My DaySpring Story: Part 4

(To start from Part One click here. And if you can't see the images click here.) 

First of all, thank you for letting me share my story! I've never done so before and it's been fun, humbling, and a little bit scary. I'm amazed that you're not only reading but leaving kind comments too! I'd hug you all if you were here.

Explaining everything I worked on at DaySpring during the first few years is a bit like trying to describe a kaleidoscope so I'd love to just share a few of my favorite projects with you...

 

 

I wish I had a big yellow umbrella
that would keep away all the rain in your life. I would hold it over your head, and the drops would splash, splash, and you would never even feel it. But I don’t have a big yellow umbrella - so I’ll walk through the rain with you.

The card above began as an e-mail to my friend Heather on a tough day. She was a designer at DaySpring and it became the starting point for a summer line called Heather and Holley in stores several years ago.

Then this new version of it came in 2008 and won Card of the Year at the Louie Awards (the greeting card equivalent of the Oscars) in New York City!

I love that card because while most of my cards start with an assignment, it simply came from the heart in a moment of need for a friend.

I've helped create card lines for stores like LifeWay, Family Christian, Hallmark, Wal-mart, and a variety of other places. Altogether I've written about 2000 cards!

I've also worked on other paper items like journals, calendars, and this Comfort and Encouragement booklet. It's a ministry guide for anyone who wants to help others through losses.

I wrote it during my counseling degree when I assisted with a grief support group. The name of each person in the group and the loved one they lost are in the front of the book. Sorrow is sacred ground and I'll always be grateful for those who let me walk and learn with them.

 
  
I even got to write three children's books with Thomas Nelson through a partnership! I love knowing that even if I don't have kids of my own yet, I can be part of building a heritage of faith in other families.

DaySpring also does gift items so some of my projects are things like ornaments, mugs, and home decor. Here's a little Christmas message that I wrote for card that became the inspiration for a gift line...

The Meaning of the Snowflake
Every new snowflake comes to the earth
as a picture of our Saviour’s birth,
because they are sent from up above
and remind us of God’s care and love.
Each one is so intricate and small
because Christ sees the details of us all,
and just as two are never the same
the Lord knows and calls us each by name.
Snowflakes gently cover the world in white
and hide what’s unlovely from our sight,
showing us how He covers our sin
and gives us His grace when we come to Him.
So may every snowflake bring Christ to mind
and in every bit of white may you find a
reason to celebrate anew and a reminder
of His love for you.

I love being a small part of connecting women with God and each other.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Without you, none of the words I write would matter. 

I truly appreciate you so I'm having a giveaway of this Christmas set as a little thank you!

It's from the gift line I mentioned above and it comes with two mugs as well as a carafe that's perfect for serving cozy cups of tea or cocoa.

Just leave a comment before midnight on Saturday to enter!_________________________________________________________________________________

A couple of years ago, God began stirring something new in my heart and that has turned out to be an amazing adventure I never expected. To be continued...

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My DaySpring Story: Part 3

(To start from Part One click here. And if you can't see the images click here.) 

I continued freelancing for DaySpring and eventually they asked if I'd like to be an intern. Of course I said "yes!" and started coming to the office one day a week during the school year and full-time during summers.

My duties consisted of glamorous tasks like entering ancient cards typed on 3x5 notecards into an even more ancient computer.

But I didn't care because occasionally I got to write.

JESUS
He came not to a throne,
but to a manger.
He lived not as a king,
but as a servant.
He chose not a kingdom,
but a cross.
He gave not just a little,
but everything.
--Holley Gerth

  
  
In those days, our schedules were a lot slower and I'd often carry my card assignments out to a picnic table under an oak tree outside. I usually took a stack of books with me too. For example, if I had a Sympathy card to write I'd read about grief and what comforted people most.

Sometimes our whole department would go to a nearby Bed & Breakfast for the day. We'd pray, sift through stacks of magazines until an idea hit us, or even watch a movie to get inspiration.

