Hi friends!  It feels sweet and a little surreal to be back after only a week away.  This break has been a breath of fresh air for me and I hope it has been for you too!  There are some exciting changes coming in the New Year for MADM and we’ll be sharing them with you very soon – in the meantime, if you are a member of our facebook community, we would SO appreciate your feedback via our year-end survey! We love you all and value your input more than we can say!  We want to thank each and every one of you who have showed up week in and week out, whether to share your blog posts or simply read along to be enriched and encouraged by them. It is because of people like you that a little dream shared by six women has grown up into an amazing network of connections and community!  Friendships have been found as we do life together, and it’s awesome to behold.  Sending you all lots of love and blessings in the New Year!

Now I’d love nothing more than to introduce you to three dear women who represent what the Make A Difference Mondays community is all about.  They have blessed us so much this year and I know you will love them too!  Meet Kristin, Kendra, and Julie of The Ruth Experience  🙂

Tell us a little about yourselves and your families?  

Kristin Demery: I’m married to my best friend, Tim, and a mom of two girls with a third on the way. Although my background is in journalism, I’ve done everything from managing a social network site for mothers to working as an editorial assistant for an academic journal. As a grammar geek and Jane Austen addict, I love semi-colons, scarves, and sappy romance novels. I’m passionate about recognizing redemption in the everyday and trying to live a life of kindness and generosity.

Kendra Roehl: I’ve been married to my husband Kyle for almost 10 years and we have four children together, two we’ve adopted from foster care. I’m a social worker by background and have worked for hospice programs, low income housing and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in St. Cloud, MN.

Julie Fisk: My husband, Aaron, and I have two children and a rescued poodle named Peanut Butter. I am a lawyer by trade and love when my passion for justice and my legal skills align perfectly.

Where did you get your passion to make a difference?

Kristin:  As someone who reads and writes a lot of stories, I’ve always been drawn to stories of grief, loss, and heartache — and yet, as an eternal optimist, I also love happy endings. I think part of my desire to make a difference is to overcome some of the hard things with some of life’s beauty. I recently heard someone say that they have a hard time walking away from a need they know they can fill — and for me, it’s become something of a mantra. I don’t want to feel paralyzed by helplessness or overwhelmed by the hard things in this world when I know that I can help alleviate them, even in small ways.

Kendra: I’ve always had a strong passion for social justice, in fact, as a child my father would lovingly refer to me as the “defender of the weak.” No one was surprised when I became a social worker! Since starting to blog a couple years ago, my passion for helping others and raising awareness of needs in our community and around the world has been a major part of our blog and posts.

Julie: After watching someone I loved being treated unjustly when I was a child, I vowed to be someone who could right wrongs. My law degree was earned, in large part, based upon my desire and drive to protect others.  Thankfully, I learned early on that my passion for justice was something God could and would use, as long as I stopped relying upon my own strength and started relying on His.

Tell us about your blog/biz and its mission?

We are three women who are Christ-followers, wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends. Life is hard, but  we believe it is in the sharing of our lives — the joys, the tears, the stories of God’s provision in the times of deepest need — that we encourage one another and, in turn, encourage ourselves.

How do you hope to change the world for the better through this mission?

We’d like to think that by sharing honestly, joining with others, and raising awareness of issues around the world, makes us hope we’re helping to make the world a better place. By being an example and encouraging others to join us, makes us hope we’re making a difference.

Where can we find you online?  You can find us blogging at The Ruth Experience and regularly contributing to Bridging the Gap. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Make A Difference Mondays is a weekly linkup designed to encourage and inspire us to live each day on purpose by making a meaningful difference in someone’s life in even the smallest of ways. Five women regularly co-host this link-up and will appear on all five of our blogs along with three wonderful co-hosts who fill in as guest hosts on the occasional day that a regular co-host is not able to post. Read on to learn more about our vision, mission, and how to link up!

Mission
Our mission is to provide a consistent gathering place for like-minded women to build online connections, share inspiration, and provide mutual encouragement and accountability as we seek to live intentionally and make a difference in the lives of those around us.

Vision
Every Monday we will invite bloggers to link up any blog post that encourages women to live life on purpose. This could include testimonies or goals from your own life, small acts of kindness or service, creative tips or ideas for showing consideration to others — the possibilities are endless. Our objective is to use our God-given time and resources to His glory!

Also, just a heads-up: the Make A Difference Mondays team has created two fun new ways to keep us all connected! Now we have our own Facebook community group to stay in touch beyond the blog posts AND we also have a new #MADMlinkup group Pinterest board and we will be pinning our favorite posts from the linkup that inspire and encourage us to make a difference. We are so grateful for you and would love for all of you to join us for fellowship in the above linked community group and you can follow the Pinterest board right here to watch for your posts:

Add your post here!

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