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The ladies Bible study I am involved with has studied Jen Hatmaker’s The 7 Experiment.

The study challenges you to take a look at the excess in 7 areas of your life: food, clothing,possessions, media, waste, spending, and stress.

I had participated in a “Party With A Purpose” at a conference I attended just a couple weeks earlier. There we traced and cut out jeans to be made into shoes for children in Uganda. These children walk, run and play all day with no shoes on rough roads and rocks damaging their feet providing an environment for parasites such as jiggers to cause severe infections. If you are like me, I have a nice home, a closet full of clothes (still:)), more than one outfit to wear, a car and plenty of shoes. The organization “Sole Hope” mission is “to offer HOPE through education, jobs and medical relief. To empower people to live healthier lives, free of foot-related diseases.”

A shoe cutting party, what a great way to use the jeans we purged from our closets! The shoes we cut are sent to Africa and then assembled by impoverished women; primarily widows and ex slave workers. Sole Hope then pays a fair wage to these women for the shoes and places them on the feet of children after removing jiggers and caring for their feet.

Check out the website for more information http://www.solehope.com/ . There is an amazing video showing their work.

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” Rom. 10:15

On the journey,

Trish

Mary and Elizabeth, two very special people in the story of Jesus’ birth. Both were miraculously pregnant one carrying the forerunner of the other. Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, was a high priest. He was chosen by his division to go into the temple of The Lord to burn incense. While there, he was met by an angel who told him his wife was going to give birth and the name of the child was to be John. Zechariah questioned the angel because both he and Elizabeth were both quite old and had not conceived any children. The angel struck Zechariah mute until the birth of the child because of his unbelief.

Sure enough Elizabeth became pregnant and in her sixth month God sent an angel to visit Mary. You know the story, the angel told Mary she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to a son, who was to be named Jesus. Jesus would be great and called the Son of the Most High. The angel also told Mary about her relative, Elizabeth, who was going to have a child in her old age.

Mary traveled three days to Elizabeth and Zechariah’s house to stay with them for three months. I can imagine Elizabeth encouraged Mary and helped her through those rough first months of pregnancy. The elderly Elizabeth probably loved having a much younger Mary in her house to help as she neared the end of her pregnancy. God upheld them both through each other. The house was silent of men. Zechariah was unable to speak and Joseph was back in Nazareth. God didn’t use the men in their life to encourage them. He chose a girl friend.

A shared experience brought them together: pregnancy. When women get together the topic many times turns to their children and if one is pregnant the pregnancy stories start flowing.

Let me introduce to you two new girl friends of mine. We all share a common experience: our husbands have died after a blood cancer and stem cell transplant. Sherry’s husband died in May of this year and Julie’s husband just died in October. We have such a unique bond because our stories are so similar. We live with in 15 miles of each other (which is amazing and a blessing) which allows us to get together weekly to encourage each other. These women have come to mean so much in my life.

God is our ultimate Friend. In John 15:15 Jesus calls us his friends. What are characteristics of a friend? Someone who is loyal, trustworthy, supportive, honest, empathic, loves me, brings out the best in me and the list goes on. These are qualities of our earthly friends as well as God. We can talk to God as our friend but we must also listen to Him. Friendship is not a one way relationship.

Friends, my prayer for you is that you would know God as your Forever Friend. He wants to share our experiences. Let him in as you would a close friend.

You can read the story of Elizabeth and Mary in Luke chapter one.

On the journey,

Trish