Tesfanish lost her husband and daughter to HIV/AIDS over 17 years ago. After learning she, too, had contracted the disease, her family sent her to Entoto Mountain to live, along with other HIV/AIDS inflicted Ethiopian women.
Tesfanish is a proud woman. One who wants to work to provide for herself, rather than to beg for a handout. Yet because of her illness she struggled to work. And because she couldn’t work, she remained without the medication to make her well.
Through Noonday Collection’s partnership with one of two Ethiopian artisan groups making artillery jewelry, though, that cycle has been broken. And Tesfanish is now afforded the opportunity to work for a fair wage every day.
Now, Tesfanish makes beautiful silver jewelry. And the beads she and others in these two artisan groups use come from melted down weapons and artillery shells found by farmers in their fields throughout the rural Ethiopian countryside.
Because Tesfanish works, she can pay for the anti-viral medicine she needs to maintain a healthy lifestyle. And because she can buy her medicine, she can continue working. Her life has been redeemed against a backdrop of horrific circumstances. And she has much to be thankful for.
I can’t think of a more powerful example of how God can redeem even the most violent aspects of our broken world and turn them into a beautiful story. It’s true for Tesfanish. And it’s true for us.
If God can take the brokenness surrounding poverty, disease, and war and use those elements through human creativity to provide a fair wage for Ethiopian women on the other side of the world, God can work to redeem our stories too.
God can redeem our past.
God can redeem our present.
And God can redeem those things that will come to pass.
Because God is in the redemption business. He always has been. And He always will be. In that way, I’ve always seen God as being so resourceful, taking whatever mess we make and using it for good. God is taking brokenness and turning it into beauty, every day, all around us. We just miss it sometimes because we’re in the weeds.
So if you’re in a season of life where the broken parts of your story have you in the weeds, I encourage you to lift your eyes and gaze on the One who’s in the business of redemption. You’ll find God there, working to redeem the brokenness you find yourself in. You may not be able to see it just yet. But through faith, you can trust that it’s happening. And you can thank God in advance for the work he’s doing in your life and in the lives of those around you.
That’s something to be thankful for.
It’s more than enough.
To learn more about Tesfanish’s story, click here.
To purchase the Tesfanish necklace named after her (shown below), click here. To purchase other pieces of Noonday Collection’s artillery line, click here.
I’ve found that wearing these pieces is a wonderful reminder of how God is always at work in the world. And it feels deeply personal to wear jewelry that has been touched by women like Tesfanish and to know that my purchase is empowering them.
Where do you see God’s redeeming power at work in your life? In the lives of those around you? In the world?
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