Brace yourself for a longer than normal post. I had to stop now and then in the middle of writing to jump up and down with excitement, so it took me a little while to get through this. :)
We never really know what God is going to do in our life in any given season. If there’s anything I’ve learned during the past few years of changes and challenges, it’s that God’s ways are best no matter if they are painful to go through or joyful.
This newest change in our lives? Oh so completely joyful.
And born out of some pain and challenges.
Which is what makes this change so joyful.
Want me to tell you about it? Oh good, I would love to.
My husband Matt is very “visionary” as in…he is a guy full of great business and ministry ideas. Constantly. All the time. One of his ideas a few years ago was to look into opening a restaurant. He had loads of business ideas for a restaurant and knew that it would be a great way to be with and serve people in the community.
Then last year, someone offered him a position as assistant manager of a brand new restaurant opening up in town. It was a perfect opportunity to try out his restaurant dream without having a huge financial investment. He would be working for a fellow church member and we would have a steady income. We went for it!
Within the past fifteen months as Matt has worked out at Southside Grille, we’ve appreciated so many aspects about the job. We’ve been so thankful for the consistent pay check, for the chance for Matt to be out in the community visiting with people, for the opportunity to pursue a dream. God has been so good to give us that. And yet…
Our family time has really been suffering. Matt’s schedule has been a tough one, which has caused his life to feel unbalanced. He found that week after week as he helped figure out the work schedule that he’d have to choose between missing a church event or a family event. How’s a guy supposed to choose between going to a mid-week Bible study or going to his son’s soccer game?
Little by little we recognized that this lifestyle and job didn’t match up with the desires and spiritual goals we have for our family, and there didn’t seem to be any relief in sight. We aren’t quitters, and yet, we began to see that for Matt to stay with this job would mean that he would continue to miss out on and neglect so many of the things we feel are most important.
Three or four months ago we began to talk about and pray about the possibility of Matt doing something else. He was continuing to miss time with us that he didn’t want to miss any more. At the end of each day (and at the end of his life), he wanted to have “no regrets about how he spent his time”.
And so.
Four weeks ago, Matt resigned from his job at Southside Grille, effective December 18.
Can I just say, we are so full of joy and peace over this decision and the possibilities it presents that we are bouncing off walls and doing back flips?!! God has given us this opportunity and we can not wait to see what He has in mind for our family.
So, the question many people around here have, and one I would assume you are wondering as well is: What is Matt going to do now?
We aren’t able to put our finger on any one thing, because there truly isn’t just one thing. We plan to go back to being exclusively self-employed and have multiple streams of income as there are many things we are interested in doing. Most of them involve working togther as a couple and often will include the kids. In addition, we own and rent out storage units, which are now paid off and creating income. Matt has had a snow removal business for the past three years that he’ll continue to grow – although this particular business tends to be quite slow in the summertime. :) He plans to join forces even more than he already does here at Heavenly Homemakers, working some of the business and marketing end of things so that I can focus more on writing.
And…we plan to dream together.
My visionary husband is going to keep dreaming and pursuing some new dreams. I am so, so excited for him.
We’ll be “doing teamwork” while we homeschool and train our boys. We’ll be pursuing some of the ministries that are on our hearts but that have been on the back burner for a while.
Yes indeed. We get to be a team. I mean, we’ve always been a team. But now, we get to work together almost constantly, getting the boys more involved with some of Matt’s business ideas and work.
In case you’re concerned or wondering, we’ve been financially planning for this life change and would not be making this move if we were not prepared. That alone has been a wonderful lesson for our boys to learn.
I’ll continue to share during the next few weeks more about some of the goals we’re setting and give you an idea of how all of this is going to work for us. I will tell you right now though that one book that’s been a huge help as we’ve worked to take this leap of faith is 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller. It is an EXCELLENT book that encourages us all to find where God has gifted us and find work that will utilize those gifts and provide for your family at the same time. We recommend this book wholeheartedly as it has been quite instrumental in changing the focus of our lives.
While we don’t have an ultimate picture of what our lives are about to look like, without a doubt, we see clearly that this is what God wants us to do. And we know with full peace and confidence that He is going to provide everything we need while we work hard for Him…as a team.
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