Have you ever wondered if you're on the right track?

Whether you're building a furniture flipping business, facing a major life decision, or simply trying to figure out what God wants you to do next, uncertainty can feel overwhelming. We naturally want answers, direction, and a glimpse of the future before taking action.

In this episode, Val shares personal stories about marriage, family, business, and faith to explore how trust in God grows over time. You'll discover why evidence matters, why faith is a choice, and why sometimes the next step is all you need to see.

Thank you for spending part of your day with me. If this episode encouraged you, share it with a friend who may need a reminder that God is still working, even when they can't see the whole path ahead.

"Faith is a choice, and trust in God grows because of the evidence you've already seen."

Faith / Mindset Takeaway

We often want God to show us the entire blueprint before we move forward. More often, He gives us enough light for the next step. As we walk, pray, learn, explore, and pay attention, we begin collecting evidence of His faithfulness. Looking back, we discover He was guiding us all along.

Listen If...

• You're feeling stuck in your furniture flipping journey
• You're discouraged by slow progress
• You're facing a decision and unsure what to do next
• You're waiting for certainty before taking action
• You need encouragement to trust God with the next step

Final Thought

Sometimes you have to start walking before you can see where you're going.

The good news is you don't walk alone.

Val Frania:

How do you know you're on the right track? One of the questions I've heard over and over again throughout my life is, "How do I know I'm on the right track?" Maybe you've asked that question too. Especially when things get hard, you tend to question, right? How do I know I'm building the right business? How do I know this furniture flipping thing is worth pursuing? How do I know I'm making the right decisions? How do I know God is leading me where he wants me to go? The older I get, the more I realize that sometimes we're asking the wrong question. The truth is, most of the time we don't know exactly where the path is leading. If we did, it wouldn't require much faith, would it? I've discovered that faith is a choice, and trust in God grows because of the evidence you've already seen. The key word here is evidence. Not guarantees, not certainty. Evidence. I was talking to one of my daughters yesterday. She would love to move out into the country someday. She has a picture in her mind of what she'd like her future to look like, but right now it doesn't seem financially possible. I encouraged her to go look at the house she told me about that would fit her wants and needs. She looked me and said there wasn't much point since she couldn't afford it. I understand exactly what she meant. It does sound logical, but I have learned something over the years. Sometimes you have to start walking before you can see where you're going. I'm not talking about being irresponsible, obviously, and I'm not talking about making foolish decisions or buying things you can't afford. I'm just talking about taking the next step, actively looking and learning the ins and outs of the thing you're pursuing, exploring your options while evaluating your needs, desires, and long term goals, paying attention to the details, and discovering opportunities... challenges and possibilities you never would have noticed if you'd stayed standing still. Because if you never take that first step, you'll never gather all of that evidence that you need to make a good decision. You never see the doors that might open. You never meet the people God might put in your path. You never discover opportunities you didn't even know existed. You just stand still. And standing still rarely gets us where we want to go. Years ago, I found myself in the hospital facing exploratory surgery. The doctors believed there was a possibility I might have cancer. As it turned out, the mass they were concerned about was simply my kidney pressed up against my backbone. I know... I come from a family that's notorious for having misplaced organs. Everything turned out fine, but that's not the part of the story I remember most. After the surgery was over and I was recuperating, my hubby, DH, sat beside me for hours. He missed meals. He sat completely still so he wouldn't disturb me. He was just simply there. Now here's what's interesting. I at that point, I wasn't wondering whether he loved me. I knew he did. The word divorce has never been a part of our marriage. We've been through difficult seasons like everyone else, but we've always loved and respected one another. We've been married nearly five decades and have never once considered separating. When my husband leaves for work, I tell him, "No, stay here." I don't want you to go. And he says, "I have to because you don't want to live in our car." So as I watched him sitting there next to my hospital bed, I wasn't discovering something new about him. I was just seeing more evidence. One more piece added to a lifetime of evidence about the kind of man God had given me. Evidence accumulates. One act of kindness matters. A thousand acts of kindness build confidence. One answered prayer matters. Years of answered prayers build trust. One blessing matters. A lifetime of blessings creates evidence that God can be trusted with the next challenge. One caveat to that you've got to actually notice them. You need to give God the credit for the good things that happen in your life. The protection, the blessings, the evidence that he's right by your side. You got to notice before you can notice it stacked up, right? Another example comes from when DH and I decided to move from Michigan to Wisconsin to be closer to our grandkids. At the time, my mom was living with us, so we had to consider her as well. We moved into a rental home in town while we searched for a house to buy. We knew we wanted to buy a house. We knew we wanted enough space for my mom, and we also believed God had a plan. So we looked at every house that came up that we might want, big or small. We looked at them all. What we didn't know was what that plan looked like. Of course we had a plan, but who knows what God is working on in the behind the scenes? We looked at what felt like one hundred houses. We had great realtors. They were so patient with us. Maybe it wasn't quite that many, but it sure felt like it. House after house after house. Nothing really fit. Then one day, DH found a listing in one of those little magazines sitting near the entrances at a grocery store. The house wasn't listed on the MLS, which was quite uncommon. It was a bank owned property. We went to look at it the moment I walked through the door, I knew. I can't explain it any better than that. It was in rough shape, but I still knew it should be our forever home. So we submitted our sealed bid. Another family submitted one, too. Somehow we got that house. At the time, I thought God had simply provide a home that would work for our family, and he had. My mom had her own space, a mother in law apartment on the third level with her own private entrance. That alone was amazing. But the story doesn't end there. Years later, after my mom passed away, the same space became an apartment for our daughter and son in law while they searched for a house of their own in our area. Then after that season ending, the space transformed again. Today, it's my business area. It has a separate craft room, and that's where I also have my grow lights for my seedlings that I grow big long table that