151 | The Story Behind Restore Collective and My Three Hopes for Our Future
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[00:00:00] Hey friends. Welcome back to the Called to Lead podcast. So in this week's episode, I'm going to be taking it back to the very beginning of when I received the inspiration to start the company Restore Collective. And so you may or may not have heard the episode where Roger and I, my awesome husband, which we are partnering in this together, which has been such an incredible blessing.
And I know I've shared a little bit about that journey. With you guys already. And of course you can go back and listen and hear our entire hearts, right from the beginning. But I felt like now that we've wrapped up sharing the 12 core values that we are basing this entire company around. And then next week, we'll head into introducing you to our 12 founding partner mentors. I thought it was a great time to pause even for myself and really look so far back to where we started, which was actually about a year ago in the depths of a really, really hard time. And really looking forward to the hope of what the Lord had in store for [00:01:00] us, even if we didn't know what that looked like, or even if things weren't looking amazing at that time.
And so I wanted to share the actual story of how Restore started, because I think it's such a special one that's worth documenting, but I also wanted to share my personal three hopes that are a little bit more tied to who I am and my personal, why behind doing this less tied to the. The mission, vision and values for Restore collective as a whole, because I think that being able to share what's on my heart and the reasons why I feel so excited and inspired to dive into this endeavor and why I think the Lord has specifically handpicked me to be the one to take this on alongside Roger and alongside.
Many of you who are listening. And so let's dive into the special episode where I share my heart and my hope for what I want through Restore, but also going back to the beginning of how it all began.
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Okay. So looking back over this crazy, insane, just a few short months since the Lord gave us the inspiration for Restore collective, which [00:03:00] at the time. In July was called project 7 24, which I'll get into in just a minute. I can now look back and see where the Lord was preparing my heart long before that specific gift of the idea of this company and mission and vision and values were given. And it actually goes back to a scripture that I just read through my advent Bible study that I'm doing in the Bible app, which you can join me.
I'll link to it. If you want a good advent study and haven't found one for yourself yet. But I was so thrilled that after Roger reminded me that it's one thing just to listen to the Bible app on your phone, on the go, but it's quite another to be able to bust out a physical. Bible to be able to read and take notes.
And the best part is you can review the notes where you might have written things in the past. And so that was the blessing I had this week that reminded me that Restore really started. About a year ago. When I was at the depths [00:04:00] of one of the darkest seasons of my life. So if you have ever been in a place of darkness or a valley that. Just felt so heavy and you had a lack of clarity. Or a lack of inspiration or honestly a lack of hope. I want you to know that I have been there.
And it was a really hard place as an optimist for me to be because optimists like myself, tend to see the good in everything and can see the big picture of how things could be. But in that season, I had lost one of my best friends to her battle for cancer or with cancer. And. In my business, I just felt in a place of confusion. And a lack of clarity.
And so I just took a break a year ago from everything. And if you've been a longtime listener of the podcast, you know, I even stopped podcasting for the month of December. And I stopped listening to podcasts. I stopped reading books. I stopped doing everything except diving into the Lord's word. Just [00:05:00] desperately seeking him above all and desperately seeking. His hope above any kind of optimism that I could have for the future. And so it was such a blessing to, and you can see I'm getting emotional. ~Um,~ it was such a blessing to be able to look back when on December 30th, 2023, when my family and I were in Costa Rica, and Psalm 40 was what was in my Bible, re recap reading plan.
And I'm actually going to read a lot of it just because if you're in a dark season, I think this will be balm to your soul to know that. David who specifically wrote this was in that season when he wrote this, but also the Lord knows how you're feeling and that he is with you. And that there can be joy and hope found in these words, like they were for me back then.
Psalm 40. I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit out of the mud and mire. He set my [00:06:00] feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth. Uh, him a praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord. And put their trust in him. Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the, proud to those who turn aside to false gods. Many Lord, my God are the wonders. You have done the things you planned for us. None can compare with you. were I to speak and tell of your deeds.
They would be too many to declare. Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears, you have opened burnt offerings and sin offerings that you did not require. Then I said, here I am. I have come in is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will. My God. Your law is within my heart. I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly.
I do not seal my lips [00:07:00] Lord, as you know, I do not hide your righteousness in my heart. I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly. Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord. may your love and faithfulness always protect me for troubles without number surround me.
