Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
[Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] hello good morning good afternoon good evening wherever you are in the world this is Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman, the host of the Relationship Matters Show. Now let me tell you a little bit about this show. This show showcases and helps to resolve a variety of relationship issues. The main theme of this show is to demonstrate the importance of the role of relationships in our personal and our professional lives. We feature a multitude of professional experts, we have researchers, some personal experiences, and we love audience participation. So don’t forget to say hello if you’re viewing and don’t forget to ask questions and make comments. Now we delve into personal relationships, professional relationships, and communication patterns and thought processes that govern maintenance of positive relationships. Our guests and our experts offer coping skills, they offer stress management techniques, leadership skills, problem-solving skills, and time management skills, which is something that I usually need, okay? And all of this is to support personal and professional relationships. Now we have quite a few things and they include relationships with even your possessions, that piece of furniture, that piece of clothing that you can’t get rid of, spiritual relationships, and even relationships with ourselves. Now today we’re going to talk about spiritual, our spiritual relationship. We are going to talk about our relationship with God, whether you have one or not. Do you have a relationship with God? Do you talk to Him? Do you ask questions? Do you do any of those things? Well, this evening, and I say this evening because we are in Chicago and it’s evening in Chicago and it’s hot and it’s humid, so but today we have Miss Deborah Glass and I’m going to tell you a little bit about Deborah. As a believer and consistently on a journey for growth and discovery, Deborah has been focusing on her passion for entrepreneurship after retirement in 2002. Whoops, it became a burning desire for Deborah to discover what was going to be next in her life. This desire to do something was fueled by focusing on helping others to reach their goals and develop their plans to launch businesses. Now with each encounter, Deborah always asks God what should she do, how should the business look, and God always provided the answer. And that has been her go-to in life. She has always gone to God for direction on how to do whatever she encountered and she is going to talk about this. Why is it that your computer will tell you that it wants to reload and update when you’re on? But anyway, so we’re going to talk about this with Deborah and I am going to bring on Deborah right now if I can. I’m on a different computer this evening and I’m trying to figure out what the heck happened. So everyone just kind of just be patient with me. I’m trying to figure out what happened, what happened. Okay, Deborah, just hold on. I’m not sure what’s going on here. That’s not it, that’s not it, that’s not it. There it is. Wait a minute. This is live. Well, you know, technology, anything is subject to happen, right? This is not… How are you?

Deborah Glass
I’m doing great. How about you?

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I am so excited to be here and I’m excited to have you on. So I just told a little bit about you and I just want you to kind of fill in the blanks. I want you to briefly tell me a little bit about who you are.

Deborah Glass
Okay, well, I’m a mother, I am a wife, I’m a child of God, which I’m most proud of. And a little bit of my background is I spent 30 years in corporate America starting when I was in high school. I’ve been retired now for 20 years and I’ve always done a business on the side the whole time that I worked. I always believed in having my own business and having control of my financial future because in corporate America, of course, you know, you heard about that glass ceiling. It’s real.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Before you go any further, you retired from corporate America, so what did you do?

Deborah Glass
I actually worked in the accounting department. I was a manager.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay.

Deborah Glass
Yeah, I was responsible for balancing the books for a hundred and we had like 150 branches and they were daily cash reports, money coming in, money going out. Couldn’t be out, you couldn’t be out of balance one penny. You had to find that penny. Okay, so that was my background that I did accounting.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, and so when you retired, you decided to be an entrepreneur, but this was something from what you just said earlier before I interrupted you, this is something that you always dreamed.

Deborah Glass
Yeah, I always did. I always did a business on the side. Actually, my tax accountant when I worked just telling me that I needed to have a business just to keep the money that I was making. So I started off just doing multi-level businesses. I love multi-level business because you didn’t have to take on much responsibility. You pay a little fee, you sell a product, you get tax write-offs, and I just thought, okay, I’ll do that the rest of my life. I’ll always keep some type of multi-level business. So I did anyway for over 20 years to meet one of the best and training you and never thought I would have my own business, never really wanted a business. I always thought I would just do multi-level business, but God had other plans.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So that was an incorporation.

Deborah Glass
Yeah.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And so your first kind of journey into entrepreneurship, what was it?

Deborah Glass
It was a business that I cooked seven-course meals. I sold cookware, a seven-course meal. We would go to people’s houses, cook a seven-course meal, bring the food, everything, some invite like four couples and a seven-course meal in 35 minutes, including the cake on top of the stove.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And what?

Deborah Glass
And that cookware would sell at least two couples out of the four. That was the beginning of me actually getting into sales and doing a business on the side. Then I moved from there to the Amway business.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh yeah.

