God’s providential blessing

When God started birthing this huge vision of my business and ministry in my spirit, he did not give it all to me at once. He knew that if he would have given it all  to me, I would not have been able to handle it. So what he did was gave it to me a little at a time. The first thing he gave me was Billie Sue Products, which included Billie Sue Bath Products, Hair Care Products, Billie Sue Cosmetics, etc. I worked on this company, which began in 2001 until I ran out of money in 2003.  I didn’t give up, but I kind of went back to the drawing board, which was the Lord and I sought him for answers. During the time I was

By Donyale M. Dabney

Testimony Times Editor and Chief

 

 

 

 working on my business, God also gave me instructions to write my first book. After giving me the instruction, I got on the computer and the first day I wrote about 10 pages straight. I worked on the book for a while until the anointing lifted. Then I found myself struggling to write one word. I didn’t understand it so I asked the Lord, "What is going on"? and He responded by giving me something else to do. He then led me to get involved in helping build my church.  I was heavily involved in assisting the pastor and first lady, I was on the praise team, I taught young adult Sunday school, I spoke messages, I worked with the praise dancers and so on. Then one night while I was sleeping, God woke me up and told me to put together a newspaper and call it "Testimony Times". He told me that He wanted the newspaper to report the testimonies of the great things He is doing in the lives of His people. He also said that He wanted me to get it in churches all over the world. So I was obedient to putting the newspaper  together and I sent it out to churches all over spending every dime I had. My focus was completely on the instructions God had given me. I just knew that with this assignment,  I was sure to go all the way. But, after doing everything He said, nothing happened. There were no responses. Puzzled as I was, I went back to the drawing board and I asked God what did I do wrong? He did not answer. Instead, He told me to read the book of Haggai.

 

After reading it, I was confused. I did not understand what God was trying to say to me so of course, I started getting discouraged. I believed that I was doing everything that God was telling me to do and nothing was working. I didn’t understand why my enormous business idea was laying dormant, why the anointing wasn't on my book ; and why my newspaper did not get any responses. I just didn’t get it. So God allowed one of the ministers in my church to preach a sermon and his foundational scripture happened to be the first chapter of Haggai. When he spoke, he talked about how they were focusing so much on their own homes and letting God’s house lie desolate. Wow! After hearing that word, I immediately took a look at myself and I noticed that my focus had not been on the church for some time. Instead, it was strictly on me and my destiny. I had been chasing the things that God had for me and I was neglecting building God’s house, which was the church. So immediately after finding this out, I shifted my focus back to the church. I started serving in the church wholeheartedly. After getting this revelation, the devil knew that I finally had God’s principle to being blessed in its proper perspective, so he had to throw a curve ball. I was faithfully serving in my church when I made the mistake of telling my friends that I felt in my spirit that God was going to send me a husband. But little did I know that the enemy was picking that information up in the atmosphere as well. I didn’t realize that the counterfeit came before the real deal. So what that dirty devil did was attacked my emotions and I ended up in a relationship that was not ordained by God and being that I was naïve and underdeveloped in this area of my life, I entangled myself in a marriage which had me bound for about a year. I was no longer serving in my church because I left my church following him. I was not serving at the church we were attending because I was outside of God’s will, and I was no longer working on the things that God had for me to do because my focus was all on him. You see how that enemy can throw you off.  Oh But God! He saved me from that relationship, he sent me to a new church, and he restored me back from a broken to a whole woman. Praise the Lord! The enemy may have slowed down my journey, but he sure didn’t stop it. I picked up and kept on moving.

 

The load may have gotten a little heavier because at this time I had a new born baby, but that was alright. I was free and that was all that mattered. So with a new baby and a new church God started me out on a new journey doing a new thing in my life. In 2006 God gave me new visions. While I was off work, He blessed my hands to make baby body butter. My daughter was suffering with dry skin so I went in my kitchen and put a few kitchen items together and made some cream that helped her skin become smooth. It was so good that I started using it, my other daughter, and my sister. I took the formula to a lab so that the right ingredients could be added if were to put it in stores. God also at the same time gave me a vision of a clothing line starting with Billie Sue t shirts. So in 2007, I took a leap of faith and I got a loan from my house and I had a line of t shirts designed and made in China with the hopes of getting them in stores all over the world.  I sent catalogues to every boutique I could find in the States. While time continued to pass and still waiting on my harvest I began once again getting discouraged. For the life of me I couldn’t understand this struggle. I’d struggled for many years and went through hell barely making it financially, emotionally, or mentally and I just didn’t get it. I’d almost lost my mind twice through breakdowns (thank God for the word of God and the name of Jesus), I’d almost lost my child (bed rest in the hospital for 2 months), I eventually lost my house, filed for bankruptcy, and I was dead broke.

 

Thinking of all of this, I started hearing the voices of the Nay Sayers, saying oh she’s just a scatter brain. She’s crazy… she’s got too much going on and she can’t finish what she started. I can honestly say that these words affected me a bit. I started blaming myself. I felt that my business was unsuccessful because it was something that I was not doing right. But then one day, while remembering every prophetic word spoken over my life, God spoke the word “Providence”.

 

He told me that all of these years have been the process; the journey; and the construction of building something extremely big . He showed me that when Noah built the ark, it took many years; when Solomon built the temple, it took 7 years. So in essence, what God was saying was that in order for me to carry the providential blessing that He has given me to hold, He had to build it one brick at a time until it was in its fullness. He showed me that Billie Sue was not just a company, but it’s an empire. People teased me and laughed at my plans because they could not understand the magnitude of what God had given me and the process it would take to get it there. With this, God so graciously has allowed me to be apart of His greatness and His vastness and now I can truly understand the necessity of the faith building and purifying process he has taken me through. Although I have not experienced the fruits of my labor, by faith I can almost smell the aroma of it’s sweetness. I believe that in my many years of struggle, my blessing is going to finally be released. And now I can say wholeheartedly that I am ready for God to have His way. Lord God, show me your greatness. Let me experience the best of you. Let me take part in your legacy. Allow me, your daughter to make you proud by saying to the world, “That Nobody! Nobody! Nobody! did this, but God”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.                                                                                 Romans 8:28