Did you take a theatre class in high school or middle school? Did you volunteer for set design or for one of the roles in the play? Myself, I snagged a Cinderella in middle school and a drunk mother in high school. Looking back on that, it is amazing to me because now I would be more inclined to be the person who the set designer calls for supplies. I would want to be way behind the scenes.
As a stay-at-home mother of three whom I have the joy of homeschooling, I had dreamed of a different life. Somewhere between high school and 2017, I moved from the foreground to the background and am happy there.
So believe me when I say that this website is all GOD!
I do not see myself as creative; I see my children as ceaseless bundles of creativity. I do not see myself as a writer; my daughter has three different books she is currently writing. So how I ended up opening a Christian t-shirt store is baffling to me.
Except when I consider God.
The road to here was God making things possible and working through me. Every time I wanted to quit and try something else, I felt the gentle voice and nudge of God. I have read the Bible enough to know to listen to the gentle voice because I have no desire to have the Lord upset with me. So forward I trudged, and here I am. Even as I reached the final stages, I faced rejection and almost shut it down before I really got going.
On this journey, I have learned perseverance, faith, and patience: perseverance in pushing through to learn more about me and what I am capable of when I trust that this where God wants me to be; faith that this is where God wants me to be; and patience that while I would like things to work one way…
God has a plan that plan is so much better than what I want, so I wait on his plan.
I am humbled to be an instrument that God has chosen to utilize. He really does not need us, you know. As it says in Luke 19:40, "And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” But with all he has done for us, why would we not cry out? Why would we not want to exalt the name of Jesus?
I read a blog post recently about how to be an ally and thought that is it exactly. I am that person who wants to be behind the scenes but I also want to exalt Jesus.
So if I can put on a shirt and, by wearing it, increase exposure to Jesus, why would I choose not to?
I choose to use scriptures on my shirts rather than anything else because truly does anything cut as deeply as God's word?
When God has pricked a person's heart and is working on them, they may run like Jonah, but God still has whales to shift people back on the path he wants them on.
My goal, my hope, my prayer is that these shirts are a step on a path to leading someone to Christ or someone back to Christ or bolstering that person who feels like no one is on their side.
I hope you share my desire to be a light in the darkness, to help without saying a word. If you have a story that goes with your shirt, I would love to read about it.
Please drop me an email at admin@olivegrovelife.com .