06/03/2026
Years ago, when my marriage ended, I found myself in a darkness that felt impossible to escape. I was grieving the loss of a partnership, the loss of the future I thought I was building, and honestly, a loss of myself. The pain felt familiar.
When I was 12 years old, my parents divorced after 22 years of marriage. It happened at an age when I was just beginning to understand the world, and the years that followed were difficult. By 16, I was renting a room in the house of a woman from church, just to create some peace and stability in my life.
It took years, and a lot of reduced rate therapy in college, to help me begin healing from the sadness of losing what I thought was the perfect family. So when I found myself facing divorce as an adult, all of those old wounds came rushing back.
Suddenly, I felt like that scared little girl again.
Only this time, I had two children depending on me and a business with 30 employees who had no idea what I was carrying behind the scenes. There were days when I honestly didn't know how I was going to move forward.
Then something unexpected happened. I got the courage to sell my half of our business and I started building Sheer Ambrosia. At first, it was survival. But slowly, it became something much bigger.
As I poured myself into serving others, something inside of me began to heal. Every customer became an opportunity to create joy. Every order became an opportunity to make someone's day a little brighter. Every extra step, every thoughtful gesture, every moment of genuine care pulled me a little further away from the darkness.
People often tell me they're surprised by how much I care. They're surprised that I go above and beyond. What they don't realize is that extraordinary service wasn't just something I built into my business. It was the thing that rebuilt ME. Serving others brought me back to life. It helped me become the mother I'm proud to be today.
It saved me from bitterness. It saved me from anger. It saved me from becoming a victim of my circumstances. Most importantly, it reminded me that even when our hearts are broken, we still have something valuable to give. And sometimes, the fastest way back to ourselves is through helping someone else.
So if you're struggling right now, if you're carrying a sadness that feels too heavy to bear, find someone to serve. Not because it will make your problems disappear. But because purpose has a way of creating light where darkness once lived.
And one more thing...
Just because you're paid for your service doesn't make it any less meaningful. Serving customers. Serving clients. Serving patients. Serving students. Serving your community. It's all service. And service, when done with love, has the power to transform not only the lives of those receiving it, but the life of the person giving it.
Thank God for service.
-Rita
