Imagine Yourself Podcast

Faith Over Fear: Singer Gabbie McGee on How to Get Your Confidence Back

August 06, 2022 Imagine Yourself Podcast Season 4 Episode 11
Imagine Yourself Podcast
Faith Over Fear: Singer Gabbie McGee on How to Get Your Confidence Back
Show Notes Transcript

Do you ever feel like the biggest thing holding your back is…you? Whether it’s starting something new or starting something over, many times fear and self-doubt creep in and try to squash our dreams. Vocalist Gabbie McGee is an inspiration for all of us looking to overcome these confidence killers. Her story is one of leaning on faith, family, and her own determination to bring her amazing talent back out into the world. 

Struggling with the feeling of not being good enough isn’t uncommon for anyone, but it can be multiplied when you’ve got the pressure of the public spotlight. In this episode, Gabbie talks about her break from the music business for her own mental and spiritual health, and what she faced re-entering the super-competitive world of entertainment. She says sitting at home and watching some of the people she started in the business with accepting Grammy’s and American Music Awards was not easy, but she does not regret taking a step back for one minute. She wants us to know that not only is it OK to take a break when you need to, but not to be afraid to get back in when you want to. Her coach inspired her with the words, “Don’t let your age or what you think has passed you by, stop you from doing something right now.” That’s a word for all of us!

We think you’ll love meeting Gabbie!  Not only is she an award-winning jazz vocalist, but she’s also a songwriter and music composer for film & television. And, she’ll be the first to tell you that her favorite role is at home where she is a wife and busy mom of three.  Listen in as she fills us in on the highs and lows of her life with some amazing stories about how God has used both wonderful and difficult things: from Steve Harvey being blown away by her singing voice on Family Feud to how she turned the heartbreaking loss of her sister into a beautiful online boutique called Bloom & The Bee to honor her memory and serve others. We’ll also learn about her latest endeavors, including a way to support her in the Opening Act contest for a chance to sing at the Hollywood Bowl. Click play to meet your new favorite singer and to get some truly incredible inspiration. 

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Sandy Kovach  [00:00:02]:

Welcome to Imagine Yourself podcast where we help you imagine your next chapter of life with grace, gratitude, courage and faith.

Lanée Blaise [00:00:10]:

Hello, everyone in the world of Imagine Yourself. You are in for a treat today. I'm Lanee here with Sandy and we are about to make this episode sing. So imagine yourself living out your dreams in three dynamic ways. Having a fantastic family, a beautiful business, and a singing voice that is so musically magnificent that it takes everyone who listens on a journey. Now, imagine yourself having those very vulnerable times when you struggle with balancing it all and you wonder if you're in the right direction and you wonder how God plans to keep everything in motion and in harmony. If you have ever felt like this, like you don't know how to get or stay on the right path, listen in. Because we have award winning jazz vocalist and songwriter Gabbie McGee here today. She sings, composes music for films and television. She's a wife and mother of three, the owner of the most adorable online boutique, Bloom and The Bee, and she can cook like nobody's business. Jazz magazine even said Gabbie McGee is jazz and soul all wrapped up in a pretty little box of the blues. So she has it all, I guess. I don't know. We're going to find out because I know that no matter how fabulous our life may seem on the outside, we all have struggles and we all need God as the source of our strength and our confidence. So let's jump into this. Today we want to welcome songbird extraordinaire Gabbie McGee.

Gabbie McGee [00:01:59]:

First of all, I want to say hey. I am so happy to be here. You ladies are the bomb.com. What you do and I so enjoy imagine yourself. I know it's not a podcast exclusively for creatives, but I feel so at home, like you guys are speaking directly to me, to my life, the things that I go through. I'm just so, so happy to be here. I'm a fan.

Sandy Kovach  [00:02:31]:

Thank you. So we've heard a lot of your accolades and I've seen some of your videos, heard some of your music. Amazing. And we'll be talking more about that for folks who may not have. But what I kind of want to get into is because a lot of this podcast is going to be about your story of overcoming fear and doubt and the discouragements and things that have happened to you on the way that are so common to all of us, no matter what we're doing, big or small. What are some of the struggles?

