“There are years that ask questions and years that answer”Zora Neale Hurston.
This week my husband and the business were featured in a local magazine for winning the Madison Chamber of Commerce Health and Wellness Business of the Year award! I am so proud and extremely overwhelmed with gratitude because these are the moments where I receive the answers for the years of questions I asked.
In 2011, after working both in the corporate world and training local athletes and adults in the time he sacrificed for his passion, my husband came home and said God told him to leave his full time job to open a strength and conditioning facility. There were a few early investors but I was 8 months pregnant. We had just bought a house and a push gift car. My husband doesn’t do anything mediocre and he has a very strong faith so the God said was THE GOD SAID and action needed to happen like yesterday. We found a building with the space, did minor renovations, received donated equipment; it had gotten real so fast. The day I gave birth was the day the doors opened to the gym. There are years that ask questions.
A foreclosed house, dissolved friendships, sacrificed luxuries, 2 kids, 11 years of marriage, are we going to make it questions, God I thought you said reminders — 7 years of entrepreneurship later: And years that answer.
We could write a book about marriage and entrepreneurship. [Some of our story is mentioned in WOVEN.] Or even a book about faith in every season especially the ones that don’t give you many reasons to continue believing; God always gets the glory.
This isn’t a testament to our “bravery” or even to my husbands hard work. When you are following a God said on your life you have to have some deep roots planted, a partner who seeks God on your behalf, a tribe of people who respect you as a business owner, who respect your business, your hustle, your absence from the events, your vision. Spoiler alert: Every friend won’t be or know how to be all of those things so brace yourself. The awards, the radio interviews, the magazine articles, the public praise is humbling. It’s a display of the fruit on a tree that’s been watered for a long time. We are honored. God is amazing.
For the person who is taking a leap of faith because of a very distinct, still voice in your spirit that said do what you can and I will do what you can’t, listen to it. Everything that you need to succeed is within you. Every person God has called to support, invest, offer their services/time/expertise will appear. Just get started. There isn’t anything faithful about your box, your comfort zone or just some of the cards being on the table. We’ve done a lot with so little. God has done a lot for us.
Thankful for every client, every referral, every review, the investors, our Marketing Manager, our Coach, our Interns, our Admin, local businesses, family and friends who have sowed seeds of love, helped when we refused to say we needed it, stayed beside us, constantly interceding for us, not bringing drama or compromise, our marriage mentors, parenting partners, church family.
This story is a reflection of God’s grace. I will always have a praise in my spirit. If He never does anything else He’s done enough.
