Unexpected

I have been so very excited to combine my love of sewing with my love of serving God.  I strongly feel that God has gifted me with the time to invest in sewing and the talents to get some things made.


It has been a few years now that I've been wondering just HOW these worlds would collide.  Of course I can see His fingerprints all over my sewing life.  He has blessed me with amazing friends that I would not have met if it were not for sewing.  Tracy, Rhonda, Lissette, Melissa, and a boat load of others. 


I've held a few teaching sessions where we made dresses for girls around the world and pillowcases for others.  Even some private lessons for adults and kids.  All of these God planted and nourished as relationships have grown and developed into some very strong connections.  I am so grateful for my sisters all over the world!



But I always had a little lingering thought of wanting to sew directly as my ministry.

And finally it happened!  After serving with Rahab Ministries for about a year now, I believe I have found my niche.  A friend and I have been visiting strip clubs and developing close relationships with the women who work there.  We have visited many clubs but a flame was igniting in our hearts for one particular club just before Christmas 2013.  As we left that club one night, we were so excited that the Holy Spirit put our hearts together on this special mission.  We decided that we were going to focus on these 14 girls at this one club and pray for them and visit them above all the others.

Looking for thoughtful ways to show them Christ's love we began brainstorming about how to go about this creatively.  Since it was only 14 girls (as we usually serve hundreds in the strip club ministry) I specifically started thinking of how I could sew for them.  And then it hit me... bags!  I found a great tutorial for boxy zipper bags/pouches.


I made 16 of these little guys to hold socks, lip gloss, make up, notebooks, gel pens, and cards of encouragement.  We assembled everything, prayed over them, asked friends to pray for us, and headed out to distribute our gifts of love in hopes of being a tiny glimpse of the love of Jesus.

With great anticipation and excitement to see our friends in the club again, we arrived around 7:30pm.  The same bartender was working with whom we have developed a great rapport.  However we didn't see any of the girls around and it felt really weird, unlike the other times we had visited. 


I introduced myself and asked how she was doing (the bartender).  She was kinda blah and I had this sinking feeling that this was not going to go how we envisioned.


We put our bags out on the bar, tried to chat with the bartender a bit, but got a very cold response.  Sadly we left feeling crushed and defeated. 

What happened, God?  We prayed, we asked others to pray, we sacrificially gave our time, our talents, and yes, it cost some money to buy all those goodies inside the bag.  We did it so the strippers could feel loved and accepted and want to know Jesus.  And THIS was our result... no interaction, no gratitude, no warm fuzzies AT ALL.


I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it.  Kinda like last time I was disappointed in how God worked out a situation maybe He wants to drill deeper down in my heart that this is not about me.  He is still able to work with these women.  Was I sewing these pouches for me or Jesus?  I thought it was Jesus, but maybe He's revealing something else.


So licking my wounds today I will be in prayer even more.  I will seek the Lord and ask what to make of this.  We will continue to plan for our Valentine's Day visit to the club (roses and chocolate covered strawberries!) and serve Him with our heart and soul and mind and strength. 


When I am thirsting after God, I want to quench my thirst with holy things, not junk.  I'm listening, reading, praying, and opening my heart to hear from Him.


The night did not go as expected.  I missed seeing the women and giving them hugs, looking into their eyes, and hearing how they are doing.  But God is still at work and has something greater planned, even in the unexpected.