"Sovereignty + Business Plans" by Sarah
We'll be the first to confess that we aren't business-minded. We're entrepreneurial, but we don't have any formal business training. Our family and Modern Forestry is where it's at just four years after its origin, because of God's incredible grace, answering prayers we hadn't even yet voiced for family and fulfillment at work.
We can't embrace and praise God for his sovereignty - knowing all things past, present, and future and directing them for HIs purpose - in the past without also embracing it in the present and future. Our daily challenge as small business owners isn't just to accept God's sovereignty, but to find peace and rest in His ultimate control.
When things happen unexpectedly, like our monthly maker's market Forestry Friday getting canceled because of rain, aligning faith and business becomes harder. The only rain in a ten-day window is tonight. Why? Why could we not have sunshine? God is sovereign over all things, even storm clouds. It becomes easy to be frustrated, disappointed.
But that frustration and disappointment are poor substitutes for the peace that rests in resting in Him. Truly. That's not just church lingo for Sunday morning. That's raw, cut-your-teeth-on-me truth to live by on a Friday night while it storms outside.
One of the Forestry Friday makers.
When that extra money we were banking on won't be making it to our bank account because of a rain cancellation, we can rest. We have the freedom through Christ not to worry and fret about how we're going to make it up. This is John talking through me, truly. The Sarah of five-years-ago would have loudly protested.
"But faith doesn't put food on the table. Don't just tell me how it's going to be ok. Show me," I would have said, pulling out the Google spreadsheet with our budget on it.
The Sarah of 2019 still has those thoughts, but I don't voice them as loudly anymore. Why? Because God is sovereign. Because I've seen Him provide. Not always how and when I want, but faithfully. To the utmost. What I needed - not always what I thought I needed - but what I truly needed to live life to the fullest.
And so we rest tonight. Even thankful for an unexpected evening off, although our preference would have been to be at the farm prepping for Forestry Friday, welcome makers from around the South Carolina Upstate, and sending candles off to new homes. That's not what we were given. And I'm thankful. Thankful that God gives good gifts, however unplanned they may be.
John and Sarah founded Modern Forestry in March 2015 as a solution to Sarah's chemical-induced migraines. They set out to create soy candles that are both fragrant and safe for the home. You can shop their spring collection here.