Rus Lyons didn’t get much sleep last Wednesday night. As manager of Custom Cottage Furniture shop on the South Side of Indianapolis, he’s responsible for the success of the business, but he didn’t have any furniture to build.
“We make custom furniture, and January and February are our slow season,” says Rus. “Sales had picked up as usual the first week of March, but then the COVID-19 crisis caused orders for new furniture to dry right up, just when we were expecting our seasonal recovery period.” Earlier that day, the workers had finished all their orders. No new orders were on his desk.
So, hard decisions would have to be made. Rus came to the uneasy conclusion that he would have to lay off all three workers, starting with his two furniture builders.
On Thursday morning, Rus delayed entering the shop long enough to take an anxious walk around the block, preparing himself to tell his employees there was no more work.
Then the phone rang. “A customer called to say he wanted a pair of loft beds we'd been talking about. I assigned one to each builder, but then I discovered we didn’t have enough of that particular wood in stock to finish the job. I got on the phone. A local kiln had some, but they couldn't have it ready for four hours.”
Rus placed the order and started helping the finisher on another project. To his delight he received a call only 30 minutes later: the wood was ready.
“So I headed out to my truck, only to find out that somebody had stolen my tailgate right off the back of it! Laughing, I didn't even care, I had orders!
“On the way, one of my tires blew. I called someone to bring me the spare—it was at the shop—but no sooner had I hung up than a downpour started and it rained the whole rest of the day. Even so, it was so clear God was working in spite of all this, it didn't matter.”
Rus finally picked up the wood and brought it back to the shop. He received two more orders that day.
Since then, he’s had five more orders. “Right now we're booked till next Thursday, but we've got a lot of promising bids out there."
“Banging on God’s door, I could tell he was hearing me, but he didn't answer until I was ready to close the shop down. Please keep praying for more orders—he hears us!”
Visit The Custom Cottage on their website or check them out on Facebook or Instagram.
Responses
Raymond Hickey says:
March 26th, 2020 at 4:53 PM
Great story Rus, Trust in God, Delight in Him and Commit to Him. He's our Father and will take care of His children. Again thanks for sharing.
Bill Crimmins says:
March 26th, 2020 at 5:05 PM
Your undertaking is so important Rus, thanks for the update. Continuing to pray daily for your success.
Mary Claassen says:
March 26th, 2020 at 6:26 PM
Very cool story, Russ! Thank you, Lord!
Margaret Singletary says:
March 26th, 2020 at 9:08 PM
Uplifting story, Rus!
I hope your orders keep coming in and even overwhelm you!
Keep up your faithful spirit!
Jeffrey Brummer says:
March 26th, 2020 at 9:17 PM
Thank you, God, for this business on the Southside right on our block. Use it for your glory and the upbuilding of our neighborhood. Praise God!
Charlene Olson says:
March 27th, 2020 at 12:21 AM
Wonderful news Rus! God provides in the down times. Our web sales are growing every day which is about all we can do now and it is amazing to see Gods faithfulness. Keep knocking!
Rita Kottkamp says:
March 27th, 2020 at 9:24 AM
Glory! This is a terrific story, Rus! I admire your strong, steady faith. The Lord is with you as you serve the people on the Southside in Indy. I have no doubt your business will continue to be strong. God bless you, brother.
Karen Heintzelman says:
March 27th, 2020 at 11:53 AM
What a wonderful story of God's goodness!!
Linda Finke says:
March 27th, 2020 at 7:54 PM
Some times it does take banging on God's Door! What a wonderful story!
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