It's Never Too Late To Begin Again
New Beginnings: Walking in Faith and Purpose
July 2024 was the most successful month in my business to date since it’s opening in 2019. In fact, I made more that month than I had made in total over 5 years running my online business. Finally, I felt like I had found my calling and everything fell into place just as I had hoped and dreamed it would. I was busy working day-in and day-out on preparing materials for orders and hand-making them to perfection one by one. I opened my business up to receive wholesale orders and secured 3 in just 24 hours. That kind of growth in such a short period of time for such a small business like mine was seemingly unheard of. I was ecstatic and I thrived in the busyness of it all until life took over and I became seriously ill. Everything I had worked towards quickly crumbled before me and I was forced to close up shop and tend to my worsening health.
I didn’t understand why something I worked so hard for was being seemingly ripped away from me. Its origin story was 100% God given — one that I’m sure I’ll share in the future. How could something God gave me no longer be His will for me? I thought. I frequented ER’s, was hospitalized three times and spent the next 5 months dealing with debilitating health struggles on top of my normal chronic illness health struggles. When things started to calm down I found myself looking for ways to restart my business because surely, it was God’s will for it to be continued, right? However, as I continued to search, I began to discover God’s will for my life and it wasn’t at all what I’d envisioned. Instead of picking up my business once again, God instructed me to write. This is something I can do when my health becomes fickle and I’m unable to commit to the responsibilities required of me in a business.
God used the ending of one era to give me a new beginning and you being here reading this is such a sweet representation of that beginning.
I like to end all of my writings with some sort of encouragement. So I want to encourage you today to know that it’s never too late to begin again. And if you’re searching for that new beginning maybe it’s time to let go of something that is no longer serving you. In addition, seek God first. Trust Him to make your paths straight. Move freely with Him and know that you’re in the best hands.
Here’s a poem I wrote that I’ll leave you with.
Begin again…
What it is to begin again
A new pace you will find
A world with endless possibilities
A plan thats so divine
A life you always dreamt you’d have
Just waiting to be found
It’s what you do to take each step
That makes this world go round.
It’s trusting God to lead your path
No worries and no frets
That trust you have in God above
Will lead to no regrets
What it is to begin again
A new pace you will find
A world with endless possibilities
A plan that’s so Divine
2/9/25
©Ashley H. Woodson


We make it hard to find our purpose. What we need to do is sit back and ask the Lord to lead us. Thank you for sharing. God bless you!