---DIFFERENCE MAKING / REACH OUT IN JESUS ~~

--"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."
---[1 Thessalonians 5:11 /NIV] --

--I set up tables in my church and hung up signs for my first "Free Kid's Clothing Swap." Tables were labeled for boys on one side and girls on the other, from infant to teenage.

Moms arrived in droves, dropping off their children's outgrown clothes and browsing through piles on the other tables for bigger sizes. I answered question, folded, and did my best to organize the growing tables spilling over with clothing. Other moms jumped in to help as more and more people arrived.

Although I was surprised by the amazing turnout, I knew this was a big need.. I could see it in the posts of the single moms' group I had created on social media. Isolation was another, something many moms experience when their children are very young. So, soon after the clothing swap I organized a "Mom Event" night, a fun way to meet other moms. Shortly after, moms were contacting me in anticipation for the new "Mom Event."

During my personal hardships in motherhood, I struggled to understand why life was so hard. I longed for community and for my needs to be met when I felt powerless to meet them myself. And yet these are the experiences that gave me such a heart for mothers, especially single moms. I didn't always get that sense of community I ached for a struggling mom, but now I'm in a better place in motherhood, my passion and purpose are clear. I can create for others the areas I yearned for so many years ago. ~~

--"Lord, thank You for turning our past miseries into present ministries, all for Your glory.".
---ODB/KV~
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