Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Marchak.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story really starts in my early 20s when my health completely fell apart. I was diagnosed with PCOS, chronic Lyme disease, IBS, gastritis, acid reflux, severe migraines, chronic fatigue, hormone imbalances, severe brain fog, and neurological symptoms that became so severe that I struggled to speak clearly. My bloodwork even showed that I was perimenopausal before the age of 30. At an age when I should have been building my life, I was fighting just to get through the day. There were days I could barely get out of bed. I was taking medications for migraines, constantly searching for answers, going from doctor to doctor, researching everything I could, and honestly just trying to figure out how to feel normal again.
My mom prayed over me and I prayed. I asked God to show me the way. Not a quick fix. Not an easy answer. Just show me the way. What followed wasn’t an overnight miracle. It took about eight years. During those eight years, God taught me how to surrender. He put the right people, information, education, and opportunities in my path at exactly the right time. He led me to learn about nutrition, herbs, gut health, stress, inflammation, toxins, sleep, and how the body was designed to function. I went back to school, continued learning, and became obsessed with understanding why so many people were struggling with their health and what could be done to support the body naturally.
Little by little, my health started changing. The migraines disappeared. The brain fog lifted. My digestion improved. My hormones improved. My energy came back. I could think clearly again. I could speak clearly again. Eventually, I fully reversed every diagnosis I had been given without medications. Looking back, had I continued down the path I was being encouraged to take, I would likely be managing symptoms with a long list of medications today. Instead, God showed me another way.
As grateful as I am for the physical healing, the biggest thing God healed wasn’t my body. It was my heart. Through that process, He taught me something I didn’t understand before. Apart from Him, I can do nothing. For years I was trying to fix everything myself, control everything myself, and figure everything out myself. Through that healing journey, He taught me trust, surrender, obedience, and what it truly means to abide. That’s where the name Abide comes from. John 15 became very personal to me because it perfectly described what God was teaching me. Abide in Me. Stay connected to Me. Trust Me. Follow Me. Not perfectly, but with a willing heart.
After my health improved, I continued working in healthcare and eventually moved into executive leadership. I became a Vice President of Operations and was responsible for leading thousands of employees. From the outside, everything looked successful. I had the career, the title, the income, and what most people would consider success. But God was still working on me. Eventually, I found myself in a position where I was being pushed to do things that didn’t align with my values. I refused. When I lost that position, I was devastated. At the time, I thought it was one of the worst things that had ever happened to me. Looking back, I now see it as one of God’s greatest gifts. I immediately had opportunities to stay in the same industry and continue climbing the corporate ladder. The opportunities looked great on paper, but every time I prayed about them, I felt the Lord saying no. Not because they were bad opportunities, but because they weren’t His plan for me.
About two weeks later, I found out I was pregnant with my son. That changed everything. Becoming a mother brought me closer to God than I had ever been before. Watching my body grow, nourish, and deliver a healthy baby completely changed how I viewed God’s design. My priorities changed. My perspective changed. My understanding of purpose changed. My husband and I decided to sell our home in New Jersey, downsize our lives, and move to Texas so I could stay home with him. We thought we were stepping into a peaceful new chapter.
Instead, shortly after moving into our newly built home, we discovered mold and were forced to move out. Once again, I found myself dealing with health concerns, uncertainty, and another season where none of my plans seemed to be working. But this time was different. Through the health struggles, the career changes, the move, the mold, and the uncertainty, God kept teaching me the same lesson. Trust Me. Abide. Surrender. During that season, I felt a conviction that I couldn’t ignore. The Lord kept putting the same thing on my heart over and over again: Help others the way I helped you.
At first, I thought that meant creating a tincture company. I spent nearly a year researching tinctures, suppliers, formulations, and planning what that would look like. Then we entered a difficult financial season. Once again, I found myself praying and asking God what I was missing. I felt called to help people, but I couldn’t see the path forward. As I continued praying and spending time in scripture, I felt Him leading me toward something much simpler: tea. Whole herbs. Real ingredients. A daily routine.