My sins have ever taken me and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head and my heart fails within me. Be pleased to save me. Lord, come quickly, Lord, to help me. Ooh, that's some deep stuff. Y'all. And if you've never really dug into Psalms, to be honest, sometimes they're a little too deep for me, but this just hit me.
It hit me that day. It hit me when I read it earlier this week and it hit me again today. And I'm so grateful that if you can, if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see, I have these notes and I'll read them to you. I put yes, exclamation and I put the date 12 30, 20, 23. And I put dash clarity for 2024, which you guys know [00:08:00] if you've been. A long time listener, or if you know me, you know that I'm a goal-setter.
I love to have a vision, especially headed into the new year. And I didn't have one until this moment, but what's really cool is the vision that I had that I'll explain to you. Wasn't ~um,~ as my friend Kristi, that you guys will meet next week said it wasn't just like the next step or the entire staircase.
It was more like the end goal of that staircase reaching towards eternity. And so I put clarity for 2024 that I've been praying for what an amazing answered prayer to end the year on. I'm so grateful for this beautiful promise. I don't know what this is. And oh, promised land promised land here on earth.
You called me to cultivate and care for. Help me to use the gift of visual strategy to stay aligned, which is my word of the season. With your will and all you've put on my heart. And so my friends, my hope in that season, wasn't [00:09:00] on what the Lord could do for me. Or what he had next for me. Or some goal that a tangible, something to strive for. It was him.
It was. The goal and the clarity that he gave to me was to help use the gifts that he's given to me specifically with visual strategy that I can tell you has been. A blessing and a curse when it comes to forming a new product line and starting a new company. But I know it's a gift from Him but most importantly, what he told me was that I needed to be aligned with his will and to seek all of the things that he had put on my heart. And so just to have that hope. That didn't have anything to do with my positive, optimistic self.
It, it had everything to do in the fact that he was in control, even if it felt so dark and so scary in that season. And so my friends, if you've been in that dark season, No, that there can be hope. But also know that that [00:10:00] hope doesn't always come right away because honestly it got a little darker before it got brighter. With the inspiration for this company, because that was December. And I dove into the clarity of cultivating that promised land.
Many of you guys have even heard the story of this, this painting right behind me. And how I feel like that was a vision that the Lord put on my heart tied to this, of all the different areas that I was called to cultivate, whether that was my family, whether that was my business. Whether again, that was, that was kind of my, my God given mission outside of any of those things here on earth. And so I dove into that 20, 24 with so much, ~um, ~passion for his purpose in my life.
But then that all came crashing down in July when the field that I was called to cultivate. That was my network marketing business. When the founders decided to take a completely different strategy that was out of alignment for what I knew the Lord had called me to, which was leadership and service of those [00:11:00] who maybe wanted to do their business in a different way.
And all of the things that I've been talking about again on this podcast for 150 plus episodes. And so I knew when the company that I loved dearly made that decision, that the Lord had something else in store for me, but I just couldn't imagine what it was. And at first I had, ~um,~ a little glimmer of hope.
My mom. Connected me with this incredible company that, ~um,~ that has this patented molecule, that just by chance was looking for a way to distribute it through skincare topical skincare to the market. And my mom who was very familiar with the doctor that developed this, my uncle was actually chairman of the board of that company.
And it was founded by a molecular biologist who devoted his entire life to finding a cure for cancer. But along the way, he developed this amazing topical immunotherapy molecule. That essentially targets any damaged cell on your body and triggers your natural God-given immune response to go in and tackle and to [00:12:00] renew or Restore that damaged cell quickly. And so I knew right away when my mom shared this opportunity to work with this, ~this.~ I wouldn't even say company as much as it is an ingredient. To be able to possibly even do do my own thing. I got really excited and I had that spark of hope and that little bit of clarity. Funny enough.
I was actually on vacation with my family. And the thing that pulled me out of that depth of despair was writing and doing a business plan for it, even though I was like, I don't even know if this is me, that's going to do it. But this is the kind of thing that brings me joy is when I have that visual strategy to be able to like, get it out of my head and onto paper.
So I started working on a business plan and a part of that business plan was working with my upline's were well. And at that point, I couldn't even share the devastating news with my team, with my downline. To process with them. But just like any good things. And most often, any God things. What happened? Fear started to creep in [00:13:00] the fear of. I don't know that I really have what it takes or I'm going to have to do this all on my own, or I've been an entrepreneur before.
