Making Something From Nothing

There was a season in my life when everything felt stripped bare. My husband and I had four young children, no clear plan, and very few resources. What we did have was a choice. And we made a decision to leave behind a world that no longer held our future and to start again from scratch.

In those years, I learned what it really means to make something from nothing. It looked like finally having the humility to ask for help and then receive what was offered. It looked like working long days and weekends, and exhaustion from all the nights I studied late after the children were asleep. It looked like saying yes to small opportunities and trusting they would grow into bigger ones.

At first, the lack felt overwhelming. But slowly, I began to see that it was also fertile ground. When you have nothing, you also have nothing to lose. Every small step forward carries weight. Every risk has the chance to become the turning point.

If you find yourself in a season where it feels like there is not enough—money, time, clarity—remember this: creation often begins with scarcity. The most powerful beauty is not shaped by ease, but by the desperation that calls forth courage. It comes from choosing to keep moving, to build with whatever is already in your hands.

Making something from nothing isn’t about denying the lack. It’s about refusing to let it speak the last word. What you build here will carry a strength that abundance could never give, and the clarity will rise as you step forward, one decision at a time.

This is the story I tell in Dreams That Matter. Not of a perfect beginning, middle, or end, but of deciding again and again to build a life with purpose. And if I could build from nothing, you can too.

-Jasmine