Inside...

Hope is more than just a word—
it’s a state of being.
It’s a firm belief that
even if you don’t know how,
even if you don’t know when,
God will come through
and better days are ahead.
Life sends rain...
Hope dances in the puddles
until the sun comes out again.
—Holley Gerth

When I look back on those times, I'm thankful God eased me into the publishing world by gaving me a time of rest and growth.

I graduated, married, and moved to Colorado Springs where I worked at a travel magazine and then a software company writing manuals (torture!).

After almost a year it seemed God was calling us back to home and DaySpring. When I returned, I found a place far different than my internship. Our quaint little company had been bought by Hallmark and had more opportunities than we'd ever dreamed.

Even though many things have changed, I've kept many of the lessons I learned during my internship with me as a writer...

1) Creativity is inherently relational. As a writer, the best place to start isn't our own mind--it's God's heart and then the heart of someone else. We create with God for someone else.

2) Creativity has to be cultivated. Its seeds are sown through time, inspiration, new experiences, relationships. We reap creativity when we've done the hard work of planting and tending it.

3) Creativity and life are intimately linked. If we're not living fully or well, we won't create fully or well either. Taking care of ourselves is not selfish. It's an investment in the vessel God uses to create. We're his pens, canvases, paintbrushes.

4) Creativity is never complete. Because it's linked to life, we are always growing, learning, expanding in our creativity. We can always get better.

What have you discovered about creativity? I'd love to learn from you.

 

God did keep giving me opportunities to grow at DaySpring. I was no longer an intern but a writer and editorial director with the privilege of working on best-selling card lines, collaborating with talented teams, winning awards for our work, and being surprised by God in other ways I couldn't have imagined. To be continued...

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My DaySpring Story: Part 2

(To read Part One click here. And if you can't see the images click here.) 

I slipped my card ideas into an envelope and sent them off with hope and a prayer.

Have you ever sent a dream, a piece of your heart, out into the world?

Then you know how my heart was pounding all the way to the mailbox. And at nineteen years old, I had no clue about all the proper things you're supposed to do to get published.

 

...CHRIST

He is with you and many prayers are for you as you fight this battle.

You answer me and encourage me by giving me the strength I need. Psalm 138:3

When the phone rang a few weeks later a sweet woman named Ann (who is still my coworker) told me yes, DaySpring did want some of my ideas. I didn't know then that their freelance acceptance rate was about one percent.

Ann asked if I'd like to send more ideas or drop them off personally and meet the staff. It turned out DaySpring was only about thirty minutes from where I attended college. I told her I'd love to stop by.

  

DaySpring started out small. They relocated from California in the early 1970s and the building where I first worked was a renovated duplex that was expanded bit by bit to hold over a hundred employees (of the almost 500 who worked there then). It overflowed with life and creativity.

So for more reasons than one, when I walked through the door that first day it felt like my heart came home.

Roy Lessin, one of the founders, took me to the product room where row after row of cards was displayed, much like my grandparents' store. He told me to look around while I waited to meet with Linn (who is still my boss now!).

As I quietly read through cards, Roy slipped up behind me again. He tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a journal. On the cover a blond-haired, brown-eyed little girl smiled in a photograph. She looked a lot like me.

I thanked Roy for the kind gift. After he walked away, I flipped through the blank pages of the journal. I couldn't help thinking of another journal--one that had a thousand pages. I'd just finished it and so many of the events recorded there during my season of rebellion filled me with regret.

I felt the Lord whispering, "Start over...and don't write anything on these new pages you wouldn't want me to read."

By the time Linn came to get me, I realized a new chapter in my life was beginning.

I'm glad God called me to DaySpring then--not when I was the "Christian good girl," not when I felt like I deserved it, not even when I knew anything about publishing.

I'm here not because of what I've done or know but because of Who chose me for reasons beyond my understanding.

