I GAVE HER MY SHOES
Her name was Nathalie.
Her only child died shortly after giving birth — on the dirt floor of their one-room home. In that moment, the overwhelming joy of becoming a grandma collided with the horrendous pain of losing her daughter.
Newborn Christopher struggled to eat. As the days went by, he grew less and less interested in eating and more and more lethargic.
She held him tight on the several-mile walk to the Sisters of Charity Home for Sick Children in Port-au-Prince for help.
That is where I met them. Christopher in a tiny pink terrycloth sleeper with an IV in his arm and an oxygen tube around his face and ears. Petite Nathalie in a house dress with smiley faces on it, a huge contrast to the cloud of sadness that surrounded her.
A doctor at St. Luke's Hospital agreed to do the surgery. Nathalie and I held Christopher's perfect tiny hands as transportation was being arranged.
While we were waiting, Christopher stopped breathing. And so did we. In a panic, we noticed a kink in his oxygen tube. As soon as it was straightened, we all started breathing again.
We became painfully aware that Christopher could no longer breathe without oxygen. There were no portable oxygen tanks.
In a city with two million people, not even one.
Christopher would have to make the ride to the surgeon — several miles away — on narrow roads filled with potholes, roadside stands, and people without the one thing keeping him alive.
When the van pulled up, one sister grabbed his IV bag while another scooped him up in her arms. In a flurry of white habits, Christopher was out the door.
I turned around and saw Nathalie still standing there.
I said, "Ale! Ale!" Go! Go!
Then I followed her tears and pointed finger down to her feet.
She had no shoes. And she knew — a hospital wouldn't let her in without them.
This mom who buried her daughter. This grandma who walked for miles on bare feet. This broken woman, whose only living relative, her precious, beautiful grandson, just disappeared out the door.
I quickly took off my sandals, pressed them into one hand, grabbed the other, and ran. She hopped in just as the van was pulling away.
I wept and prayed as I stood on the street watching the taillights until they were no longer in view.
I knew I'd never see Nathalie again. I knew I'd never see those sandals again. I also knew that I would go barefoot the rest of my life if it meant that Nathalie could be with Christopher.
I gave her my shoes. Because I love.
Love is not transactional. Instead, real love expects nothing in return. Not anything. Not a 'thank you.' Not a reciprocal casserole. Nothing.
Love gives. Love acts. Love goes. Because that is what love is.
"God is love." — 1 John 4:8
Not: God has love. Not: God feels love. God is love. Love is a state of being. It always was. And so are you.
Love is not what you feel.
It's who you are.
We have been handed a version of love so small, so conditional, so exhausted by expectation — that most people have spent their whole lives trying to earn something they were never meant to earn.
Love, as the world teaches it, is a reward. You give it when you feel it. You withdraw it when you've been hurt.
That is not love. That is fear wearing love's clothes.
The love described in 1 Corinthians 13 — patient, kind, no record of wrongs, always hopes, never fails — is not a response to anything. It is not earned by the recipient or depleted by the giver.
It is a state of being. Walking. Talking. Breathing. Giving. Leading. Living.
When love is who you are — the entire question changes. You stop asking 'how do I get more love?' You start asking 'how do I become it?'
The Power of One™ is not about trying harder to love.
It's about becoming what love is —
and watching every room you walk into
change because of it.
What we were taught.
What is real.
Kim has spent decades dismantling these myths — in marriages, in boardrooms, on a United Nations stage. This is where transformation begins.
Love is an emotion — you either feel it or you don't.
This is why people say they 'fell out of love' — as if love was somewhere they wandered into.
Love is a state of being — not a reaction to being loved.
You didn't fall out of love. You stopped choosing it. You can choose it again. Today.
It takes two. Love is a two-way street.
The belief that keeps people waiting — for the other person, for the right moment, forever.
One person becoming love changes everything.
Love doesn't require a partner to begin. It requires a decision. That is the Power of One™.
You have to give love to get love.
Expectation is where resentment is born.
