little branches + africa.

 

hey y'all. 

happy hump day. 

{every time i hear someone say "hump" day i think of this commercial. i die laughing every. dang. time. do you? whoot, whoot!!!!}

i have wanted to share this story for a while. 

like a few months, a while. 

but it's never come out easy. 

i get choked up. i can't get the words out. i can't adequately describe the awe that i am still in of what the Lord did in me & through me. 

and, most of all, i don't want it to be about me.

i am just a person. little branches is just a business. 

but....

as i surrendered myself to Him and His will, He took me to places beyond my wildest dreams. 

i am {or at least i strive to be} simply a girl after His heart. 

and His heart is after others.

isn't that beautiful? 

His heart is after others. after your heart. after mine. after the orphans. and the widows. and the imprisoned. 

no matter how ugly or dirty or seemingly messed up we are... He pursues us. and wants us. longs for us.

and that is a beautiful thing.

but i digress....

when the Lord put little branches on my heart a little over a year ago {although it had been in my heart for a long time before that...} my desire was to use what He blessed me with to bless others.

you can read more about starting my business here. and you can read about africa here.

He blessed me with this business. and led me to go to africa with the fruits of my labor. something beyond anything i could have ever dreamed i would do {or want to do for that matter} a little over a year ago. 

and today i want to share with you why i believe that the Lord sent me to africa. 

i shared with you a little bit about how blessed we were to meet these churches in their villages. in remote parts of uganda. the first village we travelled to, bethlehem, was beautiful. the people were full of joy beyond anything i had ever seen. we left feeling full & with many lessons in our hearts that we are still struggling to reconcile with life in america. 

but the second day. 

the second day & the second village felt very different.

we discovered on the way there that this village was desolate. that cannibals surrounded the village at night. & if you walk outside of the village at night time.... it's obviously very dangerous.  

there were hardly any men that we saw. {the one above was very kind to us, btw. he's not what i describe below. just fyi.}

not because they're at work. 

but because they're estranged. 

the men, generally, in these villages get these women pregnant & then leave. they don't have jobs. they don't attend church. they don't provide. 

our definition of deadbeat. 

to a T.

they don't have any electricity. which means no refrigeration for food. they have one water well and they have their cows & chickens & pigs in a sty, basically, and they're tied to a tree with 'leashes'. even the baby chickens.

and the women. the mothers. 

they are desperate. 

my sweet mentor lisa is an annoited speaker and we had planned a women's conference at each of our locations around her speaking. she speaks on how we are all beautiful in God's eyes. we are children of the King. we are royalty. she gave each of the women little pocket mirrors. and every. single. time. it gave me goosebumps watching these women see themselves - many for the first time. tears. laughter. big smiles. it was truly a gift from the Lord.

i had planned on working at the "VBS" part of the 'conference' and telling the story of Joseph. that was my 'assignment.' i wasn't even going to be a part of the "women's" side of it. my heart is with these precious children. or so i thought.

but the night before we travelled to nambarizzi, the pastor asked Lisa to speak on business. something that she was not, at the time, comfortable speaking on. 

she looked at me. and my dear friend katie - who used to have an online clothing shop - and basically said, "it's your turn."

what? 

i'm not made for speaking. certainly not made for speaking to women. through a translator. 

"Lord, certainly You're not serious."

but i felt something well up inside of me.

that He had given me a story to tell. and He brought me all the way across the world to tell the story of how i started my business.

 

let me tell you that i couldn't have imagined this up in my wildest dreams. i thought i was going over there to fall in love with the orphans... which, i mean, how could you not do that?

but He had other plans. He still has other plans. He won't be done with me until i meet Him face to face. and these women have not left my heart. these women have not left my heart and i know there's a bigger purpose to that.

i heard from Pastor George yesterday and he said that he had been in Nambarizzi twice last week and they were working hard to work together and produce hand made items to sell. he said they are still very encouraged through the words God spoke through me. 

me. 

God used a little handmade business to travel to africa to encourage these women. 

wow. 

what a big God. using me. just where i am and just who i am. flawed and everything.  striving for Him. and He took me further that i could have taken myself.

and that's my challenge to you. 

what is He asking you to do? it might be small... or i guess i should say that YOU might think it's small. 

but it might be big. 

like, it might be huge. 

you just don't know. 

and huge in HIS eyes might not be huge in the world's eyes. 

and i'm learning that is perfectly alright.

