw coming. It gave me a new love for people that I hadn’t seen in forever and gave me a desire to share joy in people’s live. Ten years ago I was in the thick of my weakness, but it seems intercession was made and God knew exactly what I needed and filled in the blanks to my prayers.

With the answer of that prayer came the realization of another more recent way God was continuing to work to answer that need of loving people more. One day He pretty much just dumped into my lap a jewelry business. I had not even thought of making jewelry until the day that I, by unknown fate, received supplies to hand stamp metal jewelry. I received the supplies as payment for helping a sweet lady learn how to paint signs. It was the morning I was to meet with that lady that it occurred to me to just ask her if I could have her jewelry supplies she was already trying to sell. It was just a random idea that had popped into my head. On the 20 minute drive to where we were meeting, I couldn’t help thinking about the possibilities of what I could do with the jewelry supplies if she did give them to me. In just that short drive my business name, logo, and mission for my business came to me. As a graphic designer, I don’t know if I have ever had something come to me that quickly with such certainty.

I chose the name “You’re 2 Kind” because I wanted to make things that would leave the recipient of the jewelry saying, “Oh, you’re too kind.” I used the number “2” in my logo with the two interlocking circles to represent the relationship between two people and the hopes that my jewelry could strengthen the bond between people through the gifts I had to offer. Without even realizing it, God was helping create a way to strengthen the relationships I have and create products for others to do the same. He was continuing to fill in the blanks and meet my needs without me even realizing it.