Meet Deborah Brown, FCM Talladega Thrift Store Manager

Sometimes we might not see or understand how the Lord is working in our lives or directing our path until years later, but there are also times when we can see him working instantly.

In 2019, Deborah Brown was in the process of looking for a part time job, and the Lord directed her path towards the Four Corners Ministries Thrift Store in Talladega, Ala. She stumbled upon the thrift store one day by chance, or divine intervention.

While Deborah lived in Talladega since 1995, she commuted to work in Birmingham and had forgotten about the Talladega thrift store located on AL Highway 77 North.

“I happened to come by this store,” Deborah said. “I was actually looking for some new shoes, and I saw a sign on the door that said hiring part time. I said, ‘Okay, I can do that.’”

Deborah entered the store and filled out an application, which led to interviews. About two weeks later she was hired as a part-time associate cashier and processer. 

For over 17 years, Deborah worked as a retail office manager mainly for Bed Bath & Beyond, but she also did part-time work for TJ Maxx, Walmart, and Burlington. She said she was excited to use her experience with clothing at the thrift store. During Deborah’s hiring process, the manager of the store at the time was getting ready to move and asked Deborah if she wanted to become the new manager. She said she was reluctant to accept but felt like the Lord was calling her to fill the position.

“Long story short, they talked me into it,” Deborah laughed. “The district manager came, and he said, ‘Mrs. Deborah, I know the Lord sent you here to manage the store. I believe it in my heart.’”

After praying about it and talking with her husband, Deborah said she thought, “I don’t normally come this way to go home, and I came this way. I saw the store, came in, and saw they were hiring. I said, you know what, the Lord must have sent me by here to get this job, and that’s what convinced me to take the job because I never come this way to go home from Birmingham. That’s what led me here. The Lord did lead me here.”

Since working at the store, Deborah said she’s grown more connected to her community by meeting more people. She’s also been determined to provide quality clothes for customers at good prices as well as keeping the store clean and smelling nice.

“We have some really good people working here, and I like the people I work with. Most jobs you can’t say that,” Deborah said.

She and her coworkers also make it a priority to keep God at the forefront of everything they do. Deborah described her team as a Christian family. When they’re in the back sorting and processing new donated items, they often talk about the Bible, give thanks to the Lord, and pray.

Besides her team in Talladega, Deborah said she also relies on others across Four Corners Ministries including the other thrift store managers, the Director of Thrift Store Operations Jamie Taylor, and FCM President Yancy Carpenter.

“When anything is going on with me and my family, Jamie prays for me. He prays for me in the store. Yancy always prays for me. He always prays for me when he calls me and that keeps me going. That keeps me not wanting to leave the store, but I know I have to,” she said.

Deborah is planning to retire at the end of this year due to health-related issues, specifically with her heart, back, knees, elbow, and shoulder. Please pray for Deborah’s general health, that the Lord will heal her body and that the doctors she visits will provide the best care. Please also pray for her daughter, Tara, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in August. Despite facing these struggles, Deborah remains strong in her faith and thankful to the Lord for staying by her side. 

She remembers giving her life to Jesus and accepting Him into her heart in 1997 at the age of 45. She said she went to church but wasn’t in the church until then. After she became a believer, began to pray more, and started learning more in Bible study and church services, her relationship with God grew stronger. 

“Anything I ask him for, he can do it. It may take him a minute, but he does it. There’s a lot of things in my life that he has answered my prayers and some he hasn’t,” Deborah said. “I believe that he has led me in a lot of directions I am now, so I just thank the Lord for what he has done for me in my life so far.”

Deborah said there are numerous examples of how God has answered prayers in her life. Recently, her daughter was having a difficult time with her chemo treatment. The infusions were making her sick and affecting her eyesight. Together they prayed that Tara wouldn’t need an infusion at her next doctor’s visit. At the appointment, the doctor decided Tara didn’t need an infusion. She remembers another answered prayer regarding her husband, Curtis. She’d taken Curtis to the hospital and the doctors found several blood clots in his heart and lungs.

“(The blood clots) had been there for a while,” Deborah said. “He had a real large one that was in there and they had to remove it. I was so scared. They were saying that the surgery was kind of hard to do because it hadn’t been done that often. That blood clot, it was almost in his heart.”

The power of prayer was revealed again as another doctor eventually entered the room to say that he could reduce the blood clot without surgery.

“The Lord answered our prayers right there in the hospital,” Deborah said. 

Just as the Lord has stayed by Deborah’s side in good times and bad, He will be with you no matter what you are facing in life. Isaiah 41:10 says, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”