Gabbie McGee [00:03:04]:

I struggle I don't want to say very deeply, but I do. I struggle a lot with self confidence and feeling like what I'm doing is good enough.

Lanée Blaise [00:03:17]:

You are not alone on that. That is just something that I can look on this zoom right now and say, gabby, you are so beautiful. I see you on Instagram. The pictures of your family and I hear your voice and it's like, where is there any room for a lack of self confidence? But because we all have it and because I've been watching you, it seems like you gain your confidence and strength by staying full of faith in God.

Gabbie McGee [00:03:50]:

Oh, absolutely. And I was going to say, I think of my life as a beautiful cake. When you see a cake, especially if it's a red velvet, yes. You see it and it's like, oh, it's beautiful, looks so good. But there are some things that go into making a cake that you wouldn't eat just by themselves. You wouldn't eat a raw egg, you wouldn't just sit up and eat some flour. You might think that you want to eat some sugar, but after a while it's going to be too much for you. So there are so many things that in my life, just learning the balance of my blessings. There's a scripture that I think about often that says the blessings of the Lord makes a man rich and adds no sorrow. So women, God gives us the career that we've been imagining, the family that we've been imagining, the marriage, the children, all of those things, the community, it can very quickly and easily turn into a burden if we don't understand who helps us to manage it all. And we allow the Lord to walk with us as we embrace our beautiful blessings.

Sandy Kovach  [00:05:18]:

Not only does he help us embrace our blessings, but when we do have those moments of doubt or like you said, all these blessings that he's given you in the natural, we might just constantly be afraid of losing that, right?

Gabbie McGee [00:05:35]:

Yes. Anxiety definitely happens. That's one of the things that if you want to put a name to what I struggle with and how I struggle with my self conscious and worrying, am I doing it enough? Was this good enough? Was that the best that I could have done in talking with my children and ministering to them and helping to disciple them and encouraging my husband? And did I do it all? And did I do it all in the right way?

Sandy Kovach  [00:06:08]:

Which of course, none of us are perfect.

Gabbie McGee [00:06:11]:

Death to perfectionism.

Sandy Kovach  [00:06:13]:

Absolutely.

Gabbie McGee [00:06:14]:

I love that.

Lanée Blaise [00:06:15]:

There's another aspect too, though, that might resonate. Like you said, there are so many times where people do feel like we are talking directly to them. And so a lot of our listeners are right, kind of teetering on the edge of something new. New challenges, new transitions, new life, new job, different things dealing with relationships. And sometimes we feel that because of our age, we might have aged out of certain opportunities. And I was even just listening to you on Instagram Live the other day. You're at at GABS McGee.

Gabbie McGee [00:06:55]:

Yes.

Lanée Blaise [00:06:56]:

You said to do the things that fear and doubt try to convince you that you can't do. And you mentioned on your website that you had to overcome some thoughts as far as ageism in the music industry and just realize that this is a God given talent and you've got to do what you're going to do with it. And we want to kind of hear a little bit more about that so that we can duplicate that in our lives.

Gabbie McGee [00:07:24]:

Oh, wow. I had my last baby at 38 years old. My first children, I had twins the first time I was 26. Big difference. Yes, some things had changed. It was such a different pregnancy. And even with having know the first time, this later in life baby, her name is Ella Grace Kelly. She is the boss of us all. It was just different. It was such a challenge for me to come back from maternity leave because each time when I've given birth, the Lord allows me, and I thank him for this and my husband also, to be able to take time away. No stress about trying to tour, complete any projects, just have that time to be with my children and to nurture them and to sing over them and have days where we're in our pajamas and we eat Nutella straight from the jar. And so I discovered this time around though, as I was approaching my forty s and then having a two year old, and now my twins are now teenagers, my marriage is now in the teens. Everything was different. I was different. My body responded differently to being on the road and my husband and I would always stop and say, how did we do this with two babies? Like, we would take them on tour with us and pack them up and have two babies in two carriers. And I would have one on this booby and one on the other booby and feeding them in the van and it was never a thought. And then when Ella came along and I was older, it was just like, lord, I'm tired, this is all what is happening. So getting back to music after that, and then having experienced some things that changed me, some traumas. I lost my sister, my only sister, to cancer. She was 28 years old. And then my best friend, who is a cousin, because cousins are your first best friends for me and a lot of families. Danny, she had cancer also. And three months after Ella was born, I lost her to cancer as well. Six months after that, my vocal coach, who was a very dear friend of mine, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. And then a couple of years after her diagnosis, she transitioned and went to be with the Lord. So a lot of the women who were there for me, my support system, my Cheerleaders, my gal pals, were all gone. And I took time away to process and to heal. And I needed to get some Christian counseling and therapy to just get through the mourning process of losing so many people so close to me in such a short period of time. The start of it all, Ella was three months old, but when I looked up and I was like, okay, I'm ready to get back out there, ella was six years old, and now I'm 43. And it's different. The industry is different. The social media aspect of your music and presenting yourself and how you grow your audience and interact with your audience, it's different. It scared the mess out of me.

