23d (edited) • Bible Study & Stories of Faith
The Bar Cart
Okay, bear with me — this is a few stories in one. 😊
Last year, before I opened the store — honestly, before my walls were even built — I drove to Houston for a closeout sale at one of my favorite stores, Nadeau. (We have one in Austin, but the sale was in Houston… so of course I rented a U-Haul because I was fully convinced I would find treasure.)
Well… I did find treasure.
But between the U-Haul cost, food, gas, and the “sale” that didn’t exactly feel like a sale… let’s just say nothing was really on sale by the time the math settled. 😂
But I digress.
One of the first things I saw was this gorgeous marble-top bar cart. I knew immediately I wanted it — but I absolutely did not need it. Hours later, near the end of wandering that warehouse, I bought it anyway. $350, after discount. Irrational? Probably. But I’m so glad I did.
When the store opened, that bar cart became a beautiful display piece for my crystal and elixirs. But later, when I stopped selling those items, the cart lost its purpose. For months, it has been pushed around the store holding random mannequins — a fancy misfit, waiting for belonging.
Fast forward to now.
The store has had beautiful days and really hard days. This first year has stretched me. I’ve wondered more than once if I misunderstood God’s calling or direction.
I am surrounded by strong prayer warriors — daily. Meanwhile, I am what I jokingly (but honestly) call a warm-weather prayer warrior:
- When things are great → I forget to pray.
- When things are fine → I gripe.
- When things are good → I praise, but doubt it will last.
That’s my flesh.
But the women around me have shown me what relentless prayer looks like — including prayer at 3AM.
Prayers over my business, finances, family, the future — asking for angels to go before me and fight battles I don’t see.
So last Friday night, I decided to start my own 3AM prayer journey.
(Except it was actually 6AM… not 3. Baby steps. 😅)
In that prayer, I was very specific:
“God, I need $2,000 to pay taxes.”
That weekend, we exceeded that — something we haven’t done in months.
I knew it was Him.
But then my flesh chimed in with logic:
“Well, it’s the holidays… maybe it was coincidence.”
So the next night I prayed again:
“Lord, I believe it was You — but help my flesh line up with my spirit.
Show me something funny… ironic… unmistakably You.
Sell something that isn’t even for sale — or have someone spend $1,000 in five minutes.
Something that shocks me so I can’t explain it away.”
Now pause with me and rewind:
Earlier in the week, someone had asked if the bar cart was for sale. I said:
“It can be for sale… but it’s $350 — no discount — because it’s display and I would need to replace it.”
They didn’t buy it, which didn’t surprise me.
So there it sat, back to its life of holding mannequins.
Now back to Sunday — the morning after my prayer for something ironic and undeniable.
I open the door and one of our regular customers runs in.
Not walks.
Runs.
“My friend is on her way and I want to buy her that gift she saw yesterday!”
Usually that means a shirt or candle.
Nope.
It was the bar cart.
She bought it in under five minutes, paid full price, hugged me, and ran out the door — leaving it behind for later pickup.
And in that moment, I could feel God smiling:
“Here you go.
You asked for something random?
Something impossible?
Something only I could do?
There it is.
Do you trust Me?”
And right then — I burst into tears.
Not because of the money — although that mattered.
But because of His tenderness. His timing. His humor.
His reminder that He is here, paying attention, providing, and working even when I can’t see it.
I texted every single person who has prayed over this business, because it may look small — but it was a massive testimony wrapped in an ordinary moment.
That bar cart was never just décor.
It was a promise.
A reminder:
God sees.
God hears.
God provides.
God confirms.
And His hands are — and will continue to be — over this business and this mission.
Sometimes the miracle isn’t the amount.
It’s the timing.
The personalness.
The whisper behind it:
“I’m still here. Keep going.” 💛
Pictures are of me scoping it out in Houston and then sitting my my shop before the walls were built fully and then it sitting in the new clients home or office!
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The Bar Cart
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