#Style for Justice {What Makes You Come Alive}

If you know me at all, you know I love the world.  I have an affinity for the nations.  My love for travel began at the age of 14 when I took my first trip overseas.  Since then my feet have trod the soil of Russia, China, India, Ecuador and Peru.  A few of these countries I have been to on several accounts and China was my home one summer between my junior and senior years of nursing school.

My life is forever marked by the time that has been so graciously afforded me around the world.  I was changed as a 14 year old teenager, who stepped on a plane 20 years ago, with limited knowledge of the world outside my homeland.

The last trip I took internationally was to Peru in July of 2009.  Deep down I knew it would be my last for a while.  I was desperately sifting through the pieces of a miscarriage and praying that life would begin in me the following month.  Little did I know, the life of my first born child would begin that month. And now it's July 2014, and I have 3 children ages 4, 3, and 13 months.  God has been faithful!

My heart is wrestling.  My mind is racing.  My feet are longing to jump on a plane and go.  There are tons of thoughts floating through my mind concerning: my husband, my children, location, timing, to do what, to go with whom....

I am currently following a team of moms, writers, minister's wives, photographers, bloggers, and creators who are in Rwanda.  I have followed Emily's blog for at least three years now.  I have read Jen's book 7 continue to follower her IG feed.  I worked through Jenni's CHASE study with a few of my closets friends and read her book Anything this past winter.  And right now, they with a few others, are partnering with Noonday Style for Justice.   

This summer, we're fusing fashion and justice as Noonday Collection partners with International Justice Mission for the #StyleForJustice Story Team Trip to Rwanda. Join us

as we journey with an influential group of storytellers and introduce them to Rwandan women who have overcome injustice and have been empowered through economic opportunity. By coming alongside these women and sharing their stories, our goal is to raise awareness for the vulnerable and inspire others to get involved and use their voices for good. 

I really love Noonday's Purpose

Noonday Collection's mission is to create economic opportunity for the vulnerable. We partner with artisans in the developing world, empowering them to grow sustainable businesses. By creating a marketplace for their goods, we create dignified jobs at living wages. This allows our artisans to earn more in order to support their families. We also offer no interest loans and make advance payments on orders. This way we are able to shoulder the costs of materials and build a lasting relationship based on trust. We offer scholarship programs and emergency assistance. Noonday Collection also donates a portion of sales to place orphans in forever families.

Noonday Collection is not a charity and we do not believe that providing a hand out is a sustainable long-term solution to poverty. We aim to be a sustainable business that gives women across the United States a way to make a lasting difference in the fight against poverty and injustice. This is what makes this movement so special. To learn more about Noonday's impact, click here: http://www.noondaycollection.com/impact

I encourage you to follow along this journey from the Noonday website or any of the #StyleforJustice Story Team Member's personal sites.  Their individual IG feeds are awesome as well as the Noonday IG feed.  Pray for these ladies. Pray for this country.  Don't you just love the goal of this trip......

 Raise awareness for the vulnerable and inspire others to get involved and use their voices for good. 

{via:jonesdesigncompany.com}

This trip is so encouraging to me right where I am in life: a mom of several littles, a follower who is hungry to jump in again, and a woman who desires to use her gifts to advance others.  My prayer is that you will be challenged and blessed along this journey.  I pray you will understand the beauty and uniqueness in the gifts you have been given.  My pray for you and for me is we would not transform to what we see as the "trending" thing right now, but rather, we would dig deep and find these words to be true of us.....

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs.  

Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, 

because what the world needs is people who have come alive".

 Gil Bailie 

So what makes you come alive?  And how can you use it to change the world?