Grace Girl Beads Meets Freedom Writer’s
Grace Girl Beads (click link to see Facebook page)
Amy Boyle opened Grace Girl Beads in 2008 in Huntsville, Alabama. The business started as a hobby she was passionate about and through the encouragement of her church, friends and family, she went on to turn her passion into a business. I truly love stories like this. God plants passions in our hearts that are to bring HIM glory and HE loves it when we birth those creative ideas to build HIS KINGDOM.
God is the author and creator of beautiful and Amy follows in HIS footsteps, as she continues in the creation of beautiful things. I stumbled upon some verses one day, Proverbs 3:21-22. that immediately made me think of Amy and Grace Girl Beads. This is how it went down. It was kind of like the children’s book, “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie”:
Was just reading my Bible
see a verse with “grace your neck” in it
run to your jewelry box
grab your necklaces
take a picture
make it a word picture
post it on Instagram and Facebook
ask your virtual community some self-reflection questions
tag Amy, the creator of most of those necklaces
connect it directly to GRACE GIRL BEADS!
Boom-Doesn’t everyone think like that?
That, my friends, was a small glimpse into my scattered thinking but I have come to love my wild goose chases; because they usually land me with the Amys and Grace Girl Beads of this world, people and passions that reflect the heart of God!
What “graces your neck”? What are the external expressions of our internal transformation? What does the “Banner” above our lives read?
So what’s this FREEDOM WRITER’S thing?
To make a long story short, I have been on staff at Lincoln Village Ministries since 2010. I began by spending most of my time at Chapman Middle School and I would simply “be present”. I would file in the counselor’s office, sit with kids waiting to see the principal, go to P.E. and bring coffee to the first 4 teachers/staff I saw, because that was all I could carry. Eventually Mark asked me what I wanted to do here and I just blurted out:
“I love the movie, Freedom Writer’s, and the song “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield.”
Mark said, “Do that.” And there you have it!
What does that even mean?(I didn’t really know either, BUT GOD DID!)
Since that time, I have had the blessing of simply journal writing with teen girls. I give a writing prompt. We all write, while listening to some choice tunes. Then we all share. Sounds simple and it has simply transformed my life!!!! I have been a “Quiet Time journal junkie” since 2008; so this is like my cotton candy sweet spot!
Amy blessed the 2014-2015 Freedom Writer’s with a custom-made Freedom necklace that they put together themselves. They were able to choose charms of crosses, birthstones, and anchors to accompany their FREEDOM!
Now FREEDOM GRACES their little necks!
Do I even have to tell you why this was such a BRIGHT SPOT? I’m a little chocked up just typing. As I entered the school later in the week, I saw glimpses of freedom, birthstones, crosses and anchors topping off their uniforms and grinning faces holding up the evidence of time “Gracefully” spent! A little birdie told us they overheard one Freedom Writer say, “This is my very first piece of jewelry.” Does it get much better than that?
To God Be All the Glory from this BRIGHT SPOT story! We can not thank Amy enough for blessing us with GRACE GIRL BEADS and the gift of PRESENCE!
Freedom Writer’s will pick back up with the 2015-2016 school year and we welcome anyone who wants to join us in our writing or to come and simply share what God is doing in and through their lives!
Come make a memory with us and Jesus!
Author~ Katie Wilson (I was sick of my solo-headshot; so I decided, since I’m the author of this post, I can use whatever I want- SO HERE IS TEAM KATIE!)
***Ordering Information for Grace Girl Beads: If you would like to place an order with Grace Girl Beads you may Email gracegirlbeads@gmail.com
*** As Amy’s business has grown, many have hired her to do necklaces or bracelets at birthday parties and small groups etc… for more details contact Amy at the above email and checkout Grace Girl Beads Facebook Page
Leave a Reply