I grew up in a Mary Kay home. My mom has used Mary Kay
for the last 35 years. My sister and I also started to use Mary Kay when we
were in our early teens. My Mom wanted us to learn how to properly take care of
our skin so she sat us both down with a Mary Kay Consultant. Through the years
I have loved using Mary Kay for my skin care. I never pictured myself as a
consultant for Mary Kay until about 3 years ago when one of my cousins signed
up as a consultant. I remember going to her kick-off party and picturing myself
as a consultant and how I would talk with other women about their skin and how
they wore their makeup. However, at the time my sister was going through chemo
and radiation treatments for cancer and I knew that it was not the right time
to become a consultant. I do remember sitting with my sister and telling her
how much I’d like the idea of becoming a consultant. She was so supportive and
said to me “Betty Ann! You have to become a consultant! You would be so good at
it!” This memory still warms my heart whenever I talk about the first time I
thought about being a consultant. I journeyed with my sister as she went
through her chemo treatments and she was cancer free for a year before we
received the devastating news that the cancer had returned and had spread. They
gave my sister 9 months to live. We were devastated and could not understand
why God was going to take her away. Our lives were forever changed when we
received the news. My sister was the most beautiful women imaginable! A true
Audrey Hepburn!
God worked so much
in our lives through the death of my sister. He moved mountains to show us that
He was still with us and that He would always walk with us. I learned that the
world wants us to believe that life is supposed to be fair but God never
promises us that. What He does promise us is that “I will never leave you nor
forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5.
After my sister died, I spent a lot of time regrouping.
At that time I had 3 children – Elizabeth who was 4, Noah aged 3 and Abigail
aged 1. My husband and I decided to try for a 4th baby and we were
overjoyed to learn that I were pregnant with our 4th baby. My first
journal entry about the baby was “Watch over this baby Lord! Keep it safe. Keep
me safe” I felt like the baby was a new life after the passing of my sister.
From the very beginning I gave my baby over to the Lord. I spent so much time
in prayer, committing him to the Lord and knowing that he was a gift from God.
I normally would have told the world that I was pregnant but instead, with this
pregnancy, whenever I wanted to tell someone, I went and prayed about the
pregnancy and kept the news to myself, treasuring my baby. I never spent so
much time in prayer over my pregnancies, but I wanted to give everything about
the pregnancy over to the Lord. It was a special pregnancy for me. Through this
time of prayer, God spoke so deeply to me and gave me so much peace and love
for my son.
At 16 weeks my husband and I went in for an ultra-sound.
I was considered High-risk because I had had difficult pregnancies before and
they wanted to keep a close eye on my health. During the ultra-sound everything
took so much longer then what was expected. I was nervous. And I grew even more
nervous when it took the doctor a long time to come into the waiting room to
talk over the results of the ultra-sound. We were devastated to find out that
our little baby had a giant omphalocele. The outlook was bleak and the doctor
was very clear that we should consider terminating the pregnancy. My husband and I knew right away that
terminating our baby was not an option, that no matter what course this
pregnancy took, we would love our baby and take care of him. After many ultra
sounds and doctor’s visits, the final news for the baby I carried was what that
no mom and dad want to hear about their baby – He was incompatible for life. He
had a chromosome disorder
called Trisomy 13. I was so shocked that each Doctor pressured us to terminate
the pregnancy because they thought, it was not fair to do to me and that the emotional
strain would be so unfair to me and my family. But what I knew was this baby
was no accident! He was a gift from God and I would treasure him for as long as
God gave him to me. I knew that God had not made a mistake with how He designed
Ezra. Ezra was fearfully and wonderfully made, as the Bible says in Psalm 139:14, “I
praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are
wonderful, I know that full well.” My husband and I chose to follow through
with the pregnancy of Ezra because we trusted that God knew exactly why He
created Ezra the way that he was. We knew that there was no mistake and that
our lives would be forever changed through the sadness of the eventual death of
our son, but we would trust God for that timing and would not allow man to
determine when our son would leave this earth to go to heaven.
It was so hard to walk around pregnant with Ezra knowing
he would never be mine. When people looked at me, they automatically thought
that I would have a baby who would live to a ripe old age, and they would
congratulate me. I would weep inside as I would smile and thank them. I
continued with the pregnancy loving my Ezra and taking care of my other three
children, but I knew that I did not want to suffer the pain without it being
used for God’s glory. I wanted a way to reach other women, to encourage them
that no matter what they were going through, God was with them… always!
A couple of weeks after we found out the news about Ezra,
my husband and I were out with my cousin and his wife. She was a Mary Kay
consultant and was just gushing about how much she loved her business. I
started asking her more questions about the business and how she structured her
business. I turned to my husband and asked him, “Honey, what do you think about
me signing up as a consultant” My wonderful husband looked back at me and said,
“Go for it!” So, there I was, a mother of three and pregnant with my fourth
baby who would never be mine. I signed up the next week as a consultant, not
knowing where the business would lead me but knowing that God was leading me in
that direction. At first the business was a wonderful distraction for me at
night and the early mornings before my children woke up. I needed that time to
keep my mind off the sadness of my baby and the death of my sister. I never
expected my Mary Kay business to be anything more than a part time job where I
earned a couple hundred dollars a month. It was the perfect fit for me. Sure,
people said I was crazy for starting a Mary Kay business at the time I started,
but it was the right time and I knew God was leading me.
When I was 30 weeks pregnant, my Ezra stopped moving
inside of me. I carried that knowledge for 2 days to myself as I grieved the
death of Ezra inside of me. When I finally went to the hospital, I was at peace
with his death and with what was to follow. Giving birth to Ezra was one of the
saddest days of my life, and yet I knew that it was the perfect way to say
goodbye to my baby. I had 100% peace, knowing that God took Ezra at His time
and that I was not forgotten by God but was going to be used by God. Ezra had
never been mine. I had continually given him over to Lord even before I knew
that he would not be meant for this world. We said goodbye to our son. We told
our children that Ezra was so excited to go to heaven to be with Jesus and to
be with my sister. I don’t understand why God chose for our life to be this
way. I don’t understand why we have had to suffer so much pain. But what I do
know is that God is always there. He knew "Before
I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart,”
Jeremiah 1:5. God has placed a burden
on my heart to share with you that Ezra’s life was God’s and God is going to
use Ezra’s short life here on earth to reach many for the name of Jesus. I have
a story that needs to be shared with others so that Ezra’s life was not in
vain. Not only did the Lord work in my life through this time but He is also
working through the pain that I have gone through to reach others.
Through all of this, I have continued to work my Mary Kay
business, not just as a business to earn money for my family, but also as a way
to minister to other women and to show them love and to share with them about
the Lord’s love for them. I have been able to share with more women than I ever
would have before. My Mary Kay business has opened doors for me to minister to
youth group girls, Moms groups, at Options Pregnancy Center, and in the
future I will be doing fundraisers for orphanages, Fresh Hope -- which is for
single moms -- and I plan on offering my Mary Kay business to any other
ministries that invite me! I want to be used by God through this business and
to share my story with other women to offer them hope through a difficult time.
---
Thank you for taking the time to read. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Betty Biad
♥♥♥♥ I continue to be deeply touch by you and your family. Every race that Shannon and I run together...we run with Rachel. She is ALWAYS with us in our hearts and miles. Much love to you and your family. Peace....♥♥♥♥
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