Husbands

About a year and a half ago, I was reading a Christian Women's magazine and saw an advertisement for a VeggieTales ministry that gets the Good News into the hands of children that may not have heard it otherwise. I felt like the Lord called me to do start this type of ministry in Greenville. So I prayed about it- and waited. And prayed about it- and waited. Over a year later, two months before my wedding, I felt like the Lord said 'OK- now'. What? Two months before the wedding? Wow! Sometimes it's hard to understand the Lord's 'perfect timing'! So I started the endless paperwork and planning. I remember putting the deposit down for a franchise for the upstate 2 weeks before the wedding. Suzanne, the lady at the corporate office who takes care of all of that, said 'Ok, you have your territory locked. Now don't call me again until after the honeymoon!'
You may wonder why I titled this 'Husbands'. It's because God knew I couldn't have done this without Ryan. That is why His timing is perfect and why at the time, I had to just trust His timing. In hindsight, it was the perfect time.
Throughout this whole thing, Ryan has covered me. When I got so discouraged that there was no way we could come up with the money to start this, Ryan kept praying with me and reassuring me that God would provide. And He did! You know it's God when someone that you have only met once hands you a check for thousands of dollars! In fact, after Ryan and I told them about what we were starting, the wife looked at the husband and said 'We wondered why we had that extra money in the account this month'. Wow! God has shown us miracle after miracle through all of this!
There have been times when I would get so worried and upset, and Ryan would call me and tell me to skip ahead and read a chapter in the Bible study we are going through. It would be exactly what I needed. There are many times that I would cry and think about quitting and Ryan would grab me and pray with me. When I am overwhelmed, he somehow knows it, and tells me what a good job I'm doing and how proud he is of me. I worry about our future finances from this- we have put all of our savings and money on the line- and Ryan constantly tells me that the Lord would not have brought us here to let us fail. While my faith has been tested over the past few months, it has helped to see how solid my husband's faith is- EVERY DAY. It helps increase my faith because with Ryan, I do things that I would be scared to do alone, and I see God work- and my faith increases.
So many people congratulate me on the new business and Ryan just smiles. If they only knew to congratulate him, too, because without his constant covering and encouragement, there would be no business.