An Invitation to 12 Months of Mercy

I slide the bowl of chocolate across the table and I top off mugs and we laugh long and hard and for a few minutes life lifts. We are a circle of sisters, mamas, daughters, searching for a way to do life together and wondering if we're doing it right.

We are always wondering and reaching for the grace to know if we're doing it right.

Changing the world is for the brave and building community is for the fearless.
I should know, I learned it in the middle of nowhere Africa from a very unexpected friend.

This idea is too big not to share with as many people as I can! Go read the rest of the story over at (in)courage today. Then come back here and get the details and resources to help you take part! 

Now that you've read my story and vision...well...You in? 
Here are a few helpful planning resources!

Resources
The Basics and FAQs {What you need to know to have a great GNI&O!}
The Pinterest Board {Full of ideas to spread mercy and build community!}
The Bling {Get a button for your blog to wave around and invite people to learn more!}

Here are a few ideas to fill your very own 12 Months of Mercy with.

Shoe cutting party for Sole Hope
Maternity clothes collection for our local crisis pregnancy center
Birthday party for Mercy House Kenya
Bra collection for Free the Girls
Homeless Care Kits
Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes
Movie Night (admission is a bag of non-perishable food and personal items collection for local Social Services/Food Bank)
Collection and organizing care packages to deliver to elderly neighbors
Prayer and education on Voice of the Martyrs
World Renew Baby Shower
Trafficking awareness group for The Exodus Road
Host a tree for Ornaments4Orphans

Maybe we can bring what we have to the table, expecting nothing, and end up with more than we ever dreamed? At the end of this year I hope to know Jesus better, know the women in my circle of life more closely and live more open handed with all that God has given.

We are so blessed. Let's be the blessing.

I'll be hosting a link-up at the end of each month here to share photos and stories from your own Girl's Night In&Out!

A Way to Build Community and Change the World

It all started a couple of months back when Lisa-Jo decided to have a laundry day for Africa. I thought long and hard about how so many of us feel like we are stuck and only have enough time, energy, and resources to tend the few feet of world around us.

Some days I'm not even sure that I have that.

It is easy to feel guilty. We feel guilty that we wipe runny noses, but haven't done a single thing to wipe out poverty. We feel like our bags of Goodwill donations and our dented cans aren't really making a dent in the whole scope of things and we would love a way to do a little bit more from where we are at.

Then I thought...why can't we? What if we made it a part of our everyday? What if we could find community with other women and make space to reach out beyond our every day?

Osheta Moore articulated so beautifully this guilt in a recent post that she wrote to all of us. She wrote it to all of us who are living in the suburbs, or in small mountain towns (like myself) and who think our sphere of influence is just too small. She wrote it to those of us who would theoretically love to move to the inner city or address issues of human trafficking, but just feel like we can't uproot or change course in this season of our life.

Her words were the newest piece in the puzzle that God has been putting together in my heart. 

I've got some ideas. They are ideas that I think can build community right where we are and change our world in small ways.

We're a month away from the start of another trip around the sun and I want this trip to be a bit different. I want it to be focused and purposeful and full of Gospel living and doing that changes me and my world from the inside out.

I'm thinking that I'm not the only one feeling this pull, feeling the gravity of life pulling at us and struggling to rise above and make this year about more than the average. 

I'm starting it out a bit early. I'm joining up to support the International Justice Mission through the Dressember project (more info to come) for the month of December. I'm also hosting a Girl's Night In&Out Christmas shoe cutting party for Sole Hope.

In a couple of weeks I'm going to unveil the whole plan for 2014. I hope that this community of women will link arms with me and begin to see our lives, our towns, our reach in today's world, our sphere of influence past our mailboxes, our calling as women, wives, mamas, grandmas, sisters, Jesus followers in a totally new way.

Sisters, this ain't about guilt. It ain't about wondering what more we could be doing. It's about doing what we can from where we are and investing in one another in the process.

You in?