How The Lord Has Used Network Marketing To Refine Me
The Lord has used Network Marketing to do some really great works in my life. I know it is an odd thing to use, to refine someone but we know this; the Lord uses all things for His glory and the good of those who love Him. I love Jesus and desire to do all things for His glory, so here we grow:
My pride was exposed. Network Marketing requires that you have a desire for serving others. I have always wanted to help people but early in my Network Marketing career, I realised I was more concerned with what people thought of me, instead of how I could help them. I needed a serious heart shift, learning to prioritise how I could help people vs how I could make people like me. Proverbs 16:18. “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”This work keeps me focused on others and how I can serve them and less on me and how I am perceived by others.
Deeper dependance on God and more frequent prayer. Network Marketing requires that I am continually growing and pushing myself into uncomfortable situations, I simply could not do this without full dependance on God. If He is sending me out to connect with people, share on social media and build up leaders, I need to know He is in the work with me and so I am learning more and more everyday, how to move prayerfully. Philippians 4:6-7 NLT Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. This continuous reliance on God has helped me experience His peace where there once was anxiety.
Seeking God and the development of my vision and purpose. Showing up consistently, especially in the beginning stages of my Network Marketing business, when I was building momentum but not yet seeing the results I desired, required that I press into God for vision as to why I should keep going. Through this refining phase of planting seeds, the Lord gave me a vision and purpose that goes far beyond selling a product. In the development of my vision the Lord refined me in daily work, allowing me to experience first hand the importance of the daily growth activities of a Network Marketer and how these actions can transform lives and generations. Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. A lot has been thrown at me since starting my Network Marketing business but because of the Vision the Lord has given me I can persevere.
The development of perseverance. Which leads me to this point, I have learned to persevere. I have learned to measure success based on God’s standards, not the world's standards. I search for the fruit of the spirit as evidence that I am on the right path. Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Because of this shifted Biblical perspective on success, I have more joy in my work, more confidence in rising to new levels of success and my doubt has been extinguished, equipping me to build leaders for the kingdom and surrender my business as a ministry.
The strengthening of my belief and faith. You will not have success in Network Marketing unless you are moving forward and this requires faith because you can’t always see clearly where you are going. James 2:26 Just as the body is dead without breath so also faith is dead without good works. God has used Network Marketing as the training ground for my willingness to act in faith. To take daily action with the belief that He is doing a good work! This has freed me from the weighty pressure of results being my responsibility and opened me up to see and serve the people directly in front of me with intention. Because I know the results are in God’s hands and NOTHING can stop His good plans for my life, I get to joyfully serve the people He has placed in front of me.
The discipline required to run the race well. Network Marketing requires that you show up everyday, even when you don’t feel like it. That might sound harsh and like a grind and it is, if you are operating in your own strength. Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. When I learned to seek God for strength, on the days I just didn’t have it in me to show up, I got to experience His filling in a way I had never been able to before. I have a new level of discipline because of my reliance on the Lord to carry me through the hard days and work that once felt like a slog is now energising because of The Holy Spirit.
Freedom from shame and healing in codependency. For a lot of my adult life I carried the weight of shame. I felt shame around activities I knew I shouldn't feel shame about, like waking up early to spend time with God and care for my physical body, I was plagued with thoughts of being “too much”. Network Marketing brought me into community with leaders and mentors who helped me break free from shame. Through daily habit development of self care, learning, coaching and mentorship the Lord has renewed my mind to know that I am not too much and He wants to give me abundantly more. Seeking Him for that more, is never wrong. John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. With vision in my heart and goals in my mind, I had to learn to identify codependent behaviours that would trip me up and cause me to lose momentum. I had to learn to put my blinders on and focus on Jesus. I had to learn to let go of things that were not my responsibility, so I could have energy and time for the work the Lord is calling me to do.
Freedom from a poverty mindset. Before Network Marketing, I believed that what I had, was all that God had for me and I should learn to be grateful for what I had. I believed that if I prayed for something and God did not just drop it into my lap, then it was not His will for my life. Through submitting to the work the Lord has done in me, through Network Marketing, I have experienced that God has way more for me than I could imagine and He desires that I participate in the journey with Him. Everything in this world belongs to God and as His daughter, the blessings are my birthright. Psalms 50:10-12 NIV for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
Through the daily work as a Network Marketer I have learned I am valuable,I am worthy and it's because of who God is, not who I am but I needed to build the strength to be able to steward the blessings the Lord has prepared for me.
If you feel called to network marketing or are in network marketing and struggle with some of the feelings and thoughts that I have shared here, press into God, He is about to do something new in you through this good work.
