February 2016 Event Recap – Julia Miller

“The Chaos of Beauty”

The February KIROS breakfast event was blessed to have Julia Miller share how God uses the messiness of life and business to glorify himself in the world. Julia has been blessed by God with the gift of creating beauty with her talent, her hands and her warm and spirit-filled presence. Julia is the owner of Julia’s Floral in Tacoma since 1986. She is an award-winning wedding floral designer, wife, mother, and expectant grandmother. She is Vice President of the Tacoma/South Puget Sound Chapter of National Association for Catering and Events, and a volunteer youth minister and lector at her church.

Julia opened with Romans 8:18: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” God has a bigger plan that through our present suffering the glory and beauty of God would be seen. Julia shared with the group photos of the beautiful weddings and fabulous events she has created and also photos of the craziness, messiness and utter chaos that takes place in the world of the creative. There are three things she has learned about the chaos of beauty and business in general.

The Creative Chaos
When Julia creates those beautiful wedding flowers and lovely settings, all we see is the finish product. We don’t see the mess in the back room. Just like dining in a fine restaurant, we see the lovely presentation but not the mess and disarray in the kitchen.

The Chaos of Lesson
Time and energy are gifts from God and we need to learn to use them well. Julia allows time and space for God to speak to her; she calls this her secret garden. When God speaks through that still small voice, listen and let God speak. Learning to trust our intuition often saves us from disaster. Not every prospect is a good prospect and if we learn to listen, we will know whether they should become a client/customer.

The Uncontrollable Chaos
Julia shared that God is in charge of her calendar. Sometimes there is not a warning sign for a difficult client or a life-changing event.

God and Julia are business partners. Her prayer to the Lord at all times is that “His Holy and Perfect glory will be done in my Life.” It was evident that the Spirit of God was present in the room that morning, for God existed in the gap of the chaos of our lives for His Glory.

Question:
Reflecting on your life and business right now, is there a specific situation that feels like, looks like or is presenting itself to you as chaos?