Sandy Kovach  [00:11:41]:

Yeah, I think that's true in a lot of industries, but especially anything in the entertainment industry. And you do have to be aware of your social media and how you appear on camera and how you do this and do you know the latest trends? How are you relating to your audience yada, yada, yada. In the music industry now, you are dependent on also people downloading your music or finding you on Spotify or whatever, as opposed to back in the day where you get a record deal, and now you're just out there. So in another way, you're more free, right, as far as what you want to do with your music?

Gabbie McGee [00:12:18]:

Oh, absolutely. And here's the thing. The Lord has been so good to me in that aspect. I've always been an independent artist and what I want to do musically, how I want to present myself, the types of places and venues where I want to perform. And that was just such a gift because growing up in Mississippi, my family is very strict Southern Baptist. And so it was a blow to my mama and my papa, who paid for my piano lessons, for me to say, hey, I kind of want to leave the church and sing some jack.

Lanée Blaise [00:13:03]:

Yeah.

Gabbie McGee [00:13:03]:

I had felt very strongly that God was saying, I want you to come over into this marketplace. My mama, she recently went to be with the Lord, but before going, she let me know that she was so proud of me. And one of the things that helped her be comfortable with the fact that, yeah, God is using Gabbie while she's singing to Steve Harvey, her seeing me on the Family Feud and Steve Harvey saying, Shut up. That's some good know. She was so like and when he said that, I was so happy, so proud. You were using what God gave you.

Sandy Kovach  [00:13:52]:

So could you tell us a little more about that for people? Linnae and I were just talking about the video that we've seen on YouTube of you and Steve Harvey. Can you tell us how that all went down?

Gabbie McGee [00:14:01]:

Well, first of all, our family was trying to figure out how to do this big family trip. We all felt like we need a vacation and we should all be together and let's see how we can do this. And so one night, my husband and I were watching television, and they were like, hey, did your family ever want to be on the Family Feud? And I was, yes, yes, we need we need to win some money in a and so I submitted an email saying, hey, we're the Kellys. We love music, we love Jesus, and we need money that could be said for a lot of people, but no, I love so let us get on your show. And we got on the show, and of course, the producers come around and they're like, so what does everybody do? And my sister in law, who's my best friend, Patricia, she was just like, I'm a surgeon. And at that time, she was doing her residency, getting ready to go and do her residency. She's now a family practice physician and an inventor that's out of this world with apps. And she's so smart. That's why she's my bestie. My husband is I'm an audio engineer. My brother in law, he's an audio engineer as well. He's an entrepreneur. And my sister in law Tracy, who was on the show with us, she is a homeschool teacher and educational advocate who, if anybody in the world ever needs to know anything about what you need to be doing to teach your children. She was the go to person for the pandemic and just for life. So everybody's saying what they do. And my sister in law is like, Well, Gabbie can sing. Yes, she can. Can she sing or can she SING? And Patricia's like, no, she can SING. The very first jazz song that I fell in love with and knew, this is what I want to do, is Summertime. And it was the Ella Fitzgerald version. I just remember when I was younger and I heard her, she just really took a song that is an opera and made it into something that's hers. So the first words out of my mouth was, Summertime and the rest is history. I love that clip.