Deborah Glass
So go ahead.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
After Amway, I think, you know, people really thought when I was in corporate America, I was crazy because I was in corporate America making all this money, so they thought, and I should be climbing the corporate ladder. And here I am pursuing my career outside of corporate America. So I realized that again, I had control over the money that I made outside of corporate America. When I did a business, it was fair. If I do the work, I got paid. No one said I can only go so high. So I truly put a lot of my energy and effort into building my own supply and I made a lot of money doing it.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So now you left Amway, you’re no longer with Amway, correct?

Deborah Glass
Right.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So then after Amway, what’d you do?

Deborah Glass
I think after Amway, I went into several businesses, but one of the ones that stand out, one of the ones that stand out the most was Artistry. That was the garment business that dropped you two to three sizes when you put it on. I don’t know if you heard of that one, but the garment was fabulous. So we would take women and put them in the garment and it was like a show-and-tell and you bring them back out and they were like two, three sizes smaller.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Could they breathe?

Deborah Glass
Yeah, they could breathe. They can breathe, but they look fabulous. I tell you, they can’t, they can breathe or not because they just look fabulous. But that was a fun business. That wasn’t really, it’s that time is still around.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
It is?

Deborah Glass
It is, ladies, yes. And we really helped reshape you too. It was a fabulous garment. Yeah, I had a lot of fun doing that one. That was fun.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I didn’t tell you about that one. I’ll tell you about it later. It works too.

Deborah Glass
Okay, I’ll probably have to share it with you. Anyway, go ahead.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So I did that one and then I did another business and it really was too bad that this business didn’t take off because there was a guy named Bob Minotti and he started this business called Kaching Kuching. And Bob McNaughty was very, he was high in retail. He actually helped build the, do the business plan for Home Depot. He started this company and it’s really what you see Amazon is today. That was the business. And he came, he heard about me because I was the director of the Entrepreneurs Ministry at my church. We got a lot of people involved in it in the church. There was a lot of money being made, but then it was that top layer of people who got greedy and that fell apart, you know, but it was, it’s everything you see Amazon today. That’s what that business was some years ago.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wow.

Deborah Glass
Yeah, so I was just thinking about that, how he had that vision back then for it and it could have worked because we did well while it lasted, you know, but again, I was like, okay, another business, okay, yep, it was keep on. You see, I did also a travel business, YTB. That was a fun business. The short time I was in it, it was another business that did well, but it didn’t last long.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay.

Deborah Glass
And again, a lot of the multi-level businesses and way I have to say to me was the best, the best teaching, the best discipline prepared you for anything. Even if you ever hear Steve Harvey talk about his success, he learned his success principles from the same person I did in Amway, Bill Britt, who was a billionaire in the business, but he taught you how to build a business, putting God first, family next, and then your business. And his foundation and his principles, success principles taught you how to be successful no matter what you did. So when you hear Steve talk about a lot of times, you’ll even hear him talk about Amway and going to functions and things like that. That was the teaching we got, even got in those functions to go to God and to even teach you to have a relationship with God, even in the functions. So I mean, sometimes people are turned off against multi-level business, but I got my best teachings under Amway.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah, so now keep on.

Deborah Glass
So behind now, keep in mind, I’m still working a nine to five. I’m in corporate America working all these businesses. When I retired, I retired with being at the top of my game in Amway. We had reached the level of, my husband and I had reached the level of what they call Q12. And that’s where for 12 consecutive months, you hit a level of volume of sales of 14,000 a month. If you missed one month, you would make Q12. So once you did that, after the 12 months, they sent us to Vegas to Bellagio. They spent a lot of money on us. We got a $20,000 bonus. See, I believe in multi-levels. I’ll tell you, if you don’t have a vision for business, I believe everybody should have a business. I don’t believe everybody should be in business, but I believe everybody should have a business. So my tax accounts made it so clear to me that with having these businesses here, I’m traveling, I’m doing all these things, but it’s a tax write-off. So I’m having fun while I’m making money and I’m keeping a lot of the money that I’m making that for us because I have this business on the side. So I learned how to teach it. I teach this all the time in my church. I’m over the Entrepreneurs Ministry. I really, I believe that God has given us all gifts and abilities. I believe that you should take whatever those gifts are and I believe that you should capitalize off of them because guess what? When people hire you for these companies, that’s what they’re paying for is your gift. They’re paying to use your gift. So just think if you used your own gift, what you could do with that.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes, yes, I think that’s very profound. So now after you left Amway, where?