How in the world can I do this successfully when I maybe wasn't as successful in that endeavor as I had hoped to be, and all of those fears and those negative thoughts, they started to consume me and they started to pull me right back down into that pit of darkness. And so honestly, I kind of rested in that pit for a minute until my sweet mama kind of pulled me back up and she said, no, You need to meet with these people.
You need to go to this company. You just need to learn more about it. You need to hear more about it. And funny enough, it, I went to that meeting. I still, at that point was living in that fear. I was very alone because again, I had not even processed with my people, my team at that time. And I think I've shared this part of the story with you guys before. But long story short, I did meet with that company.
I did prayerfully let those seeds marinade of, well, what could this look like? And Lord is this your will? And I started getting really [00:14:00] specifically prayerful. To him about. Could this be that, that next step that you, that you have put in me. And it wasn't until I had a zoom call with all of my leaders.
And one of them said, we should just start our own company that I said, And I burst into tears and I realized that I'm not on my own. That of course the Lord is in this with me and we'll get to where and how he's driving the ship in a minute and how I know and have full confidence in that. And I was like, okay, I know the Lord is with me. I wouldn't be doing this on my own because I could have the people that even if it's not my uplines who had all gone to another company that just didn't feel like the right fit for me.
I didn't feel called there even if it was a good thing for them, it wasn't a God thing for me. And so then when I realized I wouldn't be doing this all on my own, I started to think, okay. And so I went to Roger, I went to my husband and I said, would you do this with me? Because I cannot do this without you.
I know that that if I go down this path of trying to do this [00:15:00] as the sole entrepreneur, that I will fail without having his strengths specifically when it comes to the operational side or the financial side to really kind of come in to that crazy visual strategy side that I've got. And that, that, again, that optimism. Right. That blind optimism, if you will, he can kind of ground me in reality.
And so when my husband said, yes, I would love to do this with you. And he was actually looking and praying for his own next steps in his business. And he's like, this is it. I. I'm so excited to do this with you. And the minute that I realized I was not on my own. But the Lord was in this, that Roger was in this with me and then I wasn't going to be all on my own doing it. The flood gates of inspiration opened you guys.
And the crazy thing is, is that darkness that I felt this happened to be fall on exactly. July 4th. And that darkness started with like a little spark of a firework and ended with just this explosion of inspiration that just flowed out [00:16:00] from my brain. Onto a note. That I still have in my phone that basically has all of those original details and the foundational elements, the mission, the vision, the values, even some elements of the comp plan that are still after working for months with the best comp plan consultants in the industry.
They're still present in our comp plan because they were a part of that vision that I believe is from the Lord. But I really feel like the company didn't start until the next day. Which was July 5th. It was actually my grandfather's birthday. And many of you know, that I have made it a habit every single morning to wake up instead of going to my email or certainly to social media or something else. I go right to the Bible app.
And I see the, ~um, the, ~the verse of the day. And I knew the verse of the day was going to be really special, but I didn't know what it, what it would be. But it was. 2 Timothy 1:7. Actually I'm going to turn to it. ~Um, ~just so I don't get it wrong. Cause I do, I do do know the scripture now. [00:17:00] But I don't want to get this wrong because honestly, my friends is this. Above all is the foundational scripture of Restore and I realize
I don't even think I've shared it yet. I'm sure to all of the scriptures associated with each of the core values, but this, my friends 2 Timothy 1:7 is Restores official scripture. And we will be including this in some little key places here. So this is what I woke up to on July 5th, 2024. 2 timothy 1:7 for the spirit God gave us does not make us timid. But gives us power and love and self-discipline. And I think so I'm using the new international version, the NIV and the ESV.
The one that I have committed to memory is the spirit of the Lord is not one of fear. But of power and love. And self-control. Oh, my goodness. You guys. Wow. I just saw my word of the year. I'm not ready to [00:18:00] share it, but right there in scripture, it's right there, which is so exciting. Cause I was actually just researching the scripture. That, ~um, ~it's it comes from so spoiler alert that'll come soon, but so excited. Lord God is so good.
