What's Next?

Life after running a business and why you may want to stick around

The concept of writer’s block has always confused me because I always have something to say or—as we do it—a question or seven to ask.

But right now, I finally get it. I will try my best to articulate what’s next when it all feels very fluid.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR SUBSTACK

If you joined us during the Goal Series, WELCOME! Wasn’t that fun? Even in a season where I would have loved to be curled up with my goals and starting January 1 off with a bang, this helped ground me! Instead, we were schlepping boxes at lightning speed, not a goal or morning routine in sight.

I’m excited to dive into all the things I have planned for this year! And I was sort of blown away by how many of you love goal-setting, too. Our paid subscriber list nearly doubled during the goal series. So I’ve got to ask: would y’all like bonus content on goal-setting, routines, and books?

And if you said yes, what specific things do you want to see? Leave a comment below!! I could talk about some of these things all day and just need a nudge or two to make it happen!

A few more questions for you.

Maybe you signed up just for the series and plan to peace out. That is totally fine! Isn’t that a cool part of Substack? Join for a short time and find what you need? But if I can encourage you, though—

Here’s my challenge for you.

Stick around for one full month of our Monday questions. Read or listen to each post and write down the questions I share at the end of each post to ask God in prayer. Obviously, I’d recommend putting it in your prayer journal, but a Post-it note works great, too!

It’s usually a 6-10 minute read once a week that could change your life after 52 weeks!

This isn’t merely a blog post you read and forget about moments later as you scroll to see more content. This isn’t just me challenging you on a topic for you to muster up energy to “do better”.

This is the prayer group you never knew you needed.

And we will likely cover topics you aren’t regularly talking about in your prayer groups or Bible studies. We’ll look at books and turn things we read into questions to bring before the Lord. We’ll look at culture and happenings and take it to the Lord. We’ll let God use everyday things to refine our hearts.

The word ABIDE has always fascinated me. Like what does it practically mean for my everyday life? As we’ve been asking questions for the last 10 months, I’m starting to get it truly! Each week, we strengthen that muscle that tells us to go to God and ask Him what to do. We aren’t just waiting for the big crisis to crawl to God over shattered pieces of our lives. We’re learning daily how to genuinely care about God’s best for us more than our own plan.

If you made it a goal to pray more in 2025, this could be an investment you make into that goal. Think of it as accountability.

This truly could be the thing that continues your journey that our Compose journals started.

• First - Focus with our Compose

• Second - Rhythms with our Rhythms

• Third - More time with our Signature

• And now? Deep abiding.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR ME PERSONALLY

I’ve gotten so many questions about what I plan to do after I am officially done with Val Marie Paper. Feel free to leave questions in the comments if you have others. I haven’t seen many people share their stories of selling a business, and I’m happy to share more.

Here’s what’s to be figured out:

1. So, technically, we’re still finalizing everything with the sale of VMP.

In case you don’t identify me with Val Marie Paper, it’s the prayer journal company I started and ran for the last 11 years. This past summer, I decided to close our doors, and then, in the fall, God decided that someone else should continue it. We are both so excited, talk most days, and are beyond ready to finalize things. We’re just waiting for the suits to give us the go-ahead. The pessimist in me is having to fight the this-is-too-good-to-be-true feeling and expect this to fall apart. It’s so similar to before Tyler became pastor. We were pretty sure it would happen, but until it was final, it was hard to move forward.

2. We aren’t sure exactly what’s happening with our house.

As of yesterday, we’re a little confused about some of the findings, and we hope to have a better handle on them in the next few days. The goal is to be back in our home, completely mold-free, in the next 6-8 weeks (Lord-willing!).

Here’s what I do know:

1. I will be writing.

I will definitely be writing here on Substack and possibly some self-published books. Last year, I really felt like I wanted to be a writer again, and it's crazy that this year, it will be my only “work.”

2. I won’t really be on social media.

I say really because I’ll likely pop on every now and then, but I’m excited to disconnect for a while and decompress a bit. The last few months have been a rollercoaster in all the ways, mentally, physically, and emotionally, so I am in major need to power down.

3. We will start homeschooling in the fall.

We decided on this in October, and I kept saying, “January. I’ll look into it more in January.” It will be a bit later, but I’m still green on all the homeschool things and am excited to dive in.

4. I will be working on our new home design.

For so long, I dreaded the idea of us building one day and thought I’d depend a lot on my sister, who loved the process. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a new area to learn, but I have been soaking in all the inspiration and technical aspects of interior design, floor plans, and decor. Share with me all your favorite resources!

5. I will rest and grieve and celebrate.

In the move last week, I really struggled going through my office. There was this rush to get everything packed or decide what to toss while simultaneously not distant enough from the loss to deal with it all. I cried a lot. The only thing I can equate it to is going through someone’s things while they are on hospice. It felt cruel. I know this is God’s plan and I am thrilled to see what God does with VMP in the hands of it’s next owner but I know I will need real space to grieve and also celebrate all God has done the last 11 years. I am also looking forward to not having an official job for the first time in 25 years.