Deborah Glass
After I left Amway, and I have to say, my might ask God from a young age and in business, when I started that for credit, I didn’t want to go there. I really thought I wanted to be a nurse. My mom insisted on me taking the job because I made so much money and she was like, girl, you know you’re not gonna be no nurse. You scared of dead people. They take blood, go to the floors. Okay, so I was obedient, but I didn’t want to be there. So my first question was when I started at 17, about the retirement program. I went in asking about the retirement program and everybody kept saying, you’re too young to worry about retirement. But I asked God, my mother said, if you do 30, if you work there 30 years, you’ll get a pension. You’ll be set for life. You’ll never have to worry about money again. And she was right. You know, she was right. So I did do that. But then what I realized was that they capitalized on my gifts. You know, I mean, they would move me around from department to department using my ideas, all of the things that I would come up with. See, I didn’t know I had it. I didn’t know I was an inventor. So they used my gifts, my ideas and everything and moved me from department to department. But what they didn’t like to do is pay me, you know, like promotions. They wanted to use me but not give me promotions. And so as Afro-Americans, we know how to go, right? So I became real rebellious and because I want to be there anyway, I would make them do the right thing by actually suing them. I would sue them. Yes, I sued them. I’m not ashamed to say it and had them give the blacks the same promotions whites got, give us same. That was my whole thing through the 30 years was just my struggle was I was constantly fighting them to give us equal opportunities and many of us got higher and the things that happen, I feel God put me there for that reason. It wasn’t for me. It was for the struggle. It was to help us and a lot of us got blessed through that time I was there. But my whole thing was during that time was I was working to have a business, like I said, on the side. So my ask God was that after he let me retire, I was 47 years old. He gave me what I wanted. I wanted freedom more than anything. I didn’t care about houses, cars, all of that. I wanted freedom. So Amway, when I retired, gave me the biggest freedom party anybody could ever ask for. They sent the limousine to my home. They picked me up and they let me go to Villa. That’s the park that we have here in Detroit. And my dream was to kill the alarm clock because I wouldn’t have to wake up anymore to alarm clock. So I beat the good side alarm clock, big old dinner celebration. And I really was like content. Later, I realized, okay, you’re 47 years old. What are you gonna do the rest of your life? So I asked God, that was another ask God, what can I do for you? Because you’ve given me my dream. My dream is to be free. I get up when I want to, I go to bed when I want to, I keep what I want to, I’m free. That’s what I wanted. So God, what can I do for you? And there lies the journey of me starting this business. I asked God came out of the pain of black cry beauty. Black cry beauty is a hair product that I invented due to the fact that my daughter-in-law was wearing hair extensions. She and my son, they had a daycare, 24-hour, seven-day daycare. And she was wearing hair extensions, but every time I would see her, I noticed her hair was getting thinner and thinner. And I never wore weave before, so I didn’t understand why was she putting all this hair in her head and damaging her hair. And she said, “Mom, I don’t have time to do my hair. You know, I’m doing this daycare, so I need to, you know, wear these hair extensions.” So I noticed it was glued in or sewn in. And I’m like, again, I’m an adventurer, anymore’s inventor, right? So I’m like, okay, I need to do something about this. Let me fix this. So I went to, I bought some weave, never seen what weave looked like. A lot of people, we opened it up. I don’t know if you even know what it looks like. It’s in the pack and it’s all the way.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, okay.

Deborah Glass
You know what? I didn’t know.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, let me.

Deborah Glass
Right. So I’m pulling this hair out and I’m looking at it and I’m going, so how does this work? And so I watched some videos that they measure, cut, sew it on, measure, cut, and sew it on. So what else? I thought, well, if it has a comb all the way across the width of the wig that they measure, cut, they could just measure, cut, and stick it in, measure, cut, and stick it in. So I did a prototype for her and she loved it. And her hair had already gotten so damaged till she had to cut her hair all down and braid her hair up and just start wearing the comb and weave all her hair.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay, so it’s not a sew-in?

Deborah Glass
No, no sew, no glue, no clips.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So how do you put it in or is that a secret?

Deborah Glass
No, no, it’s not. It’s not because the product is getting ready to come out. It is a patented product. I went and got it patented. It’s been a journey. It’s been a journey. Okay, so I got the product patent. It’s already, the comb was made for our hair. So I had to manufacture a comb.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Really?

Deborah Glass
Yeah, so I had to design and manufacture a comb that could be sewn on the weft of the weave so that when you open your pack of weave, the comb is already attached, already across the width of the weave. So when you cut it and put it in, instead of sewing it or gluing it in, you just take it and put it in and it just sinks right in.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Just sinks right in?

