The story behind Message Balls
The idea for Message Balls came to me as a fun and easy way to share my faith in God. I’m kind of “chicken” when it comes to that even though I know God wants me to, Jesus asks us to, and I really do want people to know the incredible feeling of having a relationship with God and to experience his love and guidance in their life as I have been lucky enough to.
The story behind Message Balls actually started a few years ago when, like everyone eventually does, I began to wonder what my purpose was. I began to ask myself, was I really meant to be a graphic designer? Was that my purpose? I enjoy it, but for some reason I’m not feeling totally satisfied or fulfilled plus the fact that my freelance business has been struggling for several years now. I’m feeling there is something else I am meant for, but what? They say to look for what you are passionate about. I would think and search my mind and heart and I couldn’t come up with anything I felt a really strong passion for. When I first heard our church was going to do Rick Warren’s A Purpose Driven Life program so we could all find our purpose in life I was thrilled. Alright I thought, now I will find out my purpose. I joined a small group and was very anxious to start studying. I thought for sure I would find my answer. But no, I didn’t really feel like I found out what my purpose was and began to get frustrated.
I continued with my graphics work, trying even harder to create a successful business from it, but still not feeling satisfied. Then a couple years later the church announced they were going to do Rick Warren’s A Purpose Driven Community. Alright I thought, maybe my purpose has something to do with the community. So I joined a small group again and with enthusiasm studied and did everything I was asked to do so I would surely find my purpose this time. This time we were asked to take boxes around and talk to our neighbors and invite them to participate in a program to collect food so the poor in our community would have a nice holiday meal. Though I didn’t mind filling the boxes with food, in fact I had filled a box for 3 Christmas’ before and knew the program very well. What made me uncomfortable was not even the idea of asking my neighbors to fill a box so much as it was having to share my faith with them also.
I found out through this program that I’m not alone in that feeling. Everyone in our small group had a hard time with the idea. My first instinct was to just not do the assignment and to make an excuse like I’m too busy or that is not me, or oops, I forgot. But I looked at how I would feel if I didn’t at least try it. What if it wasn’t as terrible as I had anticipated. After all God was with me, right? He would help me. After all I would be doing what Jesus asked all of us, to spread his word and tell the world. So, how would I feel about myself if I didn’t at least try it. And even more than that how would God feel about me?? So I did try. I am however blessed to be married to a very friendly man who doesn’t seem afraid to approach people, at least the neighbor next door that we know fairly well. He went and asked her, then when she had questions he came and got me to answer them for her. Turned out she was very happy to fill a box. That gave us the courage to ask a couple other neighbors we somewhat knew. They too were very happy to fill a box.
Anyway to make an already long story a little shorter, it was through this experience that I discovered I wasn’t the only one not that comfortable to share my faith. So, that is why I say the Message Balls are an answer for that. A kind of chicken’s way of sharing faith. Just plant the seed by losing your golf ball and let God take it from there. As good as I felt about at least trying the assignment and somewhat succeeding it still didn’t get me any closer to finding out what my purpose was, so I felt at the time.
Feeling more and more frustrated I decided to just give up and be content with my life as it was. After all I have a wonderful husband, and a home that we enjoy fixing up together. A business that allows me free time, without the stresses of a full time job. Maybe I can’t find my purpose because I’m already living it. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is all I’m meant for. I had hoped for more somehow, but maybe this is all God meant for me. So I’ll be happy with my life as it is.
Then one Sunday a missionary couple that our church sponsors in South Africa was invited to give a presentation so we could see what they do and how they live as missionaries. It was a young energetic couple who explained that the people there were very open to the gospel and things were going very well in that aspect. Their biggest challenge was the lack of food there and that their congregation was dieing of starvation. They shared how they looked to God for answers and started every morning with prayer and praise and asked the question “What can I do today, Lord?” Then they would do whatever they were lead to do. Through this daily practice they found out about a tree that grows in that region. After researching the tree they found that leaves of the tree contained all the nutrition needed to sustain health. So they started cultivating little saplings and growing trees for their own village and soon started selling them to neighboring villages and teaching them how to grow their own. I remember being so interested in their story and so amazed at the answers they received from God. I thought, maybe that is my answer. I should ask God every morning “what can I do?”
It was almost New Year’s so I decided to make that my New Year’s resolution. I would ask every morning “what can I do today, Lord?” So I did. Every morning, even before I got out of bed, I would ask the question. At first there wasn’t any answer it seemed. Or maybe I just didn’t recognize it. But still I continued to ask every day. Then I started getting ideas here and there, still not sure if it was God or just me. Then one morning while doing my exercise video an idea came to me for golf balls. I could put messages on golf balls so that when they are lost and then found by another player there would be an inspiring message for them to read. Not just a company logo like a lot of balls have but an actual message. I thought of putting a bible verse on them and started going through my bible looking for short verses that would be meaningful to whoever found it. I found several that would actually work, but really couldn’t decide on just one so the project got set aside for a few weeks.
Then one morning I woke up with a statement in my mind. It said “sell God like you would any product”. What did that mean, I thought? Sell God like a product? Why would you, or should you even, sell God like a product? That thought sounded scary to me, but then I started thinking, I know in marketing and in advertising you sell a product by telling the customer the benefits they will receive from the product. Okay, I thought, what is the benefit someone would receive from God that would help them if they read it on a golf ball? Then very quickly, in a flash actually, my message was created. Two short sentences summed up very simply exactly what I wanted to tell people–FREE ADVICE TAILORED TO YOUR NEEDS. TALK TO GOD TODAY. It was clear those were the perfect words, and now I think it is so ironic that the advice I ended up putting on the golf balls is basically what I had been doing myself that allowed me to receive the idea of the golf balls in the first place. Amazing! I encourage you to talk to God, ask him what you can do. It will change your life and it’s so much fun too!
The idea for the Message Balls was only the beginning. Since then God has lead me to answers to many, many of my questions. I’m sure he gets so frustrated with me questioning everything, but it is amazing the ways he finds to get the answers to me. By asking my question every morning “What can I do today Lord?” God has helped me to not only strengthen my faith in him but also in myself which has given me confidence I never thought I could have. It is the greatest feeling not to be afraid of every opportunity and to actually feel I am capable, with God’s help and guidance, to accomplish whatever idea comes to me. I feel he is preparing me for something really big and want to share with you my experiences and answers in hopes you will be encouraged to start asking the question for yourself. Plus, who knows maybe it’s my purpose!
So, keep checking my Blog for more stories.
