
If you have ever been on Sutherland Ave. in Knoxville, Tennessee, you might have ventured off a side-road to Backroads Market (formerly Backroads Market & Designs). It was a quaint coffee shop with a unique furniture/gift shop attached to it. This Furniture/Coffee shop is a huge part of my story so I felt it was only fitting that I begin this blog mentioning it.
It all started the day I met Craig Myers. I was divorced. I was wounded. I was a single mom to two little boys. I was struggling to pick up the broken pieces and make sense of it all. But one thing I knew for sure, God is real and He was with me. Although I struggled with my new divorced identity, I knew my true identity was in Christ. My head knew it but my heart struggled to follow sometimes. When I think back to the very first coffee date I had with Craig, I think, "wow, what did he see in me?" I was so jaded. So wounded. Guarded. Not a lot of fun. Matter of fact, at that time, I thought I would never laugh again. But Craig saw something in me because he kept asking to hang out.
Over time I let my guard down, I laughed a little, and then I began to laugh a lot. I found myself very comfortable around him and drawn to the Jesus inside him. Eventually we married. I will tell you that story in a different blog post. It is too good to gloss over here.
After marrying Craig, something began to happen in me. I was beginning to grow into the woman God created me to be. Before I met Craig, I would never have used words like creative, entrepreneurial, good design sense, event planner, writer, gatherer. etc. to describe myself. But after 11 years of marriage, these words have become the fabric of my very being. And Backroads Market & Designs was a huge part of that.
How Backraods Market & Designs started.
One day Craig and I were in Boone, NC for our second wedding anniversary. We were driving around getting the lay of the land when we drove by something that stood out to us so we pulled over and went in. It was a furniture consignment shop with a coffee bar in it. There was some new furniture mixed with some older refurbished furniture. There was a warehouse full of furniture that had been given new life with chalk paint and new fabric. I remember stepping up to the coffee bar and ordering a latte. There was something about walking around with a warm cup of coffee in my hand as we looked at all the creative ways they had incorporated old and new pieces of furniture and decor. I remember Craig leaning over my shoulder and whispering in my ear, "Knoxville needs something like this!"
When we got back in the car, Craig said with the most serious tone, "so what are we gonna name it?"
Me. "Name what?"
Craig. "The store we are gonna open up in Knoxville?"
By the time we got back to Knoxville we had the name picked out. A few months later we found a location. Nine months from the time Craig uttered the words, we had opened up a furniture/coffee shop in Knoxville.
After two years Craig and I stepped away from owning Backroads to be with our oldest son who was in kidney failure at the time (you can find that blog post here). We sold Backroads to Melissa who would end up becoming one of my best friends. We didn't know her at the time but we knew that God had sent her to keep the culture and heart of Backroads alive. However, after six years Melissa made the hard decision to permanently close the blue doors of Backroads Market. It was a sad day for both of us but one we both knew was inevitable.

God used Backroads to teach me so much! When I started dreaming up what Backroads would be, I prayed that everyone who walked through the those blue doors would see and experience God in a new and fresh way. And that is exactly what happened...in MY life! I learned so many things about myself, God, and the world around me through Backroads!
Some of the things I learned through Backroads.
I can do hard things.
I didn't have a business degree. I didn't come from a family who owns a business. I didn't know anything about marketing. I had never applied for licenses or permits before. But I did it!
I love creating warm cozy spaces for people to experience God.
I can still remember one particular evening Craig and I had spent at the store getting it ready to open. Once we had finished, we turned out all the overhead lights after a hard days work of staging furniture and merchandising. We turned on a few lamps and sat on one of the couches with Bing Crosby playing in the background looking around in amazement. The lamps gave off just enough light to make our brains think we were actually sitting in a cozy living room. It was the first time that we were able to sit down and look around to see what we had created. Our hearts were full. We felt the presence of the Creator Himself. That was the first time I remember thinking, "This. This right here. This is what I want people to experience. Not just in this building but in their lives."
God is not done with me yet.
Even when we sold Backroads to Melissa, I never thought that it was all for naught. I knew that God had orchestrated every single thing...the time, the place, the concept, the people who would walk through the doors, the conversations that would happen, the relationships that would develop. Everything! God simply used all of our gifts, talents, and willingness to be used by Him for His glory. And that continues today. I still have a heart to create space for people to experience God. We don't have to have a physical building for that to happen. We can do that with our very lives. As we take time to invest in other people and share our very lives with them.
The very furniture/coffee shop we created has become our life anthem and I pray that you would be inspired to make it yours as well as you search the backroads of YOUR life.
Make the vision and mission of Backroads your anthem in life.
Backroads started out as a unique furniture store where Craig and I would take our trailer out on the backroads of Tennessee and North Carolina to find unique pieces of furniture and decor.

Today I want to encourage you with the very words that were on our website when we first started Backroads!
"Our inspiration comes from the backroads. Everyone has a backroads story.
Our lives are a journey. The roads twist and turn, go up and down. Try searching out the "backroads" of your life, the roads you never would have expected to lead anywhere...that is where you just might find something special.
The unexpected places, the places that you must search for to find...This is where you find your treasures sometimes...in the places you least expect.
We scour the backroads to find unique pieces to transform your house to a home."
What I am really encouraging you to do, is to search for the very things God has placed in your life to use for good and His glory. We all have gifts, talents, and a story to tell. Look around you and GO where God is calling you. You might just be surprised at all the things God will do.
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