Today’s post is a guest post by Angela. You can look forward to seeing a post from her about once a month.
It’s been about a year since I’ve officially launched my business, eight38 Designs. My prayer has always been that God would use it however He wants. I’ve tried to view eight38 as a ministry more than a business. Now this doesn’t mean I don’t want to generate income through it (of course I want to do that), but I want God’s love to be communicated through all that I do.
At the end of May, I stopped nannying a child due to him starting camp and then preschool in the fall. I made the scary decision to focus on growing my business and not find another child to nanny. It was a huge step of faith because our income was going to take a hit. At the time, I honestly wasn’t convinced that it was the right step, but I was trusting in God to provide.
At this point, orders weren’t constantly rolling in. I had a few orders, but they were not easy to come by. The seeds of doubt were starting to sprout and I found myself heading down the road of discouragement. I spent a lot of time in prayer asking God to provide.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”
Philippians 4:6 NLT
I started to find success through Facebook market and orders picked up a little, but they still weren’t close to replacing the income I made from nannying. Towards the end of October I hit a point that I was finishing up on all my active orders. I had put a few things out on Facebook but they hadn’t generated any interest. Feeling discouraged, I turned back to God and I asked Him to provide.
Then it happened.
I put up a Facebook post about a custom front porch sign I had just completed. Over the next few hours, my phone blew up. I had tons of people messaging me that were interested in the sign. After ten people had messaged me, I asked Nick if he thought I should take the post down because that may be more than I could handle. We decided that since most people that say they are interested don’t follow through to actually ordering, there was no need to take it down yet.
That one Facebook post has now generated over forty orders (yes orders, not just people who are interested). Right before that post went crazy, I received confirmation that the North Carolina Department of Public Safety had approved a sign that would go in their renovated lobby. Shortly after, I finalized a booking for my first “Paint at Home” party (like wine and design but I come to you). Before the post, I was wondering what the best strategy to handle the “Christmas rush” I hoped to have and now I was barely going to have room to take any more orders before Christmas.
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”
Ephesians 3:20 NLT
Never did I imagine God would answer my prayer like that. I am still in awe that it even happened. In the end, it is an answer to everything I have prayed for eight38 Designs. God is using it how he wants to use it. The success of the business can only be attributed to Him and bring Him glory. I have just been someone for Him to flow through. I’ve been faithful with the little and watched Him bring the growth.
As you can imagine, I’ve since been working tirelessly to complete the orders. The employees at Lowe’s thought I was crazy when I bought that many fence posts but told them I wasn’t building a fence. As I wrap up this first year, I am amazed to see what God has done and anxiously await how He will continue to move.