Lanée Blaise [00:16:48]:

Like Sandy and I said, we enjoyed watching it. I love your voice. And these are just the things that you take the gifts that God has given you, and you use them, whether it's in a secular way, whether it doesn't have to be gospel music to reach people's hearts. But you follow the pathway that God lays out for you, and you do your best to balance your home life and your career life, your work life. You even have your business, your boutique. We'll talk about that, too. And then you leave the rest up to God.

Gabbie McGee [00:17:21]:

Yes, you have to.

Lanée Blaise [00:17:23]:

Because it also seems like I mean, I'm taking notes on what you've been saying today, because it seems like, like you said with your sister in law, you share resources. As far as you said, anyone who needs education, you share resources in life. You use God to help balance your blessings. You took time away when you needed to take time away, when life got really hard and deep and real, and you got christian counseling. You are doing the right things. It seems to me. Now, I might be wrong, but it seems to me that you didn't get caught up in the, oh, my gosh, I'm going to run out of time. If I take this time away, then everything will fall apart. God can make things wait for you. God can open opportunities and doors for you when you take that needed time away. Am I right?

Gabbie McGee [00:18:08]:

Lynette I did. I did have those thoughts, though, initially. Don't get me wrong. I was very concerned. I was like, oh, God, are they going to forget about me? Because I struggled so much with am I going to get left behind? And then the spirit of comparison kind of creeped in. And I was seeing other artists who I took off the race with, who were now Grammy Award winners and getting American Music Awards and just blowing up, as they say. And I began to kind of slip into a depression because I felt like I was left behind. I felt like I was forgotten. I felt like those things that I was clearly on a path towards weren't going to be mine and I was going to run out of time. And I remember the episode when you guys were talking about when you hear the Lord speak to you and how I will never forget this. I was driving to take my children to school, and the Lord spoke to me and he said, brush up on your national anthem. Very specific. I love this.

Lanée Blaise [00:19:31]:

Yeah.

Gabbie McGee [00:19:31]:

Wow. And I was like, okay. So I went to develop a rendition of the national anthem that was jazzy and me. There were a couple of things that he said to me that day, and I'm just driving. A lot of times my drive time is my time before the kids all pile into the van. That is my time with God, and that's my worship time. That's my prayer time, the one on one time with God. And in that time he said, there is a way that if you follow my blueprint, you will get to the awards and the Grammys and Tonys and Emmys and all of those things, because I imagine myself as an EGOT.

Sandy Kovach  [00:20:23]:

Yes, John Legend has nothing on you.

Gabbie McGee [00:20:27]:

I imagine myself as an EGOT. And I just want to shout out Jennifer Hudson for opening door and reminding me that it is so possible. But the Lord was saying to me, there is a way that I've made for you, and it's not the way that you think. And he was saying to me, I've got a plan. If you follow me and you listen to me, you can get to those things, but it won't take you in a way that will cause you to go away from me and to be distracted from the mission and the heart that I've given you. I kind of sat with that for a while because I was just what? When? How what?

Sandy Kovach  [00:21:17]:

I wish everybody could see Gabbie's face.

Gabbie McGee [00:21:19]:

The face she just made a couple of days later. I love how God does this. I love how he gives you and that's the thing. He doesn't have to because he's God and he can do what he wants. He's sovereign. But I love how he loves on us as his children to say, I'm going to show you a little something so that you can see what I'm talking about, so that you can trust that I got this. A couple of days after this, my husband comes to me and he's working as an audio engineer for a television network. And he says, man, we've got to do this thing and they need some church music. And he was like, but they want it to sound like the Jeffersons moving on up. But the licensing is so expensive, they'd rather just pay thousand dollars and get it done to where they can just use it all they want. When he said this to me, the Lord says, you know what they're looking for. And I was like, I do. And I go to the piano. We're on our way to the top now. Ain't no time to stop now. And it's not the moving on up, but it's in that vein. My husband is like, wait, let's record that. So in some yoga pants and a sports bra, I go into our home studio and record it. He takes it to the manager that was looking for this song, and they're like, that's perfect. That's exactly what we're talking about. Here's a check. Whoa, God. My introduction to composing for film and television. Which, Sandy, you know this that's a way to get a Grammy, an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony. Yeah.

