...from Him..through Him.. TO Him.

Remember this post? If not, take a look then followup with this story.

Honestly, I don't even know how this all got stirred, but some friends had coffee and decided we wanted to do something that mattered by using something we liked and believed in. TOMS was something we all agreed on. We went into planning mode and 2 months later, a "Style your Sole" event was hosted. We saw some really cool people in our little town come together and say with their actions "people matter. we care". We were blown away. At the end of the night, we had 8 pairs of baby TOMS in our hands with the mission "give them away as He leads you". There was no agenda, it wasn't about who would hand them out or what organization could use them/send them best. It was simply: SHARE THESE as you see the need. Since I was headed to Africa, I got to be the messenger/carrier of these precious gifts.. certainly a humbling opportunity. If you kept up with my blog while I was there, you were one of the ones praying for God to arrange a meeting with the children that would wear these special shoes and that would forever carry with them a piece of their brothers and sisters across the ocean.

Well.. He provided homes for these well-designed, well-loved gifts.

Take a look:

Nondumiso in Spear's shoes

Joy-Joy in Em's shoes

Girlie in Ging's shoes

Andiwe in Jason's shoes
In Kaleigh, Katie, and Amanda's shoes

The last two pictures are of a little boy I met in the slums of Manzini. He was very shy, didn't make any noise and was rarely seen with any facial expression. We visited him every day and he never seemed pleasant. When the other kids were climbing on us/wiping their snot on us/braiding our hair/beating each other up, he walked alone.. never showing excitement for play.
Then, as the Holy Spirit CLEARLY led us, we gave him these TOM'S. He went on his way, and five minutes later, when attempting to get one of our girls out of the street, I found him. This is what he was doing:

The Lord speaks to me through that video every time. I wish I could live in little moments like that. That little boy's whole demeanor changed! In that moment, I am 100% confident, he knew God. He knew of His love, His compassion. He knew in that moment that the Lord had not forgotten him.

I want to dance in thankfulness when the Lord provides. I want joy like this.

This is what it's all about.






Thanks for making this happen.. for him, for all these kiddos.. and for me.