No Pattern...No Problem
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 NIV
Do you remember when you were in the 6th grade? For some of us that has been many years ago. For most of us, our memories are of it being an awkward age of feeling too young to do adult things and too old to do little kid things.
But for these precious girls living in a small rural village on the border of Belize and Guatemala, the 6th grade has a different meaning. It means that their formal education is over. The reality is that most families don't have the resources to advance their children's education further than the sixth grade. It is difficult for us to imagine at 11 or 12 years old without experience, vocational training, basic knowledge or necessary life skills these children have to enter the workforce to help support and meet the basic needs of their family. What about their dreams and their future?
Unfortunately, in most cases this can begin a life filled with pain, trauma and tragedy. For many of these young girls in their innocence they will be preyed upon and lured by traffickers who will specifically target them as they are looking for work. To entice them they will offer them relatively high-paying jobs and then leverage their pay to trap them into forced labor. Shockingly, many young children will also be trafficked by their own families out of desperation of survival.
We know that the only hope in this horrific situation is the hope that can only be found in Jesus Christ. It is only through the intervention of his love, compassion and his power that this desperate situation can change. Facing this reality is one of the hardest things to see and experience, but it gives us the biggest opportunity to make a difference.
God is moving in a powerful way to help many of these young girls learn to sew their way to freedom from this destructive lifestyle.
What does freedom really mean? For many the answer can be found in money, clothes, vacations, autonomy, material things. However, for these girls it means freedom over their own lives and their future. It means freedom to have a voice and the ability to be heard.
It is an opportunity to use the tools that have been placed in their hands to create something that they can be proud of and change that can be passed forward for generations to come! It gives those who have become powerless their power back over their life and circumstances!
In the photo above the girls are wearing beautiful tops that they each made. There are no patterns involved so they must use their God given creativity in designing, cutting and sewing their beautiful new garments. The pattern is so symbolic for their life. They are no longer using the pattern that has been laid out for them. They are not being conformed to what their culture or environment dictates their life to be. They are being transformed by the Word of God which reveals His love, His purpose and a new future in Him! New patterns for their lives are being designed by God the creator of everything!
Let us introduce you to the newest graduating class of 2021 in the "You Sow....She Sews Project!" We are so proud of these girls and their bravery, persistence and courage to take steps to create an amazing new life and future. Now with job-skills training, sewing lessons, new sewing machine and a community of others who have completed the course, these women are becoming unstoppable.
Behind every success is a BIG GOD cheering you on! Change a life and you can change a nation!
For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. Plans of good and not evil to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11