As I can I want to offer a fresh word of encouragement sharing from my experience how our Father God meets us in the middle of loving and living out our faith to draw others to freedom.
I fully believe we are offered so much more than we ever experience as Christ followers. We settle for a life in bondage to the elemental nature of this world and continue to live as Hagar when in fact we are daughters of Sarah.
Galatians 4:31
31 So, brothers [and sisters], we are children not of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
-Callie
1 Peter 4:8 TPT
Above all, constantly echo God’s intense love for one another, for love will be a canopy over a multitude of sins.
This is the third time I am writing this blog. It was overwritten and then lost but the message is too important to NOT write...The day I first wrote it, after seeing the movie "Sound of Freedom" with my family, I woke up with this question in my heart "Will it crush you? Or Will it move you?" Will the reality that this evil exists beyond the story told move you to respond. This movie requires a response. It neither glorified the evil nor glamorized the rescue. There is room for each of us to come to the table and seek the Lord for our part in responding.
We must repond. You may know that the evil of using lives as commodity and children for labor or sexual abuse is on every street, every highway and byway, in every community, city, and nation. The extent of this goes far beyond what was depicted in the Sound of Freedom continued by the vicious cycle of generational trauma and abuse utilized by the evil one to benefit those already in bondage to sin. These are cycles that are only broken through the application of the blood of Jesus and His unfailing love. His love moving in and through us is the only thing that will cover this deep darkness and bring healing and hope.
Your response and act of love can look like many things: fostering a child in the child welfare system, walking alongside a single mom, loving your family and reconnecting the hearts of parents and children, funding organizations focused on THE ROOT, THE RESCUE or THE RESTORATION. This looks like prayer, action, and seeking the face of the Lord. This leads us back to the question "Will it crush you or will it move you?" Can you look to Jesus and surrender your heart, affront, and pain and allow Him to be LOVE through YOU.
I believe if you are reading this, that YOU CAN. You can see past your reality and the harsh realities around us. You can turn the grief in your heart that may appear to be muzzling your voice and choking out your response, you can! You can speak up for the lost, the lonely, the vulnerable.
Psalms 90:13-17 TPT
Return to us again, O God! How much longer will it take until you show us your abundant compassion? Let the sunrise of your love end our dark night. Break through our clouded dawn again! Only you can satisfy our hearts, filling us with songs of joy to the end of our days. We’ve been overwhelmed with grief; come now and overwhelm us with gladness. Replace our years of trouble with decades of delight. Let us see your miracles again, and let the rising generation see the glorious wonders you’re famous for. O Lord our God, let your sweet beauty rest upon us. Come work with us, and then our works will endure; you will give us success in all we do.
“Rise up in splendor and be radiant, for your light has dawned, and Yahweh’s glory now streams from you! Look carefully! Darkness blankets the earth, and thick gloom covers the nations, but Yahweh arises upon you and the brightness of his glory appears over you! Nations will be attracted to your radiant light and kings to the sunrise-glory of your new day.”
Isaiah 60:1-3 TPT
Several years ago I shared a post with an image of a woman kneeling in full armor. The title was Drop Your Armor https://hohc.org/blog/44-drop-the-armor It was a season when I was in the middle of intense ministry and spiritual warfare with changes happening rapidly and challenges from all sides. The Lord spoke to me in that season that while navigating several teams and seeking to unify in prayer and mission, I had to surrender the rights to myself and fully yield my armor and weapons of warfare to Him. Soon after writing that post the surrender season led to abrupt endings and crippling blows that left me like a fallen warrior on the battlefield. It has been a long season seemingly adrift wandering through the rubble left behind from unfinished roles, closed doors and broken relationships looking for markers of which way to go and who was still with us.
A week or so ago I was on a three hour drive from Tallahassee to Pensacola as a part of work I am doing in child welfare on a Foster Family Support team. I had this vision of that season when fully in battle and armor, I surrendered on the field laying down my expectations, my place and my experience that not only lead to where I am now but allowed the time and growth needed to upgrade. I saw an image of the new armor and weapons of war I was being given for now. I saw that not only did the seed laid down grow but it was in fact becoming something stronger, bigger and further reaching than I had ever expected.
On that drive, I saw myself standing up and shedding the old armor leaving it behind to find I am now wrapped in light, taking my place with new lighter armor able to move more swiftly in battle and to more efficiently and effectively intercede, take possession and to occupy. I have also been given a new place in the teams I serve with and new eyes to see those around me, not only those I am seeking to see walk in freedom but also those on the battlefield with me fighting for those freedoms.
This is the hour we are being called up from every place we have been and to recognize not only are we individually prepared for this next season but we have been knit together with ministries, regions and Godly purposes. We are not fighting alone.
