The Great Fashion Swap

Calling ALL Ladies. Looking to freshen up your wardrobe without spending a dime?

What if we became women who stop being excessive consumers and became women who saved that money and spent those extra dollars for those in REAL need.

Women at the Well Ministries is hosting the first annual The Great Fashion Swap. Make your trash someone else’s treasure. Give your clothes a second life. 

Give your clothes a second life by swapping them for FREE with other participants at the event. Begin Saving up your clothes!! Sign up today (see how below).

How it works: You bring gently used clothing you no longer want and in exchange them for whatever you see. Everything is up for grabs that day. Collect, bag, and save all your  fashion swaps till August 18th! 

Anything left over will be donated to various shelters and non-profits that help women get back in their feet around the DFW area.

What: The First Annual Fashion Swap

When: Saturday August 18th

Time: 10am-2pm

What:

Bring your old clothes and accessories and set up shop. Start saving your clothes today! 

What to bring: tops, pants, purses, shoes, jewelry, accessories.

How to take part: Contact kara285@gmail.com subject line: “Fashion Swap” In the e-mail include: Name, and the sizes of clothing you will be bring to swap. We need at least 2 people of each size.

The Heart of Noah...

The Heart of Noah..

I am a tiller. I find I am constantly getting plopped into the middle of new fields and I am starting to see this is the gift I have been given by God I have talents that are good for preparing the soil, to get the land ready for planting and ultimately the harvest.  

“Tilling is the process of breaking up and stirring soil. Someone may want to till the soil to prepare it for planting... the engine runs the tiller, which has tines that rotate in circles, breaking up and stirring the soil.” 

To put it another way, I have been wired to be a pioneer. The one who goes before the rest to explore the land, to survey it for those who come after me. Don’t ask me how one obtains various levels of preparing the harvest or occupying new lands, all I know is my heart skips a beat and the excitement rushes through my veins and once again I am alive when I see new fields.

But this is not easy. It it weary, and I often times feel that weight. The soil is often times hard, resistant to the change it is beginning to feel.  There is no shade, there is no life as life has yet to be planted. Many times I have the privilege of knowing how Noah must of felt, the “loon” of the town building the ark, having been the only one who received God’s plan-”tilling up”  the vision that no one else saw.  It is a lonely work to see the beauty and potential in the dry cracks of this earth, KNOWING the reason you are put on this earth is to POUR beauty back into the cracks.

To My Circle of Witnesses

But there is hope, because like Noah I have been blessed by loved ones who have come around me and have given me the tools, resources and support  to till. To those who have chosen to support me through prayers and/or finances I cannot tell you the tilling you are allowing me to do through ALERT Ministries and so many other fields I am being shown. I am humbled by your faith and belief in this work even during the moments when I'm not sure what these fields will bring or why I even there in the first place.

While we continue to mentor girls and share the love of Christ with them, I am also in the process of helping the ALERT Board develop annual goals for themselves, the “planting” they would like to see in 2012. I am helping this organization create and implement a manual for the organization. This will allow ALERT to streamline and have the structure it needs to bring on more staff and volunteers and in affect reach out to more girls in the community, to prevent them from going down a path of being abused or sex trafficked.

Praise Worthy News!

God has  been opening doors for ALERT, we have been asked to be on various panels and introduced to some influential women in the DFW area who have a heart for our girls. We are praying for places to expand Girl Circle in other facilities in the DFW area. Please be in prayer about these potential partnerships and the value they can have with ALERT.

Lift up our Girls in Prayer...

Here are some of the prayers we have received this month...Keep these daughters in your prayers.

“Please pray that I get my brown shirt and that my family is doing okay.  Help be stay on the right path.  Pray for us so the girls can learn to be good and realize that it is for the better.”

“For guidance and strength to over come my addiction”

“I pray for me to have a better future and not to let this get to me, I also pray to fight the spirit of fear and of negativity. I pray for protection for me and my family and us all in JDC.”

“That my family keeps up with the rent and stays off the street.”                            

   

"The Help"-Final Thoughts, but not the end

What’s it like to be you?

This journey with ya’ll and “The Help” has opened my eyes to many things in my life as a woman who has a High Calling for the Kingdom. Throughout this movie/book there is a constant theme of “help” in which boundaries, culture, and social status lines become blurred as women step out and learn about one another through sharing of their personal experiences. As women get to know one another and ask the question either verbally or silently, “What’s it like to be you?” we begin to see stories and truth revealed in them in ways we might have expected.

