Don’t Stop
This plaque sits on top of my home kitchen refrigerator (as opposed to my Quiet Waters fridge). I found it while wandering in Hobby Lobby during one of my bleakest seasons (late 2021/early 2022). When I saw it, I KNEW I couldn’t give up, not as long as I couldn’t stop thinking about my dream.
Quiet Waters Bakery started in the Spring of 2013. Actually, my WHY, my purpose, began taking shape in 2013 as I read, The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stern. It was then that God began burning Isaiah 58 into my heart … feed the hungry, house the homeless, clothe the naked, set the oppressed free, and don’t neglect your own flesh and blood. As I walked my little town, 4-6 times a week with my big, black German Shepherd-Chow, Marty, I prayed and often asked, “But what does that look like here in Newport?”
Then, early one Spring morning, while walking and praying, (here in the Pacific NW it is broad daylight at 5:00 am), I prayed those words again. As, I rounded the corner behind the rodeo grandstands, I came face to face with a man carrying a sleeping bag around his neck. I was so startled! Actually, I was afraid, and I walked on. Then I thought, “That was either a divine appointment or an angel.” So, I turned around to see if he was still there (an angel might have disappeared). He was still there, walking away. I called out, struck up a conversation, and invited him home for breakfast. (It was interesting waking my husband at 5:30 am to say, “Ummm, Sweetheart, I met a homeless man while walking and invited him home for breakfast. He’s downstairs.” Yep. That’s how it went.)
That was a shaping moment in my life. Before 2013 the homeless and poor were, “out there” somewhere else but definitely not in my world. As I continued to walk and pray, God began opening my eyes to needs around me. Over the years I discovered that the poor are in my neighborhood. Some of the poorest housing in our town is two and a half blocks from my house (I had no idea even though I had walked and prayed past that building for years). I also learned that the poor look, feel, laugh, and cry just like me when I had the privilege of working side-by-side with some of the most amazing and dedicated single moms. These moms work full-time but don’t make enough to get off public assistance. At times they even turn down raises because the raise will cause them to lose their public assistance and they will be worse off after the raise than before. These amazing women live and work in my community.
The dream and my WHY started back in 2013, 10 years before opening Quiet Waters Bakery on November 1, 2023. Such a long journey. So many twists, turns, and stops. And then the ultimate shattering in 2021. BUT it all brought me here to this place. I am humbled and excited because only God could have brought me here and only God can bring the dream into reality from such a small beginning. But my God LOVES to make big things happen when there are impossible odds.
My encouragement to you?
Never give up! If you have a dream and you can’t stop thinking about it, just keep taking the next step. AND … if you are connected to my God, the Uncreated Creator of the Universe, be assured that all He needs is one mustard seed, one tiny measure of yeast, one courageous child to accomplish amazing and “impossible” things!