If you have a God-dream in your heart you may be thinking, "But I need to be more _________. Or I need to know__________. Or if I could just ____________. " I hope my story encourages you that God is bigger than all of those blanks.

As Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in a man's heart but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails."

Yes, we are to be proactive partners in the process who pursue excellence. But God is the one who makes it happen. Nothing is impossible for Him...and for us because we are His.

And in my adventure with DaySpring He was just getting started--to be continued.

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My DaySpring Story

When I had writer's block recently, I asked what you'd like to see as a post. Several of you mentioned DaySpring so I thought I'd start there...

 
(Cover of an award-winning card I wrote, inspired by my personal struggle.)

My grandparents had a Christian bookstore when I was growing up. I spent many hours curled up on an old chair in back of the store reading the stacks of books I'd gathered from the shelves.

I wrote my first book at age five. It was not published but proudly tucked away by its number one fan--my Mom.

I never really considered another career besides writing.

My grandma on my Dad's side was an English teacher. So it seemed words flowed through my veins and heart from the moment I came into the world.

In school I wrote poetry during science class and carried around enourmous notebooks.

I graduated and enrolled as an English major.

All through high school I'd been the "good Christian girl." And frankly, the pedestal was getting old. That first semester I rebelled.

I came home for Christmas broken and desperately missing God. During that time my sweet Grandma (the one with the bookstore) mentioned to her DaySpring sales representative that she had a granddaughter who wanted to be a writer. The representative told her I could send some ideas.

So she passed that little bit of good news along and I decided to try a few greeting cards. It became a turning point in my faith too.

And I know now that what happened next is nothing short of a miracle...to be continued.

What do you want to be when you grow up? (None of us really are grown up yet...right?)

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Giveaway winner!

Congratulations to C.C. for winning the Danielson sign!

Her comment on day 40 of the JOY Challenge was chosen by the random number generator.

If you still want the sign, you can find it here on DaySpring.com.

And you can use my friends and family code (holley20) for 20% off!

I'm so glad I could share something from Danielson with you because they're an amazing family-focused company with Christian values.

They just launched a great new site, the DaySpring-Danielson Studio, that lets you design your own sign (like the one on the right). You decide how it looks and what it says.

So for the second deal of the day, you can use coupon code HALFOFF to get the signs "buy one, get the second half off" in November--just in time for Christmas shopping!

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Hope Like a Child

 

(Note: This post wasn't written today...but it seemed time to share it.)

I thought I was pregnant.

I started playing out scenarios in my mind—how I would tell my parents, when the baby would come, what it would be like to hear the laughter of a child in our house.

I knew better but I hoped anyway.

Most of the time I'm at peace and content with where I am in my journey so I just don't think about how things could be different...but once in awhile I do.

Do you know what that’s like? Maybe not with having a child but with that dream you carry around in a little box in your heart—lid tightly on, rarely spoken of, the one that breaks your heart and keeps it going all at the same time?

This morning I knew for sure that dream wasn’t coming true this month.

I called a friend and told her the news. She made that sound that women do when they’re comforting each other. She said that she was sorry and that she would take a walk with me.

I hung up the phone and wandered around the house, fighting the feelings.

I tend to hold sadness at arm’s length.

But today I pictured myself as a little girl running toward God, arms outstretched, tears streaming, calling, “Abba, Daddy, it hurts.”

And I imagined Him scooping me up, letting me rest my head on his shoulder as I cried, saying again and again, “It’s okay. Daddy’s here and He loves you.”

So I let myself boo-hoo. Or, as we say in the South, the head hangin' tears drippin' snot streamin' kind of cryin' that makes the dog worry a little.

And I was okay again.

It seems we try to protect God from our grief, as if it means He’s not taking care of us—otherwise wouldn’t we be like happy little children all the time?

But I'm slowly learning that the child who can run to a parent in a moment of pain, even if the parent has somehow allowed it (like shots at the doctor), that is a different sort of trust and love. We’re expressing, “You are my safe place no matter what.”

