Do Journeys End?
Eternal Threads and I recently made a really big change! I moved myself and Eternal Threads back to my home state of Nebraska where our mission began in 2000. I’ll confess that there have been moments when I questioned my sanity in trying to move a house and an organization, but we both seem to be settling in, and I now have enough time to reflect on the move. I prayed fervently about this change and asked for guidance at every step of the way. I have been blessed.
This transition began my reflection on “journeys” that we all make in life, and what we learn along the way. The Eternal Threads journey began officially 18 years ago in southwest Nebraska where I was living in a small town after returning from living in England. I was on a medical leave from my job as a flight attendant, and I knew that professional journey was about to end and another might be on the horizon.
However, that journey actually began in 1988 when I traveled to southern India and encountered extreme poverty for the first time. I made a yearly trip for the next twelve years, and it put me on the path that ultimately culminated in the founding of Eternal Threads.
Coming face to face with crushing poverty for the first time is a humbling and transformative experience, but it was the “faces” that changed me the most. I traveled to remote villages and connected with women in a way that changed my life, and who I was as a person. These women inspired me in ways that no one else has. It was their devotion to their families, hard work and their desire to educate their children~especially their daughters. I had grown up on a farm myself, so their strong, self-reliant spirit spoke to me and we bonded instantly.
I have been so busy over the last several years trying to serve the women with whom we work, that I haven’t been able to take the time to share the “journey” as much as I would have liked. I’ve decided to recount that journey in blog posts over the next several months. There are so many women’s stories to tell. Their stories inspire us and there is something I believe more firmly than anything else ~ we all need to be inspired!! It’s what gives us the courage and the stamina to make a difference in the lives of our families, our communities and in the lives of women we will never meet.
Do journeys end? I don’t think so! They continue on even though circumstances may change and if we are faithful, they go on beyond us. I hope you will join me for this journey of remembering and chronicling the stories of the women we’ve known. Gratefully, Linda
