Goodness Unveiled

It has been a few months since I updated this blog, and for good reason! At the beginning of 2023, I started back into Liberty University to finish out my bachelor’s degree. I had stopped college classes when I had our youngest baby and got my real estate license within a year of her birth. I hit the ground running with real estate and did not have much interest in finishing my degree for several years. I was happy as an agent and did not have any interest pursuing any further. So, when I felt the nudging to finish my degree, I was not really sure why.

It was during my time at Liberty studying Religion and Christian Counseling, that I decided that I would go for my broker license once I finished my college classes. For those who don’t know, every real estate agent is required to be supervised by a broker and with that comes a percentage of each transaction paid to that broker. Being that I had the experience and education required to do so, I figured it would be in our family’s best interest to save that money paid to the broker and own my own company. When our oldest son was diagnosed with brain cancer, we had actually already gotten an LLC for our real estate business, but we had not used it much since he was diagnosed and our life turned upside down for so long.

All this to say… 2024 was quite full of a busy real estate market, homeschooling my kids, a lot of college classes that took up a significant amount of my time, a few extra real estate continuing education classes, and then studying for my broker exam. I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in August and passed my broker exam in November. I officially started my own real estate brokerage, Travis Realty Associates LLC, just last week! We are very excited for this new adventure in our family.

The point of this blog is to see the character of God in everyday life. I wish I could explain the guiding of God in the last year. It was as if we were just walking through each door as God opened it. No rhyme or reason, no sudden epiphany or feeling. I did not feel like this was the goal or that I wanted to work specifically for this. We weren’t even sure if God was keeping us in Amarillo. It was just like God was guiding us quietly to our next step. Now that our company is started, I see His guiding through our mundane, busy days. We do not just have to be going through trauma to see His character. We do not just have to be going through a great season in our lives to see His character. Sometimes it is just the regular days that we can look and see His character in our daily lives.

In the busyness of higher education, homeschooling 4 different age levels, being President of a homeschooling organization, working as a Realtor, and still being the wife and mom and cook and homemaker and taxi…guess what suffered most? My connections at church/ministry and my quiet time with God. (shocking I know!) I had to say “no” to ministries I was doing and asked to do, and while I was studying deeply into the Bible for my theology classes, I was feeling dry spiritually. Guess what though? His character remained the same through my dry and busy season. The passage comes to mind,

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal,  a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,  a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend,  a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate,  a time for war and a time for peace. What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-11)

I am thankful for God’s unchanging character and guidance, even when I was in a season that was mundane and dry. It is His plans that He puts into place. It is for His glory and ministry to others that He will use our business and our ministry to bless others. I pray you each have an amazing Christmas season and New Year!