 

pray about it today. ask Him. i promise you that if you'll listen He will tell you.

He promises that. 

and - if you are praying - would you mind praying for these women in Nambarizzi? 

that they would continue to be of encouragement to one another. and the big prayer is how we are going to get their product out of their village to a marketplace somewhere to sell. it's so remote that they would have to pay for someone to take them somewhere miles and miles and miles away to sell. that, of course, takes a LOT of their profitability away. we're praying for Him to make a way. i have faith that He will - but they could use all the prayers we can pray for them, amen?

i hope this story blesses you and encourages you today. to be all you and all His. 

He has a plan for you. a very special one. unique just to you and your gifts and your talents. 

and it's beautiful. and i can't wait to see it. 

losing my way. & finding it again.

hi friends.

how have you been these past two weeks?

we  had our trunk show for little branches last thursday and it was wonderful. crazy wonderful. i am so blessed by all of my friends - old, new & otherwise - finding time to support me. whether they were there physically or simply in thought - i felt truly encouraged.

thank you. from the BOTTOM of my heart.

but, as i reflect on little branches - and try to grow - and gear up for our next trunk show {next week!} i have been feeling a bit lost.

a few weeks ago, i was beaten down with negative thoughts. i felt like satan was attacking me in a real way with "you're not good enough" voices popping up in my head almost always. and i was so thankful i had friends to pray me through all of those emotions & that thought pattern.

and then i kind of got - for lack of a better term - puffed up. by my own self talk {which i don't think is entirely bad, by the way}, by my sweet friends who were encouraging me and by people i don't even know.

and i thought, "man, i can do this!"

but here's why satan is soooo good at what he does.

i thought i had the negative thought thing defeated. and i claimed victory. {which is biblical because we DO have victory in Jesus}. but satan is sneaky....

and while i had the negative thought thing defeated, he twisted the encouragement into PRIDE.

you heard me.

pride.

that super ugly word that we don't like to talk about. that we all like to think "i don't struggle with that" but in reality - i'll just go out on a limb here - we ALL do.

the fact of the matter is that satan starts with truth. and twists them around to make them lies. just like he twisted biblical encouragement into a PRIDEFUL thought pattern.

i got focused on what other people think of my product, my business and my self. i put way too much value in it all of a sudden. a wonderful idea of growing my business - which i do think started from the Holy Spirit - turned into me over-valuing what the world said & not under-valuing what the Lord may have been saying.

so i'm trying to step back and get my heart back into neutral. i want the Lord to show me where HE wants to take little branches.... and if i have to wait a long time, so be it.

earlier this year, He took me to africa, which i would NEVER have imagined a year ago when i started. but the key to that happening is that my heart was in neutral - letting HIM guide me. i didn't go before Him and plan for that to happen. i let Him guide me to the next step.

and what i've realized is that the next step might not be a step. it may be in the standing still. He may still be working some stuff out before me and if i try to get ahead then i won't be ready. the time won't be right. i'll miss out on parts of His plan. the best part.

and if i continue to worry {too much} about  "success" - in the worldly sense - my eyes will be clouded and my judgement will be murky.... and i won't hear all HE is telling me to do.

do you struggle with this? with good things becoming distorted? with good things not necessarily being the BEST thing? with admitting your mistakes and then letting go for Him to work?

the good news for me is that His grace is good. it's sufficient. and it's for ME. His power is made perfect in my weakness.

perfect, y'all.

praying HIS blessings on you today. and on this precious pearl. Peace is her name. and she's been on my heart the past few days as i've slowed down to ask the Lord to remind me of the lessons i learned in august.

her face is forever on my heart. the light in her eyes that never met her smile. this sweet child is His, just as i am.

i will choose to rest in HIS hands today.

processing africa: lessons on hospitality.

this video is from our trip to bethlehem. a remote village about 4 hours north {i think?} of kampala. this day blessed me more than any other day on our trip. have you watched the video? now you know why.

these precious children, and adults really, welcomed us with open arms.

no judgement for the muzungus. no predispositions. no half hearted smiles when we arrived. only pure hospitality. i believe, the kind of hospitality that the bible speaks of over and over.

