Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

    About a month ago the Lord put it on my heart to start a small business of making and selling scrunchies and barrette scrunchies. I added in the Wristlet Keychains. I had to wait a few weeks until I had a few extra bucks to buy supplies. As much as it annoyed me to wait it allowed the desire to take root. I had some supplies already on hand and made a few for my best friends and myself. Looking back, I should have spent that time designing a logo and all those logistical things, instead of just daydreaming and counting down the days until I could go shopping.

    Finally, last weekend I bought some of the supplies and started sewing. Little by little this past week I have been adding to my inventory. It's finally becoming real and no longer just an idea.

    Over the last few days, I have spent some time thinking about the particulars. Things I hadn't thought through yet. Like what colours I will offer regularly and how much time I want /can devote to it regularly. I was having a hard time deciding what colours I wanted to offer consistently. I wanted to offer my favourite colours and a few others to ensure I cover a broad range of customers, but not offer so many colours that I overwhelm myself. I should have decided that before I went fabric shopping, but I didn't. I simply bought a variety of colours. I was overthinking about it at work and getting a little stressed about it. I then reminded myself that worry and anxiety are not from the Lord, but this dream is. So I put away the anxiety and made a decision. Which I am happy with.

    Then I was thinking about how much time I should dedicate to it. Then either my mind or the Holy Spirit reminded me that as much as I put into it, I will get in return. Which has given me peace about putting in as much as possible but not so much that it affects my family life. 

    I decided last week that because I consider it a job and no longer just a hobby, I will not sew on Sundays. If I do sew on Sunday, it will be a personal project and not for sale. God gifted Sundays to us. We thank Him for that gift by resting from our regular work on Sundays. So, no sewing for profit on Sundays. I also tithe the first 10% of my sales. Hubby and I believe in the Bible and the principles of tithing from our income. So, I am tithing off of this income as well. I don't share this tithing part with you to brag, I'm sharing because I am a believer and as a believer I believe differently than unbelievers. Plus, lots of people like to shop local and believers like to shop from and support other believer's businesses. So I am announcing it here and it will be evident in my marketing. God provides financially for us and in return we return the first 10% to Him and then use the rest to take care of our family and those around us. I feel that tithing through this little side hustle of mine is even more important in a sense because he gave me the idea/desire and I want to thank Him for it. Yes, I'm grateful for my day job and how combined with my hubby's income it takes care of my family. But that job is simply a job, versus something that I enjoy and do on my own time.

    At this time I will be selling through Instagram and Facebook. I was thinking of using Etsy as well but for now, I will stick with these two platforms and see what the Lord does. I'm excited to have these two social media pages looking pretty and ready for business early this week.

Hope to see you there, friend.

Until then,

God Bless

~Hannah

Haven't made my logo yet, so a pretty tree line from last fall.

Don't Skip Your Morning Bible Reading Time.

    Oh my goodness, what a day. Boring and dragging. Work is fine, the tasks that I am completing are not boring or irritating or anything. But I'm bored. Music and podcasts are not satisfying. It's Friday and payday. You would think I would be in a great mood. But I'm not.

    Unfortunately, I did not get into the Word of God today. Hubby and I had a really late night last night and I decided to sleep in a bit which took away my time in my Bible and my housework time. I decided I would be so tired that I wouldn't take anything in while reading my Bible anyway, so extra sleep was a better idea. So I slept for an hour and then got ready for work. It's been a struggle all morning. The first chunk of the day dragged on terribly.

    Then, when I had a minute, I decided to journal my thoughts on my notepad on my phone.

    Holy Spirit reminded me of a podcast that I listened to a while ago and one of the hosts mentioned that the days when she doesn't get into her Bible in the morning, her day is off. I then remembered that I skipped my Bible reading time this morning too. I opened up my Bible app and listened to the book of Daniel. Instantly the icky feeling of boredom and everything else that I couldn't quite put my finger on were gone. I looked at the clock shortly after and was pleasantly surprised to see a chunk of time had passed getting me that much closer to the end of my work day.

    It was 10 am when I looked at the clock, meaning my work day was half done and we were an hour away from lunch. Before I looked at the clock I was feeling hungry and thought, "Oh great, I'm hungry and it's probably two hours from lunch," then I saw the clock and was relieved and excited that it was only an hour away from lunch and that my hunger was reasonable.

    The moral of the story is don't skip out on Bible reading time in favour of sleep.

    Heck, I didn't put two and two together, but even our few minutes together this morning before hubby brought me to work were rough. We have barely argued or anything recently and this morning I threw a slight hissy fit which resulted in some frustration for both of us.

So, read your Bible. It makes all the difference.

I pray this encourages you today, friend.

God Bless

~Hannah

Downtown, Wallaceburg, ON

Thankful For The Bad Days.

    Thankful for the bad days. An odd sentiment I know. But without the bad days, we can't say how good the good days are. Today was a bad day. The day didn't start quite the way I had hoped and it quickly went downhill landing in a depressive episode. I did manage to get a lot of stuff done considering. I have learned not to let my emotional state control my productivity and that I can either lay on the couch and feel bad or get stuff done and still feel bad but at least my to-do list is getting checked off. I couldn't do what I wanted to do, which was sewing. But, I did get today's housework chore and tomorrow's chores done along with most of the laundry washed and dried. So it was a productive day, just not an emotionally good day. I'm trying to remind myself that because I am ahead on housework I will have more time and energy this week to dig into my next sewing project and learn a new photography skill that I need to add to my repertoire.

    While walking Blessing tonight and thanking God for the bad days I was also thinking about how we need all the different opposites. Not only do we need the bad days, so that we can know how good the good days are. But we also need bigger/heavier people and smaller people. If we didn't have both then no one would know that they are bigger or smaller because they would not have anything to compare their size to. Hear me out, I'm not talking Instagram comparison, I'm talking healthy realistic comparison. I wouldn't know how small I am unless I had someone bigger to compare myself to. If we were all one size we wouldn't know what size we are. I'm also short, but I only know that because of being around taller people.

    Food is also another category where we need both. We need McDonald's to know just how healthy a garden salad is and how good you feel after eating it.

    We need both sides of all the categories to appreciate and know the difference between each of these things.

    That being said, bad days are not nice at the moment, I'd much rather be in a good mood than on the verge of tears. But that's life sometimes. We also need the bad days so that we remember to rely on the Lord. God also allows hard times and bad things to happen so that not only do we learn to rely on Him, but also so that He can display  His power and majesty in our lives. Because it's on our worst days when the doctor gives us bad news and we have to rely on Him all the more for our strength that we see His power. It is on our medium bad days when our emotions are a mess that we get to be reminded that we are not simply robots who go to work, pay bills, eat and sleep. It's on these days that we are reminded that we are human and experience God-given emotions.

    So the next time you are having a bad day, as hard as it is, praise the Lord. Thank Him for the bad day. Then start thanking Him for all your blessings and start defeating the lies of the enemy. I know it's not easy or fun, but not everything in life is.

God Bless

~Hannah