The hours in prayer, relationship building and long stretches of felt isolation that seemed to lead nowhere have led somewhere. Another opportunity opened up to join a team of people passionate about caring for other people's children and families. I have been given new ways to engage, encourage and elevate others in their journey loving and living for Jesus. I can fight with and for ...the women who chose abortion, the women who surrendered their children to be cared for by other mothers, the women whose lives have been ravaged by abuse, neglect and sexual assault, the women in broken and twisted relationships looking for a love that will fulfill, the women whose minds and bodies have been rewritten by these stories and circumstances and the children they have left behind or carried with them through it all...AND the women giving up their time to serve on ministry teams, in maternity homes, through foster care, to gather to intercede for one another, challenge the systems that hurt our families and children.
We need to know that it takes us together to go into the hard places where brokenness liters the ground like broken glass ;They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. (Isaiah 61:4)
I know I am not alone. I know that I have been prepared for what I have now and I know that....
We are called together to Arise & Shine.
May you see that you have been prepared and made ready to take back what the enemy has stolen.
May your eyes be opened to the many around you called alongside you.
May you overwhelm the enemy with good and not be overwhelmed by the evil one.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21
23 Let us hold on to the hope we say we have and not be changed. We can trust God that He will do what He promised. 24 Let us help each other to love others and to do good. Hebrews 10:23–24
The more time and connection I have had with those coming out of extreme and traumatic backgrounds the more I am convinced that healing of family, restoration of mothers and fathers, building bridges for attachment and walking beside people for the long haul is the best and right approach; AND it takes many hands and hearts to accomplish. I have shared the struggles that many of the women and teen moms we have walked with have experienced and have had to learn to parent through: domestic and intimate partner violence, sexual abuse, pornography as a viewer and as an unwilling participant, abortion, addiction, family abuse, homelessness, and the laundry list of mental health, post traumatic stress responses and unhealthy attachments.
As House of His Creation I stepped into the arena of housing, offering an opportunity to experience healthy family in a 24/7 experience, to walk through decision making and have a safe place to heal, to grow and to learn. We have kept the core of doing this through family living programs meaning houseparents and family serving as the on-site staff team. We have done so through years of open doors to teen girls and young adult women pregnant and parenting. This has been set up a whole lot like foster care.
Over the years we have walked with many others setting up homes and programs to serve in these arenas many with houseparents, some with single live-in house moms, some with shift staff. We have walked through women's decisions to place their children for adoption and the relationship with a new family, with those who have been in foster care and aged out, and those who are determined to do life differently so their children do not enter foster care through the state. We have walked with women choosing to parent their own child and opening their home to foster children from their community. This is all leading to one very important thought...
We are not the only ones working in these arenas and programs are not the whole answer. We need everyone who is moved by the needs of those around us to consider how to be part of offering help, hope and family. Addressing care and breaking cycles for a mother and child is imperative. Getting to the younger men and women sooner can take years off of their cycles of abuse, neglect and abandonment.
I had the privilege of being in a training with Rachel Lloyd, founder of GEMS, a housing, wrap-around and resource program for exploited youth in N.Y.C. What stuck with me the most was this statement:
Get people to care about trafficking, then care about the kids, then care about caring for other people’s kids.
It is our hope that knowing this and walking with us will “stir you up to love and good deeds” Hebrews 10:24
I have talked with many people who assume that entering the arena of helping youth and adults whose lives have been impacted by sex trafficking requires a phd in counseling, a black belt in a martial art and the abilities to withstand abuse like a marine. While there is a place for all these skills the every day needs of the MAJORITY of those affected globally by sex trafficking is someone to care. Someone to see them. Someone to know their name and listen to their story. See that though the reality of the abuse and experiences are almost unspeakable...as a child, youth or an adult they are a person that needs someone to do the mundane of life showing them how to shed their harmful protective behaviors, learn to trust and learn to care and be cared for.
If you want to learn more and hear how you can intersect in someone's story here is a link to "The Life Story".
If you want to learn more about vulnerable children all around us and how you can step in here are some resources:
To learn more about Rachel Lloyd and GEMS go here:
May you be moved to care about those around you! May you be stirred up to love and good deeds. May this encouragement hit the mark and open doors of opportunity you did not see before!
Psalms 55:22-23 TPT
Breakthrough...a testimony to the little ways we are seen, we are known and we are loved by our Abba Father. This move for our family and the ministry has been stretching, growing and healing. Distance and time are giving new perspectives to each of us, however, the yielding process for me has been no less than an intense battle of wills. I experienced a return of chronic pain, long stretches of waiting on answers, people and timing and all that goes into a move and building relationships from scratch. I was faced with the choice to lean into God for healing or continue on in the depression, fatigue and facades I had leaned into unintentionally through the last few years of major transition, uncertainty and disappointments.
Even today, leading to this writing my devotion opened with this thought by Havilah Cunnington in her devotional Leap Into Love: Living Present to My Purpose on the Planet
"Self-Awareness is the gateway to breakthrough."
