My previous job only seemed to know the words company
culture, but was very uneducated in what those words truly meant. I had
been there for ten years and felt unseen, unheard, and unvalued. In my final
year, I left a position I loved—not because I wanted to, but because I felt
forced into a different role. And so, I prayed. For months. I asked God to
intervene. And let me tell you—He showed up.
I always wondered how people landed those “fantastic”
work-from-home jobs, but I never really believed they existed. That is, until
one day I saw a social media post from a former coworker about a remote support
role. I reached out. What makes this
part of the story special is that I worked with this coworker 26 years ago.
She remembered my work ethic from back then, and that alone led her to give me
a glowing recommendation to the company owner. That recommendation is how I was
hired at NLT. The role was officially
“support,” and while I felt like I’d always been in support roles, they
actually hired me based on the last role I’d held at my previous
company—the role I never wanted in the first place. Yep. That one. Funny how God works like that.
Fast forward to January 2026—arguably one of the hardest
months I’ve had in a long time. My sweet Polly girl, my best friend of eight
years, my four-footed beast, crossed over the rainbow bridge and left me
completely shattered. At the same time,
I learned that the company I had been with for just over a year was being
acquired. We were all invited to an annual Owners Meeting the following week. I
decided to go to Wisconsin and hoped I could hold myself together for 24 hours.
“Do not cry.
Do not speak without thinking.
Don’t fall.
Don’t sweat off your eyebrows.
Don’t embarrass yourself—or the company.”
That internal monologue played on repeat. There was also a
very real please don’t fart crisis, but thankfully that one stayed on
the plane ride home.
So there I was—on a 24-hour work trip in Wisconsin—enduring
the coldest temperatures I’ve ever experienced: -22 degrees. The walk
from the airport to the red minivan was brutal. The walk from the red minivan
into the resort? Even worse. I worried the cold Wisconsin welcome might extend beyond the weather and
into the room full of “new” coworkers I was about to meet. But once inside, I
learned that was not the case, everyone was so welcoming and warm.
This meeting was the Annual Owners Meeting of an ESOP
company. I had no idea what ESOP meant—and yes, I may have been Googling it at
the table.
It means everyone there was an owner of the company. Including
me. I was completely flabbergasted by the number of employees being
celebrated—not just five years, but ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, and even forty
years. They use the term Legacy when you join the company, because
as long as you are an owner, you are part of the legacy being built.It gives an
entirely new meaning to the phrase own your title. For now, my title is Payroll Practitioner
II—but you never know where a legacy might lead.
This company also has a Pay It Forward program, where
everyone is given $50 to use however they choose to bless others. I sat with
that decision for quite a while. There were so many good options—so many people
in need—and truly, you can’t go wrong. But
I wanted it to be something special. Something
that could potentially grow even bigger with time.
Every day, I look out the window beside my home desk and see
the garden space I’ve been tinkering with for the past four years. Each year I
add something new, and this year, I finally knew what that “something” would
be. I decided to use the $50 to buy more
plants than I normally would—to grow more food to give away during the summer
months. I’ll reach out to churches, local organizations, or even social media
to see if families need fresh vegetables or something to help put dinner on the
table that week.
I’m calling this section of my garden Grammy’s Gifting
Garden.
I’m blessed to live on the same property my grandmother once
owned and gardened herself. Gardening brings me a joy I never knew I needed.
Each season, I learn something new—about the soil, the plants, and myself. Some years the crops may not produce much,
but I’ll keep tending that space, year after year, hoping for the same result
every time: helping to feed those around me—just like my Grammy did.
QPS is about legacy, and in this small but meaningful way,
it’s helping me continue hers—feeding one soul at a time.
All those months I spent praying, I never imagined God would
bless me so deeply through a workplace—planting me in a position where I could
grow more with QPS than I ever did with before. The encouragement, teamwork,
and sense of belonging I’ve experienced over the past year and a half have been
worth every uncomfortable moment that came before it.
Because I had to be in a place of discomfort. I believe that’s where I finally handed it
all over to God.
When He was planting me, I felt unseen.
When He was pruning me, I felt poked and pushed.
When He was watering me, I felt like I was drowning.
All because I was resisting the very process meant to help
me grow.
But when I finally trusted His timing—when I stopped
fighting the planting, the pruning, and the watering—everything started to
change.
And that is where I am now:
Planted with purpose.
Growing with intention.
Grateful beyond words.
Sincerely,
M.E.