after the welcome that we received {they're saying YOU ARE WELCOME, OUR VEESTORS!} it is my opinion that they had been preparing for months for our arrival. that really might not be the case, seeing as they do have other veestors {that's ugandan for vis-i-tors}. but they made us feel like rock stars. and why? because we are there to sing a song or two and love on them? to us it's no big deal. something a lot of us do once a year and then go back to our comfortable homes. we just want to check that off our list, but for them.... for them, it's important. it's special. something they look forward to. anticipate. celebrate.

after their precious song, they took us on a 'tour' of their school and church. their school consists of three huts. they are actually nicer than i thought they might be. the kids learn in english. and they're really smart and they listen intently to their teachers. it's precious. but they latched onto us as we walked. and it melted me. they gave us flowers that they made and little banana leaf dolls. and opened our hands until we couldn't accept any more. 

they loved on us. 

it was reverse of how i thought it was supposed to be. they blessed us. 

they taught us about hospitality. how to welcome people with open arms. to anticipate their visit. 

it made me wonder what life would look like if i did that in my home. if my home was always open and felt welcome to all. without judgement or reservation. without the half-hearted smile and "i hope you don't stay too long so i can go back to watching real housewives" conversation.

what would that look like?

i think it would do a lot of good for the world if we, as believers, treated others like these precious ugandans treated us. 

it would leave a mark on people's souls. 

if we truly, genuinely, invested in our neighbors. our school teachers. my goodness - if we invested in our friends & family this much, we would change the world. 

 

we are a distracted nation. distracted and busy with life. it's hard to be fully present in our world. with calendars, church events & scheduled activities. we're hardly ever there. we're already on to the next thing on our to do list for the day - or scheduling the next thing - or talking about scheduling the next thing. 

we are very rarely focused on the here & now. or, at least that's how i feel i am.

j and i were at dinner a few months ago and saw a group of teenage girls at a table and they were all on their iPhones. it broke my heart.

not because i don't love my iPhone,  because i do. but because it made me think back to some of those dinners i had in high school. either with our church friends or my group of girlfriends {the fine nine! holla!} and how i have silly stories that i can still tell. i remember, often, laughing till i was crying. calling into the radio to get songs dedicated {ahem - katy wallis}, dancing and crying. we were fully present. all there. right there. 

and i want that for my kids. 

but not only for my kids, y'all. but for myself.

my roomate, katie, and i were talking one night about this and decompressing from the day. she put it in another perspective. 

what if we treated the visitors in our church this way? 

it would change our church. if we were visitors focused in our classrooms on sunday morning. if we sought out those people who look a little "lost" or uncomfortable and made it our mission to make them feel welcomed and loved. that is what the church is for, people. 

it is a place for everyone.

no matter what they look like. no matter where they come from. no matter what they've done. church is the place for them. and let me tell you, Jesus hung out with the worst of the worst. he welcomed them into His arms. so why can't we be accepting - without hesitation - of these dear people in our own church? 

convicting. 

i'm praying that i have the courage to live this out on sunday mornings. welcoming people that i know into my own house is way easier for me than talking to strangers and striking up conversations. 

i get nervous. and my palms sweat. and i feel like i look like an idiot trying to talk about the weather and such. 

but that is what He has laid on my heart right now. i'm thankful to have traveled with people who challenge me in my faith. i love that He speaks differently to each of us... and then uses us to challenge each other. isn't He a great God?

 

i hope that you are blessed today. and that you have a wonderful weekend with your family & friends. let's try to change the world with this ugandan hospitality. welcoming each other with no reservations. no preconceived judgements. just pure, godly, love toward one another. 

"dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. " 1 john 4:7, 8

processing africa. part one.

jesus loves the little children. all the children of the world. red, yellow, black & white. they are precious in His sight.

processing our trip to africa is a bit like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. so much emotion. so many lessons. so tired. still.

but i'm determined to write about it this week. 

so as to not forget all that the Lord is doing over there. and all that i believe He wants to do here in the hearts of many. 

one of the things that stands out as i reflect on our trip, is the hearts of the people. overall, as a nation - as a people - they are ready for Jesus to speak. they are hungry. thirsty. and i'm not speaking of a physical hunger {although there certainly is that as well}. 

i'm talking spiritually. in very widespread terms - like nothing i've ever seen - this nation is hungry for Christ. they have a void - that they recognize. the recognition is what we lack over here in the states. and they want Jesus to come fill it. 

here, we get distracted. with organized sports. entertainment. even wonderful things, like education. religion. and we fail to recognize the void. we even attempt to fill the void with other things. even believers do that. {me especially!}

but these people. ugandans. they love with all they are. and when they love Jesus, the LOVE Jesus.

