Fresh Perspective

One of Catalan's mothers cards, "The Cedars of Lebanon" If you or I were prescribed a pill, we should question if it is good for us?  If the benefits will outweigh the negative effects?  If there are other things, we can do to reduce our need for the medication for a long time, such as exercise or eat healthy?                  Over the past six months I keep having an encounter with a certain type of medicine.  This medicine is “good”.  The benefits supersede any negative effect.  In fact, there are NO negative effects. I want to share this medicine with you. It is named Catalan*.                 Catalan is a 24-year-old refugee girl. She and her family fled Iraq because of Christian persecution. She works in a tiny one room shop that sells mostly vegetables. Catalan works from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day/ six days a week. Imagine, 12 and ½ hours a day. You might suspect that Catalan is resentful of not being able to go to University, or havi

Our very own logo!   A blank piece of cardstock stretched out before me, waiting for a design to be applied in vivid colors or subtle hews. Of all the pieces of cardstock in Lebanon it was the one I wanted to sew on the most. This was no ordinary cardstock. It represented women’s lives whose hope had been crushed out of them one gun shot at a time, one less pay-check at a time, one less home and security, one less husband, one less father.  I knew even before I arrived in Lebanon, that there was something special I would sew regarding these women. The funny paradox of this entire story is that I do not sew. I do not like to sew.  I am not good at sewing. But often we are asked to move forward in our weakness so that God can manifest His strength.  And so, that first thread was picked up and I began sewing the design that was in my heart. I soon knew who the first refugee women would be of this sewn collage of threads. They quickly embraced the idea of sewing cards for