Today we’d like to introduce you to Allyson Worley.
Allyson, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
When my husband and I got married in 2013, we moved to Wichita Falls, Tx, where my husband started a new job. I opened an Etsy shop while I was trying to find a job myself, just to bring in some little something. I started out making absolutely anything I could on a minuscule budget, leftover craft supplies and “up-cycled” garage sale finds. Anything from metal signs, wood signs, picture frames, to hand-lettered chalkboards, practically anything I could think that someone might like. To my surprise, I was asked to participate in several vendor shows. In my mind, it was God’s way of opening my eyes to see that I could contribute financially to our home, but in a way that allowed me to express the creativity that I craved so much. After about six months of starting my business, we moved back to North Texas after finding out I was pregnant with our first baby. I was deep in the trenches of postpartum depression, still trying to stay caught up with orders, and grow a business that I was so positive in my mind God wanted me to pursue. But I found myself getting burnt out and almost bitter about my shop because I’m was just making anything and everything a customer wanted, but nothing that I found creatively stimulating— just a burden. I kept telling myself, “Allyson, suck it up, God gave you this platform as a Christian handmade business, you can’t shut it down.”
But after my husband was laid off the day before our second baby was born— that’s exactly what I did. I had found no more joy in it. And I couldn’t believe that that’s what God had wanted. I knew I needed to focus on my family. So, a “pause” that I intended for a year or so, turned out to be an end to that chapter. Instead, I became plugged into our church. I found a Moms Connect group that I never knew I needed so bad. Through that, I was able to connect with all kinds of moms, in all stages, struggling just as I was, hungry for connection and purpose just as I was. But I was still craving some sort of creative outlet. I started making hand-painted bibles, which was on a much smaller scale than the large signs I had been making in my shop. I was able to sit in the living room, or in bed and paint what I wanted on something that God would use to feed someone else’s soul. I started making them for friends, and then their friends and family. I opened up to several about my desire to use my creativity in some way other than opening up a new shop and asked this group of women to pray for me, and man did they pray for me. God started showing up in the biggest ways. I was soon asked to join the creative design committee of a new women’s ministry, Flourish, that our church was starting that year. Creating, decorating, and designing specifically for women coming hungry for Jesus. I started making some of the items used for giveaways, one being a hand-painted Bible. Since then, I’ve been making custom Bibles every now and again, for special occasions, as well as commissions for other churches in the city. It’s been so fulfilling to look back and see how God worked. To see Him so patiently trying to tell me my shop was no longer serving the purpose He wanted for me. To see Him grow up a community of women around me when I needed to feel Him the most. To see that I now get to be a part of a design team for a women’s ministry, be as selective as I’d like for commissions and projects, while still connecting with creative women who just want to share the joy of Jesus and art.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Most definitely not a smooth road. I struggled with postpartum depression, basic business management, and motivation for orders that I didn’t really want to take, while at the same time feeling I couldn’t say no to a customer because why would I turn down money? Even though I knew, in the long run, I was spreading myself too thin. Finding myself being envious of the women seem to do it all with no hurtles while I was struggling to find any joy in my business anymore. The stress from that was bleeding into my life at home with my husband and newborn baby. They were just getting less than my leftovers, and so was God. So, my advice to young ladies would be to pray. Prayer and community will keep you buoyed and accountable. As in anything in life, there will be ups and downs, but God always wants us to feel at peace. And I was most certainly not feeling peace, which was when I knew I needed to make a change. Give God an inch and he’ll take a mile. I not only found peace, but he gave me a community of women I never knew I was missing. Don’t be afraid to make the hard decision to change.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I was originally making hand-lettered, large wooden home decor signs. But for the last two years, I have been making hand-painted bibles. And I find so much joy and fulfillment in it. To think that I get to make something so personalized for another person who will use it to feed their soul, and could possibly leave it to their children one day, is humbling. Same as the female portraits I paint, to think that they’ll be treasured in their homes as heirlooms one day, is amazing. Even though my design work for our women’s ministry doesn’t have the same physical lastingness that my bibles and portraits do, I hope that the atmosphere we create for the women who come and participate savor it just the same.
Often it feels as if the media, by and large, is only focused on the obstacles faced by women, but we feel it’s important to also look for the opportunities. In your view, are there opportunities that you see that women are particularly well positioned for?
As women, I think God designed our brains as internet servers with a thousand tabs open and running all at the same time. Our brains never stop going from A-Z and back again. I think women, and mothers, in particular, are well-positioned for opportunities which require foresight, perseverance, and multi-tasking. These are the jobs we do every day which are prerequisites of simply being who we are. Although we are living in a time of greater scrutiny and consequences as it pertains to women’s actions and the treatment of women, we have always and will always persevere in strength and dignity. Each woman is an individual, however, and should consider her unique, God-given talents and passions when weighing opportunities. Working out of the fullness of who you are, who you are designed to be, is the best way to make the most of every opportunity.
Pricing:
- Hand Painted Custom Bibles $100
Contact Info:
- Email: allysonmccandless@yahoo.com
- Instagram: @allyson_worley
Image Credit:
Shani Baird
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