Deborah Glass
It sinks into your hair.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes, so okay, so if you have braids, you know, like braids up under your, most of the time women have their hair braided.

Deborah Glass
Yes.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
When then it’s sewn in or glued in.

Deborah Glass
Right.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So you would do the same method. You would have it braided and then you can even put a weave cap on top because I can wear it. My hair is short and I have no hair really in the back. So when I put a weave net on, it just sinks right into my hair and the net. But if you have braids, it sinks right into your braids.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wow, girl.

Deborah Glass
That fixed her problem, but I didn’t know she was documenting the whole process. So we have her before and after and her hair is just long and beautiful now. She’s just got nothing but, and she wears nothing, no, you know, no sew-ins, no glue-ins. She’s my, she’s my, my, my Coleman weave queen, I call it, because it was, it was invented for her, but I didn’t know so many women had that same problem.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wow, I can’t wait.

Deborah Glass
I don’t know, I can’t wait either because so many women, I just see, first of all, it will save you money because the cost is going to save you that $150 that you’re paying to have it sewn in and you can’t take care of your hair because of it’s all sewn or glued in. This you can take out and change your hairstyle two or three times a day if you like, you know, but you can take care of your hair. And just like I was swimming today, I decided today I was going to let this be a day of me just relaxing and, you know, I was at the, in the pool all day and I thought about, I said, man, now see, my hair is short and I, I didn’t know how it’s going to turn out today because I said, if I get my hair wet, I can’t come off today without when I was, so I had already planned I was gonna wear my Coleman weave if I had to, right? But all I could think about was how many women don’t work out or can’t, you know, do the things that they enjoy doing because of our hair. Our hair has always been a problem as to what to do with it. And this to me is like the best thing. Even I, like I say, I sometimes I don’t like weave, but sometimes I’ll put a couple of tracks in the back and put a hat on because I don’t want it all over. I just, you know, I put a couple in, put a hat on, I’m, I’m good, you know? So that, let me go back though. So I asked God to give me something to bless our Afro-American community is what I asked for. My question was, Lord, you didn’t make us less than anybody else. The Italian brothers and sisters, they have pizza, they have, you know, Italian food. Our, our Jewish brothers and sisters, they have jewelry and that whole industry and money they made. I just went down the line of everybody I could think of that they had some kind of economic way of being blessed. And my question was, what do we have? And yeah, that was really my question. I actually believe that God didn’t make us less than anyone else. So where are we supposed to gain wealth from? And he revealed it to me. We have the hair industry. We have the hair industry, right? This is a problem that will never go away. We all have this problem no matter what. So what better product to give me than a product that can solve our problems with hair? It’s a billion dollar industry.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes.

Deborah Glass
So it was to really take it and allow the hairstylist to be able to sell it to their clients, even to let, I let people become distributors and sell it and make money off of it. We did, you know, prototype, we did testing, we hit five cities, we did hair shows. So I did the work. All I can say is the Ask God book got burst out of that business.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wow.

Deborah Glass
That’s how the Ask God book got burst because I was constantly asking God what to do next. How do I get this done, Lord? How do I get this fixed? What do I do next? I had never had anybody to mentor me in this area. So, you know, you said earlier, my go-to has always been God. So when you talk about relationships, I love to tell people that, you know, God has an awesome plan for us. He has an awesome plan for us. He wants for us more than we could ever want for ourselves. We just have to line up with the vision he has for us. If we line up with what he has for us, we’re anointed. Trust me, we’re anointed for that. The things that I’ve gone through, nobody could ever tell me that I would go through what I went through to this point and still be excited about this business because it’s been a lot. Good, he took me to the mountaintop, but after that, he dropped me down in that valley, okay? If I had not had that mountaintop experience, I would have given up on this dream a long time ago. But I kept going and asking God. And so I remember one time I had a problem with how I’m gonna get this part of manufacturing. What am I gonna do? How am I gonna get this product manufactured? I had had some partners who, one was Jewish and the other one was Asian American. This was a time that I couldn’t find hair because we’re talking 2010, okay? You could not get hair back then, okay? Now everybody can get hair, but back then, couldn’t get hair. And this was how I had to figure out how to make this product work because I’m trying to find a home or get some hair wholesale and end up being a friend of mine said, “Oh, I got some friends over in Canada that’s right across the water from us. I’ll tell them, you know, they’re inventors. I’ll tell them about you and see if they’ll come help you.” Well, they did. They came to my home, said, “Oh, we like your idea. We’ll help you.” Well, their whole thing was to help me, but once I started making money, and I mean the money was coming so fast, they decided, “Oh, instead of us getting this product manufactured, we’re gonna see how we can just steal the whole thing from her.”