So for a final wrap up, that’s what I would like to ask YOU: “what’s it like to be you?”

Once I have your responses collected I would love to share these on my blog. If you would like to share with me but not have it published in the blog please let me know, otherwise I will assume it will be ok. I would love for all of us women warriors rally at the well and have a chance to share with one another what it’s like to be us, as in YOU specifically…It’s refreshing to have someone ask about you every once in awhile.
Also, below are some of the quotes I have pulled out from the book/movie for you to reflect on and how it speaks to your soul. Please take some time to read each one and really feel how they touch you and why they touch you as a Lady of THE Court.

Blessings on you my sisters and thank you for journeying with me in this.
Aibileen Clark: “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”

Charlotte Phelan: “Courage sometimes skips a generation. Thank you for bringing it back to our family.”

“Courage: Daring to do what is right in spite of the weakness in our flesh.”

Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan: “You said to write about what disturbs me, particularly if it bothers no one else”

“What if you don’t like what I got to say about white people?” –Aibileen to Constantine

“Go find your life, Miss Skeeter.”

'The Help"-Stop Swimming

Ladies-
May the Lord show favor to you today..
SIDENOTE: I'm going to be sending e-vites out soon for the coming to together for 'The Help' fellowship. I would encourage all of you to keep reading (SUCH A GOOD Book) or go treat yourself (yes, think about yourself for a change) and have a gal night out to see the movie before you come. It's inspirational lemme tell ya ;)

Reflections from chapters 13-16

“…I mean in life. What do you want?” “I want to be a writer, a journalist, maybe a novelist, maybe both…” (pg. 200)
“Show me how to teach Baby Girl to be kind, to love herself; to love others, while I got time with her… (226)
“You kind, you smart, you important. But growing up and I know, soon, them few words ain;t gone be enough.” (pg. 234)

**Keep mediating on Luke 10:25-41**

This reflection comes from “My Utmost for His Highest” When I read it, it reminded me that we all have dreams and visions of how we want to be used for God, what we all want out of life. As we get these dreams we tend to stand up quick and get going down the road to make “it” happen. We have gifts to me teachers and mentors to those around us, we are compelled to show the love of Jesus to others, they are loved, they are beautiful, they are valued. We are the women prophets who delight in telling other women the truths God sepaks about them…But what about us? Do you know with your heart and head that those truths are meant to for you too, warrior princess.

It’s not about service ladies, it’s not about volunteering, it’s not about pressing on to impact the lives of people even though we are drained, it’s about sitting at our Lord’s feet and “BEING.” I know it seems backwards that in order to be God’s best we must sit at his feet and “BE” instead of what the world says in the words of “Finding Nemo”-“Just keep swimming, swimming…” Stop swimming and rest in the Lord as you go about your day and in that God’s Kingdom comes down to those around us.
Come to the well to rest, to talk, to be with our Lord.

AM I CONVINCED BY CHRIST?
Taken from: My Utmost for His Highest
“Notwithstanding in this rejoice not ...,but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven”-Luke 10:19,20
Jesus Christ says, in effect, Don't rejoice in successful service, but rejoice because you are rightly related to Me. The snare in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service, to rejoice in the fact that God has used you. You never can measure what God will do through you if you are rightly related to Jesus Christ. Keep your relationship right with Him, then whatever circumstances you are in, and whoever you meet day by day, He is pouring rivers of living water through you, and it is of His mercy that He does not let you know it. When once you are rightly related to God by salvation and sanctification, remember that wherever you are, you are put there by God; and by the reaction of your life on the circumstances around you, you will fulfill God's purpose, as long as you keep in the light as God is in the light.
The tendency to-day is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make usefulness their ground of appeal. If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure that ever lived. The lodestar of the saint is God Him self, not estimated usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. All that Our Lord heeds in a man's life is the relationship of worth to His Father. Jesus is bringing many sons to glory.

Spiritual Rythmn: Memorization
Take one verse this week write it out and take it with you everywhere you go.

"The Help'-Sitting at the well

“I am starting to notice things...”-(pg. 183)

“what makes you think colored people need your help?...”Why you even care about this?... YOU WHITE...”I’ve never had a colored person speak to me like that...”we want to show your perspective...so people might understand what it’s like from your side. We-we hope it might change somethings around here (pg. 192)

READ: LUKE 10:25-41

Ok ladies we are coming close to the date we are meeting, to fellowship with one another...so the next couple of insights may be sporadic throughout the rest of the book...So bear with me, and don’t worry I will let you know what chapters I am getting my inspiration.

