Glad to be at Gladiola Girls (now Lililu On King)
From the Archives: Summer 2011
Written by Renee Furman
I came to the Lord in college through an on-campus ministry. College offers new experiences and forms different life expectations for young people as they see themselves as adults for the first time. It’s a time of meeting people who are different and is an exciting time of life.
After coming to the Lord, I was discipled by a sorority sister, and I met many women who trusted a God I didn’t, and who prayed for me. These women opened a whole new life for me. It was a precious beginning in my walk with the Lord.
God-Directed Passion
Years later, as I reflected on what I was supposed to do, I came to realize that ministering to young, college-age women is my passion -- it’s what’s in my heart. These young women face big challenges as they choose the direction their lives are going to take.
And, those choices bear great consequences – women need to be intentional when it comes to relationships. I heard it said that “men are filing cabinets and women are chalkboards.” In other words, when someone writes on a woman’s chalkboard it leaves an impression; but, men file everything in their out-box and send it to the shredder and never think twice about it. A sudden, in-the-moment, emotional decision can result in the huge responsibilities of raising a family and the creation of emotional baggage and issues, which affect other relationships for a very long time.
I want these young women to know that every time they give a piece of themselves away, they have less of themselves when the time comes for marriage. Chalk boards get dusty, I, therefore, encourage these young women to be intentional about their relationships and where they want to go in life.
Fully Available to God’s Plan for My Life
You cannot control your life and be open and fully available to God. Owning a women’s clothing boutique was the result of my being open and available to Him. After my husband, Tom, the love of my life, passed away and two other loved ones, I found myself asking the question: what do I do now? After much prayer, consulting with my CPA and loved ones, and a two-year journey of careful and prayerful God orchestration, I came to the conclusion that buying Gladiola Girls was in God’s plan for me.
My goal is to create an environment where I can develop a relationship over time, and eventually have a one-on-one dialog with a woman shopping in my boutique. I’m really about the inside person, not the outside person. Girls can buy a dress and feel good on the outside and not good on the inside.
Young women are my passion and at Gladiola Girls I want to birth an atmosphere of heaven. I always wear pearls, which are formed by an irritant in the shell. The irritants come in life, but what we choose to do with them is up to us. It’s not the high places, but it’s the places of drudgery where our characters are formed.
Everything is God’s – my life, my children, Gladiola Girls, is His. I am a simple woman who has a very faithful God. And I love meeting all types of women, young and not-so-young, at Gladiola Girls and sharing Jesus with them.