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Ah.

Deborah Glass
About what happened to me, but that’s the same thing. Now you see, yeah. So I tell people that story because I tell people you gotta protect your ideas. You got, but you know what? The good thing is I had had something stolen before. So this time, before I even met them, I have filed my patents, okay? So therefore, they couldn’t, they couldn’t prove that they were the original people who came up with the idea. I did, but I had to fight for that. I had to fight for that, you hear me? And I will talk about that some other time, but I really would like to do a program on just like you said, with our ideas, how to protect us, how to keep us from ending up having people take from us, which they do often, our ideas. So I ended up fighting for my product, fighting to get, keep them from taking it. So then I’m on my own now and I don’t know what I’m doing, but I heard this thing about going to God and asking God to help me.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So now, I want to go farther into that because we’re gonna, we want, I want to, I want you to talk about your process and a book. And so, but first I have to go to a commercial.

Deborah Glass
Okay.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
When I come back from commercial, then we’re gonna go into your Ask God.

Deborah Glass
Okay.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so we’ll be right back. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] we went back with Deborah Glass. Now you’ve heard Deborah talk about Ask God, how she asks God. And Deborah has done something that I think is amazing because Deborah is the author of Ask God. So Deborah, tell us about Ask God.

Deborah Glass
Well, we were talking about all the journey, the journey of me having to go through the things I had to go through to get this product done. And when I asked God, again, going back to the original Ask God for the product, I didn’t know what it was God was going to give me, but I asked him to give me something to bless our people. So God gave me this product and that began the journey. But in the process of getting this product and manufacturing this product, again, these partners that I had came with the wrong intentions and they really were trying to take the product from me, ended up going to court. I had to pay money to keep them from being able to do that, okay? And I was so tired. The fight was so, it had gotten to be so hard of coming, you know, being financially going back and forth in court and then them trying to take the product from it. The one day that we had tried to go through a settlement, I had had it. I was drained. I was tired. I was kind of fighting. So I had made up my mind. They were trying to get me to sign off on some stuff. And, you know, I said, you know what? I gotta go to the bathroom. And I didn’t even have to go to the bathroom, but I just knew I was about ready to find it. I was already give up everything because I was tired of the struggle. And when I went to the bathroom, I asked God, I said, is this what you want? Now, some people might think she said that the guy here, I have that kind of relationship with God. When you build a relationship with God that you know you’ve done all you can do and you’re doing what he’s called you to do and you’ve been attacked like that, I was ready to say, okay, is I ask him, I said, is this what you want? Because if this is what you want, they can have it. I’m tired. And it came so clear to me. He says, no, this isn’t what I want. He says, tell them you need three days to look over their contract to make a decision and tell them you’re distraught. And I said, distraught? I mean, the words just came to me, you know, you’re distraught. So I was like, okay. So walk back in the room, my daughter-in-law, the same one I did the hair product for, she was in the room, we’re crying, she crying, we just like, because she had been in the battle with me the whole time. So we’re both taught, you know, and so they were like, okay, well, here are the papers, you know, you need to sign these papers, you need to sign these papers. And I said, you know what? I need three days to think about it. I said, I can’t sign this contract right now. I need three days. I said, I’m distraught. And they were like, so angry because they were right there where they thought they had me. And they were so angry. They were like, would you sign it? Just sign it. You can think about it in three days if you changed your mind. I said, no, I’ll make a decision in three days and I don’t sign it because I’m distraught. So they were like, well, just read it. So I read it and at the very end of their own paper that they wrote, that they had written and said, if you’re distraught, do not sign it. Just like that. I said, well, right here, you said, if I’m distraught, don’t sign it. So I’m not gonna sign. And there, that saved this company because I was ready to give it away. I’m telling you, I was just that tired. But I asked God, what do you want me to do? Because I’m not ready to give them what they want. I’m tired of fighting. And so, you know, I just learned to trust God. I’m gonna tell you, I have learned to trust him. From that point on, I won my case. You know, I became what I was fighting for, the person who had this, you know, I was able to keep my stuff from them from taking it. But then I still didn’t know how to get the product manufactured. I didn’t know how to get this done. So I started asking. And one day I had done all I knew to do. And I had a notebook and I had about 10 questions on it. And they were all questions of what to do, how to get this product manufactured, what do I do next, you know, and everything. And God told me, he says, “Not at the top of that, right? Ask God.” And I had numbered it. He said, “When I give you your answers, write it in red.” So that’s what I did. I started writing it in red. Every time I got a question that I would ask God, I’d go to that notebook, I asked him, and when he gave me my ass, I’d go back and write it in red. And that’s how this book got burst out of me going to God, recording it, because I never journal. A lot of people say they journal. I couldn’t understand journaling. It was like, okay, after you write it down, then what happens? You know, like, okay, what’s next? You know, just a bunch of books of where you’ve asked for stuff. Do you ever get answers? You know, so that was where it became clear to me God wanted us to have a relationship with him that not only do we record what we ask for, but do we ever go back and thank him and record that he answered us? And so I have nothing but books and books and books of me asking and answering, asking and answering. And I think, I don’t know if you have a copy of one, because I said I would share one just so that they could see how the simplicity of this book is. Everybody needs to have it. I give it to my grand, gave it to my grandchildren. So you see at that very top one where it has a scripture, and I always give scriptures that support that God is telling us to ask him for things. You have a date, and then it’s simply what your request is at the very top. And I always start mine off. So I’ll read one to you that I have. I have February the 16th, 2021. So I start off with, “Thank you, Jesus, for letting me see another day that I’ve never seen before. God, my ask today is show me how to get my product manufactured and what do I need to do next.” That’s it. I’m done. I didn’t ask you. I need help. I’ve done as far as I know to go. I was working at the time with a company that was actually doing the prototype and everything. Hadn’t heard from them. I thought that they would be my company that would help me. I hadn’t heard from them, so I kind of thought they weren’t the ones I needed to look for someone else. February the 26th, 2021. So they can say they’re right there down at the bottom. Now that’s the date that you go back and you write your answer. So on February, keep in mind I asked on February the 16th. On February 26th, 2001, I put, “Thank you, Jesus,” because Rick called me. Rick was the person who actually did my prototype. Rick also said that he could do my whole product for me. So that was my answer. He can manufacture the whole product for me. So he sent me the samples and we’ve been working towards getting the product done ever since. So I’m saying God is, God says, “If you get closer to me, I’ll get close to you.” It’s just that simple. He didn’t say chase me. He didn’t say run after me. He didn’t say beg me. He says, “If you draw nigh unto me, I will draw nigh unto you.” He wants the relationship. His promise, his promise. I can’t tell you how much you can count on his word. I don’t know if I have time to give you a short testimony of a situation where I asked God for something.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Well, but first we have a question from Marcy Hill. She says, “How do you know when you got your answer from God?”