Here’s a question-How hard is it for us to practice the art of “being”? Due to our circumstances or experiences we have noticed the dark things of this world, we are go-getters so we assume people need our help. Not only that but we try to bring to light a variety of things in order for people to understand a different perspective and we hope with God’s grace we would be the front runners to change things. We serve others and keep going..and going...and going. We try are the over achievers who are used to doing all the planning ourselves... These are GREAT things, these are our callings after all, but if we are to be the best to further God’s kingdom “being” seems to be more of a concern to our Father.

I must admit “being” is just not one of my “gifts.” For me, even as a toddler my great-grandmother used to tell people “I’ve never seen that girl walk.” What’s true then is still true today I only know one speed and I still seem to be able to maintain that speed. But that’s not the point of this life-how much we can accomplish in one day. I am beginning to see my day to day is about going to the well.

Here’s what I mean: In ancient times wells were built in order to provide water and it was dug to great depths in order to get to the water in the desert. Wells were positioned outside of towns and were places women would gather to collect the essence of what would sustain them and give them life. The women WENT to the place to get them life and took what was already there provided for them. They would go away refreshed and supplied with what they would need throughout that particular day. They just brought themselves and their buckets and sat waiting for life to fill them.

We might be women who have noticed the pain and hurt of this world when no one else does, we may even be in positions to help other women in various ways you ask for help or you just give it. We are all women who desire to leave behind a legacy for younger women, our children, and our grandchildren.

I challenge all of us this week to also try to leave behind the legacy of “being” and living that before we fight on the battle lines. This is new to all of us-so let’s us travel together down this road.

Spiritual Rhythm: Memorization
Continue the rhythm of breathing God throughout your day. Pick one verse this week, something that moves you, then write it out and take it with you where ever you go. Think of it, revisit it throughout your week. Something that allows you to sit at the well and enjoy the “water.” This will be your “water” for the day.

"The Help" with people...

‘We don’t want to bring all that mess up...tell people the truth..” “Truth, it feels cool, like water washing over my sticky-hot body.” (150-151).

“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”-Galatians 1:10

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.”-Ephesians 6:5-8
“Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.”-Colossians 3:22

I don’t have much to say for this reflection, the “people pleasing” podcast from the women’s ministry at Irving Bible Church will be a good reflection and says what I would point out as it relates to this quote from “The Help.”
This podcast touched a depth of my heart that I would like to share with you. Take the time to listen to it and feel as you listen the coolness of the truth about breaking free from the chains of “people pleasing” and living a life of fear in hiding from our True selves.

The Podcast

/Users/kara/Desktop/People-Pleasing.mp3

"The Help" -BIG MOUTH

“Yes, because no one ever talks about it. No one talks about anything down here...” (pg. 123)

“God knows, the book business could use come rattling.”(pg. 125)

This week spend some time reading Jeremiah 1 and 36

What if when God spoke to you His calling for you right from the beginning He told you no one would listen to you or things were only going to get worse when you answered that calling? Would you still go? Would you still speak above all the noise?

In a crowded room with all the noise and the chaos of people speaking over another so they could be heard-would you find a way for your voice to be heard, especially when you knew the message was from God?

In the days of the prophets they at times were able to foretell what was going to happen in the future if the people did not turn back to God, but mostly they brought to light the reality of what was going on around nations who CHOSE to not acknowledge the consequences to their self-indulgent behavior.

On the other hand, the prophets were ordinary beings who CHOSE to talk about what no one else was talking about, they were rattling crowds and challenging them to step into being the men and women God was asking them to become.

Here’s the deal ladies...just like Jeremiah God may be telling us to speak up about something that needs to be talked about, no matter the cost. And as chapter 36 alludes to it is almost for certain there are going to be times when your calling, your cause, falls on deaf ears and it is rejected, the VERY WORDS that are from God.

So what are you going to do? Not talk about it? Or rattle some thinking? Jeremiah’s story is a good example of faithfulness and obedience even knowing when he was not going to be successful.

Watch this youtube video below. May it inspire us all to not go back to "ok" and to talk about what others are trying to silence or leave as white elephants in the room.

THE AFTERS-Never Going Back to OK (with lyrics)