Sandy Kovach  [00:23:25]:

So, my goodness, what a story in your yoga pants impromptu.

Gabbie McGee [00:23:32]:

And I didn't have to put on lashes and I didn't have my house, and I was still able to be with my children, with my husband. I didn't think that I could be doing music in this way and still be with my family and be not in clubs and in environments that are not really conducive to the things that I need to grow through.

Sandy Kovach  [00:24:04]:

He comes up with ways that we would have never thought, just when things look impossible. So you've grown your musical career to this great point, and you are also in the middle of a contest, too, right?

Gabbie McGee [00:24:15]:

Yes. Oh, my gosh, here we go again, talking about stepping out of fear and doubt, just launching out into the deep and trusting God. We didn't really go through all of what happened while I was taking those sabbaticals, those mental breaks in the times that I needed to take away. The Lord told me, shut down your social media. Shut down your website completely be in this healing time. At the time, I had over 10,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram just so much that I had built over the years and to be able to really just step away. It was really a ram in the bush kind of thing because I'm just like, all I've dreamed and imagined since I was four years old is being a singer and having a career as a singer, being like Whitney Houston and for God to say, will you give that to me?

Sandy Kovach  [00:25:28]:

Wow. So the Abraham Isaac ram in the bushes that's what I'm picking up. He provided the ram at the last moment. Did you shut your accounts down?

Gabbie McGee [00:25:39]:

I did.

Sandy Kovach  [00:25:40]:

Oh, my mean, it's one thing to.

Gabbie McGee [00:25:42]:

Jump off, but yeah, I shut them all down, deleted them. And then, too, I was grateful when I did come back that I did, because there was a lot that if I had continued to look at it and see it and I wouldn't have been able to heal and completely give all of the things that had hurt me the traumas and the loss and the grief and the heaviness give that to the Lord. I still would have been trying to hang on to some stuff with the memories and the reminders. I call this my first time back. Yeah. I am literally starting over.

Lanée Blaise [00:26:29]:

You're being reborn.

Gabbie McGee [00:26:31]:

Right.

Lanée Blaise [00:26:31]:

It sounds to me like you gave the hard things to God, but you also gave the big, shiny things to God also.

Gabbie McGee [00:26:41]:

And I'm still in a process of getting counseling and Christian coaching as I rebuild. One of the things that my coach shout out to Coach Quay I love her so much, and I've been going through her Christian coaching program. One of my homework assignments was to not let my age or what I think I've missed and what has passed me by stop me from doing something now.

Sandy Kovach  [00:27:15]:

Oh, that's a word right there for so many people.

Gabbie McGee [00:27:19]:

Yes. And one of the things I had to do was do a live where nobody booked me, nobody hired me, but I just want to sing to my fans and followers and people, and I'll put myself out there. This contest was what God sent to help me.

Sandy Kovach  [00:27:43]:

The contest? Yes. So give us the details on that and how we can participate and vote for you and all of that.

Gabbie McGee [00:27:50]:

Well, it is an opening act opportunity that is benefiting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It is a contest or a concert rather, that's held every year at the Hollywood Bowl. The crazy thing is, though, before coach Quay gave me the assignment, I was trying to figure out a way out of putting myself out there without doing it.

Sandy Kovach  [00:28:23]:

Oh, you mean before you went on the Instagram live the first time?

Gabbie McGee [00:28:26]:

Yes.

Sandy Kovach  [00:28:27]:

You just didn't want to do it.

Gabbie McGee [00:28:29]:

I was trying to figure out, how.

Sandy Kovach  [00:28:30]:

Can I what excuse can make?

Gabbie McGee [00:28:32]:

Yeah, right. Yeah. How can I do this? And so I saw this thing one day, and it's like, do you want to sing at the Hollywood Bowl? And I was like, yes, I do. Bowl is turning 100 years old. I'm like, I can believe that because Elephant Gel sang there for 50 years. And it's like, well, this is what you have to do. And I read the rules and everything and I was like, okay, just submit videos of yourself and show your music, your original music, and how this could be an opportunity for you in your career. I did not realize, though, that the social media engagement required you getting the audience to say, yeah, this is why I deserve to be here. I did not know that there would be voting.

