Embracing ‘Unwanted Seasons’: @RuthChouSimons
@RuthChouSimons shares her inspiring journey of immigrating from Taiwan to the U.S. to becoming an author, artist, mother of six boys, and founder of GraceLaced—a Christ-centered art company. Ruth explains that she’s always loved being a mom, but struggled through times of frustration when it came to growing a business on top of managing her household. It was during that time when Ruth came to understand the importance of being faithful in the moment. Her story will encourage you to pursue your passions and trust in God’s plan, no matter where you start. Connect with us through email at [email protected] or on Facebook at Billy Graham Radio.
it wasn’t what we expected it was a
million miles away from this incredibly
adventurous life overseas we thought we
were going to be a part of how does
God’s grace lace through this unexpected
life this life that doesn’t look the way
I thought it would God where are you in
this Ruth Joe Simon’s life has been full
of twists and turns she never thought
that she would be a mother to six boys
an author and artist or the founder of a
Christ centered art company on this
episode of GPS God people stories you
will hear her story and it’s an unlikely
one thank you for listening to GPS God
people stories it’s an Outreach Of The
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
and I’m Jim Kirkland in a few minutes
you’ll hear Ruth talk about surrendering
control and allowing God to direct her
life that’s something Billy Graham
preached about often we’re always
negotiating in all kinds of areas of our
lives but what are God’s terms
what does he want from you tonight
there’s more from Billy Graham later in
this episode but if you’d like to find
out right now what God wants from you
there are some insights at our website
the address is fine peace with good.net
when you’re there click the button that
says begin a relationship with Jesus
Christ that’s what God wants most of all
that’s fine peacewithgod.net
s God people
stories Ruth Joe Simons was born in
taipe Taiwan her parents had immigrated
to there from China during the cultural
revolution when Ruth was four her family
moved to the United States to join her
dad’s family they left with no language
acquisition no money no jobs they had
just moved their whole lives to the
United States without any resources Ruth
is still grateful for the Christian man
who opened up his large Maryland home to
immigrants and refugees who needed help
and those categories included Ruth and
her parents it was the late
1970s my parents were delivering the
newspaper on bicycle and that’s how they
were trying to make ends meet in the
meantime Ruth started school I was
learning a brand new culture I was
learning what it looked like to speak a
language that I barely knew in
kindergarten with with kids that didn’t
look like me and didn’t have homes like
I did and I just look back and think
that was such a struggle to learn how to
make friends and feel comfortable in a
whole new environment as my family was
dealing with Brokenness within extended
family that was the kind of struggle
they immigrated into at that point in
her life Ruth and her family didn’t know
Jesus as their lord and savior I grew up
with parents who loved me who did the
best they could and I felt loved and
cared for and yet something was really
missing in our lives and it was because
we had a story that was really broken
Ruth and her parents were exposed to the
gospel during a tough season of their
lives thanks to the man in Maryland who
opened his home to them but it was only
after she and her parents moved to
Albuquerque New Mexico that Ruth got a
much deeper understanding of what it
means to place your faith in Jesus
Christ my more Vivid memories of really
coming to faith and understanding who
Christ was was around fifth grade when I
started going to VBS with a friend at a
church over the next couple of years
Ruth would continue to learn more about
God it wasn’t until my eighth grade year
that I made a profession and said I
finally understand I need Jesus like
this is not just about going to VBS and
learning a couple of nice things or
going to church and being a good person
I really need a savior it it wasn’t long
after Ruth surrendered her life to Jesus
that her parents made the same decision
as I was going to church with my friends
my parents were invited to a Chinese
American church and so they started
hearing the word of God and feeling
convicted after her parents decided to
follow Christ more change appeared on
the horizon we all moved from New Mexico
to California because they gave their
life to full-time Ministry I actually
finished my high school years in the Bay
Area while my dad went to Seminary Ruth
did early duel enrollment while she
finished up high school I started going
to UC Berkeley because I was an
overachieving Asian-American biocam
student and then I went to Westmont
