Makeup on a Redneck Woman

Before

During 

We're moving ahead with our plans for the Bailey Country Store and Sasquatch Outpost Coffee House.  We have almost all our paperwork ready to submit for our remodel permit, and then (by faith) we'll be off.  I managed to convince the building inspector to allow us to paint the exterior of the building (he wasn't going to allow us to do anything on the building at all until we have our remodel permit) because we wanted to give the high school kids a community service project to do for Kindness Day.  20 kids showed up, and we painted the whole lower part of the outside of the building... and what a difference a coat of paint makes!  A couple of other men and I finished up the upstairs paint job a few days later, but the old lady kinda looks good!  I told the guys when we were painting the upper part that it felt like putting makeup on a Redneck woman.. but hey, when you need it, use it!  The final effect
is pretty impressive.  We've already had people come by to shop, thinking that we're open.

This whole adventure of starting a country store and coffee house has proven to be one of the biggest faith challenges I've ever faced.  I thought we were living by faith the whole time we were serving overseas, but now that I look back on those years I realize we weren't really living by faith at all.  We had a team of very faithful supporters, and for 20 years we honestly never lacked a thing.  Fund raising was always a challenge, but God was

Painting the letters for the new store sign

faithful and our staff account was never in deficit even once during all those years.  Those days of relative financial security are long gone however, and we find ourselves trusting God on a daily basis to provide not only for our own financial needs, but for the funding to complete the renovation of the store, stock it with groceries, pay the bills etc.  There's a principle here that I am only now beginning to understand: as long as we had a healthy bank balance and plenty of financial support,  I never really gave much thought to trusting God.  Now we're forced to trust Him on a daily basis, and this reality has pushed us far beyond the edge of our comfort zone.  But out here in the "trust zone" we're learning that God is always faithful and always has our back.  As Christians we will always pray things like, "Lord, help me to trust you more" - not realizing, of course, that He will do just that!  So my prayer has changed to, "Lord, help me to REST in your promises today no matter what may happen because you are always trustworthy." 

The final effect.  We only need to add the sign for the Sasquatch Outpost coffee house