Arise Homes

Austin and I met about 23 years ago. And he was actually in high school at the time and I was a sophomore in college. And I realized that he lived on a lake and had a boat and I decided we should become friends. He said, hey, uh, do you snowboard? What do you do? And I said, yeah, I love to snowboard, wakeboard.

And he said, oh, you wakeboard? Oh, well, I’ve been looking for a friend who has a boat and he’d take me out on it. So we stuck around and he might have bought a gallon of gas or two, but maybe not more than that. We’ve known each other for a long time, so it’s like a brother.

2009 is when we actually went into business together. So it was kind of a [00:01:00] transitional period. As Matt and I started working on projects together, we quickly realized that, um, to create a business model would, was turning out much tougher than we thought. I think that we were very focused on task and getting things accomplished.

For some reason, we just couldn’t quite get that team on the, on the same page. When we were running business before, we were really trying to figure out ways to have less employees. We talked about, let’s do a project that creates residual income. It’s gotta be a different, better way, but I hadn’t quite discovered what that better, different way was.

In 2018, Austin and I had joined a Christian businessmen’s group here in Kansas City, and there was a speaker that was coming to town. He talked about, do you care about your people? And in fact, do you love your people that you’re working with and that you encounter during the day? There was something that resonated with me, um, in, in what he was saying.

I mean, I knew it immediately that, that, that was a different look and approach to doing business. And I thought, that’s something I want. We [00:02:00] went back to where I had started years before. And In land development and single family construction, which I never thought that I would venture back to, but Lord said, that’s where I want you to get to.

As I thought about how do I love people and love the different people I’m encountering, I think about different giftings and things that then I’m able to give over to them on a daily basis. And so there was definitely a change. That was a blessing, you know, a lightened load, if you will. There are ways I can love you in the same way Christ did for me.

And when you’re able to share that with your people, then they’re able to step up to what abilities and gifts that God’s given them. Which helps us to grow, um, you know, as individuals and hopefully living out what God’s called us to do [00:03:00] in our business. So I’ve been working at Arise for, let’s see, last week was my one year.

So I oversee everything from the groundwork to the end of phase one. You know, you had jobs in your past where maybe you don’t always enjoy going to work every day, but I know regardless of the day’s stresses or the week’s stresses, I still enjoy getting up and going to work every day. It is such a blessing.

We do one on ones weekly, and Having that time to vent or share or ask questions. I just know that I can bring those things to the table and they’re not going to be judged.

There was immediate change with Austin. He became really humble and that was the next change I saw of him is this, this humility and this confession. And I think the thing that I really grew from is his submission to the Lord and the Lord’s will. And for [00:04:00] me to see my husband. submitting to the Lord’s plan and not his own was just a whole nother ballgame that I’d seen and was really inspiring as a wife to see and it’s been a neat journey for both of us of a stirring that God has done in both of us individually and together.

I mean, I knew when I married him that, you know, God was going to do amazing things in his life. There’s a purpose. An intention in what we’re doing. It seems to be Anointed by God just to hear him come home and be excited every day It’s fun. It’s exciting to see God’s just blessing it and Allowing him to be a vessel through it all What the lord has put on my heart is that man we fall short every single day And yet he’s right there the next day waiting And when you really seek the lord and ask for him to You To give you opportunities, your eyes are open and you look through a different lens, but he wants to be with you.

He wants to help grow your business. He wants to help [00:05:00] grow your family and he wants you to rely on him to do it. God has called me to be in

business and I believe that he can use me in my life in the marketplace as my ministry. The Lord has very specific intentions for me and my life, you know, forever changed the lives of people I’ve encountered and man, what a, what a difference that has made.

So many days I’ve thought, man, how I long for the Lord’s presence in my strife and frustration. But He’s been so patient with me. And He’s been asking me, When will you choose the things I’ve entrusted to you for my glory and my kingdom? Am I going to walk with people in a loving way? And most importantly, am I going to seek the Lord and the business He wants to see accomplished?

Man, that would be an amazing honor. To do that [00:06:00] well.