I took a risk and messaged her: “This
might sound creepy, but are you at the College of the Ozarks spring musical? I
think I just saw you! I’m in row N with a red jacket on."
“Yes! I’m in the balcony.
I’d love to meet! This is so crazy!” she replied.
Moments later, I got to
meet a woman I admired from afar, a BIG dreamer, a woman committed do WHATEVER
the Lord asks, a wife and mother of three, and the founder of a business
supporting 20+ artisan groups in 12+ countries, International Blessings.
From a young age, Sarah Barnett
longed to travel and dreamed of being an agricultural missionary. She convinced
her parents to allow her to travel to Ecuador during her junior year of high
school. After college, she joined the World Race, which allowed her to travel
to 11 countries in 11 months, serving people in poverty. The things she
witnessed broke her heart. But in Burkina Faso, she says, “God began revealing
a deeper purpose, a greater need, a crazy dream that I wasn’t sure I could ever
accomplish.”
Graduation, marriage, motherhood, and pregnant with her second child, in 2012, Sarah Barnett founded International Blessings, a
company partnering with fair trade companies like one in Haiti that creates
jobs for mothers and fathers who do not want to give up their kids to
orphanages because they can’t feed them.
International blessings
offers fair trade items made by families living in poverty, to monthly
subscribers. Subscribers receive 3-4 handmade products typically including a
pair of earrings, a bracelet, and 1 or 2 other items such as a scarf, ring,
coin purse toy, or home décor items.
Just last month, Sarah bravely took her husband and three young children to Guatemala to visit with artisans
there! She is introducing her children to the world starting at a young age!
I
love that I got to meet Sarah, and hope that as my daughter attends College of
the Ozarks in the fall, she will get to know this incredible Mud House Mama even better!
Our meeting was a divine appointment only God could have arranged!
I sign copies of The Marvelous Mud House, with the
message: “You are blessed! Be a blessing!” I love that Sarah Barnett is empowering
people to do just that!
Allow me to challenge you in Sarah’s words:
“Together we can change
the world. Every person has the ability and resources to make a difference in
some way. It may be small, but it still matters. And if we all work together
and support each other, the impact will multiply and make a ripple effect.”
