Come Monday, I’ll officially be seven weeks away from Creative @ Heart Round 9. Coincidentally, when I step foot inside Winmock in June, it’ll have been seven months since my last visit. In seven months, I went from being so overwhelmed with running after a dream to soaking the dream into every fiber of my being. In seven months, I got sick of sitting on my ideas and started working towards making them happen. Seven months of stepping outside of my comfort zone. Seven months of counseling. Seven months of rediscovering myself, my worth, my value, my purpose, my calling, my gifts and my strengths. Seven months of connecting with people on a different level and using my voice for good. In seven months, it feels as though LoveMo has come to life.

Seven months.

“Tell me about LoveMo.”

The question that haunted me in the weeks leading up to my last C@H conference are now the words that bring a smile to my face. The question I really didn’t have an answer to for the first 3-4 years finally has some meat on its bones. It has purpose.

LoveMo is a company that I dreamed up almost seven years ago while living in Las Vegas. There on my living room floor were the first thoughts considering small business ownership. No name. No vision. Just a genuine joy for putting together customized care packages and shipping them home to family. Seed planted. Fast forward a couple years to the birth of it’s name – LoveMo. The first few times a name rolls off your tongue, it sounds kinda funny. But the moment I heard someone else say it? Especially when that someone else happened to be MY MOM!? That was it for me. Hook, line and sinker. LoveMo was alive. But failing to discover a niche, or any direction, kept it from ever getting off the ground.

LoveMo was on my heart for so long but I was conflicted in wanting it to be one thing and believing it had to be like everything else I saw. I was paralyzed by comparison and blind to the uniqueness within me. It never quite felt true to who I was. It would be another two years before I’d give LoveMo a serious go. In fact, I’d signed up for Creative @ Heart with absolutely nothing outlined for my business. To add to the list, it was around this very marker last year – about seven weeks away from C@H – when I started my counseling journey. With a fresh heart and super raw emotions, I ventured off to North Carolina for a few days. And as I’ve shared before, that conference totally wrecked me. I remember the final night of the conference, when I could hardly speak during a call with my mom. I was “can’t catch my breath” sobbing in my hotel room. I couldn’t even form words. I cried so hard, I think I scared my poor mama at one point – I continued to reassure her “I’m really okay. I’ll call you later.” That night, through my tears, I was thanking God for 1) the opportunity to participate in the conference 2) for the courage to leap without having it all together and being accepted and embraced despite my experience and 3) for the seed He planted years ago and my journey that had slowly been cultivating that dream. I was overwhelmed by the knowledge shared that so meticulously spoke to my story. God brought every flashlight, flood light and high beam into that conference experience, highlighting the exact nuggets I needed to see, hear, feel, experience in order to fully birth the idea of LoveMo. Through those tears, I began to see a blueprint. When I thought about everything that the conference was, it was simple. It quenched a thirst I didn’t know my soul had. It was educational, but embracing. There was content, but also community. It was an opportunity to unplug from the busyness of our worlds and come together to just soak. Unearth more of our story. Spend more time on self. *light bulb*

What if LoveMo was a company committed to spending more time on self – prioritizing self even amidst every chapter of your life’s story? What if LoveMo offered encouragement, education, community and, of course, gifting to promote self care and teach others to embrace the uniqueness of what’s been written for them? As I sat on that thought for a few days, the flame within me grew from ember to California wildfire! That was it. That was LoveMo. Birthed seven days from the start of the conference.

Seven. 

In seven months, I went from not exactly knowing what my dream was to waking up every day with a new hunger to push towards my purpose. In seven months, I faced the shame and guilt of certain parts of my own story and learned to use my experience to connect people. To heal people. To stand alongside people. And that feels true to me.

We all have not-so-pretty parts in our story. We want everything to be amazing and perfect and ya know, many times we just forget to tune into self during those really, really hard parts. It’s easy to hold the spotlight during birthdays, weddings, new jobs and on Instagram. But what about when you lose a loved one, are battling depression, struggling with identity or your flame is just barely flickering? Are you prioritizing self in those moments? I wasn’t. It was always much easier to focus on everyone around me. Easy to neglect the most important person.

But YOU matter.

Creating gifting and opportunities that speak to the different chapters of our story finally feels true to me. And man, if I’d received a LoveMo box during my own experience in many of these seasons, how would that have changed me? Encouraged me? Uplifted and comforted me? Given me the courage to be vulnerable? Through LoveMo, I want others to know they’re thought of, even in the valleys. They’re worth the unplugging. And there’s community, presence and support when needed most.

Ahh, the little name-less, niche-less, direction-less seedling has stretched out its roots, stemming into so much more than I ever dreamed it to be. As I gear up for this year’s Creative @ Heart experience, I’m just so ready. If this much can happen in seven months, where the heck will the next seven months take me?

I guess we’ll both have to stay tuned to find out!

Heavenly Father, thank You for the blessing of our story and the roads paved that lead us to purpose. Your word shows us the significance of seven – seven represents completion, wholeness, achievement. Thank You for the symbolism of sevens in my journey thus far. I pray for continued signs & wonders of your presence in the heart of LoveMo. It’s Yours. Your seed. Your dream. Your fruit. Your blueprint, placed on my heart. And I am privileged to be your vessel, excited to do whatever work You have laid out ahead. Amen.