Deborah Glass
Okay, and that’s a good question because I can tell you, I remember being in church when people give testimony and this is when I didn’t have that kind of relationship with God. So I would hear people get up and say, “And God told me this and God said that.” And I would sit there and I would ridicule them. People have been saying, “Oh, God ain’t totally nothing.” And I really would. I didn’t know the Lord like that. So I’d be like, “Oh, she’s just making stuff up.” In my mind, this is what I was thinking. And one time, I never forget, God said to me, he said, “What are you doubting? Are you doubting my ability to do what she said was done for her or are you doubting her?” And I had to really question, what was I doubting? Was I doubting that God could do what she was testifying about or was I doubting the fact that she was telling the truth? And sometimes it was doubting that God didn’t do that, right? So I started, stopped kind of judging. And one time, because I wanted to know if God could really talk to you like that, one time I was in my business, “Get up out this bed and get down on your knees and pray.” And I said, I was asleep. It woke me up out of my sleep. And I said, “What?” Like somebody, you know, I’m not saying he always talks to you like that, but I think because I was really seeking to know if he really was real like that. So he showed me he was. And after that, I stopped questioning him. So I started saying, “Okay, I know he’s real. I know that, you know, we read about it, we go to church, we do all of this, but do we have a relationship with him?” You know, so I wanted the relationship. I didn’t want religion. I wanted relationship. So I’m gonna tell you, this book really helps teach you how to listen for God because once you write it down, now you’re listening for an answer. And when your answer comes, you know, you know to go back and write it because you know you asked that question. Like I know I asked God for help with the manufacturing company and who could help me. Well, Rick didn’t just decide to call me and let me know he could do the product for me. And if he did, that still was God. And I went back and recorded it. So you, when you know, when you ask, just think about it like this. He’s not Santa Claus and we know Santa Claus don’t exist, right? And I think sometimes when we ask God for something, we don’t get it just like that. We don’t think he exists and we’re done and we move on. But if we really look at it like just, especially those of us that are parents, we know our kids ask us for stuff all the time. That don’t mean that we just give it to them because they ask for it, right? It doesn’t mean that we won’t give it to them either though. Sometimes you’re just waiting to see if they’re ready for what they asked for or sometimes you’re waiting to see their attitude while they wait. And you don’t want anybody having a relationship with you that all you are is someone that when they want something, they come to you and then when they get it, they go about to build their business and then they don’t, you don’t hear from them. And then when they want something else, they come back. So think of God as a relationship that if you were in this relationship, how pleased would you be with your behavior towards him? If you were in the relationship and you got treated the way you treat him, how pleased would you be with that relationship?