One of the biggest things I noticed throughout my own healing journey was that most people don’t struggle because they lack information. They struggle because consistency is hard. Many herbs can be incredibly supportive, but people don’t enjoy taking them. At the same time, many products that taste good are loaded with sugar, artificial flavors, fillers, and ingredients that feel far removed from the way food was originally designed. I wanted to create something different. Something rooted in God’s creation. Something people genuinely looked forward to. Something that made supporting their health feel enjoyable rather than overwhelming.
Every tea started from a personal story. Many of the blends were inspired by challenges I faced myself throughout my own health journey. Stress. Hormones. Digestion. Energy. Brain fog. Inflammation. Then I started creating custom herbal blends for people based on their health concerns and goals. That’s when I noticed something remarkable. No matter who I was talking to, the same themes kept appearing over and over again. Stress. Poor sleep. Hormone imbalances. Digestive issues. Low energy. Brain fog. Inflammation. Blood sugar challenges. People were struggling with many of the same things I had struggled with myself.
Over time, patterns emerged. The custom blends that helped people the most became the foundation for the teas we offer today. Every tea has a story behind it. Every tea was inspired either by a chapter of my own journey or by the stories of the people who trusted me to help support theirs. The teas weren’t created because I sat down and tried to come up with products. They came from listening to people.
Another thing that became very important to me was flavor. That might sound simple, but it came directly from my own health journey. As I continued learning about hormones, heart health, brain health, inflammation, metabolic health, and blood sugar regulation, I became increasingly aware of how important glucose balance is to overall health. I realized that so many people were trying to make healthier choices while still relying on products loaded with sugar. At the same time, I understood why. People want things that taste good. They want things they can enjoy. One of the biggest lessons I learned throughout my healing journey was that consistency matters more than perfection. If something doesn’t taste good, most people won’t continue doing it.
I wanted to create an experience where people didn’t feel like they were forcing themselves to drink something healthy. I wanted wellness to feel enjoyable. Many of the blends were intentionally designed with women in mind because so many of the conversations I was having centered around hormones, stress, metabolism, energy, digestion, healthy aging, and blood sugar regulation. As I continued studying the relationship between glucose, heart health, hormone health, brain health, and inflammation, I became intentional about creating blends that felt naturally sweet and satisfying without requiring people to add sugar. That’s why we use real fruit, herbs, spices, and sweet leaves. Not because it’s the easiest or cheapest way to formulate, but because I wanted people to enjoy a delicious daily routine without feeling like they were working against their health goals.
What has amazed me most through this entire journey are the stories. In the beginning, I was just trying to help people. I started by making blends myself and praying over every person and every tea I made. Then the stories started coming back. People were feeling better. People were staying consistent. People were supporting their health in a way that finally felt sustainable. What I realized was that a huge part of the benefit wasn’t just the herbs themselves. It was that people actually enjoyed them enough to use them consistently.
That’s really why Abide exists. Not because people need another tea company. Because people need hope. They need practical ways to support their health. They need simple, enjoyable, sustainable ways to care for the bodies they’ve been given. They need someone who understands what it’s like to feel exhausted, discouraged, overwhelmed, and stuck. I know what that feels like because I lived it.
My prayer has always been that everything we create points people back to God’s provision, God’s design, and the possibility that feeling better may be closer than they think. If there’s one thing I hope people take away from my story, it’s that healing is often a journey, not an event. Small daily choices matter. God is faithful. And when you abide in Him, He will provide for you. That’s what He did for me, and that’s why Abide Provisions exists.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the biggest challenges I faced wasn’t my health. By the time I lost my corporate position, God had already restored my health.
The challenge became purpose.
After losing my job, I knew I wasn’t supposed to go back to the path I had been on, but I also didn’t know exactly what God was calling me toward. I felt lost.
Then I found out that I became pregnant with my son.
Motherhood changed everything.