Okay. But the spirit of the Lord is not one of fear, but of power and love. And self-control. So even though I wasn't familiar with that scripture and you might not be either because it's not one that's like printed on napkins and mugs and, you know, calendars and all of those things. It's not one of those that you likely have committed to memory.
And it certainly wasn't. But there was something that I noted and that is the power of numbers. And. 2 1 7. I know this sounds really crazy, but 2, 1 7. Is my favorite number and always has been 217 since I was a little girl. I can't explain it, but it just, it always has been. And it's also backwards.
It's 7 1, 2 or 712, which you guys guess what the internal working name for the [00:19:00] molecule that this entire company was founded on is called 712. Which is July, 2012, which is when Dr. Wagner founded this amazing topical immunotherapy molecule. And guess what happened 12 years later on July, 2024, so 7 24. Restore Collective was officially founded. Fun fact was actually called Heal Collective
and then I think we had another name. Oh yes. ULI. ULI, which is like July in Latin, but these are all funny stories that maybe we can laugh about at one of the homecomings. But ultimately we landed on the name, Restore Collective together at one of our early retreats that we did with some of the founding partner mentors. And it was truly a gift from the Lord. And it actually came in prayer and there were multiple people who ~had, had,~ had thought about that name. Another thing about the name.
Cause I think this is an important facet that I don't think we've talked about. And if you're watching YouTube, you'll be able to see it with actually, which is one of our renewal products because. Oh, [00:20:00] 712 is what the parent company that founded 712 ~uh,~ or the molecule calls it, we call it the renewal molecule because that's exactly what it does.
And while 712 does have a nice ring to it. Luilli Which is Latin for July is the technical, what they call INCI name, which is like the, the ingredient name that would be listed somewhere. ~Um,~ is called ULI, but we liked the word renewal. So anywhere that you see a product that has the word renewal in it from Restore, that means it has the molecule present in it.
So it's going to have that element of topical immunotherapy and it's designed to safely and effectively target any of those damaged cells on your body. So this product in particular, which I'm so excited to make official, if you're watching this is called renewal ointmend. And what it is, ~um,~ is it's just like a topical spot treat that allows that molecule to kind of go to work.
But what I'm going to do is show you kind of up close. If you're watching this on YouTube, [00:21:00] hopefully you can see it is the word Restore has a T at the center of it. And it is, I even had our graphic designer make sure that it's literally at the center, but guess what? My friends, that's not a tea. What is that?
It's a cross. And so the cross is at the center of everything we do. It's at the center of every product that we make. Anytime you see that Restore Lego because we are technically a secular company and we know not everyone who buys our products or even every partner or advocate, or certainly customer is going to be a believer and that's okay. We're not trying to tell people what they should believe, and you certainly have the freedom to believe whatever you believe.
But the cross is truly at the center of everything that we do. And so we knew we needed a word and we needed a name that reflected that and represented that. And so when we thought of the word Restore and again several of us thought of it and it came to us in prayer, we realized that it's right in the middle and it has that T. Right there that cross. [00:22:00]
And so it's been baked into everything that we do. And it's just an important element that I think is worth noting. So my friends. If you are in a dark season and it just feels like. There's no light. Or no hope. I'm telling you look for those little sparks. That little tiny bit of light that maybe not illuminate the entire path in front of you or get if you're going up a staircase, maybe, hopefully towards eternity right stairway to heaven.
I feel like we should play some like led Zeppelin or something right now. But if you are looking for that entire staircase, it's not going to happen, but if you just seek that light and the hope that is only found in Christ and found in Eternity, then guess what happens if you can put your hope and faith in him alone and realize that we are all broken people.
I don't want you to put your hope in me, right? Like I'm a broken person as that scripture that Psalms scripture says. Shoot. I still send every day [00:23:00] friends. Gosh, there are things that I, you know, would absolutely want change about some of the behaviors that I do, right. But that's why my hope is not in myself.
It's in my Saviour. And I put my full faith in him and so when doing that. As believers, if you acknowledge that you are a broken sinful person and that you are in deep need of a savior and you acknowledged that Jesus is that savior that he is the son of God. And your living hope that my friends, you will be given the gift of the holy spirit, which is what it's talked about in this verse.