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so another question came in from a different platform and the question is, what would you say to those individuals who do not believe that God exists?

Deborah Glass
Okay, well, I love that question because I started off teaching my grandsons. They were like stair steps, like eight, nine, and 12. Young kids, you know, about God. And I was telling my grandkids one day, I was taking them to school. Now, I always try to show them the opportunity that they could get to know God on their level, right? And so sometimes I would say, okay, we’re going downtown and you know downtown is hard to find a parking place. So I need you all to pray with me that God gives us favor to find a parking spot. So they got good with wanting to be the one to see, okay, there’s one God got it for us, right? I started, God meets us at our level, right? So my middle grandchild said to me one day, he went to school and he came home, he said, “Grandma, I got a boy saved.” And I’m like, “Saved?” He said, “Yeah.” He said, “There was no God.” I was talking about God and this ain’t no God. And he said, he said, he told the little boy, “Yes, there’s a God.” And he said, “Well, how you know there’s a God?” He said, “Because I know there is one.” He says, “And you should ask God.” You see, again, they talked to ask God. “You should ask God to show you that he’s real.” So the little boy went to the store with his mom the next day, because mine was one of those mothers that said, “Don’t touch nothing, don’t ask for nothing,” right? So the little boy was getting ready to go through the line. He remembered what Timmy said. He said, “Well, I asked God for this bubble gum.” Now, he was taking a chance on knowing his mom had already told him, “Don’t ask for nothing, don’t look for nothing, don’t touch nothing,” right? So he’s like, “Okay, if you’re real, let her buy this bubble gum,” right? So the little boy took the bubble gum, put it on the counter, and as his mother was getting stuff, said, “Mom, would you buy me this bubble gum?” And she looked at it and bought the bubble gum. So when he came back to school that next day, he said, “Oh, I believe in God.” He said, “Because I asked.” He gave his own testimony. And I said, “This was simple as that.” I said, “Get you some bubble gum faith,” okay? Because if you really want to know God, God wants to show you who he is. He wants to show you. He wants nothing more than to have a relationship with us. So it’s not him, trust me, it’s us. It’s not that, you know, God won’t reveal himself, but he knows our heart. So he don’t look for how intelligent you are. He don’t care for your titles, your degrees, and none of that. He looks at the heart. And if your heart is right and you want that relationship, trust and believe he’s going to want that for you more than anything else he wants is that relationship. He will show you who he is. You will have no doubt.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, all right. Look, you gave a testimony right then and there, you know, just a little boy. And we’re gonna come right back because I know you have your Ask God journal and I know that we are able, hopefully, that is, they’re not all sold out. Just for a quickie, quickie, quickie, and this is like my own, what can I say, shameless plug. So we will be right back after my shameless plug. Okay. [Music] And I am so happy that your relationship with your daughter has improved. [Music] Well, we’re back. If you would like to advertise on this show with eye-catching videos and some samples you have seen and increase your visibility, you can contact us at 1-877-667-7325 or email me at jan4now125@gmail.com. We do all of our promos in-house. Now, Deborah, we only have a few minutes left.

Deborah Glass
Okay.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So let’s talk about your journal, where we get this journal.

Deborah Glass
Okay, well, you can get it from deborahglassenterprises.com. I think you see it on the screen there. It’s looking to be purchased from there. I believe there’s a number also. If not, I can give a phone number that if they need to contact me. Yep, it’s down at the bottom, 888-816-8702. You can leave your name and information. You can go right to that website though and order your book because truly these books are flying off the shelf. This is just a new shipment that just came in and I don’t know how long I’ll have these. So it would be good to have not only for yourself, but I say get it for your kids, your grandkids, get it for everyone. Everyone in my family has this book and everybody giving me their testimonies. All my friends have it. They’re giving me testimonials. People are just calling in and telling me. My stylist, I mean, she hasn’t bought it for her employees. Her whole business has changed. A friend of mine, he brought it for his whole staff. He’s telling me people that are coming and giving their life to God because of this book. So people are building relationships with God. That’s all he really wants is a relationship. You can, religion doesn’t, you know, build relationships, okay? It’s what keeps us fighting back and forth. But relationship with God is personal and that’s what he wants with us, the personal relationship.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So now this is another question that came in right quick. We just have maybe about six minutes. As a trendsetter, what would you say to encourage others to go into business for themselves? Because you are a trendsetter. You are a trendsetter.

