To pick up where we last left off, Mod Threads has been named and is officially recognized as a business in Illinois, but Brooke and I still really had no idea what we were doing.
Although we had applied for our LLC license, slightly invested in our business, and had all of these ideas, we still did not have a nailed down, perfectly outlined business plan. It still would have been easier at this point to just decide we would not go through with the business than to really put the work in to make it happen. We needed to get inventory, build an entire website, decide how we would sell our products, and build an entire brand. That is a lot of work. I have a quote at the bottom of my personal budget tracker sheets and it reads:
I also really struggle with lies that I cannot do big things. I am not talented enough, no one will care, I will be made fun of, etc. However, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I would let those thoughts creep in and start to spoil my confidence in Mod Threads, I would hear God remind me, what about me? Taking on a full time job on top of my full time job was overwhelming. Luckily, Brooke was, and is, my balance because she is a free spirit, adventurous soul and she sees no caution to concepts that I feel are burning the world down around me. It was such a good balance of our personalities. She had enough courage for the both of us to keep on progressing.
So, summer was ending, the school year was going to be starting and so many changes were on the horizon. With the Covid-19 pandemic, I was not sure what my regular full time job of teaching would look like, if I would work from home or report to work, and I was going to have this business added to my plate. How does that all fit?
I kept battling the ideas of, "Is this just crazy, too much work, and something I will not do justice for?" versus "Let's do this thing!" I was back and forth on the daily, hour, and sometimes by minute. Luckily, I sat through a sermon series that lit. a. fire. in me that I needed.
This sermon series was preached at Central Christian Church and was titled, "A Short Summer Series". This series was preached shortly after the church opened back up to in person services from a being online only due to Covid-19 precautions being taken.
The entire series focused on using time, talents, and opportunities to do something for the Lord that has meaning. Kingdom work is the most important work. I knew that, but I was not living it, especially having just spent more time than EVER at home during the pandemic. The entire series can be viewed on YouTube.
I am going to link the message from that series that made me rise up, throw all cares to the side, and get serious. You can view it right here: Take A Risk by James McKenzie
Should you choose to listen to this sermon, pay close attention to time stamp 38:15. This is where he hit me in the gut with his message. "All of us throughout our lives will face key life decisions." James talks about how these decisions literally alter the path of our lives. If you make one decision, you go one way. If you go another, you take another path. Then, he talks about me, I am one of those people who play it safe. However, I could feel it in my spirit that Mod Threads was exactly the type of risk that if I did not take, I would look back and regret not taking. James gives some great biblical examples of people who took risks and had amazing results.
I left church that day MORE afraid of what would happen to my life if I DID NOT choose Mod Threads than I was of playing it safe. Suddenly, safe did not feel as safe because I knew in my spirit that Mod Threads was a part of God's plan for my life. I always hope to be the person who wants what He wants for me more than I want to fulfill my own plans. He is a loving father with my best interest in mind. He knows more about what is going to happen and how every domino in my path will fall. My God knows much more about what is good for me than I do. I only have tunnel vision of my perspective in the moment when making my own decisions, but my God sees the whole picture.
The plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.
Psalm 33:11
At the end of our lives, our salvation and obedience to God and His plans are far more important than our own plans. The Lord has a plan. I want to be one of His children who pleases Him and helps to build his Kingdom. I want Him to look at me and tell me I came home having done a job well done as a good and faithful servant. He has worked me over and over time and time again to be all in with Mod Threads, so here I am. Yes, Lord, I will. I will leave this post with one more quote that has just stirred me up so much lately. After you read it, I really encourage you to sit with it, think about it, chew on it, and then ask yourself how to best let this quote encourage you or better yet- light. your. fire.
"If your dreams don't scare you, they are too small."