{"id":3685,"date":"2025-11-26T04:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T12:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rs2.pattersonit.com\/?page_id=3685"},"modified":"2026-09-15T20:34:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T20:34:42","slug":"our-beginning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rs2.pattersonit.com\/?page_id=3685","title":{"rendered":"Our Beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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OUR \nBEGINNING<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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HOW WE BEGAN<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ruth\u2019s Shawl began in 2006 with a \u2018chance\u2019 meeting of two people \u2013 a Malawian Pastor and an American woman \u2013 in Malawi.\u00a0 The widows and orphans, severely affected by the famine and AIDS pandemic, were bereft of the basic human needs of food and shelter. \u00a0The American woman shared the story with the others back home in the US, and they, moved with compassion, began to pray and give.<\/p>

Prayer for the widows and orphans motivated another group of women to seek God on how to share the hope of Jesus in practical and tangible ways.\u00a0 As they prayed, they saw God\u2019s leading to form a non-profit corporation named Ruth\u2019s Shawl.\u00a0 Step by step, the LORD guided the process to establish Ruth\u2019s Shawl, a non-profit corporation, for the work He was calling them to do in ministering to widows and orphans worldwide. \u00a0In December 2006, Ruth\u2019s shawl was incorporated, and in August 2007, a team was dispatched to Lilongwe, Malawi, to see the needs firsthand.<\/p>

As we have responded to the vision revealed by God, His heart for the widows became clear.\u00a0 \u00a0The widows were very strong in their opinions and in their desires to support themselves and each other.\u00a0 Strongest was their wish that they be educated, to have the ability to read and write. Within three months, the widows were being taught by one of their own \u2013 a teacher among them.\u00a0 A literacy program was born! In 2007, prayers were prayed to establish a Ruth\u2019s Shawl Program Manager in Lilongwe to advocate for the widows.\u00a0 In February 2009, those prayers came to fruition when a board member relocated to Lilongwe with her husband to establish Ruth\u2019s Shawl as an NGO in Malawi.<\/p>

In the intervening years, the widows continued to meet on their own in an endeavor to continue their dreams of becoming literate.\u00a0 Truly, these women are Romans 5:2-5 women:\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 and we exult in hope of the glory of God.\u00a0 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.\u201d Even though the history of Ruth\u2019s Shawl is short, it is packed with the Sovereignty of God and His inexorable focus on these widows, whom He loves and into whom He has poured out His Grace. \u00a0Though Ruth\u2019s Shawl started with a vision to care for the widows and orphans, God opened our eyes (and the necessary doors) to see that to bring hope to the widows and orphans meant to bring the Hope of Salvation to every member of the community. \u00a0The growth of Ruth\u2019s Shawl is truly a testimony of the Eternal Redemption and Inheritance of the widow Ruth through her entrance into the House of Bread and into the lineage of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is from the Provision of the Lord for Ruth that the whole world throughout all generations receives Salvation.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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OUR NAME<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The name \u201cRuth\u2019s Shawl\u201d originated from a 2005 Bible study on the Book of Ruth, held during prayer meetings for the widows and orphans of Malawi during a severe famine. As we read Chapter 3:15, \u201cAlso he (Boaz) said, \u2018bring the shawl that is on you and hold it.\u2019 And when she (Ruth) held it, he measured six ephahs of barley and laid it on her. Then she went into the city.\u201d This picture of holding her shawl and it being filled with much more barley than she could ever glean at one time (the Bible tells us in Ruth 2:17 that she gathered one ephah in a full day) was a clear indication of God\u2019s grace being poured into the only thing that she held in her possession \u2026. Ruth\u2019s Shawl. Many in the prayer group immediately recognized the shawl as the point of faith between the need of Ruth and the provision of Boaz \u2026 we became very aware that we were being called to be \u201cRuth\u2019s Shawl\u201d as God would be faithful to fill that shawl and we would have the honor of distributing His provision. Since 2005, God has never failed to fill that shawl and has expanded the ministry to whole villages and beyond!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The inspiration for Ruth's Shawl logo<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OUR BEGINNING HOW WE BEGAN Ruth\u2019s Shawl began in 2006 with a \u2018chance\u2019 meeting of two people \u2013 a Malawian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3685","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rs2.pattersonit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rs2.pattersonit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rs2.pattersonit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rs2.pattersonit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rs2.pattersonit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3685"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/rs2.pattersonit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4963,"href":"https:\/\/rs2.pattersonit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3685\/revisions\/4963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rs2.pattersonit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}