"Though he slay me yet will I trust him," said Job.

So I come again to the One who came for me—who knows what it’s like for hope to cost.

Yet a heart that never hurts is one that never hopes...and that is the highest price of all.

One I’m not willing to pay. 

I went on the walk with my friend and her two little ones. We looked for turtles in a pond, skipped rocks, and laughed at the ducks--gifts from Heavenly Father. I found joy. And gradually I knew again that just as my friend takes care of her children, He takes care of us...always.

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. Psalm 84:10

Lord, our hope is in you alone.

 

What is your heart hoping for today?

p.s. Remember you have until midnight CST on Tuesday the 10th to enter the Danielson Sign giveaway!

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The JOY Challenge: Day 40 - The Home Stretch

I'm deliberately finding joy for forty days. To start from day one click here.

 

We've made it to the final day of the joy challenge!

As I think about what I've learned, this sums it up...

Sharing pleasure with God is just as intimate (perhaps more so) than sharing hard times.

For some reason, it seems modern Christianity thinks that in order to be holy you also need to be serious and/or depressed.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

We feel comfortable talking about the hardships in our lives. But for some reason we blush and squirm when it comes to joy.

In the 1600s a council of churches came together to decide, among other things, the purpose of humanity. How's that for a low-pressure meeting?

This is the conclusion they came to...

Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

How did we get from that to a place when I've heard so many Christians express (and said myself), "I feel selfish when I do something that makes me happy."

You too?

We've got to reclaim joy.

If our story begins in Eden and ends in heaven then pleasure matters to God.

You've had those moments, haven't you? The ones when you're laughing, doing something you love, experiencing one of those near-perfect experiences in life when suddenly you feel this ache, this longing, for somewhere, Someone greater than yourself?

Even in marriage, pleasure comes in moments of intimacy. And if marriage is the earthly picture of our relationship with him, doesn't it make sense that the same would be true spiritually?

I think joy, and I have tears in my eyes as I write this, JOY is God's way of calling our hearts home...of reminding us we're not made for here but for him.

Until then, he slips joy into our days so we remember.

This journey has reminded me to intentionally look at joy that way again--to let it lead me through this life like a series of signs that point to home and the One who waits for me there.

Our journey may be done...but let's keep walking this way together.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To celebrate the completion of the joy challenge, I'm giving away a fabulous Danielson sign featuring their new book crop style (photo above). It would be a great Christmas gift! Or you can just keep it. (:

The sign says...

Be strong, and let your heart take courage,

all you who hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24

Seek joy for today, strength for tomorrow, hope always.

To be entered, leave a comment before midnight on Tuesday!

 

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The JOY Challenge: Day 39 - Simply the Best

I'm deliberately finding joy for forty days. To start from day one click here.

 

My dear mentor in college, Beth, used to lean forward and say with a smile, "The most difficult choices in life are not between good and bad but between good and best."

Her words stuck with me.

Then this morning I read this...

Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. 1 Corinthians 1:17

Our buddy Paul is saying, "Baptizing is good--but it's not God's best for me."

You may be wondering, "Holley, what in the world do your mentor, Paul, and cupcakes have to do with each other?" Just stick with me a little longer and stop looking at the cupcake picture...

Paul was clearing up some confusion because people were saying, "I follow Paul" rather than "I follow Christ" (and somehow the few baptisms he did tied into all that).

So it seems stepping outside what God had for Paul caused a little chaos and a mess he got to help clean up.

Sigh. Been there and done that.

You see, I like to say "yes"...to people, opportunities, new adventures. Anyone else?

And I'm not saying "yes" out of guilt or obligation. I'm saying "yes" because I love a new challenge in much the same way I love a good cupcake.

The only thing is, I sometimes sign up for the baptizing committee when I should be spending time doing something else like, oh, writing.

The other reason is...this one is hard to say...I'm flattered that someone wants me.

There's still a little Junior High girl somewhere inside me that just wants to be asked to dance.

