Looking back, Tiffany Rebel can trace it all to a series of small nudges.
A friend’s recommendation.
A Facebook post.
A click on a website.
None of them felt particularly significant at the time.
It started with Vacation Bible School.
A friend mentioned Good Shepherd’s VBS program. Then Tiffany saw another recommendation on Facebook. Curious, she went online to learn more.
But Tiffany wasn’t just any parent researching a summer program.
After nearly a decade of building a successful marketing and web development business, she knew how to look beyond the surface. As she clicked through Good Shepherd’s website, she found herself noticing details like, the messaging, the design, the way the site guided visitors from one page to the next.
Then she clicked on the employment tab.
There it was.
An opening for Director of Marketing & Communications.
She had spent years building something successful. But she wanted work that created change. Work that meant something beyond the next client.
That night, she submitted her resume. Soon after, she was interviewing with church leaders. A week later, she received an offer.
The timing felt almost unbelievable.
At that point, her children hadn’t even attended VBS yet. She hadn’t started attending Good Shepherd. She didn’t know anyone.
Still, something told her to take the chance.
On a Saturday in June, standing in her father-in-law’s driveway, she accepted the position.
What she didn’t know then was how important that decision would soon become.
That summer was a busy one. The kids attended VBS and loved it. And in August, shortly after school started, Tiffany began her new role as Marketing & Communications Director at Good Shepherd.
Three days later, her family received devastating news.
Her father-in-law had passed away unexpectedly.
The family suddenly found themselves navigating grief, funeral planning, and countless decisions they never imagined having to make.
Although she had only been on staff for a few days, the Good Shepherd community showed up.
Pastors and staff stepped in to help guide the family through the funeral process. They offered support and practical help during a season when Tiffany and her family needed it most.
“They were the missing piece,” she said.
What began as a new job suddenly became something much more.
The church she barely knew became a community that carried her family through one of their hardest moments.
Looking back, Tiffany couldn’t help noticing one more piece of the story.
Just weeks before his unexpected death, she had accepted the job offer while standing in her father-in-law’s driveway.
At the time, it felt like an ordinary Saturday afternoon.
Now it feels like one more reminder that God was already putting pieces in place before she could see the whole picture.
Since then, Tiffany has continued to find confirmation that she is exactly where she is supposed to be.
She connected with a small group for women raising young children and built friendships that have become an important part of her life. She discovered a workplace that gives her both the structure she was seeking and the creative freedom she values. Most importantly, she found a place where her gifts could be used in the service of something greater.
It’s still marketing.
It’s still creativity.
“It feels like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be,” Tiffany said.
When Tiffany reflects on how she arrived at Good Shepherd, she doesn’t point to a single life-changing decision. Instead, she remembers the small nudges along the way, the conversations and opportunities that seemed ordinary at the time.
Individually, they were easy to overlook.
“If I had let the dominoes fall where they may, none of this would have happened,” Tiffany said. “But I was open to listening to the nudges.”
A friend’s recommendation.
A Facebook post.
A click on a website.
Looking back, they were never just small moments. They were the first pieces of a story God was already putting together.
Today, that’s the encouragement she offers others. Pay attention to the invitations that keep appearing. Be open to where God may be leading. Sometimes something that seems small, a conversation, an event, or a click on a website, becomes the beginning of something much bigger than you imagined.
This past summer, Tiffany was back at VBS.
Not as a parent dropping off kids.
As part of the team that made it happen.
She helped set up. She sent the emails. She shared the photos. She designed the signs families walked past at drop-off. She built the campaign that put it on someone’s Facebook feed.
The same way it once showed up on hers.