College Westmont is in Santa Barbara
California while she was there Ruth
sensed she wasn’t on the right career
path her desire to overachieve was
causing a lot of anxiety and adding
pressure to her College studies
I really had a massive overwhelming
breakdown of realizing like I am
performing I am acting like somebody I’m
not I’m trying to find my worth in being
this wonderful biochemistry student and
I don’t even want to do this and so I
turned to Art not because I had such
great vision for how I would use art but
because I just didn’t want what I had at
the time and so was it rebellion was it
just giving up r still isn’t exactly
sure what prompted her to switch Majors
but she knows this it was part of God’s
sovereignty I said I cannot study
biochim anymore I cannot keep the pace
that I’m going and the the striving and
the constant like pressure to
perform and ironically what I thought
was moving away from something and
simply taking an easy way out turned
into the very medium that God would use
later on to bring him glory which I just
think is fascinating right because I
turned the art kind of in a like big
sigh of like I don’t care anymore and
then God really said well actually I’m
going to take the very thing that you
think is giving up and using that for
all these things that you can’t even
imagine Ruth gave up her scholarship at
Westmont and transferred to the
University of New Mexico to pursue an
art degree by this point she had already
met her future husband Troy Simons they
had met at a Christian Ministry
my husband and I got married out of
college and then decided to go back to
the same Seminary that I had been at
with my parents in my high school years
and we thought we were going to be
full-time missionaries Ruth and Troy
planned to study in a two-year master’s
program at a seminary to prepare for a
life of
missions but it did not pan out that way
for several reasons we actually did not
finish that degree and with my
background as a recovering striver you
can imagine how hard it was for me to
stop something I set out to do I felt
like such a failure to like leave
Seminary not finish not go on the
mission field and then move to Colorado
and help with a family business and
basically just work a normal job and do
normal things it was the start of a
frustrating season for Ruth and a time
when she questioned God’s plans I kept
thinking Lord why would we be doing this
like why would we possibly have gone to
Seminary or why do I have these giftings
if it’s just going to be not used and
that was a season of waiting the next
several years were hard for the Simons
my husband wanted to be a pilot that
didn’t come to fruition and then he was
offered a job in pastoral Ministry over
youth back in Albuquerque New Mexico so
we lived in Colorado for 2 years moved
back to Albuquerque New Mexico in the
early 2000s and that’s where we started
our family that family would eventually
consist of eight people Ruth Troy and
six Sons it wasn’t what we expected it
was a million miles away from this
incredibly adventurous life overseas we
thought we were going to be a part of
and now we were back in our hometown in
church ministry with a whole bunch of
boys every other year I was having
another boy somehow well while raising a
family God used Ruth and her husband to
lead a Collegiate Ministry plan a church
and start a Christian School oh and in
her Spare Time Ruth turned to Art and
writing during that season I really
painted for friends offered some of my
paintings sometimes as part of a silent
auction to benefit the school there was
so much more about developing the craft
than it was to develop a profession I
remember I started the blog at that time
and began really small thinking I’m just
going to write to work out these things
that I’m going through and learning how
the grace of God is woven through my
everyday life Ruth poured her heart into
a Blog that she named Grace La its
purpose was to encourage herself and
others to seek God’s word how does God’s
grace lay through this unexpected life
this life that doesn’t look the way I
thought it would I’m not overseas I’m
not even doing the kind of work I
thought I was going to do we’re not
living where I thought we were going to
live God where are you in this in this
busy season of motherhood Ruth worked to
let God shape her heart as she helped
shape her children I was able to carve
out some time during nap times because
some of the kids were a little bit older
and my career really started and
flourished from my kitchen table I was
just sitting there working on reading
with the kids or doing some homework and
I would pull out my paints and Linger on
the word of God and paint right there at
my kitchen table and I started sharing
it online this is when Ruth started to
see her gifting as a Ministry to others
it wasn’t just that I wanted to sell a
few prints it was that wow I suddenly
realized that all this time spent