Deborah Glass
Well, again, I would say ask God. Ask God, what is it that he’s giving you? Because whatever your gift is, you know, the Bible says your gift will make room for you. So whatever your gifts are, they will be magnified. I would even take like Karen Brown, who assisted me in helping me get my Ask God book out there. Don’t think that just because you’re not the person that comes up with an idea that you don’t have a gift. Whatever gift you have, God will take that gift and magnify that gift when you line up with his vision for you. Because when he made us, he already had a plan. So I think of it like this. If you made me to be a pitcher, a water pitcher, okay, and I’m over here trying to be, you know, that’s a pot, okay? I have a problem being a pot when I wasn’t made, I wasn’t structured, I don’t have the things, the ingredients in me to be that pot. But I could be a good water pitcher over here. Whatever it is he made us to be, that’s what we need to line up with and ask. I didn’t ask to be an inventor. I never knew that I had this in me. Your gifts kind of develop and they will manifest themselves. People sometimes will probably ridicule you for the very thing that God has gifted you with. You know, I was told, “Oh, you’re always talking, you always sister that.” Well, you know, that can destroy a kid. You know, often we’re not, we don’t see the blessing until later. So I say, listen to the, listen to this. God calls us who we are before we become it. Man calls us who we are after we become it.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh girl, I love that.

Deborah Glass
Think about it. You got to know that he calls us who we are before we become it. The man only calls us who we are after we become it. So don’t look for your validation to come from man. Don’t go asking people, “What should you do?” You should go ask God. That’s what this book is for.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And the thing is, I think everyone needs to realize that they do have a gift. I did a presentation one time and it’s entitled, “Are You Listening?”

Deborah Glass
Amen.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And what I said in that presentation is that your gift comes to you really in all kinds of ways. And even when you’re a kid, you know, what is it? I quickly, I did a presentation with some students, some elementary school students. And I said, you know, like, “What is it that you really love to do?” You know, “Oh, when you like to play with hair.” “Oh, I like to take care of sick animals.” “Oh, I like to do this.” “Oh, I love to do this.” And that’s your gift.

Deborah Glass
Right.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And that’s something I, when I was a kid, I always played school, okay? I’m always a teacher, okay? Well, I’ve grown up to be, I grew up to be a teacher, to be a good educator. And it’s still in the same vein, even though, even with this particular way that I’m doing it, I feel like I’m still educating people.

Deborah Glass
Yes, you are. You’re educating people, absolutely.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
That’s my gift. That’s my gift. And you know, the time just flies behind. Well, what is the, we got like two minutes. So what is just in a quick sentence you would like to leave with people? And by the way, save me three books. I’m just telling you that now.

Deborah Glass
Okay.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
What would you like to leave the audience with?

Deborah Glass
Okay, well, I would like to leave the audience with to develop a relationship with God. That’s the best thing that you could ever do in your life is to have a personal relationship with God. He never intended for us to go through a priest or pastor, anybody else to communicate with him. He has it where it’s set up where we can go to him anytime, day, night, whatever. You can wake up in the middle of the night and talk to God. And after you do these things, trust and believe you will be relieved just the fact that you are able to take it somewhere. Everybody has a go-to. If you learn how to make God your go-to, you won’t end up on drugs. You won’t end up being totally disappointed in a bad relationship. All of the things that we use as go-to’s, just remember everybody has a go-to. Some people go to sex, some people go to drugs, some people go to alcohol, some people go to cigarettes. Learn to make God your go-to. I promise you, you will never be disappointed. That’s a choice. He said, “If you get closer to me, I will get closer to you.” He wants to show you who he is in your life.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Thank you so much. This has been so inspiring. We gotta have you back, okay? We gotta have you back. But I know that, I know I’ve gotten a lot out of it and I know my audience has gotten a lot out of it. And I want to say this to my audience, make a comment, say hello to Deborah, say hi. Definitely go to deborahglassenterprises.com and order her book or call her at 888-186, go ahead, my glasses.

Deborah Glass
8702.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
But Deborah, thank you so much for joining us this evening and I look forward to speaking with you again.

Deborah Glass
Same with you. I appreciate you inviting me and so you have a beautifully blessed the rest of your day.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
You do the same. Not bad. Wow, this has been great. This has been great. This has been very motivational and very inspirational. So give me your thoughts on my relationshipmatterstv.com page on Facebook. Just go to Facebook or go to my personal page, Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman, because I really want to know what you thought about this evening’s show. But in the meantime, in between time, remember relationships matter and there are all kinds of relationship matters. See you again next week. Bye. [Music]