It has been quite a while since I posted anything on here, since October actually, but it's not because we are winding down or closing Glory Glory Gifts. It's due to a myriad of reasons most of which were technical issues due to old equipment.
Sometime mid last year, Google Chrome started to block many of the sites that we use daily to contact our distributors, log onto the website or eBay, where our biggest store resides. Safari did as well. No problem. We just switched to Firefox and used that instead, but little by little the things we could do on the eBay store were whittled down. Eventually the only thing that we could do, was create shipping labels and I had to use my tablet or phone to do everything else. That becomes quite burdensome when you have a store with 2,000 products on it that you have to maintain and daily sales to ship. Searching on it became a nightmare to update inventory and out of stocks, sending offers, listing new items, etc. No way was I going to download an app on either of my handheld devices to get into the website, and Godaddy, our host, wasn't really allowing access. So I decided to shut the store down on there and use it solely as a gateway to the eBay store. Long story summarized: We no longer have products for purchase on the website BUT there is a link to the eBay store so it's one step further but so much better! I was personally never thrilled with the layout of the website store anyway. I much prefer the format of the eBay marketplace store. If you have never visited it, I suggest that you do! The link is to the right of this post and we have hundreds of items to choose from! We look forward to your visit.
At the same time this was happening, I got very sick for all of February into half of March first with RSV, then bronchitis, then pneumonia, then it went back into some other kind of URI. It was a nightmare and an extremely upsetting time for me. For weeks I struggled with handling the business and keeping things as status quo as I could with customers and I prayed on it. I asked God if it was maybe time to close down and I also prayed to our newest millennial saint, Carlo Acutis (aka my tech guy) for guidance and my prayers were answered!! I found a REALLY sweet deal on a 7-year old Mac on MacSales (highly recommend!!!). A month after we got the new computer, the old computer completely died and so did the printer. Thankfully I found a new one on Target and had it delivered the next day. PTL we are 100% back in business until the good Lord tells me otherwise. Thank you Saint Carlo. You never steer me wrong.
This is our 18th year in business! I can't believe how incredibly fast that time has flown. Our goal is the same and that is to teach people how to pray and to preach the Gospels of Jesus Christ. Every item that we sell has a prayer attached to it, so it is included either physically, via a prayer card(s) or printed on the invoice. Our main prayers are The Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet more specifically. The Divine Mercy Chaplet is for the conversion of souls, even those most hardened of hearts, so it's important that I share it as it IS the reason why Glory Glory was instituted in the first place. It's an amazing prayer! Say it daily. Say it often.
On May 4th I entered The People's Artist contest, through a Facebook ad. I'm not a full-time artist but do enjoy painting and have sculpted in the past. I even had an art exhibit back in the late 70's early 80's with my sculpted works. Anywho, you know how things are with Facebook and bots, they flagged my account, for a bogus charge (as were hundreds of other artists just looking for votes) and I'm not allowed to run any ads (boo hoo), monetize my account (again boo hoo), create or share any videos (SAY WHAT???), until mid-July. Not a big deal that I can't run ads on there since they basically said that targeting Christians or Catholics is not inclusive so it is not allowed. That IS my target audience isn't' it? So yeah, haven't advertised in quite a few years, but don't expect any videos until July.
I received the most amazing gift for my birthday this year and have actually wanted it for the longest time. You know how things go... You really want something but there is always a reason why you have to put it off. Murphy's Law shows his ugly little head. My present? The Ethiopian Bible in English. I believe that it is the earliest version of the Bible dating back to the 300's and was originally written in the Ge-ez language (classic Ethiopian). I love how it is written, especially the additional books. It's very straight forward without the thees and thous and point blank says things like: Jesus healed a leper. Jesus healed Kepha's (Peter) mother from a fever, so she got up and started to serve them. I love that about it, but it doesn't stop me from reading my other Bible that I've had since 1989. (That one is filled with markings in the margins and highlighted sentences.) Anyway, I know that the protestants always attack the Catholics about our veneration of Mary as the Mother of God and how it isn't Biblical and guess what? It is CLEARLY stated in the Ethiopian Bible. Not only that, it also says to pray TO her to ask her Son's intercession. So the veneration of Mary is very much Biblical and has been since a Bible was first written. Also, there are separate books called Täˀammərä Maryam (Miracles of Mary) and also Ta'amra Iyesus (Miracles of Jesus). Miracles of Mary (English name) includes not only veneration of her as the Mother of God, but also her assumption into heaven. The Miracles of Jesus are actually the missing years from birth to 12 and includes several stories about Him. I haven't actually read them yet, but, I have read the Gnostic Gospels and it sounds like they are the same or very similar. We have a toddler running around our house, and he is a handful, so I can't imagine poor Yosef and Miriam admonishing a God child. Whew. That takes some divine intervention 😇. I know that the Ethiopian Bible can be found on the internet, so look it up for yourselves. (I read Enoch on here years ago.) I highly recommend it and especially enjoyed the Book 83, The Covenant II, which includes the Mary passages and Book 88 The Canticles, which is just lovely.
Another fascinating book to read is Jesus in Egypt. That is filled with stories handed down through the Coptic generations of the Holy Family's time there after their flight from Bethlehem. It's written by Paul Perry and has some truly amazing tales of the infant Jesus. Check it out.
The United States is going to be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11th. To prepare for this, the Novena to the Sacred Heart has begun (as of yesterday) and will be said for the 9 days leading up to the consecration. I'm sure EWTN will have some kind of coverage on it, so check your listings! Also, you can have the novena delivered right to your email daily, which is a terrific reminder, from the good folks at PrayMoreNovenas.org. Check them out!
Last, we have so many new and beautiful collections at the store! Here are just a few of our newest so get on over to Glory Glory Gifts eBay store! The link is to the right of the post.
Have a blessed and beautiful day in the Lord and don't forget to say your prayers!
Mare