He is moving. 

He is using men and women as lights in this dark country. what seem to me to be hopeless situations have proven over and over to be full of light and promise. His promise. 

and what these people realize that we seem not to, is that ALL we need is Jesus. 

like, seriously. ALL we need is Him. 

nothing else. 

not shoes. not clothes. not food. not shelter.

He will provide any and all past that. 

and they get that. i still sometimes don't. these wonderful people trust Him more than i've ever had to. and they worship Him. and in all their prayers they first thank God for their lives. that they have another day to live - and to worship Him.

i left a piece of my heart in uganda. with these wonderful men & women who seek to serve God with every fiber of their being day in and day out. with the people who aim to make the world better than they had it for just one little boy or little girl.

that type of living inspires me. that joy is contagious. the kind that you can't fake. the kind that you only find when you are living minute to minute on the edge - in the center of God's will for your life. i aspire to live that way. to live on ugandan time.

oh, Lord. please take me back. allow me to transform my thinking. don't let this be a spiritual high, but a journey that i travel for the rest of my days. thank you for allowing me this opportunity to see Your hand working so far away from my daily life. You truly are omnipresent. thank You. thank You, Jesus. thank You.

africa update.

one week & counting. 

that's seven days.

whaat???

i can't wait to see what the Lord will have for us there. you can read about my decision to go on the trip here.

the first members from our team left today. we're praying for a smooth trip for them. it's a loooong travel time.

we're going to be leading a women's conference while we're there. the trip shaped up to be heavy on the female side and we ended up with one of the best speakers ever, lisa. if you've ever heard her speak, you know how MUCH of a blessing she is to others. especially women.... and even more especially to mothers. 

she will be leading the women. they're estimating them to come in droves. that will be happening next saturday. and we will have a lot of children as a result. i will have the incredible pleasure of helping to lead the bible story of joseph. i'm trying to gather all of my props right now. a coat of many colors {which i think will end up being tie-dyed}, a slave's costume and a normal biblical character costume. i want the littles to help me with these so they can have a better grasp on what we will be doing in "akica". {africa}. 

we will be working with this organization. and this one.

for some reason i have this overwhelming feeling that we have planned our trip, but the Lord just might take it somewhere else. maybe not physically move us somewhere different, but we might just end up doing work none of us could ever have forseen. emma, who leads the medical clinic, is such a man of faith. he moves on God's time, no one elses. and i can't wait to follow in his footsteps and see what He sees. 

you can be praying for us as we prepare to go. the hubbs and the littles are not going on this trip, and as you can imagine, it's a feat to get everything "ready" to go. we recently moved & i still feel like i haven't caught up on the laundry. i'm working on my list of "have to's" right now so i can perhaps get to my list of "want to's" before i leave. 

it's a 14.5 hour flight to dubai. that's a really long time. especially if you aren't a great flier in the first place. i'm praying that it will go quickly & that it will be a smooth flight. i'm not really an anxious person by nature, but being on an international flight brings out the worst in me. praying for peace... and that the Lord would control my thoughts. 

i'm so thankful for the opportunity to go. thank you to so many of you for supporting little branches & giving me this crazy adventure. i pray that you will be blessed for your willing spirit today. 

i will try to update on instagram at night so you can follow along over here. i can't wait to see all of the crazy things the Lord will surely do. we come with great expectations of His work there. i am so humbled that He might decide to use me, broken & sinful, for His glory & His purpose. it's a miraculous love, isn't it.

blessings today.

xoxo. 

