Monday, November 11, 2013

Where to begin?

Jesus. With Jesus is where I will begin this one.

Last night, I had on repeat my latest go-to for the past 2 months, Oceans by Hillsong. (It's just as incred. in Espanol.) 

Did you catch Joel Houston's wisdom in the beginning?
"God is always calling us further and deeper. Often our prayer, our confession is "God I want you to take me deeper. I want to know more of you. I want to do more for you." We always want to do more for God like that is what He is after. God is not looking for us to do more for Him. He is actually just looking for more of us, more of our heart. And when He gets more of us, our attention, our affection our heart, our trust, He is able to do more through us."

Amen, right? Well, friends I have to confess; I have been up to somethin' that I haven't shared. I dropped a hint a-couple-a-blogs-ago that I had big news and I can FINALLY shout it from the volcano tops. But wait, we have to have a commercial first.

Many of us have had the dream of starting some sort of something at least once in our life. At least, I know I have. However, never did I put any more thought into that dream, just did not think that is where the Lord would ever take me. Months ago, I mentioned to Mama and Kenz and my college friends just the idea of bringing shoes from the States to here. But that was it. Nothing more. When I moved here, I kept reading, hearing, seeing, thinking, "be Jesus' hands and feet." I did not really understand why, though. With every attempt to seek and find why this kept coming up, the answer started unraveling about a month and a half ago. However, it was once of the scariest answers He has ever given me. It was not some miraculous answer written in the sky though. I had to devote time daily to pray about it. I had to meet that family of soon-to-be-12, I call the "ONE". I had to pass a lot of filthy, bare feet. I had to seek wisdom from those that make me want to be better. I had to have a few break-downs. I had to be wide-eyed to the smallest details. I had to be still and listen (my biggest struggle). I had to give Jesus more of me. I had to give him my attention, my affection, my heart and my trust. And through that is where I found my answer.

Commercial is almost done...stay tuned but let me just warn you, you better be ready when you pray a prayer like this song. "Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders, let me walk upon the waters, wherever you would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander and my faith will be made stronger, in the presence of my Savior." Seriously, be ready because He may lead you to/give you a CrAzY task like this one:
Yep. No matter how many times I said "Lord I do not want to be THAT girl that moves to a third world and starts a movement", He says, "Boo-yaa, Shel, you asked to be lead somewhere bigger than yourself so here it is." 

The name "pur[SHOE]ing joy" came to me in one of my many wee-houred, wide-eyed nights where my mind goes 90-to-nothin'. I emailed my #1 fan, Kenz and of course like always, she takes the idea and runs miles with it. She was more pumped than a new bicycle. You know when you have and idea and you just need one person to take off your training wheels, hold your bike, keep you standing and push you along for a while? That is why she is my fan, y'all. She has done just that and SO much more. Her precious, generous, big-hearted, oh-so-talented friend, Mattie Tiegreen heard the story and gave us that PERFECT logo above. She did this on the 1st try, too. YOU KNOW you want to see more of her stuff so click here. Puddleduck Paper Company is where it's at, y'all! Mattie, I cannot thank you enough for helping me pur[SHOE] joy. 

The mini background story commercial is over. Let's put on a show for Him, friends because this idea became a reality today. We're live, TODAY! We began in Atlanta, Georgia at Campbell High School where my sister works as a counselor. Mrs. Lawson is pur[SHOE]ing joy for us ALL week. 

WHAT in the heck does "pur[SHOE]ing joy" actually mean? Right now, let's call it a movement. We have hopes of "Shoeing kids so they can pursue their dreams." Whether we realize it or not, growing up in America, we are fortunate enough to have access to the resources to pursue our dreams. We are fortunate enough to experience the feeling of joy on a daily basis. Where I live in Guatemala, those two things are very rare. I see bare feet everywhere I look when walking to my daily tasks. Before this adventure began, I was getting a new pair of shoes about every 3 months and then dumping them. Why? Because I was not thinking outside of the American-dream; because I “needed” them. At least that is what I thought until I got here and realized that while I consider shoes a “necessity”, Guatemalans don’t have that option because shoes are a rarity here. When was the last time you credited your daily success or joy to having a pair of shoes? If you are anything like me, the answer is probably “never”. Even those in the United States that are less fortunate, usually own at least one pair of shoes. That is not the case here, more often than not. We do not know what it is like to not have shoes on a daily basis. Our biggest issue is which shoes we are going to wear that day, right? I have found that clean water and shoes are two of the biggest needs here. Seeing what they walk on daily and how much they walk is enough to make us realize that shoes are a huge need. It is wet-mud in rainy season and dried dirt in dry season and towards the city, it is dirty, cobblestone streets. A great number of people are disabled from being born from parents who struggled with substance abuse so they need the support from shoes. Alot of kids cannot go to school because they do not have shoes. Would you consider helping the people of Guatemala “pur[shoe] joy” by giving them your old shoes? Sounds crazy, I know, but if you could see their faces upon receiving something as simple as a pair of shoes, you would not even believe the joy! While shoes are a huge barrier for the Guatemalans, they are a simple need we can meet to provide freedom and joy for these people.
 
I took our first pair to my "ONE" family a couple of weeks ago. Only one pair though. The other ten still need shoes. And I'll be honest, they were one of the THREE unnecessary pair that I brought here.


As this is only our first week, we are going work out the kinks and THEN it will be your turn to place your shoes in a bin near you. Old tennis shoes or inexpensive new shoes is what we need. Besides providing shoes and joy, I have a great desire to connect you and the child. When you place your shoes in the bin you will also leave your name and a simple note of encouragement to the child receiving your shoes. But there is more. I will take a picture of the child or adult wearing your exact shoes and I will post the picture, your name and the receiver's name on my blog and our Facebook page. Why? Because I want YOU to see for a FACT that you brought joy to the face of a Guatemalan. So often, people give clothes, money, shoes, food etc. to help people and they never actually SEE if for themselves but that is not the case here. We will have multiple locations available for you. It cost you NOTHING. One of my new Guatemalan local ladies is currently hand-weaving "pur[SHOE]ing joy" bracelets, too. Because we are going to have so many shoes to bring back here, I know my idea of bringing them in my suitcase is just not gunna work. That is the BEST PROBLEM I COULD EVER IMAGINE. I am not worried about it one bit though, He gave me this idea so I know He will not leave me stranded with a problem too big for Him to handle. Hey, in fact, let's just make that problem happen!

Who is ready to be able to say "Joy pur[SHOE]ed"? 

Please email me at purshoejoy@gmail.com for any questions, ideas, if you want to be involved or even just to tell us how pumped you are! 

PUMPED to pur[SHOE] joy,
SA

 

1 comment:

  1. I go to guat, every January and this is one of my great joys to give shoes to the needy. Keep up your good work is well worth it. I told my husband I feel like Mother Teresa at the end of the week, They have so many needs and if I can make their life just a little easier it is worth it. I go with Salud Y Paz I am leading a group of 12 from New Smyrna Beach Fla.Good Luck.

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