thinking about how the gospel matters in
a life that you didn’t expect how how
does this gifting in art matter when you
didn’t even think you were going to be
an artist or what does it mean when you
start Seminary but you don’t finish it
well all those things were brought
together and woven in the stories that I
was telling and the ways I was
meditating on God’s word and even in the
paintings I was painting inspired by
what I was reading as people started
responding to her work Ruth had a
realization so much of what we aim for
we want to make a difference we want to
do something with our lives but God was
choosing to use several broken parts of
my life things that didn’t seem like
they made sense at all and he was
bringing them together in a way that
ultimately told a story I couldn’t tell
any other way my encouragement through
the word of God my pointing to God’s
faithfulness through a piece of artwork
or the way I was writing a blog post
that would encourage somebody who’s also
struggling with motherhood or also
struggling with Ministry or also
struggling with where they were at in
life that that was making a difference
and so that started that next season of
life where I started asking the Lord how
can I use writing and painting For Your
Glory around that time Ruth’s artbrand
also called Grace laced was born pretty
unintentionally it was October 2013 it
started with me literally just trying to
do a Blog series posting it on social
media I would write right at the my
kitchen table while my kids were
homeschooling and reading their books
and finishing their assignments I would
read some scripture and then I would say
Okay part of today’s task is to like
actually Draw Something create something
paint something in connection with
something I’m meditating on thinking
about and then the internet slightly
just getting really excited about this
and saying can I please buy that by
Thanksgiving I knew I needed to make
this really actually more available I
was getting so many emails and so many
DMS about buying my artwork and I began
selling them on the e-commerce section
of my website after seeking advice from
other people Ruth was able to get her
business up and running with just a few
hundred I had $300 saved up in a little
account that was just for saving for
things that I was interested in and I
took that $300 and said let me just try
initially didn’t even buy a scanner just
got things scanned at kingo’s and then
get them printed and then put them in a
plastic sleeve and put them in a mailer
I remember drawing all over that mailer
that first year because I wanted people
to feel really loved when they got that
package that’s how the business started
by November 2014 just over a year after
the business started Ruth had processed
her first 1,000 online orders all while
raising six boys it was already already
so shocking that I had sold a thousand
orders that first year there’s no way I
could have imagined hundreds of
thousands of orders around the world in
the years to come or that because I
developed an audience where it wasn’t
just matching furniture or having pretty
art it was the desire to hear what I had
to say about the word of God paired with
this artwork that I would have the
opportunity in
2017 to publish my first book that I
self-titled and called Grace Lac that
devotional was a combination of Ruth’s
artwork and her writing that was
somewhat of a groundbreaking concept for
a book it wasn’t common to have a
devotional that was a little bit more
theological because of who I am but also
in full-blown art so that it almost felt
like it was worthy of being a coffee
table book but also something that
people took to the beach Ruth had
thought she was just going to write that
one book but again God had other plans
she has since authored several other
devotionals hardbacks with full color
art in them as well as traditional
hardback chapter books she’s also pinned
Bible studies and even a children’s book
I’m astounded just that I have so many
opportunities to use my words and my art
in ways that can encourage and build
people up but also help other believers
look to Jesus and hear the gospel in a
fresh and encouraging way and for those
who are not Believers for them to behold
the beauty of the gospel and behold the
beauty of Christ in a way that’s I pray
Winsome in a way that is Invitational
Ruth remembers a time when she got a
glimpse of how God had used her work it
happened while eating with her family at
a restaurant the waitress who is serving
us says wait did you write a book I
recognize your boys from a photo she
says I picked up your book because it
was just so beautiful I didn’t even
really look at what the book was about
it was just really beautiful and I
smiled to myself and thought I hope she
finds Jesus I hope she knows her Savior
and knows her Creator through the pages
of my book Ruth and her husband now live