 

& so i'm going to africa.

happy wednesday, precious friends.

i so appreciated all of the encouragement i got on yesterday's post about my little business. y'all really know how to make a girl feel the love. and i needed a little hug yesterday and i feel like i got it from you. thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

and now for my little announcement:

a few weeks ago, i took a dear friend out to dinner after her daughter got married. this woman holds a very special place in my heart, as does her family. i respect her & admire her in oh so many ways. 

i was sharing with her all that was going on in our lives, as she held my littlest while they colored together. and i asked her about this mission trip she & her hubby had mentioned they were going on this summer.

as she began to talk, my heart started to swell. she casually said, "becky, you should really go." my heart went pitter pat. "ummm... maybe. i'll have to talk to j. about it, but he probably won't be able to go after session is over and everything. maybe next year. but send me the information anyway." pitter pat. pitter pat. 

we continued to talk about life and what the Lord had been teaching her & her family. i so admire her heart & could literally sit at her feet all day and soak in all that she says. y'all, this woman oozes the love of jesus. 

eventually we hugged and she hollered at me "i'll send you an email" as she walked away. pitter pat. another flutter.

and i took my kids to barnes & noble for an extra special treat on the way home. i vividly remember walking around aimlessly as thoughts of africa began to swirl around in my head. 

"Lord, is it time?? of course, that's what you must be telling me, right?" those precious little orphans that have long since won my heart over in all shapes, colors & sizes - is that what He was telling me? 

as the night wore on and i climbed into bed i prayed out loud, "if You want me to go - make it clear to me." and wouldn't you know it? He did. 

the next morning after my alarm went off, i sleepily looked at my instagram. the very first image was a screenshot of this verse: 

"defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." psalm 82: 3, 4

okay.....

throughout the day, i felt this "holy echo" in my life. i saw this verse repeated three times in various places. three. 

the hubbs and i discussed this at length & he agreed with me that i needed to go. the only thing is that he's not. 

i'm going to travel across the world without him. whaaat? 

and as we began to pray about it, we didn't know how much it was going to be but we knew that it was going to be a lot and that we didn't have the kind of money. so i prayed. 

my conversation with the Lord over the next few days sorta went like this:

me: "Lord, i'll raise that money. if You want me to go on that mission trip, that money will come in."

God: "remember that little business that I gave you? what was the purpose again??"

me: "blessing others. being myself. how does that have anything to do with this? ohhhhh..... ok. i can part with some of that money. whatever i don't raise, i'll use my little branches money for."

God: "think again."

a day passes.

me: "okay, Lord. i think you're telling me that you want me to put up half the money with the little branches money. i am okay with that. thanks."

another day passes. and i go to the informational meeting. we find out exactly how much it's going to be. wowza. 

we also see videos and pictures.

and all sorts of emotions begin to well up in my heart. remember, i think i'm going for the orphans. i already have the scenario played out in my mind. but the Lord says no. He pulls me a different direction. towards the women's clinic that this precious man, emma {who is younger than i am!} has started. my heart goes out to these women. the ones who are pregnant and feel like that have no hope. the ones that are sick & cannot provide for the children they already have, let alone the one that they're carrying. i'm literally sitting in this informational meeting asking all sorts of horrible questions about what abortion is like in uganda. is it safe? what choices do they have? what are the hospitals like? my eyes have tears in them and i feel like a boulder is sitting on my chest. 

there is no doubt in my mind that i'm going. 

and by this time, there was no doubt about how i was going to get there.

i got in my car and i said out loud, "You want it all, don't You?"

immediately i felt a peace. immediately i remembered that it wasn't even mine to begin with. it's His. He gave it to me. He can take it from me - whether i participate willingly or not. and why is it that He plants desires in our hearts but then asks us to surrender those same desires that HE gives us to Him? and why is it so hard to do that? 

i don't think that i am going to uganda to meet my future child. i don't think that, but again, He has done greater things. i do think the Lord is teaching me about sacrifice and control. about surrendering everything to Him - not once - but over and over and over again. about material things being - well - things. and if He wants to take me to africa to teach me that i don't need to put my "hopes and dreams" in a washer and dryer {although i still want one!} then, i'm going to let Him. 

and so, my friends, little branches is going international. sort of. 

100% of the money little branches makes at the trunk show in april is going toward this trip. i have no idea what i will do if i do not make all of that money. but i'm not called to worry about that right now. i'm trying to focus on one thing at a time. i have no idea if i will even sell one item there. i've never done this before. but, i do know He's asked for it all and i will give it all. {after a bit of kicking and screaming, i must admit.} 

***if you want more information on the mission trip to kampala, uganda - email me at becky{at}shoplittlebranches{dot}com. i'd love to fill you in! we will be traveling with engage hope we will be serving at many places, including african hearts**