Tone Series with Juli Eddy

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Documented by Lisa Larson

what do the words ‘so worth loving’ mean to you?

The words ‘So Worth Loving’ mean a great deal to me. First, it means to me that I was chosen to be so worth loving, that the creator of the universe sent His son to die on my behalf so that I could spend eternity with Him. That’s a lot of love! As a parent, I’ve given up a lot on my children’s behalf, as every parent does, but I have never given it up for someone else’s benefit. But He did that for me- Jesus gave His life for me and for you. It’s a personal thing. Very personal. So I know that I am not only loved but I am worthy of love.

Secondly, the company is very personal to me. I have watched and also worked alongside the dynamo who is behind this company. Her honest purpose in life is to make people feel like they count, like they are loved, like they are so worth loving. She has been this way for as long as I can remember. She has a beautiful soul that wants everyone to be loved and feel loved. She is love. Irregardless of who she meets or where she meets them, she is the same. I have seen her speak life into people wherever she goes. Retail salespeople, wait staff, Uber drivers, people sharing an elevator with her, waiting rooms of hospitals and Doctor’s offices, these are just some of the places I have shared her love for people in, the list just goes on. Her demeanor never changes. I love that about her, because she is what she believes in and what her company is. I wish I could take credit for her, but I can’t, I’m nothing like her in that way. And that is God too.

when you hear the words dark and light, what comes to mind?

The words dark and light, show up in a lot of seasons of my life. I think that if you live long enough you have a great shot at experiencing many seasons of both.

We had a business that was very profitable for us during a season. A very good friend came to us and wanted to purchase it. After much discussion, we decided we would do it. We had been in this business for a while and our family was young and we decided it would be a great time to sell it. If we were smart, we would be able to do manufacturing for this business, lead a life where we weren’t at everyone's disposal 24/7, and have time to enjoy our young family. So we did it and financed probably 80% of the business. It didn’t take long to notice that the business was struggling after our friend purchased it. We begged them to let us sit down with them to help them, to no avail. They didn’t want our help. After about 6 months we were not manufacturing product for them and they also weren’t paying us. This situation became very dire and we were scared. We were really scared. We had a young family, what had we done? What would we do? I remember it so well because all at once we went from having “the life” to having nothing. We didn’t know where to turn. It was difficult to pay any bills that we had, let alone put groceries on the table. This was the darkest season. We gave it up to God.

While going through this, with help from parents for groceries and selling different vehicles we had acquired to pay bills, a small flicker of hope came to us. It was a book. A coffee table book, no less, on Southwest Furniture. What if we manufactured furniture that looked like southwest furniture pieces, manufactured in the South, and sold them? Would that work? Our background in both my husband’s life and mine was furniture so we knew what we were doing there but the concept was a little bit iffy. We were too broke to let it pass by and not wealthy enough to put wings to it. We got all of our available resources in a row and decided to really go for broke, it wasn’t that far to go.

Our first plan of action was to see the pieces that we wanted to copy. They were in a museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We had to fly out. We remembered we had some credit card points and some hotel points. So we put those together and they took care of our flight out and back and our hotel for the time we were there. One of our parents threw in some cash for food. We were on our new adventure! When we arrived in Albuquerque, NM we went to our hotel and looked out our window. The land outside was covered in hot air balloons. At the time, we didn’t know this was a thing, and didn’t know it was going on then. This trip ended up being a miracle trip. God showed His hand in every place we put our feet. If we didn’t realize there was something we needed, he planted it right in front of it so we wouldn’t miss it. He was there with us. I will always remember the disappointment we experienced when we went to the museum that was featured in the book. It was in Santa Fe. We went and toured it and we were so disappointed that there were only three or four pieces of furniture on display. As we were headed out we ran into the curator of the museum. We started a conversation with her and we told her of our disappointment. She looked at us and said follow me. We took an elevator down to a basement. The room was dark. We got out of the elevator and she turned a panel of lights on. There in front of us stacked to the ceiling was the most beautiful sight to us. All of the furniture that was featured in the book was there. She told us to make ourselves at home, measure as much as we wanted to, take pictures, spend the day and get what we needed. It was a God ordained moment. And it’s a moment that I will never forget. To this day, and as I sit writing this I get chills and tears, because I know that it was the moment that God chose to lead us into another place in our life. No one likes a dark season and they never seem fair, but I do know that I saw when God showed up and if it hadn’t been so dark, Im not sure I would have ever seen His light. I knew that He loved me enough to bring to through the darkness and even when I couldn’t see things clearly He sometimes just placed them right in front of me. We left Santa Fe, with a spiritual experience behind us. We knew exactly what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. I wish I could say we got home and everything was successful from that point on, but it wasn’t. But we weren’t ever alone, and we knew it. He loved us enough to let us really find him when we needed him the most, he spoon fed us all along the way. And that was okay because we learned how to follow him.

There are dark seasons and no one likes them. But sometimes you have to go through the darkness to really appreciate the light that shines. He’s there, don’t give up. He loves you.