Sun stand still!

10:25 p.m. Today's project was for me to sell products, place my order, and encourage my team members to place their orders as well,  to close a great year in my Mary Kay business, and  in so doing, help my unit and national area. As I wrote yesterday, June 30, 2012 was the real crunch day! 2 million sales force members, from the newest consultant to the top national consultant Barbara Sunden, have the same deadline, no exceptions! And we all seriously respect the job we have to do as individual, yet affiliated, business owners.

On Steve's and my  "new" family favortie television show, "The Waltons," Grandpa Walton was explanining where the term "deadline" came from: in military prisons, there was a line drawn on the ground at one end of the compound. Anyone (I assume prisoners) who crossed that line was shot. That's a real "dead line!"

Our missed goals may bring diappointment  and heartbreak, and a wish one had gone the extra mile as Jesus advised us to travel when compelled to walk just one (Matthew 5:41). For instance, if  I had recruited one more team member, I would have won a bronze medal from our national director. How many phone calls, interviews or coffee dates would that achievement have called for? Just one more, probably-- the right one, the God-ordained one! But without spending much time with many women, I wasn't likely to find that one!
"It's like a scavenger hunt, " Cara and our director Laurie said yesterday--we know our new team members are out there--we just don't know where, so we work hard and allow God to lead us to them!

For the women who gave their business hours 100% effort, today was a sweet blessing to their families and Mary Kay colleagues. In our business, we don't compete against one another, so we are able to do as the Apostle Paul exhorted in Romans 12:15-16:

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the ssme mind toward one another.
 
As we learned from Joshua Chapter 10 yesterday, God did a miracle, stopping the sun from setting so that Joshua's forces could soundly defeat their enemies. But Joshua didn't stand staring in amazement as the time for sundown came snd went. He and his men were too busy fighting!

Well today, the millions of Mary Kay consultants and drirectors with a goal in their hearts got an extra day! No, God didn't stop the closing of the day, but there was a massive storm that cut electrical power to a large part of our country. I pray that no one was killed or seriously injured, Lord, and that help will come to our fellow  Americans speedily, as well as opportunity and provision for rebuilding!

The only reason I knew about this, so focused was I on my goals, is that when I logged onto our Mary Kay InTouch consultant website to check my team"s production for the day, and post some sales, a large message came up: that because of the loss of power to large sections of the country, the Mary Kay Yearend deadline has been extended to midnight Central time, July 1st! What a generous, fair, and compassionate company we are affiliated with, but better yet, what a generous, compassonate, almighty God we serve!!

For those with thousands in production still to achieve, or final team members to add, the sun has stood still for us! But knowing this, may we, according to Romans 12:10-12,

Be kindly affectionate to one another with (sisterly) love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

May God do His perfect work, as we exemplify the company's motto:

GOD FIRST, FAMILY SECOND, CAREER THIRD