Second, Timothy one seven, which again, for the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power love. And self-discipline. And so if you haven't been given that spirit yet, If you're trying to have power to do anything or to show true love. And the biblical form or that agape love that all encompassing, no strings attached, kind of a [00:24:00] love, or to me the hardest one in there, which is self control or self discipline.
If you're trying to do this on your own, without that gift of the holy spirit. You're going to have a really, really hard time. In fact, I would say it's even impossible to do it. But yet, even those of us who are believers or who have been given that gift of the holy spirit, oftentimes we still try to rely on our own strength or our own power, or we lean into love that isn't that maybe is what was modeled to us in some way.
This conditional love. That's not the love of God. That's not the love that's talked about here. Or if you're trying to balance running a business and being a mama or trying to balance an addiction with social media or with food or with alcohol or with like any sort of other false god, that's not the Lord. If you're trying to do that on your own, you will fall short my friends and the only hope and the only prayer of getting through it is from the spirit of God, which only comes through [00:25:00] full surrender and putting your hope in him. And so for me, this is what we're doing this right here, that verse and equipping people, whether they are our customers and we're just subtly including it by putting the cross at the center and trying to be that light and live that example and, and maybe be that little bright spot to make a difference in their busy everyday lives. Or whether it's someone who is an advocate with us and trying to balance what that looks like too. Live their lives online on social media, or make a little bit of extra money as a family, or for those of you guys who are leaning into the leadership side at being a partner with Restore, it's going to that power that is going to take to build and grow that big, beautiful business that you dream of.
Isn't going to come without you seeking direction and wisdom and guidance from the Lord. And I can tell you that. He's the provider of all of it. And so my friend is 2 Timothy 1:7 is such a special, important verse, and I'm so excited to make it official with this episode and really give it the weight [00:26:00] and the worth of why it's so important to us. So let's wrap up this episode with my three personal hopes and a little bit more about my background that you might not know as we dive into these founding partner mentor stories in the next few weeks, I wanted to be able to kind of share a little bit about which I probably should be asking myself these questions as well, but that might take too long ~in the, uh,~ in this episode allows, I like to keep these things relatively short and sweet. But ultimately my three biggest hopes and how I feel like the Lord has called Restore to be the next field that I cultivate.
And that's how I see it. You guys, my identity is not in Restore as much as I don't want your ~identity to be~ identity, to be in Restore. This is a field that the Lord has called me to cultivate, and it's a big one. It's a really, really, really big one. The biggest one of anything he's called me to yet.
And he's been preparing my heart and refining me along the way. Way. To bring Roger and I both together to this point. But so my [00:27:00] three biggest hopes for this business is. Number one that people would embrace who they are. And who they are meant to be their God given gifts, their God given beauty, their God, given talents, passion purposes, desires.
We've talked about this before that God doesn't give you just the desires of your heart. Meaning like if you think it or dream it or manifest it or whatever. No, but he does give us desires in our heart. He gives you those visions, those dreams, those hopes. And they're there for a purpose, especially if it's tied to something deeper than you. The ultimately, whether it's our appearance, like for me a year ago, ~um,~ it's been right out over a year ago.
I felt almost it's one of the most clear things I feel like the Lord has ever done was tell me to grow out my gray hair. ~Um,~ and actually I that's on my YouTube channel. If you want to go find it. It was right before I was recording a podcast and I saw this little gray streak and this was like a couple weeks after I had gotten my highlights done too.
I was like, why do I have a [00:28:00] gray streak? What? I just got my highlights to my roots covered, but I felt in that moment to grow out. My natural color. And I had already been trying to embrace my natural curls. Well, I went through this like really ugly duckling, like lack of confidence phase until a few weeks ago.
I accidentally chopped all my hair off. So if you're watching this on YouTube and this is one of the first ones you've seen, you're like, whoa, where'd your hair go? Yeah, I chopped it. I didn't mean to go that dramatic. I said collarbone, but it went a little higher, but it now curls in a way that it never has before.
It's so much easier. And I know and feel like this is the way I, the Lord intends for me to look. And it's not the way the world says that, you know, all of us should look, which that's what I was trying to do before, which was just like long blonde, like big curls, which looked really pretty. And I did feel really beautiful in, in when I was trying to kind of chase that look.
But I think the reason I felt that way is because I was looking to the world to tell me how I needed to look. [00:29:00] In order to feel beautiful, but honestly I've never felt more beautiful than embracing personally the way that the Lord intended my hair to be. Or my makeup to be. And that's one of the things I love about our makeup now that I've like, cried it off.
