Hello! My name is Kayla H. I am terrible at talking about myself, but I am going to give this a try anyways. I came into working with Rebuild through teaching craft classes. I have always been 'crafty' and I have always been making things. It is one of the things that makes my soul come alive. I have my own business, and I have been making and selling things for years, and it is something that I have always enjoyed. Earlier this year, Renee approached me about teaching craft classes to some of the women at Rebuild, and it was an idea that I was completely in love with. Now, I teach classes to the women at Rebuild every other week. Then, I help them to sell the items, we sell both on Etsy and locally, at craft fairs and such (Shameless plug: You can check out our Etsy shop in the sidebar of this blog) For every item that the women make and sell, they get sixty percent of the profit. These classes allow us time to fellowship and talk, but it is also a time for these women to make money with dignity. It is something that they made with their hands, and they can make money from it. It is also a time of teaching new skills. Teaching these classes and being involved in other events at Rebuild is something that I loved from the very moment I started doing it.
In the beginning of this, when I was first approached with the idea by Renee. I loved the idea, and I wanted to do it, but in the back of my mind I thought that it was meant for someone else. I was going through some things in my life, and I felt that I couldn't help anyone because of all the things that I had been through and done. I thought that in order to help people and to work on something this amazing, I had to have my life completely together, and to have everything figured out. I have dealt with anxiety for most of my life, and it has caused some real problems for me. I didn't think that I had enough wisdom, experience, or whatever...to be involved in something that helped other people. I thought that my mess was too big to be of help to anyone else. However, I decided to jump headfirst and do it anyways. When something is meant for you, you can feel it in your soul...in your bones. Teaching these classes just felt right from the moment I heard it, so I went for it. It has been a crazy ride ever since, and I have loved every second of it. It was a real walking by faith moment for me.
I have never really talked about it before, but Renee approaching me with this idea came at just the right time in my life. I have learned more from working at Rebuild than I ever thought I would. The women who come to these classes are teaching me more about hope, faith, and second chances than I could ever teach them. I have also learned so much working with the other people who work at Rebuild. They have taught me about faith and what it looks like to truly have a heart for other people. They have taught me what it looks like to be the hands and feet of Christ. I have also learned something vitally important about God. He doesn't need me to be perfect to be used. I am far from perfect (far far from perfect), and I get to be used to do something that is not only amazing, but something that makes me feel alive. God does not need you to have everything together in your life to use you, it's actually sometimes the complete opposite. That is one of the most valuable lessons I have learned so far on this adventure. I have learned that I don't need all the answers, I just have to be there for people. We all need other people. You need other people, and you need to be that person to somebody else. I don't think that this is such a radical idea, to just love other people right where they are, and to be open to being loved in the same way. No one has it all together, God can still use you, and He still needs you to stick around. I like to think of it that the hands and feet of Jesus were probably far from perfect. His hands scarred from the work, and feet callused and blistered. In the same way, in order to be the hands and feet of Christ in this world, sometimes we have scars, but those scars can be used to create beautiful things. The scars are proof of battles fought, of victories won. I have learned that I don't have to have it all together to do something of worth. I am still far from perfect, and I never will be perfect, but I get to be involved in something unbelievable. I have heard it before, but now I truly understand that God is in the business of redemption.
I chose the name for our business as Made New for many reasons. The first being the obvious that we would be making things. The second being that the people who come to our classes are being made new. They are growing. The third being much more personal, in that I am growing and I am being made new every day, because some people in my life never gave up on me and because God never gave up on me. I think that if I were God I would have given up on me years ago, but He never did. My one and only main goal in everything I do, is to show people the same things I was given. I want to show them hope, and that second chances are real. I want to show them that I will never give up on them, and neither will God. He will take whatever mess we throw at Him, and he will make it new.
2 Corinthians 5: 17 - This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun.
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