will hold it all. Shelve s full of stuff that I need for different particular crafts. That's my craft room and I have another room, which is my staging area and video production room. And then another area, which was my mom's living room is now my showroom. It has a full kitchen where I paint and keep all my tools and supplies. Tons of cupboards that hold stain and paint, all that stuff. It's bigger than the one on my main level upstairs. And perhaps one of the greatest miracles of all. It's a place where I can keep my cats out while I'm working. That's a big deal to me. When we bought that house, I wasn't looking for any of those things. I was just looking for a home. God was looking much farther ahead than I was. Looking back now, I can see evidence of his provision everywhere, room by room, season by season, need by need, and not all at once over time. Now, some people might be thinking, sure, Val, God helps with major life decisions, houses, health issues, family matters. And I agree. But I've also discovered He cares about the little things, too. Many years ago, when I was first learning to flip furniture, I purchased an Ethan Allen China cabinet. I've mentioned this before. I separated the top and bottom and turned it in the top into a display cabinet, and then the bottom into a buffet. Everything was going well until it came time to apply the top coat to the buffet. That's the one I worked on first the poly. It just dragged terribly. No matter how I tried, I couldn't get the finish I wanted. It looked like stripes when you looked at it with the light. I wondered about that piece for two weeks, and at the time I was just getting started and honestly felt like a make or break moment for my new business. If I couldn't figure out something as basic as sealing a piece, how was I ever going to make this work? So I prayed. I asked God to help me figure it out. Eventually, I found a mentor who demonstrated a completely different application method than what I was using the moment I tried it. It worked perfectly the first time. In fact, I still use that method today. Some people will call that coincidence, I don't. I believe God directed me to that answer. I give Him the credit for those things. And that wasn't the first time. Years earlier, when I was sewing quilts for craft shows, I remember finishing a quilt late at night before the event. I was running out of thread in my bobbin and prayed that God would allow it to last until I finished. It did. I couldn't have sewn another inch. Now, was that a huge life changing miracle? Yeah. Probably not, but it reminded me of something important. God cares about the little things. And for me to remember that to this day really shows the impact it had on me. If he cares about thread in a bobbin, why wouldn't I ask for help with a furniture finish? If he cares about furnishing furniture, if he cares about a furniture finish, why wouldn't I ask a help finding a house? And if he cares about a house, why wouldn't I trust him in the bigger decisions in life too? The evidence has taught me that God doesn't only show up in major moments. Sometimes he shows up in the little details too. I think that's one reason we struggle so much when we're trying to figure out whether we're on the right track. We're trying to see the entire blueprint. God often reveals only the next step. Psalm 119: 105 says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Notice it doesn't say a spotlight shining twenty years into the future. A lamp illuminates just enough to take the next step safely. Sometimes that's all we get. And honestly, that's all we need. I think about this podcast sometimes. When I recorded episode one, I had no idea where it would lead. I wasn't sitting there with some grand vision. I simply felt led to help furniture, flippers. That was my goal. I wanted to share my experience. One thing that bothers me, whether it's because we raised fifteen kids, because we adopted special needs kids, because, you know, we flipped houses, we flipped flipped furniture. I'm into gardening. The one thing that bothers me is when DH and I die, it's going to feel like all of that experience is going to die with us. Yeah, our family observed. But I'm talking that much experience... It ought to be shared. That's it. I had a microphone experience creating training videos. You've probably seen some of them. And a huge desire to serve people, especially women who are believers. And I had a willingness to start walking. Today, there's thousands of episode downloads by people reaching out from places I've never visited. Subscribers continue to find me and so many doors continue to open. I don't tell you that because I'm proud of a number. I tell you that because it's another piece of evidence, evidence that God can take something small and use it in ways we never imagined, evidence that showing up consistently matters, and evidence that sometimes the path reveals itself only after you've been walking for a while. Maybe that's where you find yourself today. Maybe you're wondering if this furniture flipping thing is ever going to amount to anything, or weather all the time and effort you're putting into it will eventually pay off. Perhaps you're trying to decide whether to take that first step. Or maybe you've already started and you're wondering if you're headed in the right direction. I totally understand that. Before you look ahead, though, I'd encourage you to take a moment and look backward. Think about the evidence God has already given you throughout your life. Think about the prayers he's answered, the doors he's opened, and the protections he provided when you didn't even realize you needed it. Remember the people he's brought into your life at the right time, the lessons he's taught you through both good seasons and difficult ones, and the blessings you've experienced along the way. Think about those situations that somehow worked out, even when you couldn't see any possible way they would. If you walked with the Lord for any length of time, chances are you already have a lifetime of evidence that He's faithful. That evidence matters because faith is a choice, and trust in God grows because of the evidence you've already seen. You may not know exactly where you're going. Most of us don't. But if you've walked with God for any length of time, you probably have a growing file cabinet full of evidence that he is faithful. And when the next decision comes, the next opportunity appears or the next challenge arrives. You can pull open that file drawer and remember God was faithful then. I totally recommend that you go buy a journal that you can write down blessings in. So when you're going through hard times, you can look back and see how God has been walking beside you, how He was faithful. Sometimes you have to start walking before you can see where you're going. Good news. You don't have to walk alone. God already sees the destination and one day you look back and discover he was building something much bigger than you could ever imagine. Sometimes you have to start walking before you can see where you're going. Again, I'm going to emphasize this. You don't walk alone. So keep going. One day you'll look back and realize God was working all along in the good times and in the bad. Whether it was shaping you or bringing new things into your life, or steering you in a certain direction. What feels like a random collection of events was actually Him building something far bigger than you could see at the time. And while you're walking and you can't see real far into the future, just make sure it's not a train track. I'll see you next week. Blessings.