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| With awe and wonder, I run a finger along my own bracelet that I purchased at Blessed Hope Nepal |
Honestly, if I waited until I had "all the right words" to post any of these drafts, they would never be read by you. It is a blend of labor and release to write. I try so hard to be open, honest and raw, yet in these posts that involve personal stories of others, much of what I write gets saved into drafts never to be published.
It isn't just my story of my time in Nepal. It is the working of stories shared to me by other people that have penetrated my heart and my mind. The joy, hope, pain, uncertainty that workers shared with me are stories I am still processing and learning from two weeks after I have returned to the States. It was such an honor to hear the intimate details, things that won't make it in a newsletter, social media, or blog post. Stories that aren't mine to tell. Pieces of their story that God is using to impact my story. Breaking down walls and healing the dusty places of my own brokenness.
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I walked to a shared google map pin drop location to the meeting place where the artisans of Blessed Hope Nepal meet weekly. Sitting on the carpet of this apartment floor, I drank in the sacred moments while I, a foreigner, just sat back and observed this locally owned and run business. I had been in the country for almost two weeks at this point, and I was flying home the next day. Little did I know that the Lord would use my last two days in Nepal to grip me in a way that I hadn't anticipated.
Or maybe I knew it was coming. Maybe He was gracious enough to reveal it to me in the last hours, because His timing is perfect. Perhaps in waiting, I was a bit more vulnerable to receive a greater joy and hope to return home with anticipation and endurance for the long road ahead. And I don't mean the long flight.
"God's timing is so perfect" a dear friend who is currently grieving said these words to me just a few days ago. Through her tear-filled words, I was a bit stunned that she spoke with such hope. That very moment, I experienced a rare glimpse of grace/hope (is there a word that exists to combine the two? In any language? I really want to know.) It was in her weakness that God spoke through her to me- "God's timing is so perfect." That is easier to say when you aren't in the thick of it. And she is in the thick of it. So to me, it came thick with truth.
As I progress in my own next steps from what God has put on my heart, I have a peace and hope in me that sings "God's timing is so perfect," which gives me the strength to press on.
Please, take a moment to follow this beautiful shop online.
Never have I ever valued a bracelet more than I do these ones, and I don't even usually like bracelets! Stock up for birthday gifts. Each one is such a treasure!
Their photos on Instagram do a much better job capturing not only the product, but the artisans as well.
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| One by one, the artisans come and meet with the two owners. In their native tongue, they talk and bring what they made throughout the past week for a quality control check (right bowl) and collect the bags of beads to create the inventory needed for the following week (left bowl). |
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| Sharing in milk tea during their devotions, in a language I don't know, felt a bit like I was sitting on holy ground. |
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| I included her face in this photo, only because I asked her first. I watched in fascination as this beautiful Tibetan woman crocheted a string of beads to create the beautiful bracelet you can see being woven. |
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| I have watched this on repeat. |
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