Brett's partnership with Ask.com has officially begun. After 8 months of unemployment, lots of prayer, numerous lessons learned and truly the Lord's faithful provision, Virtus Designs, LLC. http://www.virtusdesigns.net has been launched. Virtus Designs began its roots back in March of 2008. Brett and I were going through a season of real spiritual growth and the verses found in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 were used continually. (5)...."that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."
The word power translated in latin is Virtus.
The Lord clearly called Brett out of teaching and into GUI design approximately one year ago. He started tinkering with Firefox themes as a hobby almost three years ago. Totally self taught and financially uncompensated. When Brett became the most popular FF theme developer in the world with a current 2.5 million daily users and over 23 million downloads, people took notice. Flock.com hired him, then five short months later due to the economic downturn, laid him off. One week to the day later we found out we were expecting our third baby. No income... no insurance... little savings. And truly we knew it would be fine. We did not know how.
I love the quote that we know not what the future holds but we know WHO holds it. What we did know is the Lord has taken care of us for all of our 32 years of life and 10 years of marriage. He has proven Himself faithful to us ALWAYS even when we have not in return. It's simply His amazing GRACE.
Have we had our moments of doubt and fear? Did I cry when I went to sign up for various programs I thought for sure would never apply to me? Have I burst into tears on several occasions over silly things like having exactly two pair of maternity pants to choose from? YES. Have I then been gently reminded of the many people around the planet who would love to live in a home, drive a car, have the luxury to be on government programs that provide healthy food and excellent prenatal care? Humbly, yes.
And in the midst of one of my "tantrums" what did I see my husband do? Head upstairs with his guitar in tow and worship the Lord, read his bible, pray in our closet, fast...
Would Brett say he's done everything perfectly? No. But I will say I have never been more impressed with him, never more proud of him and never more thankful for him than I have been these last 8 months. I say it all the time but I seriously deserve in no way to be married to this incredible man. He is a constant example and reminder to me that I in no way deserve to be saved by Grace and loved by Jesus. I simply am.
In March, during a time of prayer and fasting, Brett got a random email from Ask.com. They were one of the companies to take notice of his FF accomplishment. They wanted to discuss a partnership. If Brett would simply bundle his FF themes with Ask.com as the default search engine they would share a percentage of the search revenue generated.
Of course Brett's users would absolutely and easily be able to switch back to their search engine of choice. The hope is that at least a small percentage of them would use Ask either out of loyalty and support for Brett, because they honestly don't have a preference or because they may already be an Ask.com user.
Financial forecasts were of course run. They are simply forecasts. They are completely variable and totally based on statistics and best guesses. Honestly and prayerfully Brett and I felt this was an answer from the Lord and to simply trust Him. Once again, ... do not put your faith in the wisdom of men but in the Power of God. Another verse the Lord showed us was Ephesians 3:20-21 ...Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (21)to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Between the legal department and contract generation and the actual engineering, it has taken 4 months for this day to come. We were initially told it would take a couple of weeks.
So here we sit, 17 days away from the date our precious son Luke is estimated to be born. We literally are at the end of our financial rope for sure. It's truly nothing but the faithfulness of the Lord that is holding our family together. Truly that's always the case with each one of us.. we just don't always recognize it. Honestly I can say I'm thankful for the reminder.
And so I ask our friends and family... please help :) First of all you can stand with us in prayer as so many of you faithfully have and do. You can also go to Brett's website http://www.virtusdesigns.net which will show you how to download free of charge one of Brett's exclusive Firefox themes. In the right hand corner of his themes, you'll find a handy dandy search window built right into the tool bar. Use it like you use Google. That's it. It costs no one a single cent. Because Brett is attempting to make Virtus designs his full time job, he also does custom Wordpress and Blogger themes, small websites and custom designed FF browsers. Finally, please spread the word.
We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for Virtus Designs, LLC. It is a company founded on the power of God, to be used for His perfect plan and purpose and to Him may all the Glory be given.
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2 comments:
Wow! Well said Laura! What an awesome journey the Lord has given you guys. You've both been a big blessing to us, and we're encouraged to see the Lord continually provide.
Here's to your next chapter that begins with power (Virtus).
Wow ... beautifully written, Laura! And, congrats to all of you! We are so excited about all the wonderful things coming to you and your beautiful family ... an exciting new job and a healthy baby boy!!!!
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