Monday, June 29, 2015

Sufficient Grace, Perfect Power


2 Corinthians 12:9-10

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

On Saturday morning, I definitely lingered a little longer than I typically do when leaving home for a trip. Although the LifeTotes team has been working on this launch for almost two years, there is nothing that can prepare the mind for a leap of faith over a blind divide. You could leap and land firmly on the ground, or you could leap and free fall into the abyss and what is more scary than that? As I took one last glance in the mirror, I said "Jen, this could go really wrong and people are watching, they will see you if you fail." And then I heard a voice on the other side of my head say, "Jen, stop talking to yourself. You are acting crazy." And then I heard a voice behind me saying, "Jen, this is the way, I have prepared it for you, walk in it. There is nothing crazy about following the lead of your creator, who fashioned your heart and numbered all of your days. I know you better than you know yourself, I know the plans I have for you and those plans are for your good and my glory. You would be crazy not to go." In my weakness of that moment, the creator of my heart made me strong.

Today I met Sothea, a beautiful brown skinned Cambodian female entrepreneur. I traveled half way around the globe to meet her. She started her company in 2007, the same year I started my real estate firm. She employees women and allows them to work in their home. So do I. She is generous. I pray every day that God would provide for me so that I can provide for others. I don't know her full story yet, but God is up to something and I am so excited to watch Him do His thing.

Tomorrow I will spend the day with Sothea. We will visit with the bag makers in their homes, I will learn more of their stories and just a Nehemiah, I will "survey the wall" of their needs and pray for direction in how our company might be able to fill the needs through a partnership with Sothea's company.

God Connections on Sunday in Phnom Penh



Just wanted to share some updates from Jen.  As we have prayed, God has truly been directing Jen's steps in Cambodia.  He has opened doors and connected her with incredible folks in Phnom Penh, including Pastor Sihol at Liberty Baptist Church, which she was able to attend on Sunday. 


The youth and the hope for Cambodia
At the church, God linked Jen with Bud and Sharon Hattaway from North Georgia. Another divine connection!

On Monday Jen travels to Siem Reap with Trevor, our LifeTotes consultant from Cambodia, and will meet Sothea, the young woman who makes the bags that inspired the LifeTotes vision.  

Thank you for continuing to pray that the Lord guides Jen's every step.

And, of course, before we go...Jen had to share some photos of elephants! 

Saturday, June 27, 2015

The Beginnings of LifeTotes

In January of 2014 when purchasing this tote bag from a missionary at a local church, I could have never imagined the story God was inviting me into. When I saw this tote, I not only saw a really cool product, but I wanted to know more about the hands who made it, what their lives were like, and how I might be able to contribute to their story by helping them sale more of their bags. In turn, I would position myself into a practical relationship with people who likely didn't know Jesus. Since the missionary did not know the bag maker personally, I was on a mission from half way around the world to find these bag makers and learn their story. Sounds crazy, and often times I thought I was crazy, but God's prompting would not let go of my heart. God hand selected people to come alongside me, buy into the LifeTotes vision, and adopt it as their own. This was a humbling process, to realize that my obedience and the callings placed on the lives of others by God had direct correlation. He was asking me to move, and calling them to the movement He asked me to initiate. As Dr. King once insinuated, we are indeed inextricably tied together.

We were finally able to locate Sothea, the young woman who engineered the tote and we discovered that she employed other women to work out of their homes helping to manufacture them. Not a factory, like the common textile model in Cambodia, but a cottage, a home, where the women live, are wives, mothers and bag makers. They make these bags where life happens. We found that Sothea employees the poor; among the poorest of the world's poor in fact. These women live in shanty shacks and work in a lean to with no air conditioning or walls, just open air. I needed to meet her. What drove her heart to start this venture? Where did it begin? What is HER vision? 

So here I am, on a plane headed to Phnom Penh, Cambodia where I will meet with our consultant Trevor who will take me to Sothea.