Today I am so excited to share with you a post from someone very special!  But first, a little backstory:  My extended family is very small.  My father had no siblings and my mother only had one sister. Aunt Peggy has three children—my only cousins! Ricky, Jill, and James grew up in Florida while my family traipsed around the South with the Marine Corps, so we didn’t spend much time with them while we were growing up. Of course our moms keep us updated on each other.  They are all married now and our lives have intersected periodically and, when they have, I have learned that they are really amazing people who love the Lord. Awesome!

Nowadays, I love to follow my cousins (and their families) on FaceBook.  Recently, James’ wife Sarah (does that make her my cousin-in-law?) posted about a new project of hers.  She has such a lovely story that I just had to ask her to write it down for us. She said yes! I love the connection between what she is doing, and what I am doing…the Lord is knitting our hearts together as He demonstrates His Prodigal nature to us…and through us.  This week and next, I will be sharing her words.  Enjoy!

Sarah, from Psalm51 Soaps

In early spring 2014, I took a soap-making course with some friends of mine. Within the first few minutes, I was hooked! I went home, went online, and purchased all the materials and supplies I needed to make my own soap. My first few batches weren’t great, but I was making at least 1 batch a day, and it didn’t take long before I got the hang of it! I took several more classes from my dear friend, Erin, the very talented owner of Greenwood Soaps, and soon had more soap than I knew what to do with.

I gave soap to family and friends, and within a few months, people were requesting soap from me for birthday parties, showers, holidays, etc. At first I had no desire to turn my soapmaking into a business. As a stay at home mom of two young children, I began making soap as something to do for myself. I was afraid making it into a business would take the joy away from it for me.

While prayerfully considering whether to take the leap and go into business, the Lord laid upon my heart that if I was going to do it, I would do it for Him. While making soap one afternoon as my children napped, I was reminded of a hymn I sang in church growing up, based on Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a clean heart, O’ God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

I thought Psalm 51 Soap would be a perfect name for my soap business because the act of making soap helped me feel renewed during naptime, and the obvious fact that soap cleanses and renews us, just as Jesus washes away our sins and our spirits are renewed through Him. The more I pondered the name choice, the more certain I felt that I should go ahead with Psalm 51 Soap.

I have found that that we could learn a lot from the process of soap-making. Making soap involves a chemical reaction in which lye, caustic on its own, is combined with oil, and is transformed into something beautiful, cleansing, and pure. On its own, lye water is also a liquid, but when combined with oil, it transforms (saponifies) into a solid bar of soap.

Our relationship with Jesus is similar. On our own, we are unclean, we are not solid, and sometimes we are caustic. But Jesus takes all our sin, our negativity, our baggage, and through forgiveness and restoration in Him, He cleanses us, and makes us beautiful and pure. Through Jesus, we become a new creation, clean and purified—solid, like the Rock of our foundation, Jesus.

There is nothing so caustic in our lives or pasts that God won’t forgive us if we come to Him, confess, and seek forgiveness and restoration. David wrote Psalm 51 after committing adultery with Bathsheba, and having her husband killed. He was a king who had set aside all his morals, values, and the law of the Lord to follow his sin. And yet, through his confession in the Psalm, and the Lord’s forgiveness, he was restored.

While making soap may never have near the magnitude of restoration for anyone that David had through his confession in Psalm 51, it is my hope that someone will see the label, look up the verse, and perhaps be changed or renewed through reading it. Even if someone is simply renewed for the day by using the soap, I will have succeeded in encouraging others as Christ encourages me.

More next week on how a prosecuting attorney became an artisan soap maker… 

My name is Sarah, but these days I mostly answer to “Mommy.” I am lucky to be married to my husband James, whose love, wit, and humor keep me going regardless of what life throws at us. We have 2 beautiful daughters, Macy and Riley. I am a lawyer, turned stay at home mom, turned soap-maker/business owner. Admittedly, I am one of “those” moms—the annoying ones who theme everything and cut all food into shapes, whose walls are overflowing with handprint crafts, and who actually attempt to make 99% of everything I pin on Pinterest. I can honestly say I never pictured myself becoming her, before I had kids, but I have since embraced this part of myself and use it as a ministry to other moms and their children.

I usually host several playdates a week for 20+ moms and their kids, and, having been the new mom with no mom-friends, it is my mission to help other moms and their children feel welcomed and included. When I am not playing with my kids or making soap, I can be found reading, crafting, avoiding doing laundry, or dreaming up ways to convince my hubby to move to London, my favorite city in the world.

Find my shop online at Psalm51Soap or like me on Facebook to get updates on new products and where I will be selling them in person!