Love has no invoice. No expiration.
You don't love to receive. You love because it's who you are.
Love happens to you.
If love happens to you, you can only wait — or grieve when it stops.
Love is something you become.
'God is love' — not God has love. Love is identity. It always was.
I picked up Love Is on a Tuesday night when my marriage felt completely over. By Thursday I had done something I had not done in three years - I went first. I did not wait for him. I just loved him. Nothing dramatic. Just differently. That was eight months ago. We are not the same couple. Kim did not save my marriage. She showed me that I could.
Sarah M. · Married 14 years · Michigan
I have sat across from some of the best leadership minds in the world. Kim Sorrelle is the only one who made me cry in the first five minutes and walk away with a framework I actually use every day. The Power of One is not a concept. It is a practice. My team feels it.
David R. · CEO · Nashville
You were never meant to go looking for love.
You were meant to become it —
and let it change every room you walk into.
When love is who you are,
not what you feel —
everything changes.
In your marriage
You stop waiting for him to deserve your love. You stop keeping score. You become the person who loves without conditions — and the entire atmosphere shifts. Not because he changed. Because you became love.
In your leadership
You stop managing people and start seeing them. You stop leading from pressure and start leading from identity. The team doesn't perform because they're afraid. They perform because they're led by someone who loves them well.
In the world
You stop waiting for the world to be different before you love it. You stop dividing people into deserving and undeserving. You become the revolution — walking, talking, breathing, giving — without exception.
Love is patient; love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4–8 · The blueprint Kim lived for an entire yearLife, love, and what we are learning
Behind the scenes, on the road, and in the everyday moments that matter
He didn't leave.
You didn't leave.
But something did.
"The silence isn't proof love is gone. It's proof love got confused with a feeling — and the feeling left. The love didn't."
One person choosing to become love changes the entire atmosphere of a marriage. Not because the other person changes. Because you do.
I'm here for my marriage→
Your team knows the difference between a leader who manages and one who loves.
"Heart-led leadership isn't a style. It's an identity. The leader who becomes love builds something that lasts."
For 40 years Kim has built businesses with people at the center — not as a strategy, but as an identity. The results speak for themselves.
I'm here for my leadership →We've tried everything else. It hasn't worked.
"The last revolution will not be fought with weapons. It will be ignited by the greatest force in human history — and we already hold it."
From Haiti's rubble to 9/11's ash to the United Nations — Kim has stood where humanity is most broken, and witnessed the only power strong enough to restore it.
Love: The Last Revolution →"I thought I'd fallen out of love. Kim showed me I'd just confused love with a feeling. When I understood the difference, I stopped waiting — and started choosing. My marriage is unrecognizable."
Rachel M. · Married 11 years · Ohio
"Kim said love is not a soft skill — it's an identity. One of my toughest executives went quiet, then said: 'I think I've been managing people I should have been loving.' That was the turning point."
David R. · CEO · Ohio
"Kim stood in that room and said we haven't tried love yet — not really, not at scale. The room went silent. Because everyone knew she was right. And knew she'd lived it."
Attendee · United Nations · New York
"I spent a year living every word of 1 Corinthians 13 out loud — and discovered that love is not a feeling you wait for. It's a person you become."
Bestselling author. International speaker. Forty-year entrepreneur. Founder of Rays of Hope. UN speaker. Author of Love Is, Cry Until You Laugh, and the coming manifesto Love: The Last Revolution.
The only voice equally credible in a marriage retreat, a CEO boardroom, and a United Nations assembly — because she has stood in all three and said the same true thing.
Read Kim's Full StoryNathalie is still out there somewhere.
Wearing shoes she didn't ask for.
Given by someone she'd known for one day.
Who got nothing back.
Who didn't think about it.
Who just loved her —
because that is what love does.
That's available to you.
Right now.
In every room you walk into.
In your marriage. In your team. In the world. That someone doesn't need to feel it first. They just need to choose it. Where does that start for you?
"God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good." — Kim