Sandy Kovach  [00:29:28]:

Would that have stopped you?

Gabbie McGee [00:29:30]:

Probably.

Lanée Blaise [00:29:33]:

And God knew that.

Gabbie McGee [00:29:35]:

God knew that I'll just wait and.

Lanée Blaise [00:29:37]:

Let that be revealed later.

Gabbie McGee [00:29:39]:

Right. So I submitted all the stuff and then they sent me the emails like, congratulations, you are in the running for this opportunity. And I was like, okay. And then I'm like, okay, everybody, go vote for me now. And then they're like, well, you've got to engage people and let them know why this is good and why they should vote for you. And this process is going to happen until October. Oh, boy. Yeah. It was one of those ways where Coach Quay and God got together and was like, this is how we're going to get Gabby to get out of her comfort zone, let go of fear and possibly get to the Hollywood Bowl.

Sandy Kovach  [00:30:26]:

Yeah, and our listeners can help too, right. If we put the link on our website in the show notes, they can vote every day.

Gabbie McGee [00:30:35]:

If they have a Facebook account and they want to use the free voting, or if they'd like to donate to the charity, the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, they can purchase votes. The more you do, the more votes I get and the more it gives to this absolutely worthy cause.

Sandy Kovach  [00:30:59]:

So it's a win win. So we'll definitely link up to that.

Gabbie McGee [00:31:03]:

It's a win win. And I thank God for how he did this because I would feel away if it were just voting and asking people to vote and it doesn't really bring any fruit. I really think this is good. I know because of COVID because of a lot of the turn of events in our world, a lot of people are struggling and a lot of people just need help, support. So I am really grateful that I can be a part of something like this.

Sandy Kovach  [00:31:34]:

That's awesome. We're running out of time and I find myself with so many questions. But two things that I wanted to hit on. I definitely wanted you to talk a little bit about your online store because your lipsticks and your hats and all the accessories are very cool. But before we even do that, one of the things you talked about that I think we got so excited about another subject we kind of slipped over the national Anthem. Why was that a thing? Why did God put that on your heart?

Gabbie McGee [00:32:00]:

God, the man is so awesome and he's funny. So I had submitted again to an opportunity to do some marketing songs to contribute to the e commerce, a very popular department store here in the South, Belk Department Store. It was just an incredible thing because they started a competition where they were looking for artists who embodied the south in their music. And I had released my album, Mississippi's Daughter. The title track speaks to my life growing up in and so I submitted to their competition in the jazz category, and I was the winner out of thousands and thousands of people. And so we got to partner Faith new designers, Crown and Ivy, and different people wearing their clothes and just traveling around doing these Belt pop up concerts and at the stores, it was just such a great opportunity. But after the travel part ended, a lot of the other artists were picked up to do tours with the major artists. And the artists were country and bluegrass and I think some pop country. There was no place for jazz. And so I was kind of feeling like, well, what am I doing that morning taking my kids to school when God was like, brush up on your national anthem. A couple of months after that, I got a call and was like, have you ever heard of the Belt Bowl? And I was just like, yeah, at the big stadium in Charlotte where the Panthers play. And I was like, yeah, well, all of the other artists are on tour with Rascal Flax and everybody, and you are the only one that's available. Can you sing the national anthem at the bell? Wow. Answered prayers and delivered. Yes. I got so many calls after that to do the national anthem. And that's why God was like, get you a version of the national anthem and know how to do it. Yeah. This big opportunity is going to lead to some other opportunities. Yeah, man. It was God just loving on me and again, reassuring me that I am with you. I've got you and you are not forgotten.

Sandy Kovach  [00:34:45]:

That's amazing. Linnae, did you oh, the online store. You got me so carried away with.

Gabbie McGee [00:34:51]:

Your I can't even remember what I want to ask anymore.

Lanée Blaise [00:34:55]:

It's all fascinating, but yes. Tell us more about Bloom and the Bee. And anyone out there who either already.

Gabbie McGee [00:35:05]:

Has that red lip popping or who.

