With the color of the leaves changing from the many shades of green enjoyed throughout the summer to stunning waves of reds, yellows, and oranges, so came a change to my heart. The business plan for The Delsa had been in place, the corporate documents and registrations completed, the nonprofit platform established, needed professionals engaged, and the website underway. Being an entrepreneur and visionary, while I can see the big picture and how to get there, sometimes what's right in front of me may be overlooked. This was something God began to speak to my heart one morning as I sat quietly before him. I heard him whisper..."don't despise small beginnings."
Starting a business is never easy and adding in an out of state move, the purchase of a new home in need of many repairs, and a new fulltime job to accommodate the transition, didn't make it any easier.
While still in Austin I had been hired to do an assessment of a small business. After submitting the report and the recommendations, they in turn offered me a position to manage their company remotely! It was a win/win for both of us and afforded me the ability to make the move to North Carolina a reality. While the position was clearly a blessing and paved the path to move, it was also proving to be an obstacle because of the amount of time needed to turn their small business around, leaving little time to devote to The Delsa. I could plug in a couple hours here and there, but that wasn't going to get the vision off the ground.
As time passed I found myself longing for The Delsa and to have the time to focus on it the way it needed to be. Then God spoke.
I understood immediately what he was saying to me. The home we had bought was indeed identified in the business plan as the "launching site" for The Delsa, knowing that ultimately it would be built in this area. Why couldn't we start right here, right where we were, with what we had available to us?? Of course! Why didn't I think of that? So I began to look around...we could start sharing our table for Shabbat meals...we could open our doors to celebrate the feasts...we could have people stay with us...we could reach out to the surrounding community and offer help in any way we could, we could start the gardens...yes! Joy sprung alive in me with all the vibrancy of color that surrounded me during the beautiful changing of the leaves...and we began to act on all of it.
Taking the first step in my heart seemed to open the door. That week we received a large contribution of household items, had our first guest in our home, and I was contacted by someone asking to come spend a month over the summer at our home for personal healing! I was amazed at how quickly God confirmed that this was indeed the direction he was pointing us in.