How it Started and How It’s Going

I can actually name a day. It was 6/28/2018. The feast of Saint Irenenus, the man that said “the glory of God is man fully alive.”

I was in Georgia - a soon to be sophomore in college. I was working at a camp and was sent on a day of silence. I didn’t know what to do with so much space so I wondered out to the water and sat in front of a giant crucifix.

I laid back and closed my eyes. I asked God to help me pray. I was hot off a few years of hard. My Mom had cancer and we almost lost her. I had just broken up with my long term boyfriend at the time. I had been super sick my senior year. I didn’t really know if I liked college - I think I didn't.

But God and I got along really well, so I laid back in the sun and asked Him to start talking.

In that moment, on that dock, I entered into a deep prayer experience that I still reference. I saw myself lying Jesus’ body in the tomb after He had died. I watched myself bow my head and walk back to my life — I was telling myself that I could handle it. I was saying that death would be okay. I had no inclination of hope - I had plans to “deal with it.” I had given up on what Jesus promised.

When I came back, I saw Jesus, He was alive. And then I saw myself. I immediately put my hands up, as if I didn’t want to accept the gift. I had already decided that death was okay. I literally didn’t want to burden Jesus with the task of his own resurrection. I didn’t want to make him have to do this for us. The miraculous felt like too much to ask for.

I felt Jesus say to me, “Caroline, I will make you a resurrected woman. Start expecting the miracles. Please lean into life.”

I sat up and read every gospel account of the resurrection. I became Mary Magdalene’s biggest fan. When I tore through each gospel story, it was just like everything clicked. Soon, butterflies started to swarm me and land on my legs. They were all little and blue. It was so surreal - I wonder if it even happened. But then again, I quite literally can’t forget.

As I started to unpack all of this, I felt the Lord tell me to start something. It was very a clear charge - find old medals, resurrect them, sell them, speak about leaning into life and start a shop - call it The Resurrected Woman.

And for some reason, I just did. I went home and I designed the logo - a butterfly - the symbol of resurrection and the one Jesus has used to speak to me all my life. I went to estate sales alone and bought medals. I did not know how to make jewelry. I still don’t know how to make jewelry. To whoever bought those necklaces - I’m honestly sorry (LOL).

I would spend so much time in my dorm making things and solving shipping problems. I walked to the bank in the snow to open another checking account. I was speaking pretty fearlessly online. I remember spending Friday nights on hold with the Go Daddy support team. I don’t know where so much determination came from — it was God. I even set up a pop up shop in my public university’s student center. I was being so bold - but at the time, I didn’t know anything different.

I kept going and trying to be obedient. But then I started to feel really dumb. I would hide the project from friends and would feel so alone. All of the sudden, I started to wonder who I thought I was. I was worried about what people were saying about me. This vision from The Lord felt deflated when I held it up for other people. I felt really small and unsure. I wanted to hide.

But I kept coming back to the story of Mary Magdalene. I kept asking her for help.

I don’t speak about that passion project much anymore because it feels so tender to me. But 5 years later, I can kind of see it now.

When I worked for Go and Tell Gals - a business named after resurrected Jesus’s command to Mary Magdalene - our mission was to help women who have these dreams and ideas feel less alone. We helped them use their gifts for the good of others and the glory of God. We encouraged them to go & tell. I got to be the person in their corner telling them to keep going.

It was because of The Resurrected Woman and all that God taught me in building it that I get to doing the work I do now.

I learned how to market, manage e-commerce, send emails, solve SEO issues and build websites because of that little business. That’s what my agency, Migrate Marketing, helps other businesses do now.

I really can’t imagine the reaction that Mary Magdalene received after she did what Jesus asked her to do. I doubt anyone believed her. But she did it anyway. She kept going. And the world was changed because of her mission.

The world will be changed because of yours, too. Do not shy away. Resurrection is real. Resurrection is here.

I hope this gives you hope. In the end, it does all add up.

Expect the miracle - keep going!

C