A Valentine's Day Sale & Micro Loan Project with Love Does!

A few years ago I went to a conference hosted by an incredible guy named Bob Goff – we were given his book, Love Does because of Chris’ work here in the city with the church. Everyone would ask Chris if he was related to Bob since we have the same last name (different spelling) and I guess he kind of reminded people of Bob in some ways, so we had to check him out.

The book was such a blessing to us – it’s a really fun read full of vignette stories about how Bob has pursued love in action – Bob is one of the most dynamic and joy-filled people I’ve ever met and his book inspired me deeply to live out my faith in a bigger way. If you haven’t read the book I absolutely recommend it!

At the end of the powerful two day conference Bob handed us all a five dollar bill on our way out. He tasked us with the challenge to use the money to show someone love. Buy someone coffee, give it to a homeless person, anything we could think of the sky was the limit and there were no strings attached just a display of love in action. It was super fun and further proof that you don’t need much to do something.

If you’ve been around here for any amount of time you might remember what I did with my five dollar bill – you can read the details HERE but essentially I used my five and Chris’ five and bought some beads and findings from the craft store and made earrings with the kids.

We sold those to you guys and that turned it into several hundred dollars which I then turned around and used to buy nicer stones and wire and I launched Rebekah Gough Jewelry on a free website platform. So essentially my business was started with a five dollar bill!

All the money from the first earring sale plus 10% of the proceeds after that were all kept aside for Bob and his non-profit Restore International.

A few years later I had the chance to have dinner with Bob at another event and I brought him a bag with 500 five dollar bills inside! His laughter and joy when I told him the story was the best ever!!

(Chris and I with Bob at the Love Does conference)

Since then I’ve continued to pursue Rebekah Gough Jewelry and have found so much joy and blessing in building a business I love. I am still amazed at what God’s done with that initial five dollars and the resource has allowed me to participate in other wonderful projects and on a practical level, help provide income for my family after many years of financial hardship.

So this past winter I was in touch with Bob’s team at Love Does and we began talking about an idea to start a micro loan project in Mogadishu Somalia for five incredibly brave and inspiring women who have faced some of the most horrific circumstances and survived. They are all residents of the safe house that Bob and his team run and they all have dreams of starting their own businesses – an opportunity that could truly transform their families lives as well as the community around them.

We are eager to raise $5,000 with this project – that feels like a big number but I’ve seen God do some incredible things so we are jumping in and trusting Him with the process. I am not allowed to disclose many of the details of these woman and their stories at this point but I assure you that as the information becomes available to share I will do so and will let you know more about what these women’s business plans are but first we need to raise the money!

From now until the project is fully funded I am giving five dollars from every item sold though my jewelry company to the mico loan project in Somalia. AND today is the first day of our Valentine’s Day SALE – so it’s the perfect time to buy something for someone you love (or yourself) and exercise some love in action while you are at it!

You can use the code LOVE20 to save 20% on everything in the shop and that includes any pre-sale items you might find. Thank you for always bearing with me as I work through your orders, I am so grateful for your incredible love and support!

If you would like to learn more about Love Does and the safe house visit them HERE.

And if some of you might want to donate directly to the women and sowing into their business dreams you can do that too – please email me at rebekahgoughjewelry@gmail.com and let me know more details and I will connect you with the team at Love Does!

And check out Rebekah Gough Jewelry HERE!

I am so excited to see how God works – His kingdom is here on earth and His love is in action, what an honor it is to be a part of the story!

xoxo,

Rebekah