Welcome back, LCPB!
I am sure you noticed that the website was down, the posts stopped, and there was no mention of LCPB for over 3 years now. Wow! Three years is a long time. Today I will take you on a journey of what happened and why I feel it had to happen for God’s ultimate purpose.
So where have we been? Let me tell you, life was life-ing. To start, LCPB was not profitable enough to maintain my cost of living. Although I loved working with my clients, I was not able to continue in the way that I was going. I had to get a 9-5! I know. I know. Let Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube tell it, people are flourishing at having their own business. Especially those who took off during the time of the pandemic. That, however, was not my story.
In October of 2021, I started working as a Planning Coordinator for a local financial company. During that time, I studied for and passed the SIE, Series 7, and Series 66 exams. I passed them all on the first try, so that was an exciting way to know that I was on the right track. During my time with the financial company, I was originally told that I could keep LCPB going without any issues. This excited me. Who wouldn’t want to continue to build their business all while making the money needed to maintain their cost of living? I thought it was the perfect set up. Until one day, I received an email stating that, “effective immediately,” I needed to take the website down and could not continue working both LCPB and with the company. They made me choose. I was told that they could tell I enjoyed what I was doing, so they would be willing to pay me for a month of work if I decided to quit. Instead of choosing LCPB, I decided to hang things up and continue with the financial company.
Working with the financial company only lasted a few more months. I was pregnant at the time, so my focus was no longer about my goals, but the preparation for my son. The financial company did not have a great benefits package when it came to maternity leave. I was only going to receive a percentage of my already low pay and was only allowed 6 weeks off. When I realized that, I applied for one of the largest asset management companies in the world and was hired on. Their benefits were a lot better. I received maternity leave at my full pay amount (2x the pay of the other company) and 14 weeks off to bond with my baby. It was a blessing, but just like with the previous company, I would not outwardly be able to do anything with LCPB.
Even blessings have seasons. Once I returned to the new company after maternity leave, I had a feeling that my time with them would not be long. I did not know when the day would come, but I knew it was coming. Towards the end of 2024 it became even more apparent. So many things were changing, some not in a positive direction. The positive was that my value was noticed and I was promoted. During that time, I was able to see my colleagues fight for me and stand up for me in a way that I was not expecting. The not so positive included people leaving, morale falling, and the work environment not being fun for me anymore. After talking to my husband, we agreed that I would not be at the company forever, but the time was not here yet.
It was hard to go through, but through it all I could feel God being with me. One scripture seemed to echo constantly at that time: “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10 ESV). God was allowing different things to occur that may never make sense to me, but it all worked together for my good. I learned so much and appreciate the people I came to meet. Thanks to that company, I was able to add more professional licenses (insurance licenses in accident, health and life) and receive valuable hands-on experience.
As of May 23rd, I no longer work for the company. The way everything played out will probably be a separate post in an effort not to drag this one out. Ultimately, from all of this, I would like you as the reader to leave with the following key points:
1. As cliche as it sounds, God’s timing is better than your timing!!! When I first started LCPB, I thought I was ready. I thought I knew enough for it all to work out. I have come to find out, there was so much more for me to learn. Not just within the Finance industry, but about God. What I went through showed me time and time again that God is with me. No matter the circumstance. Not only is he with me, but he does not want me to do things out of his divine timing. Over the years, I have been able to watch things completely play out and, in some cases, fall apart.
2. God’s ways are truly not my ways!!! If I had it my way, I would not have taken the long route. There would be no suffering in my story. Everything would easily just go from glory to glory. I have come to find, that God does not work like that. It is during some of the toughest times that you really get to depend on God and strengthen your relationship with him. It is also during those times that you can see how your community comes together for you and prays with you. You see who cares about you and takes the chance to carry your burdens just as the bible says. Taking the easy route doesn’t give your God given community the opportunity to show up for you in ways that you did not realize you needed.
3. LCPB is not just about financial education. You can learn how to become financially literate from almost everywhere at this point. YouTube university is a thing! That is not all I want to bring to the table at this point. I want LCPB to glorify God in every way possible. Ecclesiastes has taught me that all things are vanity, except knowing God and receiving the gift of salvation that only he can give. As you get to know me, my prayer is that you grow closer to God. Everything else is secondary.
God has a plan and purpose for us all, but we must first realize that he is control. Life is not about doing things that make us feel good. It is not about making as much money as we can possibly make to make us happy. Life is about serving others. We are blessed to be a blessing. May God use LCPB to bless you in ways that you did not know you needed. See you in the next post!