Written by Angel Bailey
Getting to share the stories of the women I work with at the café is so amazing. One way I do this is through different vendor events around the area. I meet so many people at these events. When they hear about the single mother who is a recovering addict that made that bracelet set, or the young woman who lost her baby and her own mother within a year of each other who helped make the body butters. It touches their hearts and helps them understand the blessing of giving. It may seem like a marketing ploy, but these are real lives being touched in more ways than one. The woman who buys the products is not only blessed with something wonderful but she is also blessing the women who made the products. Giving value and hope to women in our community is what I and the other women I work with do through the artisan wares we make with Earth Angel Apothecary. The opportunity to sell these wares and tell the stories is so huge for all of us. I spoke to a young woman at an event recently and was sharing with her about another young woman that worked with me who was in recovery. This woman I was talking to broke down and cried and shared her own story of recovery. She said she felt so alone in her journey and was thankful to hear about someone else that was going through something similar. One of my favorite quotes I found is, “Your scars are the road map to another woman’s freedom”. Don’t allow shame and guilt to stop you from sharing your story. Your story may touch, inspire and or motivate them to take action and make positive changes in their own lives. Please keep us in prayer and also pray for how God would have you give to help the ministry grow.
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Trust is a beautiful and frightening concept. Some people trust people moments after they say hello and some people trust people after years of getting to know them. Trust is tricky. Trust is difficult to earn, but easy to destroy. When you find people who are safe and love the Lord and love you, trust comes easily and naturally.
I have a small group of friends that I trust completely. There are three of them and I would trust them with my whole life. I recently shared with them something I do not share openly. It was a very emotional and painful thing to share. I shared with them my deepest insecurities and fears. I let them see the unhealthy version of me. I showed them my anxious and fearful self. I showed them the version of me that I hide from the rest of the world. I showed them my deepest wounds because I trusted them. Jesus was wounded and murdered so that my wounds could be made whole. Christ lived and died and resurrected so that I can share my story with others. He placed special people in my life so that I can share with them my weaknesses and ask them to walk with me and pour love, grace, and encouragement into my life. If I can put my trust in people who are fallible, why can’t I put my trust in my Father who is perfect? Our Father is the most trustworthy being. He will never fail us. He will never let us go. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is faithful. This season has been an eye opener for me to see that I can truly trust God in every situation. The painful ones, the happy ones, the sorrowful ones, the scary ones, the apathetic ones, the lonely ones. In every situation He proves to be faithful and trustworthy. Let me never doubt Him again. Written by: Helen Yi
Remembering Who is Good Looking back at the past 10 weeks, my biggest regret was missing out on intimate moments with the people I love. The relationship that I completely tossed aside due to “busyness” and “unavailability” was my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I began to distance myself from Him and I erected a wall in my heart that didn’t let anyone in. I ran from intimacy with God-fearing people because I was afraid they would see through my façade and call me out on it. I avoided deep conversations and letting people see the broken, dark, empty places within me. I avoided God’s nudges and whispers. I shut Him out and let myself fall into an all-consuming numbness. This past week God unleashed all of the emotions inside my heart that I had stowed far deep within myself. He surfaced my pain, insecurities, wounds, sins, depression and anxieties. He shined a light on the darkest parts of me that I was keeping in the shadows and then He boiled down all of it to one thing I was not accepting. My identity. My inheritance. My purpose. I kept telling myself I was not worthy of His love and acceptance. I told myself I wasn’t worthy to be called His daughter. I ignored who He said I was and believed the lies the enemy placed in my mind. Today, I choose to remember that I am His daughter and that I am who He says I am. Today, I choose to remember that the things of my past do not have any power over me, but the blood of Christ covers me and who the Son sets free is free indeed. Today, I choose to remember He is good. He is God. |
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