And then once I've been asked to dance, I certainly don't want anyone mad at me for saying no.

It's complicated.

But the past few months God has really been working on my heart--helping me cut out the "baptizing" and get back to what I've truly been sent to do.

I believe that's writing, counseling, connecting from the heart.

And how do I know when I'm in my calling?

I feel JOY.

Yes, there are difficulties. But there is also a satisfation in the struggle because I know it's worth it.

In contrast, when I'm out of that zone I feel weary, discouraged, without joy.

So today I'm asking God again to help me choose the best over the good...perhaps the hardest, but most rewarding, choice of all.

(As for the cupcakes, my friend Ginny Mooney wisely said to me in Rick's bakery one day, "Life is short, eat doughnuts." Notice "doughnuts" is plural. No choice needed. This timeless insight applies to all baked goods.)  

 

What's God's best in your life? In other words, what brings you joy and makes you say, "I was created to do this"? I'd love to know that about you...

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The JOY Challenge: Day 38 - Coffee, anyone?

I'm deliberately finding joy for forty days. To start from day one click here.

This week Ann Voskamp asks, "What spiritual practice has most deeply affected your relationship with Jesus?"

The answer for me comes in an instant.

I suppose I should picture steeples, pews, something made up of religion or ritual.

But instead I think of this...

Coffee.

Now before you wonder if I've lost my mind (or my faith) let me explain a bit.

It's not really about the coffee.

It's about the person sitting across from me.

And, even more, about the Person who quietly slips in and joins us.

For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them. Matthew 18:20

I've been thinking lately that perhaps our western world has things a bit backwards.

We tend to think we find God more when we withdraw from everyone else.

And we do sometimes.

As in a marriage, there are moments when you shut the door and share an intimacy that belongs to no one else.

But most of life, most of the relationship, is in-between those times. And if we limit our intimacy with God to just this, it seems incomplete.

Even Jesus seems to have spent more spiritual time engaging with people than alone with God.

What if connection with God comes through connection with others?

I've realized it does for me, more than any other way.

I'm an introvert...an off-the-charts introvert, in fact.

But still, still, God meets me most often through the heart and hands of another.

When I am in community (whether with one or many) my faith grows.

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Galatians 5:6

Sometimes this happens through a literal cup of coffee and a real-life friend across the table. Other times it comes in an e-mail, a comment from one of you, a phone call that stretches to family across the miles.

I'm not sure the how matters as much as the what...the coming together in His name.

He joins us.

We join Him.

And suddenly that coffee is a taste of heaven on earth.

In your presence is fullness of joy. Psalm 16:11

 

Do other people ever help you feel closer to God? If so, who and how?  

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The JOY Challenge: Day 37 - Simply Lovely

I'm deliberately finding joy for forty days. To start from day one click here.

First, thank you to all of you for your post ideas to help with my writer's block! You are brilliant and I'm so looking forward to diving into those soon!

During my little writing break, a wonderful reader and new friend of mine honored me with a Lovely Lady, Lovely Blog award. Thanks so much, Cassandra!

"The LOVELY LADY ~ LOVELY BLOG award is to be given to those whom you have met in this wonderful world called the blogosphere who are beautiful and who have blogs that encourage, inspire, and uplift us in our daily lives."

This is a pass-along sort of award so I get to share it with five more bloggers too.

Here they are...

Reese is a natural encourager. Her sweet, sunny smile says it all...and her heartfelt words back it up.

Maureen is making a difference around the world (and in my life too) with kindness and courage.

Fiona is all about sharing that "We have much to learn from each other." And she has taught me a lot!

Amy is a tenderhearted, prayer warrior. I've been a thankful recipient of those prayers more than once!

Grace and Peace is in love with God and a blessing to His daughters (especially me).

Girls, to accept this award and pass it on, just check out the guidelines on Cassandra's site. 
 

I'm closing comments today so you can go leave kind words for the ladies above on their blogs!

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