For the first time, I wasn’t just thinking about success, income, titles, or career growth. I was thinking about purpose. I was thinking about how I wanted to spend my time. I was thinking about the kind of mother I wanted to be and the example I wanted to set for my son.
I knew I wanted my work to mean something.
I knew I wanted to help people.
I knew I wanted to be present with my son while doing it.
The challenge was figuring out what that actually looked like.
Like many people, I initially leaned into the things I already knew how to do. I worked in marketing, consulting, and coaching. I was good at those things. People paid me for them. But then I realized I wasn’t deeply connected to the work.
Eventually, that led me into health coaching.
For the first time, I felt aligned with what God had done in my own life. I was able to help people. I was able to share what I had learned through my own healing journey.
But even then, I felt another tension.
I could help one person at a time.
I could change one life at a time.
But I wanted to reach more people.
I wanted to create something that could support people every day, whether they were working with me directly or not.
At the same time, I was navigating motherhood, financial uncertainty, moving across the country, and later dealing with mold in our newly built home.
There were many moments where the easier decision would have been to return to a traditional career path.
Instead, I kept feeling God pull me back toward service. I never wanted to own a company or make a product. It wasn’t ever something I saw for myself, and I resisted it many times in my head.
The obstacle wasn’t a lack of opportunity.
The obstacle was learning to trust God’s direction more than my own plans.
The more I prayed, the more I realized something important:
Being good at something isn’t the same thing as being called to it.
Health coaching taught me that I loved helping people.
Motherhood taught me what mattered most.
And both ultimately led me to create something that could serve more people while still allowing me to be present for my son.
One of the greatest gifts of this journey is that my son gets to witness it alongside me.
He gets to see what it looks like to help others in a way that is purposeful, ethical, real.
He gets to see how walking in God’s plan for you, leads to the beauty of true happiness.
He gets to see faith in action.
And he gets to see that success isn’t just about what you build for yourself, it’s about how you impact the lives of others.
Looking back, every obstacle was preparing me for that lesson. Every lost opportunity was setting me up for this one. Every financial cry and times where we didnt think we would make it, God provided, because I stayed his course. It was easier to give up and go back to what paid me. I left a career that paid me $400k/yr to start with nothing, downsize my life, stay at home with my son , lose so many my personal possessions, but ultimately find joy, and purpose thta no amount of money could provide.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
What do you specialize in?
We specialize in wellness through organic herbal tea.
Our goal is simple: help people support their health in a way that feels enjoyable, sustainable, and rooted in God’s design. I say like to say ” Wellness that tastes as good as it makes you feel”.
Every blend is crafted with a specific purpose in mind, whether that’s supporting digestion, stress response, hormone balance, energy, brain function, healthy aging, or detoxification pathways. We use therapeutic herbs paired with real organic fruits, spices, and sweet leaves to create teas that people genuinely enjoy drinking every day. It came from hundreds of teas made custom for others and realizing that so many people struggled with similar issues, like I did.
We believe wellness doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. Small daily choices add up over time, and our teas are designed to make those choices easier.
What are you known for?
Without question, we’re known for flavor.
The most common thing we hear is, “I can’t believe this tastes so good” or ” I was not expecting that wow” or my favorite
” Wow I am in awe of how good this tastes”
Many people have tried herbal teas before and expect them to taste bitter, earthy, or medicinal. What makes us different is that we rely entirely on nature to create flavor.
We don’t use natural flavors.
We don’t use artificial flavors.
We don’t use flavor enhancers.
Instead, we use real organic fruit, herbs, spices, and sweet leaves.
The result is a tea that tastes delicious while still delivering the medicinal benefits of the herbs themselves.
Many of our customers originally purchase the tea because of a health concern, but they continue drinking it because they genuinely enjoy it.
To me, that’s important because consistency is where transformation happens.
What are you most proud of?
The thing I’m most proud of is that we’ve never compromised our values.
We’ve been approached about manufacturing and scaling production, but we’ve intentionally chosen to keep production in-house because quality matters to us.
