Rising Stars: Meet Courtney Richard

Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Richard.  

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Our story… hmmm where do I even start? Well the story of Only Grace is still being written, and I feel so blessed to have this be a part of our story. Only Grace started with me trying to figure out what my purpose was in life. I was a new mom of a beautiful baby girl and working retail full time (which I absolutely loved). Even though I had such a strong passion for retail and not only that but the company I worked for, I knew that my purpose had to be greater than that. I wanted to do something where I could be home with my baby girl and also pursue my passion, every mom’s dream right? After countless prayers and sleepless nights, I started Only Grace Company. While the full vision for the company wouldn’t come for a couple of years, I knew I needed to start somewhere. Only Grace continued to run out of my dining room while I was working full-time. Knowing that my desire was to be a stay-at-home mom and pursue my business, my husband and I started praying into the how, what, when, and why. We didn’t know how this would happen, what would happen when I took the leap of faith when this would take place, and why did God put us on this journey? God started revealing answers. After about a year of praying over this, I knew in order to grow my faith I needed to challenge my faith. I needed to start declaring these things instead of asking for them. I needed to walk out in faith to see the blessings come from this. While this was the scariest thing I have ever done, and I’m sure I tried to talk myself out of it a million times and a million different ways, I finally mustered up the courage to put in my two weeks at work. During the course of those two weeks, I got three different job offers making more than what I was making and with better benefits. God is this you providing? So many questions filled my head. Why now? Why all of these opportunities now? I have been praying for this for over a year, and now that I took the leap of faith this is happening? Why? Being overwhelmed by confusion, I dropped to my knees crying out to God. “What do you want me to do?” I knew. I knew I had to turn down every one of those jobs offers. While these jobs were all great opportunities, these were all distractions; this was a test. Who was I going to trust in? Man or God? All my life I have needed financial security, this was my time to challenge my faith and trust in God. I know He is provider; I know He will take care of my family and abundantly more. I had started to book vendor shows, started my website, and fully surrendered to the fact that I was now going to be working for Jesus! So, if you remember me telling you earlier that the vision for my company wouldn’t have come for a couple of years… well, it happened. I was sitting on the couch talking to God, with my daughter asleep in my arms, just thanking Him for everything he has done and is doing. He gave me vision of my husband and I sponsoring children in an orphanage. We had sponsored every single child in that orphanage and were talking to the owner about moving on to find the next orphanage to fund. God totally wrecked me that night. From then on, I knew my purpose. It wasn’t just to make Christian apparel and home decor. It was for a greater purpose; it was for HIS purpose. This is only the beginning. Because of our “YES” that we gave to God the day I put in my two weeks, he is fulfilling every one of His promises on our lives, not just me but my husband, my daughter, and our families. He is the greatest rewarder. At the beginning of this year in January of 2023, I went fully on a mission to fulfill His purpose and promises on my life. God has never come up short. My goal for the year was 6 vendor shows, and before I quit my job, I had already doubled that. We have over 20 vendor shows booked and counting! In April, we are going to Canada as a vendor for their first-ever Christian Women’s Conference. This is HUGE, this is only God! We are getting to not only go within our hometown and surrounding cities but to other countries! God is on the move! I know this is the tip of the ice burg, so we will continue to be faithful to His word and be obedient to what He is asking of us. Our next move is to start seeking out orphanages in other countries that need funding for children. Our goal is not to see how big of a profit we can make but how big of a difference we can make through Him. So just know if you are supporting our company, it is not just another Christian business. We are disciples of Jesus who are walking in faith to fulfill His purposes for our lives. He is using us in ways we will never understand. We will continue to listen and honor the journey He is taking Only Grace Company on. We will continue to write our story and change lives because of Him. We pray that someone reading this will be touched by Him and give God your Yes. It won’t always be easy, there will be hardships, but His love never fails. God, you get the glory for it all! 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Quitting a job and losing an income is never easy. Not only financial struggles but also the spiritual struggle. God, am I doing this right? Is this what you want me to do? There is a constant need to turn to Jesus to make sure we are following His plan. There is a constant need to turn to Him to make sure we are putting Him in the center of it all. It is very easy to let our selfish ways take over. The day after I was finished working corporately, I expected to be overjoyed and filled with so much happiness. Well, I wasn’t, and I couldn’t understand why. I had been praying for this for so long, so why wasn’t I happy? Going through spiritual warfare isn’t something that everyone will understand, but that’s exactly what was happening. Every fear of what could go wrong was entering my mind. The enemy likes to attack through your thoughts, and he was on the prowl. Through times like that you have to remember the why and how. Why does God have us doing this remember how you got here today. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
Only Grace Company is a Christian Apparel Company. We also introduced this year our Heavenly Home decor line and Kingdom Kids apparel line. We also specialize in custom orders! We love making sure there is something for everyone! We make sure all of our products are reasonably priced for the average family. We make sure that every order that is going out is prayed and prophesied over. We are most proud to do business for Jesus. We hope one day to have a storefront where people can shop Christian things. It is sad to say I cannot go anywhere but the internet to shop Christian Apparel. We hope to have that declaration of bringing Jesus back into our cities and hometowns with Only Grace shops! We will continue to do vendor shows and bring Jesus back into schools, breweries, farmers’ markets, community centers, and anywhere else we can go! 

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
We pray to be able open up Only Grace shops around our cities and hometowns! A place where once you enter our shops you can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. You will be able to shop men, women, and children clothing, home decor, jewelry, and more! We pray to have warehouses for our online business to grow. We pray to sponsor thousands of children in other nations. We want to be able to clothe them, feed them, and show them the love of Jesus. We pray to be able to fully fund sending people to the nations to spend time with the children, teaching them, and loving on them. We want to make a difference. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.onlygracecompany.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/OnlyGraceCo
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/OnlyGraceCo