The "Why" behind the Shop

The start of my little shop has been a happy accident in so many ways. Never did we set out to start this little business, but it has been so neat to see how God has worked. When I started the #lampandlight hashtag about a year and a half ago, it was really just a way to keep myself accountable, and I thought it would be fun if a few other friends joined in and we could do it together. I was amazed by the response, and realized that others were feeling what I had been feeling, like they wanted to be in Scripture, but were struggling. The accountability changed something for me, it helped me have that little push that I needed a first to get serious about being in God's Word, and what I found was that once I got serious and committed to making it a habit, that it became so much more than just a habit, it became what I needed to get through the day. Soon it became a deep passion of mine to help women learn to study Scripture, and to cultivate vibrant and intentional relationships with God. In February we lost our precious baby girl, and our lives changed forever. Just a few weeks after we lost Sophia, we took a trip to San Antonio in an attempt to get away for a bit and spend time just the three of us. We spent the week soaking in time with Stella, remembering our sweet Sophia, and trying to set our hearts on Jesus through the pain. On the drive home (we always have our best conversations in the car,) I told Jeremy that I was amazed at how God had been preparing my heart with Scripture even though I didn't know it, and how God's Word was the only thing that brought comfort in those days. Jeremy told me that he felt that I should pray about how I could use what God had taught me to help other women. Not just women facing what I had faced, but just women who loved the Lord, who needed to find strength and joy in Him alone. After we got home I started studying the book of Philippians and soon it was clear to me that the passion that God had given me to help women learn to study Scripture, and cultivate their walk with God was what I felt God was calling me to in this season. So it was a bit of whirlwind and a journey that started with a whole lot of uncertainty that I started writing the Joy in Christ journal. The goal was to give some guidance walking through a book of the Bible, but also to teach women to study Scripture on their own. I was nervous, and I didn't really think that anyone would care about my little journal, but I was passionate about it. From there things have progressed, I have had the joy of watching so many women start walking through the Joy in Christ journal, we have launched a summer line of prints and products designed to immerse our whole lives in Scripture and I have started working on my second journal, which I expect to release some time next month. To me, it seems like a happy accident, but I know that it was part of God's plan for my life, part of my story. Are there other print shops? Yes. Are there other people that write Bible study material? Yes. But from the very start when I decided to start writing with so much nervousness, Jeremy said to me, if it helps one person know Christ more will it be worth it? The answer to that question will always be yes. Scripture has incredible power, and it is only my goal to help women realize how much power God's Word has for our daily lives. I love these verses from Deuteronomy 6:5-9 that talk about how Scripture should be a part of our entire lives:

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

I can't help but think when I read these verses how it applies to little products infused with Scripture, how they can help us constantly be reminded of the Lord and set His Word in front of our eyes and hearts.