Kristen Welch

We are THAT Family

Blog

Complete the Circle

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Dignity is another word for decency—and when it’s missing, God created us to demand justice.

12-year-old pregnant girls

Indentured teenagers

Child brides

Underage laborers

Survival prostitutes

Orphan-led homes

Violated minors

These words shouldn’t go together.

When we see them side-by-side on a page, we are offended because innocence and evil shouldn’t commingle.

It’s unnatural, unholy, and unacceptable. Our first reaction is to stop and help.

Sadly, these sickening contradictions often describe the world’s normal.

At Mercy House Global, we are not only addressing some of the most horrific problems around the globe; we are identifying solutions that separate darkness from light.

Creating dignified jobs through Fair Trade Friday is our plan to end poverty.

Last month, we witnessed it first-hand in homes across Kenya—the oppressive pattern of extreme poverty and how it robs the innocent of options and perpetuates cycles of desperation. We saw the darkness in raw form, and it was gut-wrenching meeting women trapped in its snare.

But instead of despair, we stepped into action because we’ve spent the last 12 years creating solutions to these terrible situations.

Yes, we witnessed darkness, but we were also blinded by the light of confidence and empowerment happening though dignified work that is creating space between innocence and evil. It’s light and bright and breathtaking and it is working!

Mercy House Global can offer a home to pregnant girls, freedom for enslaved teens and underaged laborers, justice for child brides, options for survival prostitutes, empowerment for orphan-led homes, healing for violated minors, and jobs to marginalized women, but these programs will only work if you complete the circle.

Our answer to these terrible situations is job creation in Jesus’ name so that vulnerable families can live sustainable lives.

You are part of the solution.

When you join Fair Trade Friday, you’re interrupting the world’s normal.

You’re standing up to the contradictions. 

You’re supporting practical solutions.

You’re doing something tangible that empowers.

Honestly, I want to beg you to stand with me against the world’s contradictions. Instead, I simply invite you to step into this holy story and complete the circle.

Woven Together

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She tugged slightly on the thread and gathered the woven fabric under her fingers. With a critical eye, she leaned back to give her creation a better look. A smile formed at the corner of her mouth. It was good. I watched this play out as she sat at a large wooden loom, in a light-filled room, in a slum in the heart of Kenya this week. I wish I could describe the feeling of hope that settled into my soul --how the pull and push of the loom and the rhythmic cadence sounded like a  steady heart ... Read More

Turning Your Pit Into a Well

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I have spent much of 2022 in a pit. I don’t say that to alarm you. I share it because it’s true. On one particularly hard day, my husband was also struggling to hope and he said jokingly, “I need you to throw me a rope, so I can climb out of this pit.” I said  “Dude, you’re standing on my shoulders.” And so we wallowed in the pit together. Fun times. While I don’t have three easy steps to climb out of the darkness, I can tell you that deep pits that threaten to destroy us can become ... Read More

Something New Will Be Born in the Pain

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Nearly two years ago, I dropped shrunken dried bulbs into what I hoped would become a flower garden. I didn’t know that bulbs have a top and a bottom. I planted them upside down and covered them with thick dirt. I buried hope in the ground upside down. Stay with me. Did those large dormant seeds even stand a chance buried in the darkness ? Here’s the incredible truth about a seed: because it was born to grow, it reaches for the light. I don’t know how it happens, but somehow in ... Read More

Jesus is Praying for You Right Now

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When I was a child, I woke up in the middle of the night because I heard something in the next room. It scared me at first, the muffled words. My childhood wasn’t perfect, but my parents did their best. I got out of bed and snuck around the corner and saw my dad in his old blue robe kneeling at his favorite chair. His Bible was open: I stopped short because I heard my name. I have carried this memory with me—of my father— praying over me in the next room. These are heavy days and I have ... Read More

Faith > Fruit

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Faith > Fruit I need to talk about this here so that it’s a permanent part of my story. It will be wordy and messy— as most processing is. Faith is > greater than fruit. I told my husband last night I literally need this phrase  etched on my skin as knuckle tats. He gave me a worried look. I don’t make a habit of regretting saying yes to God in starting Mercy House Global —even on the darkest days. But when you talk about something being hard for so long and “hard” ... Read More