I Decided to Live — And That Decision Changed Everything

Good morning Beautiful,

I want to share something personal with you today.

Many people see the business now. They see the growth, the programs, the community of women, and the impact that continues to grow through BAM.

But this journey didn’t start with a business plan.

It started with a decision to live.

In 2015, I was very sick. I was dealing with kidney disease and the medication I was on had taken such a toll on my body that I had to walk with a cane. My body was weak and the symptoms I was experiencing were so severe that the doctors told me something that shook me deeply.

They said, “If you were to come off the medicine doses that are causing you to go through symptoms like a cancer patient, you could go into a coma.”

In that moment, something shifted in me.

I heard so clearly in my spirit:
There is a tomorrow.

That moment changed everything for me.

From that day forward, I made a decision.
If I was going to live… I was going to live for real.

The first thing I started doing was journaling. I began writing about my healing journey, my faith, my thoughts, and what I was experiencing while walking through that season.

What started as private journal entries soon became something more.

That journal turned into my first book.

That book opened the door for something I never imagined. I began creating curriculums for women to help them grow and glow into their full potential. I wanted women to know that their story mattered and that they could rise beyond what they had been through.

From there, I began showing up more visibly on social media. I started building communities of women, encouraging them, empowering them, and sharing from my own journey through other books that I wrote.

Women began to connect with the message.

They began to believe again.

They began to start things they once thought were impossible.

Then my husband came on board, and together we built what has now become a family business.

Today, that vision has grown into something bigger than we ever imagined. What started with a journal and a decision to live has now grown into a company with employees and subcontractors and a seven-figure business that continues to grow.

And through the BAM — Butterfly Academy Mentorship Program, I have had the privilege of watching women transform their lives.

I have seen women:

Start businesses.
Launch nonprofits.
Build ministries.
Step into leadership.
And begin walking boldly in their full potential.

The greatest joy for me is seeing women realize that their life still has purpose.

That they can learn on purpose for their purpose.

When I look back to that moment in 2015, I realize something powerful.

What the enemy meant to slow me down…
God used to birth something bigger than me.

And I want to say this to you today:

Your story still has power.
Your life still has purpose.
And what you have been through may be the very thing that unlocks what you are meant to build.

Sometimes all it takes is a decision.

The decision to live.
The decision to heal.
The decision to start.

And that decision can change everything. So sis, go ahead and start something.

Your sister in Christ, Love & Prosperity,

Tonya

www.tonyaharden.com