We'll see the staying power of it is it truly is meant to enhance your natural God-given beauty. It's not meant to be this heavy look or, you know, even this necessarily glam look, you can glam it up a little bit if you want to, but it's meant to just take what you already have, the features that you love and just really focus on finding ways to enhance it. And then correcting maybe some of the things you don't love so much about it.
Just like if I have a like rogue piece, that's not curling, right. I'll bust out the little curling iron. Or friends. Here's the other thing, even though it's my hope that people would embrace who they're meant to be. And again, that's the beauty side. It's definitely the gifting side, your spiritual gifts, your, which I probably should share.
Maybe I'll, we'll do another episode. Maybe I'll wrap up with myself at the end of this. So stay tuned after the founding partner mentors, maybe [00:30:00] I'll. I'll answer the questions. And share my,~ uh,~ my five gifts. Cause that's one of the things that spoiler alert we will be sharing with each of the founding partner mentors. But I want you to know that I'm not, even though I have been called to grow up my grays or my natural curls, that I'm not trying to say that all of you guys should go and do the same thing. That's not at all what I'm saying, but my hope. Is that you would look to who the Lord made you to be and whatever that means for you, because for some of us that might mean that you love to like. Maybe put color, like actual color in your hair, or maybe again, like, I don't have any tattoos because I'm a total chicken and like a commitment phobe to like having something like that for the long-term.
But maybe that is who you are. Those are the things that light you up and make, you know, having like blue hair or maybe you are like, I mean, think about how many people we know that our glam, like my, my friend Emily that passed, oh my goodness. Like she wore these like giant hoops like leopard everything and iridescent everything and like, I [00:31:00] mean, obviously it was a hairstylist and a makeup artist by trade.
And that's what she did was help, you know, color people's hair or, you know, change it into certain things, straighten it, perm it all of those things. So I'm not saying that you can't do that, but my biggest hope. Would be that you would look to who the Lord made you to be and everything that we do and create, we want to be able to enhance that for you. So that's my hope.
Number one. My hope number two is that people can realize that self-control is the only way that you're going to be doing. This business in the right way. And that self control can only come from the power of the holy spirit. So if someone is trying to do this business on their own or in their own strength, or they're trying to run this race without the Lord. It is my biggest hope that the inspiration or the example of those of us that are seeking the Lord and [00:32:00] maybe not always getting it right again, we're not perfect people.
We're not looking for their hope to be set in us, but that we can point. Back to the source of all of the goodness and all of the good things and all of the good ideas and any of the results that do happen. It's not us, it's all him. I can tell you that because some of it doesn't even make sense. Literally, some of the things that have come to fruition in this company, I'm like, I know I didn't have anything to do with this.
Cause it doesn't make sense that it would come together in this way outside. Of His power. And so that's my second hope is that people can realize that self-control is the solution to whatever it is that you're struggling with right now. But that, that power can only come from the holy spirit. So look to the Lord for that power.
John 3:16 friends is a great place to start. And then my third hope is tied to families and I believe if you listened to. The interview that I did with Harrison, Huxford my campus pastor. This was, I think, a couple of months ago where he shared the vision of what the Lord is kind of putting on his heart, which is that [00:33:00] there's this like 20-year period from when you're given a dream. To where the Lord sees that dream come to fruition.
And there's example, after example, after example in the word. Of when that happened for people broken people, just like you and I in the Bible. And he said, Heather, What were you doing 20 years ago? Is that when you were working for NARS? Cause I had shared a little bit of my experience that I was an intern at NARS cosmetics that in that season, in my life, I was absolutely planning on being a beauty executive.
Well, but not 28 years ago. It was actually more like 22 years ago. And so that's what I told Harrison. I was like, no, it wasn't 20 years. That was more like 22 to 25 years ago. I was that girl in college that had like the big caboodle that was doing everyone's makeup before all the socials or all the formals and events.
I was obsessed with makeup obsessed. My mom's cousin actually was the one that took me to the Saks fifth avenue, NARS counter. And. Whether it was Chanel or NARS or Bobby Brown or Larmer CA [00:34:00] I was obsessed with beauty and really high-end like special beauty and anybody who's known me that long, which is probably not many of you guys will remember that about me.
