Tannette Johnson-Elie is a reporter and business columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in Wisconsin. Among her many accomplishments, Tannette was the first African American woman to cover a major beat at the Sentinel and the first African American minority to join the business staff. Her columns aim to send the distinct message that viable business enterprises exist in minority communities and that business owners of color are contributing to the health of the economy. Tannette is also an associate lecturer at the University of Wisconsin. In 2004, she won the National Association of Black Journalists “Salute to Excellence” award in the business writing category, beating out writers from The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Investing in Eternal Dividends
(God is our highest priority)

by Tannette Johnson-Elie

As a veteran business columnist for a major metropolitan newspaper and the wife of a successful bank vice president, I had all the material trappings of middle-class life and success. I lived in a nice suburban home in an upscale neighborhood, drove a pricey SUV, and possessed all the expensive clothes and jewelry that came with my prestigious lifestyle. I guess you could say that I was living the life. You see, I was caught up. That is, caught up into having it all – the perfect marriage, the perfect kids, the perfect career and the perfect home. I was so caught up in my high living that I became separated from God. I know now that I was pursuing things instead of pursuing the God of the things.

Yet, with all the accouterments that I gained through hard work and sacrifice, reality was that I was not happy, nor was I satisfied. That’s because my focus was in the wrong place. Luke 12:34 says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” My treasure was success and all that came with it. I was more focused on my career and making money than I was on my relationship with Christ. As a result, my relationships with my family suffered. Even so, I took great pride in the fact that I was a rising star in the world of newspapers. At the young age of 32, I had my own column and was well ahead of my peers in the industry. A decade later, I am one of the few African-American women financial columnists in the nation. I have won numerous awards and accolades for my column. Despite my personal and professional achievements, I found that I was not at peace. It took a year of losses in my life for me to come to this realization.

In that year – February of 1996 – an uncle who raised me from birth and literally became my father, died as a result of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. In the months following his death, our two-year old Cocker Spaniel had to be put to sleep, the victim of Epilepsy. Nearly six months later, my husband’s father died suddenly of a heart attack. In the midst of all of this, we were facing yet another change – my husband accepted a job promotion, which meant we had to relocate to Detroit, Michigan. I forget to mention that we also were expecting a new baby in three months.

In October of 1996, my husband and I, and our son, who was just four at the time, packed up our belongings and left behind all that we knew to relocate to Detroit. We found ourselves in Michigan with my husband working 60-to-70 hour weeks, my son longing for time with his dad, and myself suffering from isolation and depression as I was seven months pregnant in the dead of a brutal, Detroit winter. There was a bright spot. In January of 1997, I gave birth to our youngest son. Though a blessed event, he was born jaundiced and thought to be suffering from a rare blood disorder. It meant weekly trips to the doctor’s office to have his blood drawn during his first two months. Thankfully, after much testing, his results came back with no signs of any disease. However, we later learned that he suffered from severe food allergies. Our struggles did not end there. My husband, under pressure and overworked, fell asleep behind the wheel of our car and totaled the vehicle. By the grace of God, no one was injured.

There we were in the midst of many difficulties, away from family, friends, and all that we knew back in our hometown wondering what else could go wrong in our lives. I couldn’t understand why God allowed us to leave behind our wonderful lives and careers and why He had allowed so many storms to occur in our lives in one year.

That year was a period of tremendous spiritual growth for me. I came to the realization that God sometimes takes us out of our comfort zone to prepare us for His greater purpose. In Romans 8:28, it says, “In all things God works to the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.’’ You see God had to bring us to this point in our lives to help us to see the blessings we had been taking for granted. This was His way of humbling us so that He could ultimately make our lives better. In a sermon, my pastor once said that God sometimes will allow our brook to run dry so that we can count the blessings. One good example is Job. God permitted Job to be tested in order that his life and devotion to Him would run deeper. The storms that we experienced in that one year humbled my spirit and made me stronger in my faith. Now, I have a deeper appreciation of life, of the people around me, and of God’s divine purpose for my life.

We have received many blessings from heaven since that one difficult year. In His own time, God opened up an opportunity for us to move back home. My husband took a substantial cut in salary, but he has gained something more valuable than money – time with his family. I now work as a part-time columnist and a part-time professor at a university. Both positions allow me the flexibility to work at home, where I can devote more time to our children. And, we have been blessed with a beautiful home that is much nicer than the one we had when we both were working full-time. That is a testimony to the power of what God can do in lives that are submitted to Him. He can give us more with less, if we follow His plan. In Isaiah 45:2a, God says, “I will go before you and make the crooked places straight.” Now, we are careful to seek the Lord first and allow Him to go before us in all our personal and professional endeavors.

Today, I can truly say that I have the “good life” and it has absolutely nothing to do with material gain. The good life comes from the peace of knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and depending on His word. I am grateful that I now know, through God’s love, what my priorities are – God is my highest priority. I am no longer seeking material gain, as I know that it is better to invest in Eternal dividends. I encourage every business person, every college graduate, and every rising star, to measure success by the inner peace you have with yourself and with others, and not by material gain or career prestige. Filling the void in our lives with anything other than God will surely crumble the houses of sand that we tend to build, I know this firsthand. The Psalmist wisely said that unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Build your life and your successes on the rock, which is Jesus, and allow Him to give you a meaningful life and true success. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)