Where It Began

Melton Candle Company began in the front foyer of my home.

No storefront.
No warehouse.

Just wax, vessels, and a willingness to start.

Exhibiting at the Atlanta Gift Mart expanded the brand beyond what I imagined. Then COVID hit, and while much of the world slowed down, this business accelerated.

Growth led to a production warehouse in Sparks.

Then retail expansion in Valdosta.

From the outside, it looked like steady success.

Inside, it was different.

This was it.

Right here.

The very beginning of Melton Candle Company.

What No One Saw

Every dollar made went back into expansion.

Overhead.
Payables.
Growth.

There was no margin.

I carried stress I did not talk about.

Financial pressure I did not show.

Spiritual exhaustion I did not admit.

I smiled.
I showed up.
I kept building.

But internally, I was breaking.

I felt like no one liked me, understood me or cared to know me...truth was, I didn't like myself very much, I was so lost.

This was the shift.

From small startup… to something bigger.

The Interruption

Then my body gave out.

I became severely ill with Legionnaires’ disease and was placed on oxygen for six months.

In the hospital, when everything was stripped away (the store, the growth, the image, the control) God met me there.

And I heard something I had never believed about myself:

You are my Child, you are so special and you matter to Me.

Over and over during my healing, I felt the same message:

Your job is to breathe.
And share your testimony.

Not build.
Not prove.
Not strive.

Breathe.
And tell what I’ve done.

The Decision

When I left that season, I closed the retail store.

Production changed to a smaller, healthier scale.

The striving ended.

The listening began.

God’s promise to me was not more hustle.

It was restoration.

To restore what was lost in those years — spiritually, emotionally, even financially — but in His way, not mine.

The Expansion That Followed

Melton Candle Company remained the foundation.

But the direction changed.

God opened doors for speaking.

Candle pouring parties became more than creative events. They became places where I shared this story — the breaking, the healing, the redirection.

Marketing expanded.
Vision expanded.

Not because I chased it.

Because I was obedient to what I was told:

Breathe.
And share.

The light behind this brand is not just a flame.

It is the moment God stopped me in my tracks and reminded me who I am.

And I am walking in that promise now.

If you feel like you are functioning in the dark…

Like you are building, striving, surviving — but unsure of what it’s all for…

God may be planting something deeper than you can see right now.

The dark is not absence.

It is preparation.

Your job is not to force the outcome.

Your job is to listen.

XoXo ~ Laura