Building the biographical flat lay that became the first header on my Etsy shop and website.
Part of my story is that I quit my job
without a plan.
That part drove people absolutely crazy. They all wanted to hear me enthuse about freelancing. Or talk about how I was planning to be off x years and then I'd go back to work. To be honest, I was pretty nervous too. I absolutely obsessed over setting up a Linked In page. I was sure that I would be doomed professionally without one.
In my final month of work I received three different job offers. Some of them were just freelance projects but I was still stressed out about turning them down. I remember wondering if God was just testing me to see if I would follow through with obeying his direction. In hindsight, maybe it was just God proving he could provide for me.
All that was six years ago. Since we're celebrating the 1-year anniversary of my business that means I did not work professionally as a graphic designer for
5 whole years. I truly believe that was the number of years I needed to unwind from years of tension and perfectionism and learn to trust God more fully. If I hadn't had those years off I don't think I could embark on owning my own business in a way that is healthy for myself or my family.
During those years God and I were still in conversation about my artistic gifts and how he might use them (And when! I like plans, God, you know that!). He was always so reassuring to me.
Along the way I discovered some beautiful and inspiring scriptures that still grace my workspace today. I am so happy to share them with you today.
God values beauty.
I have sometimes wondered if my artistic and creative gifts are seen as useful or important to God. "Does making things look beautiful really matter?" I would wonder. One day when I was in Genesis this verse jumped out at me. God purposefully made the trees both beautiful ("pleasing to they eye") and useful ("good for food"). Having food to eat was on equal footing with enjoying beauty and God ensured his people had both. No longer do I have to wonder if beauty matters. It mattered to our creative God!
My God-given gifts are permanent.
The message I always got from Holy Spirit when I prayer journaled was that he gave me my gifts and he wasn't going to waste them. I was also assured that there was no way for my gifts to just disappear since they were a part of who I was made to be. "Irrevocable" means "not capable of being changed." In the world's eyes I might have been wasting my talents by not working but in God's eyes those gifts were just still there to be used.
God will use my life.
While I am a planner and worrier by nature those activities taken to the extreme are unhealthy, unhelpful, and even sinful. I am learning I need to trust God with my life and assume he is more than able to steer it in the proper direction. All I need to do is stay in relationship with him, always listening, and be willing to be obedient.
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