Taking the 1st Step

“I pray that our fears, our reservations and our temptations to run would all be put aside as we discover what we were made for, what we were created for…I pray that we be front and center and that it would just dissipate all of our resistance. So please have Your will.

Give us the wisdom to know what to do and the courage to do it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.” – Andy Stanley

There I was staring at this beautiful baby boy that God sent our way in His perfect timing and I’m faced with a decision…It is one that had been on our mind for a while now, but one that had been weighing on my heart for about a year. An LLC approval for Wheelhouse was hanging on the fridge from January 2016 reminding us that we have this crazy dream and the words “Make Wheelhouse Happen – L+T @ Magnolia Market 2/12/16” sits next to me in a blank book that has “Trust Your Crazy Ideas” foil stamped on the outside in gold. The pages are still blank after a year because we have yet to take a step towards this dream of ours. “Will you actually do something with these dreams or will you let them pass you by?” echoed through my mind.

I had finally taken a step. I had met with Keller Williams and talked to Trevor about the startup costs. Terrified to leave the comfort and security of Benson – a career that I had held for the last 5 years of my life as I worked my way up the corporate ladder,I still found myself at a crossroad. “I want to be my own boss!” my entrepreneurial voice screamed inside of me. Followed by the mother/wife voice inside of me that trailed with “I want to spend more time with my family – – Make Wheelhouse Happen…You have to start somewhere”.

I slept on it and asked for prayers from my loved ones and woke up with one thought in my mind – go back and listen to Andy Stanley’s message The Comparison Trap. I ended up listening to the whole 3 part series that morning as I got Banks and I ready for the day. In one glaring part, Andy speaks on the parable of the bags of gold [Matthew 25: 14-30]. See, a few years back, before Trev and I were married, the economy was down and Trevor had this wild idea to buy a house. I say wild because we were 23 and 24 at the time and my mind was simply not going there yet. Thankfully, his was. He saw ROI, where I saw a big scary commitment. We found a beautiful short sale in Canton and it ended up being the best financial decision Trevor could have ever made for us and our future family. Fast forward two+ years, we decided that it was time to sell. Trevor made it clear when we moved in that this first house of ours was an investment and not our forever home and, for various reasons, it felt like the right time to say goodbye. We “flipped” it without actually making any improvements to it with one thought in mind – – one day we would invest it in something else.

We had downsized to a perfect little 1 bedroom apartment in the heart of downtown Woodstock “living the dream” while we looked for a fixer upper. That was, until we found out I was pregnant (that’s a story for another day). Change of plans – – now we needed something move-in ready. “There goes that dream” I thought. Little did I know, this little boy would give us the courage to make moves in the direction of our dreams and not keep us from seeing them through.

We ended up moving into our new home with just enough time to nest before Banks arrived and, honestly, we couldn’t have been happier. It was all unexpected, but all perfect. So, there I was with a 5 week old and another month left of maternity leave and it hit me like a ton of bricks – – the money from our 1st home was our “bag of gold” and we had dug a hole and buried it! Meanwhile, there was this dream of how to use the talents God had given us and we were too afraid to take the first step! I’ll explain the full vision behind Wheelhouse in my next blog but getting my real estate license was a step in the right direction.

I am blessed to have a husband who believes in me even when I don’t always believe in myself. He gave me the confidence to go for it, despite how terrified we were to drop down to one income with a new baby while I got my business off the ground. Thankfully, I was also in the middle of Andy Stanley’s series How to Get What You Really Want and had been faced with the question of “wants” versus “values”. Although security and a stable income was what I “wanted”, what I valued was having more time to be a wife and mommy and eventually owning our own business that was right in our wheelhouse.

There has always been something beautiful to me about starting a new chapter, whether by selling a house or searching for a new place to create a home and build a future. That said, I am thrilled to be able to share this journey with others! So, here’s to a new adventure and to helping some close doors, while others open new ones!

{Joshua 1:9 – Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord is with you wherever you go.}

{Ecclesiastes 4:6 – Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.}