Doing a Good Work

Disclaimer: I promise everything here is not going to be about our shop.  That's just what I have going on right now so it's usually at the forefront of my mind.

Yesterday was a stressful day.  I feel like all day long, people were telling me that what I want to do isn't possible when I know that it is.  I called to talk to several local printing places & every one of them was discouraging & didn't really give me any real answers.

Last night Grayson got home from work later than usual.  He's had a lot of really busy days lately because an app they've been working on for a year is releasing today.  Even after all that, he came home & while I made dinner, he immediately started working on scanning & printing just to see how our scanner/printer would do with my paintings.  He adjusted settings & tweaked for hours, & it still just wasn't really what we were looking for.  He ate dinner in about two seconds while still doing all of this & researching what other shop owners do - professional printing place vs. investing in a really good printer & doing it yourself.  This went on for hours.

In the middle of all of this, I got an email from someone I don't even know that was so encouraging & had good things to say about the sneak peek of our shop that I posted yesterday.  (Thanks, Amy!)  We decided to just quit thinking about it last night & research some more this week & maybe go printer shopping this weekend. 

This morning, I woke up to several posts on Instagram that I felt like were just for me.  (I think this means Jesus loves Instagram!)  She Reads Truth is currently in a study on Nehemiah.  I haven't kept up with it lately, but today I felt like I needed to read it.  I usually work in the mornings, but today I'm working a weird shift & don't have to go in until later, so I sat down to read it.  Nehemiah is one of my favorite books.  The whole story is about rebuilding & restoration.  Amidst hardship, Nehemiah persists, & says "I am doing a good work & I cannot come down" (Nehemiah 6:3).  He kept pursuing what he felt God had placed in front of him.

Grayson & I have been going through the One Year Bible this year, & we usually read at night rather than in the morning, but we're a little behind so I was reading one to him this morning while he got ready.  Today we were in 1 Chronicles 29 when the temple is being built.  After Grayson left for work, I wanted to read those verses again, more slowly.  I opened my bible, & it opened to that very page.  Back in January, I'd stuck my birthday card from my mom in my bible, & apparently that's the page I put it in.  I felt like it was the same story here.  Hardship + endurance = more glory for God.  1 Chronicles 29:10-20 is David's praise to God.  The passage ends with other people praising God in response to David's praise.  This is ultimately what we want.  We want to bring more praise, more glory, more fame, to God.

I want to have every bit of this in writing.  Whether we open our shop in a week or a month, whether we sell one thing the first day, or fifty.  Whether this shop lasts 6 months of 6+ years.  I'm doing a good work, & I cannot come down.