So it's really funny that that's where that dream 25 years ago, the Lord put it on my heart to be a beauty executive. And now here, 25 years later, that's that's great. But when Harrison said that, he said, is this the dream, is this, is this what the Lord has for you? And I said, Harrison as much as I would love to say that is what the Lord is doing here.
I think it's actually a lot bigger than that because 20 years ago, Is when Roger and I got engaged. And 20 years ago when this company launches in 2025 is when we got married. And my friends, if you are married, you know, marriage is not easy. And Roger and I have experienced our ups and downs together, but it hasn't been until we can set aside our individual dreams and come and grow together closer to the Lord that our [00:35:00] marriage has become stronger than ever.
And it's not anything again we could have done in our own power. And it's certainly not anything that we could have done by trying to change each other, which is what happens in marriages, right? Like you're like pointing the finger. If only you did this. Well, what happens if you start to grow closer to the Lord? And maybe that inspires your spouse to grow closer to the Lord. Or vice versa, maybe your spouse is on fire and you want to, you know, be more inspired.
The closer you grow to God, the closer you will grow to each other. And that has been my experience and one of the greatest blessings and that's, what's brought us to this place 20 years later to be able to live that dream that we had of having this beautiful marriage, but not just for us, but so that we can impact God's kingdom.
In the example of what it looks like to work together. And use again, our individual gifts and strengths in alignment. To be equally yoked as we drive this ship. [00:36:00] And so I think that's the 20 year dream. And that is why one of my biggest hopes in this, and one of my three hopes is the fact that we want our families, that partner with Restore to be aligned together.
And as you meet a lot of the founding partner mentors here in the next few weeks, that's one of the things that makes them so special is they are exemplifying that same thing. Not that it's always easy or not that their marriages are perfect. But I can tell you that each one of these special women. Is truly aligned in her husband.
And we have invited their husbands on the same journey, even if they're not going to be the ones sling in the makeup and the Renewal Ointmend they are absolutely partnering with us as well. And you, if you were partnering, we invite your spouse and your partner. If you're married to come along that journey with us as well. So friends, I know this, hopefully it's been a, maybe a little bit of a long episode, but a really important one.
And helping you see the big picture of how this beautiful company has come together and how it's so much bigger than anything I could have just come up with on my [00:37:00] own. And I certainly wasn't alone in doing it. The Lord was with me, Roger was with me, our amazing founding partner mentors have been a part of this from the beginning and helping to grow this into something big and beautiful and strong.
And that is why. We are also inviting you on this journey with us. So, if you haven't already checked out the focus group survey. That will be linked to in the show notes or the description of this video or podcast. That is a great way to kind of get plugged in, give your feedback, stay connected. If you're not yet plugged into one of the branches of the founding partner mentors, because you won't be able to enroll with corporate.
When we launch, you'll have to enroll somewhere on one of those branches of the teams. And ~so, um, ~that is where you're going to want to get to know these ladies. And one of the reasons why we want to share their stories with you moving forward. So, thank you again for the blessing of being able to share this and let me wrap us up in prayer. Lord.
Thank you so much for the blessing of being able to look back on where this all began far before you [00:38:00] gave us the inspiration for the actual company itself. But a year ago, when you gave us the clear direction, not to seek our own purposes or our own goals or our own endeavors, but to seek you above all and to seek your will and the desires that you put on our hearts. And to seek your holy spirit as the power for how to do that. And we're so incredibly grateful this summer when, out of the midst of that dark despair and that lack of clarity and that lack of hope that you gave us this bright, shiny light. And the first few steps to guide the way. And it's just been such an incredible journey. To be able to hopefully stay in alignment with your will.
And that's our biggest prayer is to continue to do that for you to continue to show us that next step, not just us on the corporate side or on the founding partner mentor side, but each of us that's listening that has partnered with Restored. Anyway, even if it's just in the prayer support of a family or friend that you would just guide us on how to best do that, but not for the [00:39:00] benefit of. Our individual selves, but for your benefit and for your will and your purposes and your kingdom. And so thank you. Again for this amazing responsibility in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Oh man. Thank you all that was special. I hope you all have an amazing week, cannot wait to, for you to meet the founding partner mentors. You'll have a great week. Thanks. ~ ~