Lanée Blaise [00:35:08]:

Wants to get that lipstick or other unique accessories, tell us a little bit more about Bloom and the Bee, please.

Gabbie McGee [00:35:15]:

Bloom and the Bee started almost 30 years ago in my mind and in my heart, my sister and I, my sister Ladora, who went to be with the Lord, we loved playing dress up when you got a grandma that was as fly and so fabulously church lady as our grandmother. You have access to hats and gloves and satin scarves and her lipstick. And we would get in her closet and spend hours and hours being fancy ladies. When my sister had to go through chemo and treatment, we spent a lot of time in hospitals and treatment centers. We would tear those gift shops up when it came to getting nail polish and lipstick. And sometimes we could find things that we like, and sometimes we'd have to try to just make it be what we wanted. So when she went to be with the Lord, I wanted to do something that could eventually become a boutique that you would find in a hospital or a cancer treatment center, but with all the really good stuff. So boom. And the Bee has begun as an online boutique where you can get the best lipsticks and hats and scarves and earrings and anything that you would need if you needed to dress up a hospital gown, if you needed to look cute in your pajamas. My prayer is that one day I can partner with hospitals and treatment centers and have a way for people who are well, to be able to sponsor and pay for shopping experiences for people who are healing. Because retail therapy is real.

Sandy Kovach  [00:37:22]:

Yes. And if you just want to browse, cool things on there. And your lip color, is that from your store?

Gabbie McGee [00:37:28]:

Yes. This is liquid party.

Sandy Kovach  [00:37:32]:

Liquid Party, I love it.

Lanée Blaise [00:37:35]:

Even the name has got us.

Gabbie McGee [00:37:37]:

Yes. Wow. Liquid Party. Liquid Courage. Yeah. It's just fun and exciting things. Like I said, I discovered when my sister was going through some of the hardest times of her life to just put on lipstick and earrings and bracelets, and we would have a ball, and it would make us feel normal. Her doctors, several times would come in making their rounds, like, Where are you going? Coming to see you and my treatment. I just thank God that he gave me that idea to be able to honor her. My mom is just so grateful because it helps her to remember Ladora and celebrate her all of the things that she brought to us, to strengthen us and to teach us about patience and grace and trusting the Lord. And she used to say all the time her favorite song to sing is, he's an on time God. He may not come when you want Him, but he'll be there right on time, just remembering her her message and her life and looking cute while doing it.

Sandy Kovach  [00:38:57]:

Yeah, nothing wrong with that.

Lanée Blaise [00:38:59]:

Oh, man. Well, we have gotten to the end of the road of this. We usually have a takeaway time, but there is nothing really left to say except the takeaway is that you use everything God gives you and use it as a blessing for others. And you see how it works in this world. You see how God can tell us what to do? Can tell us that he's going to do things in ways that we wouldn't think of embracing it, trusting Him, loving Him, loving the other people around us, loving those who are in our lives now, those who have passed on and are still with us in a different kind of way. And just your life is vibrant. You admit that you have fears, but seems like you have ways of overcoming them. And we appreciate everything you said to us today.

Gabbie McGee [00:39:54]:

Thank you for having me. You're the bomb, girl. Hey, we need to hear that, right?

Sandy Kovach  [00:40:02]:

That's right.

Gabbie McGee [00:40:02]:

We need a little encouragement and self confidence. You both are. And the team that you guys have created and the sisterhood. It feels so good. Thank you both for having me. This has been a blessing and I will continue to imagine myself yes, everybody.

Lanée Blaise [00:40:24]:

Out there, imagine yourself sitting down, taking time away, listening to God, getting that peace, getting that strength, getting that confidence, and going out there and doing something special and fantastic that only you can do in this world. And God bless you as you do it.

Sandy Kovach  [00:40:40]:

Thanks for listening. Hope you are blessed and inspired by this podcast. Check out Imagineyourselfpodcast.com. We'll have a blog with all of the information for Gabbie, as well as links to her social media and a way to vote for her to play at the Hollywood Bowl. Plus, we'll put that in the show notes as well. If you just want to pop down while you're there, hopefully you'll have a chance to give us a review or a rating. Let us know what you're thinking. Thanks again for listening to Imagine Yourself podcast.