Every batch is handcrafted and 100% organic. No machines.
Every order is packed by us.
We pray over every batch.
We pray over our customers.
We pray over the orders that leave our building.
To some people, that may sound unusual, but for us it’s simply an extension of who we are.
We’re not in the tea business.
We’re in the people business.
The tea is simply the vehicle.
What excites me most isn’t growth or revenue.
It’s hearing stories from people who feel better.
It’s watching people create healthy routines they actually enjoy.
It’s seeing customers come back month after month because the products have become part of their lives.
Many of our customers order multiple teas every month, and to me that’s one of the greatest compliments we could ever receive because it tells me they’re not just buying a product. They’re using it consistently enough to experience the value of it.
What sets you apart?
I believe what sets us apart is our commitment to integrity.
When I was creating these blends, I wasn’t just thinking about flavor. I was thinking about the person drinking it every day combined with how can they stay consistent. health coaching taught me that getting people to be well is all about their willingness to stay consistent.
As I studied health, hormones, metabolism, heart health, brain health, and blood sugar regulation, I became increasingly aware of how many products are marketed as healthy while still containing ingredients that don’t align with that message.
One of the biggest examples is natural flavors.
Most consumers assume natural flavors are simply fruit or plant extracts. In reality, natural flavors can be highly processed flavor systems derived from natural sources and manufacturers are not required to disclose all of the individual compounds used to create them.
That didn’t sit right with me.
For us, if we’re creating a wellness product, we want the ingredients to be exactly what they appear to be.
If we want a blueberry flavor, we use blueberries.
If we want citrus flavor, we use lemon peel and orange slices.
If we want sweetness, we use sweet leaves and fruit.
It’s certainly not the cheapest way to formulate.
In fact, freeze-dried organic fruit is one of the most expensive ingredients we use.
But we’ve chosen to prioritize quality over convenience.
Our conviction is simple: if we’re asking people to trust us with their health, then we need to earn that trust through transparency, integrity, and uncompromising ingredient quality.
At the end of the day, our mission isn’t to sell tea.
It’s to serve people.
The profit follows because God provides.
Our responsibility is to honor Him, serve people well, and create products we can feel proud to give to our own families.
Abide Provisions was born from a personal healing journey, but it was built for the people we serve.
After spending years battling chronic illness, learning how to support my body, and seeing firsthand how God designed the body to heal when given the right support, I felt a strong conviction to help others the way I had been helped.
The name “Abide” comes from John 15. Throughout my own healing journey, God continually taught me what it means to abide in Him. Not to strive harder. Not to control everything. But to trust Him, follow Him, and stay connected to Him.
The company was built on that same foundation.
We believe that true wellness isn’t about chasing perfection. It’s about making small daily choices that support the body God gave us.
Many people have tried herbal teas before and expect them to taste bitter, earthy, or medicinal. We wanted to challenge that belief. Tea haters become tea lovers when they try our tea… lol we like to say this is for the tea haters as much as it is for the tea lovers.
Certified organic herbs cost significantly more than conventional herbs.
Small-batch production costs more than mass production.
But we believe quality matters.
Organic matters to us because what isn’t sprayed on the plant is just as important as what is in the plant. Herbs are often consumed daily and concentrated over time. We believe people deserve ingredients that are grown with integrity and sourced as close to God’s original design as possible.
Our commitment to organic sourcing is part of a larger commitment to purity.
Not just purity of ingredients, but purity of intention.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Surrender to God. Jesus saved my life. I am nothing without him. Knowing I can cast my fears, cares, anxieties and stress on him, allows me to lean on him for guidance. I can not figure it out on my own, I need him and knowing that he is there, gives me all that I need. Through the ups and the downs. ” I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Phillippians 4:13 The impossible is always possible with the one who created you. Resisting my own ideas, thoughts and wants and following his plan for my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://chooseabide.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abideprovisions
- Other: https://instagram.com/teatalkwithchristina
