Faith Family And Fresh Baking Daily

A year later, after that message I moved back to Louisiana to be a part of that church, I began putting my hand to whatever I could, but I really loved serving in hospitality. I started helping my Aunt Charlotte, who is like a 4th mother to me lol. Together we made all kinds of food, she showed me so many cooking skills and we started to bake cheesecakes together too. When I look back my training for that even began earlier when I was 15 I began working in restaurants as a hostess, but tried to get involved with as much of the operations as I could, from bussing tables, to setting them, pouring drinks, heading up the other hostesses. Then the Lord called me to go to bible school. I would joke with people and tell them “I am going to be a cooking evangelist, I’m gonna bake a pie and throw out a scripture! After 2 years I came back with my new husband and we began serving in the church. I was put on staff as church receptionist and from there things just took off. Within a short time, I was helping my aunt with every facet of hospitality because of the many events my pastors would plan and as they began to grow in the awareness of health and wellness I knew I had to follow suit to meet those needs. So I began creating the menus and eventually preparing a lot of the food. For 9 years I did that, for no pay, never expecting anything in return, I just loved doing it. For years people would say are you going to open a restaurant, cater etc….and I would say no, I just love doing it. It’s always been very normal for me to read a cookbook as much as the Bible. I look at pictures, study presentation, etc… In 2013 my former Pastor’s…Pastor’s David & Paige Divelbiss, who by the way are still mentoring me, hosted there first conference under their new ministry adventure and I was given the task of preparing the menu, food and serving. I was stressed out to say the least. Because I had set the dream down, due to life situations. But I pressed through with a lot of tears. One night, a beautiful blonde lady was there and I had the privileged of serving her. Her name was Pastor Sandy Ward of NorthStar Ministries in Dallas Texas. She loved my salad dressing, so much she kept going on about how I should sell. I treasured that moment in my heart, but that’s where it stayed. I remember driving one day a few months after that and calling my mom. I said “mom, that’s it, I am supposed to do something with food” but my husband was not in agreement, I even looked at a specific place, got a vision, but just laid it down. We even went to a conference in July, where a minister said some of you are called to do 2 things and you need to come up here so I can pray for you and I knew in my heart that was me, but I said Lord I can’t go up there, b/c Devin is not in agreement. This was a scenario that had been played out in my heart over 18 years, because in the beginning, I would walk our downtown area and visualize a little food shop. Again the next my pastor’s held their conference and I was again given the same task and again the pressure was on, even more so because one the ministers was a well-known restaurateurs in the Florida area! I had to redo the menu, I even said “I am just serving I don’t own a restaurant! That was a very stressful time, my husband and I had made two very bad financial decisions back in 2006 and it almost completely broke us, we literally lived day to day for 8 ½ years. And we were worn out. God has always been so gracious to us and sustained us and made a way of escape for us, but this was a breaking point after the conference. I began really questioning the Lord, seeking Him for answers, “why Lord why are we still living like this, what adjustments do we make, what do we do” We tried selling our house for 5 years and 3 deals fell through. Around the middle of august I started taking steps to find a job. I don’t have a college education, just 7 years college experience and a ministerial certificate. I applied for every job I felt I could do, but It didn’t’ seem right in my heart. I even told the Lord, look I got 2 things in my house, 1. My voice and aint nobody paying me to preach and 2. My hands I can cook. Then….on the morning of September 23, 2014, I sat down with the Lord, like I do most every morning with my coffee and bible, the kids were at school and my husband was at work. I felt in my heart I needed to go back and read the passages that I heard that minister speak 26 years ago. So I looked it up, you see, numbers aren’t my strongest suit, so I would always go now, where are those passages I know they are in Kings, but where. I found them, but the first passage was in 1st Kings 17 and the 2nd was in 2nd Kings. 4 as I read those passages, I really began to feel the presence of the Lord, and In my heart I heard Him say read them again, so I did. Then The Lord spoke to my heart and said “Jodie you have fed the priests for years, now it’s time to feed your family” and I sat there stunned. He then began to give me confirmation after confirmation that this was HIS PLAN. He then said pay attention to the numbers…1st kings 17—my birthday is January 17, Elijah, was first—My name has a J—these were all simple memory techniques to help me remember the passages in order, because one day I would be ministering on them and I wouldn’t get them confused. As I sat there, I sent out 4 texts to some friends and said what do you think if I started cooking healthy clean meals for families. One was my cousin who is a personal trainer, Dustin Divelbiss and she said that would be great and to come introduce my services to her boot camp classes. Word spread quickly, I had about 20 people want meals, thankfully I have a great kitchen to work out of and on the first day I started at 8 am and didn’t finish until 2 am and our first day of paid sales was October 7, 2014 one the first day (1) we had 17 paid sales, (it was about $600)…another confirmation. The business has quickly grown, last week we broke another record, 136 paid meals (8x17=136) our gross sales were $4200, I now have 3 part time employees, we are in the process of opening up our building. We have over 400 customers now in our data base. At the beginning of every work day, we pray the anointing over each meal, we pray that the presence of God permeates their spirit soul and body that it ministers health to their physical body and their heart. Every week I am amazed to the point of tears at how gracious God has been to us and to truly watch how when we do His word, ,it works. You see every single person has a talent, gift and ability in their own hands to produce an income, I can prove it out in so many passages now. The name of our business is Geaux Fresh, sitting in service a few months ago the Lord spoke to my heart again and said what is the first name in your business, I said “Geaux” and He said that’s exactly what you are going to do….Mark 16:15…..right after that I went to Jamaica and had the privilege of sharing part of this testimony……that’s my story…..and it’s not done….what’s yours.

Fast Forward from 2016-2018 we were just learning to run a restaurant. I cried every night and quit every night the first 6 months. But of course I wouldn’t stop because I knew God wanted me to do this. In 2018, one of my best friends came out of Louisiana Adult & Teen Challenge and saw the need for a transition home for women coming out of faith based recovery programs. And that is when the lightbulb went off inside of me and I knew I was supposed to hire any of those girls that wanted a job, regardless of what had taken place in their lives. I wanted them to have a safe place to work. Fast forward to 2020 we entered a pandemic, wow, we survived and didn’t have to shut down. Fast forward to September 2021 and HGTV comes to our town and that’s where our story is now. From December 2021 to February 2022 HGTV did a renovation to the front of our restaurant and we have also been featured in People Magazine! God is amazing and I take no credit for what He has done, I am just thankful and grateful He saved me from myself and is using me to help others.