back in Colorado and run Grace Lac
together and two years ago they planted
another church in her life’s journey
full of these twists and turns Ruth
shares what she struggles with the most
I think the biggest challenge every day
is accepting what God’s given us and not
trying to run ahead of him we all think
that we know what’s best right I’m
tempted every day to believe that
somehow I could hustle a little harder
strive a little more or just like
somehow squeeze the situation or kind of
reorganize my circumstances so that I
could get exactly what I want for my
circumstance for my life for the people
that I love and it’s a posture that can
wear us out if we don’t recognize how
sinful that is what I struggle with
every day is wanting to turn this
situation that I don’t want into
something that’s my agenda keeping her
eyes fixed on God in all seasons of life
has been an important lesson for Ruth to
learn in some Seasons she has spent her
time picking cereal up off the floor and
looking for her kids matching socks
and then in other Seasons she’s been
frustrated that her business wasn’t
growing fast enough there are unwanted
Seasons where it’s like I don’t know how
to get what I want and the difficulty is
that we all go through Seasons like that
we all go through days like that and if
we don’t stop and recognize who God is
in the midst of those Seasons we’ll be
tempted to go and like shift and change
and fix what God’s given us we need to
have a posture where we say Okay Lord
whatever you choose to give me I’m going
to Steward that I’m not going to go
outside of what you’ve given
[Music]
me Ruth Joe Simons has discovered the
joy of trusting God in every
situation there is true joy in taking
that stance and if you’d like to
discover that Joy would you please go to
our website find peacewithgod.net
once you’re there you’ll see grow in
your Christian faith click there that’s
fine peacewithgod.net
next Ruth shares a word of encouragement
about dreaming your dreams and embracing
God’s work in your life stay close
you’re listening to GPS God people
stories a podcast production of the
Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association we’re all always negotiating
but what are God’s terms what does he
want from you tonight Billy Graham Jesus
used strong terms he said love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind and
with all your strength it sounds strange
that God wants total surrender but
Jeremiah the prophet once wrote for I
know that the plans I have for you think
of that now God knows he has plans for
you plans to prosper you not to harm you
plans to give you hope and a future have
you ever surrendered yourself
unconditionally to Jesus Christ God has
a plan for your future if you’ll
surrender to him Jesus said I’ve come
that they might have life and might have
it to the fullness tonight you can take
off your old life its selfishness and
sin and put on Christ and let Christ be
the the dominating thing in your
life you can know the fullness of Life
offered by surrendering your life to
Jesus Christ and you can know that right
now go to find peacewithgod.net and when
you’re there click on begin a
relationship with Jesus Christ again
find peace with
god.net our guest on this episode of GPS
God people stories is Ruth Joe Simons
she’s a wife and mom of six boys ranging
in age from 22 to 11 she’s also an
author artist podcaster and the founder
of Grace La it’s her hope that the
content she creates and shares will help
people know their creator and trust him
and know his Joy no matter what season
of Life they’re in regardless of where
you’re at in life or what your giftings
are never underestimate what God is
doing right now when your dreams aren’t
coming true that God doesn’t waste
anything so make sure you’re stewarding
right now what you have already if you
have three people you can disciple and
teach the Bible too do that diligently
you never know if you’ll ever get an
opportunity to stand before a microphone
and teach 300 or 3,000 but don’t worry
about that be faithful with the three
right in front of you if you long to be
a public speaker and have opportunity to
influence so many but what what you have
right now are little people eating lunch
at your kitchen table influence them be
the primary influencer and the leader in
your home with them you never know how
God’s going to take those skills in
those hard one battles in your own home
where you learn to grow and to persevere
you can’t anticipate how he might use
what you’re Faithfully doing right now
for his glory and your good in the days
to come be faithful right where you are
and let God Write Your Story we’re
grateful Ruth Joe Simons joined us on
this episode of GPS thank you for
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I’m Jim Kirkland and this is GPS God
people stories it’s an Outreach Of The
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
always good news
[Music]