IF NOT US CLAY and MORE

The name came from Matthew West’s song “If Not Us”. 

I woke up this morning and saw a world full of trouble and thought how’d we ever get down so far and how’s it going to turn around?

So I shook my fist at Heaven and said, “GOD why don’t you do something?” and He said “I did, I created you”

If not us then who? If not me and you? Right now, it’s time for us to do something. 

I am a recovering alcoholic who had just found GOD again and was doing a jail ministry. My husband had lost his first wife to cancer and had also just found his way back to GOD after that heartbreaking trial. Both of those issues were near and dear to our hearts, and we weren’t quite sure how we could help. We considered ourselves creative people and enjoyed inspiring and helping others. Unfortunately, we didn’t always go about it in a way that would have lasting significance or that we would be able to maintain physically or financially, as we had 4 kids with our blended family to focus on as well. 

After trying to help in a way that was not GOD ordained, we had to figure out a way that we could help that would use the gifts GOD gave us and glorify HIM at the same time. For the first time I intentionally prayed about what to do, instead of trusting myself and my human defaults. Within days our prayers were answered and the concept of If Not Us was born. Through a series of random (but obviously GOD ordained) reasons we had accumulated a kiln and clay. Neither of us had experience in clay making, glazes, or jewelry making but we kept praying and let GOD guide us.

9 years later, in between raising kids, 4 exchange students, jobs and life we have decided to try to expand our business into a full-time job. We have also implemented some other ideas we could use if bracelets aren’t your thing, hence the “and More” that was added in 2024. Since we started in 2015 we have met the most amazing people and been able to form connections and use our talents to help in whatever way we could. People discovering GOD for the first time, people returning to HIS grace, people with cancer that survived and some that didn’t, people that wanted to use our bracelets for a calling they had and glorify GOD at the same time. Whatever their story was, they made a profound impact on our lives. 

If you’d like to discuss any fundraising needs you may have, any trials you or someone you know is going through that could use a daily reminder that GOD is near, or any remembrance bracelets to honor someone you have lost, please feel free to email us at ifnotusclayandmore@gmail.com and we can discuss ways we can help.