When I was in high school, I heard the same questions so many young people hear:
What do you want to do with your life?
Where are you going to college?
What are you going to study?
I wish I could go back and tell that younger version of myself something simple:
It's okay not to know.
Because I certainly didn't.
When I started college, I truly believed singing was going to be my career. I trusted that God had placed me exactly where I needed to be and that, in time, He would open the right doors.
So I gave it everything I had.
For eleven years, I practiced. I studied across the country and around the world. I auditioned. I faced rejection after rejection. I spent money I didn't really have and poured nearly every ounce of my energy into pursuing the thing I believed I was called to do.
And every time I thought, Maybe this is it. Maybe this is the breakthrough, another "no" came.
Eventually, life looked different.
I had a family. We had just welcomed another baby, and something in me had changed. I couldn't take another rejection.
More than anything, I wanted to be home.
I wanted to see the little moments of my children's lives. I wanted to be present for breakfast, bedtime, the ordinary Tuesday afternoons that somehow become the memories you treasure most.
So once again, I listened to God.
And that's when He led me somewhere I never expected.
"You've got to be kidding."
My first thought was basically:
"You've got to be kidding. I have no idea how to do this. My sourdough isn't even pretty."
But God knew what I couldn't see yet.
He knew what this little bakery could become.
He knew that the answer I'd been searching for—the thing that could provide for our family while allowing me to be present with my children—was right here.
In a cottage kitchen.
In a loaf of bread.
In something I never would have put on my life plan.
And somehow, the thing I thought was a detour became the beginning of something much bigger.
A Calling Can Grow Alongside You
About four months after we started The Crusty Cottage, I felt God calling me toward something bigger again.
Every week, I looked at the bread and baked goods that hadn't sold and thought:
Surely this can feed someone who is hungry.
And it could.
One of our store owners connected me with Giving Hands Food Pantry, and the first time I met Margaret, I knew this was where our leftover bread belonged.
Giving Hands is unlike any food pantry I've ever seen. It feels like a real grocery store, giving families the dignity of choosing the food they need.
They serve more than 90 families every week.
And I've been told our products are some of their favorites.
That means the bread that didn't sell doesn't have to become waste.
Instead, it becomes breakfast for a family.
A cinnamon roll becomes a sweet treat for someone who may really need one.
A cookie becomes a small reminder that someone cares.
One loaf. One cinnamon roll. One cookie at a time.
That's how we're able to love people in a tangible way.
Feed My Sheep
There's a verse that has taken on a completely different meaning for me through this journey.
Jesus said: "Feed my sheep."
I've spent a lot of my life trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do.
For years, I thought my calling had to look a certain way. I thought it had to be singing on a stage. I thought the doors I was waiting for would eventually open if I just worked hard enough.
But maybe the calling wasn't as much about what I did as it was about who I became while doing it.
To be His witness.
To become more like Christ.
To care for His people.
To use what He's given me to serve others.
For me, right now, that looks like sourdough.
It looks like early mornings in the kitchen.
It looks like raising my children while building a business.
It looks like delivering bread to local businesses.
And it looks like gathering up the leftovers every Tuesday and taking them to people who need them.
I never could have planned this.
But looking back, I can see how God was preparing me for something I couldn't see yet.
This Is Only the Beginning
If you're in a season where you're wondering what you're supposed to do next, I hope you know this:
It's okay if your calling doesn't look the way you thought it would.
It's okay if your path takes longer than you expected.
It's okay if one door closes after another.
It's okay if you're starting something you're not very good at yet.
You don't have to see the whole picture to take the next step.
I certainly didn't.
And somehow, that next step became The Crusty Cottage.
Every time you order a loaf, stop by one of our retail partners, visit us at the farmers market, or tell someone about our little bakery, you're doing more than buying bread.
You're helping us create something that reaches beyond our kitchen.
You're helping feed His sheep.
And for that, I am incredibly grateful.
Thank you for being part of this story.
This is only the beginning.
