I had been meaning to do this post last week, but you know…..grad school. So a week and a half late it is 🙂
A few weeks ago I did a post on choosing an Easter dress this year. I had listed choices from Lilly Pulitzer and Anthropologie. I love buying an Easter dress each year. But this year I ended up doing something different.
A small group in my church had decided to forgo the usual Easter outfit and wear a t-shirt from Forget the Frock. When I heard about this I immediately dismissed it. I didn’t want to do something just because other people were and I honestly didn’t feel convicted of it. That happened one morning, and it seemed like that day at school the thought just kept entering my mind and I just kept dismissing it. Later that night I was doing my quiet time in Romans and reading something that did not pertain to any of this when I immediately thought, “Satan is trying to use my love of clothes and material things against me. This shirt will feed an orphan and hopefully will bring awareness of the orphan crisis to people in my church.” It was then that I decided I was ordering the shirt.
This is what the website says about the campaign. By the way, this year they raised over $250,000 for orphan care!
“Emily, born and raised in the South, knew all too well the annual Easter lead-up: stores filled with expensive frilly clothing, mom’s discussing the perfect dresses and little Easter suits for months before the day arrived. She had lovingly participated in the tradition her entire life and as the mom of two young girls the tradition was sure to continue.
But, you see, God had begun to change Emily’s heart. Thanks in part to the adoption process of her best friend Emily’s eyes had been opened to the plight of the orphan. Her heart had been stirred for the needy, the helpless, the widowed, and the victimized. God had meticulously planted a seed of change in her heart, which had taken root and demanded more room, more time, more focus…and suddenly, she found the entire Easter tradition frivolous.
Instead of seeing frilly dresses, she saw hollow bellies and sunken eyes. Every price tag reminded her of just how many children could be fed with that one purchase.
Emily had recently become acquainted with Feeding the Orphans, how the purchase of just one t-shirt from their site could help feed an orphan. She knew she heard the gentle voice of Jesus nudging her to do something to honor the orphans He loved so dearly.
Forget the hair bows, forget the shoes, and forget the dainty little cardigans… FORGET THE ENTIRE EASTER FROCK… The Fox Family would FEED an Orphan with their Easter attire!
As Emily and her husband, Jason shared their convictions, people began to share the passion… others followed their lead using social media sites to spread the word and invite friends to join. Soon, hundreds of people, even entire church congregations, were choosing to “Forget the Frock.” The numbers are humbling. Since 2011 FORGET THE FROCK has helped raise nearly $250,000 for orphan care simply by asking people to dress with a PURPOSE on Easter.”
Rachel and Nick ordered a different shirt and I loved it so much! This is a ministry that I plan on supporting for a long time and this shirt will be my next purchase.
Please know that I am not saying that buying a new outfit for Easter each year is sinful. I’m not saying that at all! God doesn’t look at our outward appearances–which is why He doesn’t care if we wear jeans to church or a 3 piece suit. He looks at our heart and judges us by that–not our clothes.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
