One of the hardest things about being an entrepreneur (and my own boss) is actually focusing on the numbers and the profitability of the business.
My natural tendency is just to focus on serving people and caring for them first and worry about profitability later.
But it’s also hard because what I enjoy most about what I do is the creative and hands on stuff. I put my heart into each box. Coming up with the idea but also the labor of love that is the physical packing of them.
The themes and designing each care package and all the items that go inside brings me joy because as I’m writing and designing and searching the Bible for encouragement for you, it also encourages me.
And you know what I really, really love doing….packing boxes of encouragement, knowing that each one carries a message that God inspired and designed to be delivered at just the right time to encourage the women who receives it.
“Somehow packing gift boxes for others helps me unpack my own emotions.
My anxiety, stress and depression are reduced and sometimes even completely lifted when my energy is focused on encouraging others instead of myself. That’s why we include an encouragement kit in each and every box. I want you to have that feeling too.
“The best way to encourage yourself is to encourage someone else.
These days I get to enjoy less and less time packing our boxes, my amazing team member and sister-in-Christ Maeglin, has taken charge of that so that I can focus on hearing from the Lord and designing more boxes and getting better at tracking those pesky profitability numbers that I like to avoid.
But no matter how God blesses loved and blessed to grow, I’ll never completely stop participating in packing our monthly care packages. I’ll never stop praying over them before they make their journey to you, because I guess they’ve become my own version of therapy - a part of my self care routine.
Packing the same items into the same boxes over and over again every month might sound mundane and boring to you, but for me, each time I touch an item, read what it says and am reminded of it’s meaning, I find encouragement.
It’s more than just a job or business to me - more than manual labor - it feels like I’m packing thousands of care packages for friends all over the world and it reminds me that I’m never alone.
Each box reminds me that my life has a purpose and that my infertility has a purpose. And it reminds me that God loves me enough to trust me with encouraging you.
How do you unpack your emotions?
Jamila is the founder of loved+blessed. On her personal mission to leave a legacy of encouragement, she blogs about her own life lessons with the hope that it will bring joy into others’ lives and help them find the courage to keep walking in faith knowing that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord. Read her testimony of how God turned her misery into ministry.