Indeed! It took several months and long stretches of agonizing nothingness to waken and arouse something in me...a remembering. A remembering of where I have come from and where I am going. A longing reawakened after all that I came with was stripped away, doors that we thought were open were shut, specific paths to our goals ended abruptly, people who we thought were with us ghosting us completely. All with the simultaneous confirmation after confirmation that we are where we are supposed to be and on the right path.
I had no where to run with my thoughts, no busy-ness to burrow under, no voices to overwhelm the Holy Spirit, no demands that I could use as an excuse...Did I really want to stay in the place of despair, operating under presumptions that no longer served me and purposes that were no longer required of me? Would I take the opportunity to really listen and obey, fully surrendered to quietness and trust, to returning and resting?
As self awareness dawned breakthrough began. Twenty-four years ago after college I lived in Alabama and worked at an outdoor therapeutic wilderness camp. About two weeks ago, searching through files, photos and memories I discovered I had a goodbye photo album filled with notes and pictures from the girls I was responsible for. Several notes contained a similar sentiment of thanks for being someone they knew loved them and that was there to help them and that it would not hold together without me.
In that one moment it felt as if all time and distance fell away and the whom I am and am made to be came rising to the top. When you strip everything away in my heart and mind at the core; I want to engage others from a place of rest and peace as an anchor, harbor, place of safety. I do not need anything from them nor do I need to superficially or out of obligation give them something. I am created to acknowledge, to listen, and to point out beauty, design and value. I do not have to conform - even to the pattern of doing ministry. I am called to laugh, love and live out His compassion and lovingkindness, His mercy and His grace. To extend what I have received. To do this in family, living from an eternal perspective very rooted and grounded in love here and now.
As I relooked at who I am, I was able to acknowledge what I was doing, thinking and believing in opposition to this. The little gifts that came with this started with provision from an unexpected source and an opportunity to work as a background actor in a Hallmark movie with my husband. Something unexpected...the title of the movie is Spring Breakthrough...
I learned that being in a movie required what I had experienced in this move...coming prepared, long waiting times, repetitive action, and long days without seeing the end result. We went the first day prepared with what we were supposed to bring, had our "outfits" approved and then ended up waiting for over 8 hours in "holding" until our group was part of a scene. Then on "set" we learned quickly our cues and movement and had to do it again and again. All told the first day required our attendance from 5:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. and our call back days were no shorter. We also were repeatedly told how important we were, a movie would be boring and hard to watch if you only had the main characters involved and no background. There are so many lessons in here but for today this experience was an unexpected gift that marked the beginning of breakthrough in my heart, mind, soul and body as I embrace God's timing and direction here and now.
This is the promise moving from faith to experience, seeing movement and agreement in our steps to serving the girls we are here to serve and going through the open doors to use gifts and talents in new ways. As I read again my part in Psalm 55 to leave all my cares and anxieties at His feet I remember it also says:
1 Peter 5:6-7 TPT
If you bow low in God’s awesome presence, he will eventually exalt you as you leave the timing in his hands. Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you.
Psalms 62:5-6 TPT
I am standing in absolute stillness, silent before the one I love, waiting as long as it takes for him to rescue me. Only God is my Savior, and he will not fail me. For he alone is my safe place. His wraparound presence always protects me as my champion defender. There’s no risk of failure with God! So why would I let worry paralyze me, even when troubles multiply around me?
As a young teenager in the church where I grew up I had a song that resonated with me and became a life song. I no longer remember the title but these lyrics bubble up at decision and marker points in my walk with Jesus.
"I'll follow you every day, when I can't see my way. I place my trust in you. I'll sail the seas take me anywhere you please. Jesus you know how I love you. Jesus you know how I love you."
Today, my birthday, is another marker moment in my life after moving from PA to FL in July. I have been living out this song in a whole new way. Following where Jesus led us into a hard unknown. We have many obstacles and decisions to make to get to the purpose of our move but in the mean time we are learning again to lean into the process and enjoy the journey.
Today after several weeks of obstacles to moving on our renovation project, getting started on our mini zoo, decisions on how to move forward with the path to serve the girls we are here to serve, and facing the reality of limited supplies and resources...but, when I went looking for a Promise instead of a Problem, I found it.
We have had no rain for a month and I asked the Lord for rain and some signs of His love for me that can fill me up to share with others. He reminded me to come into His presence and soak in His promises. He asked me to share a kind word and pray for a woman who sold us chickens; He sent rain late afternoon with a lingering full rainbow visible from our backyard over our house; and new hummingbirds came to our feeders. I had many kind birthday wishes and received flowers from out maternity housing team. Each kind word, each reminder stilling the voice that would have me focus on what is wrong, what is not working, and what I do not know and instead simply calling me to "stand in absolute stillness...waiting."
It is a day when I again choose Jesus as my safe place, to place my trust in Him, and follow where He leads.
May you be able to rest and wait for the Lord. May you know that when you seek Him you will find Him. May you be able to remain confident in His faithfulness to see you through.
I'm confident Your faithfulness will see me through
My soul can rest, my righteousness is found in You
With every moment left, in every borrowed breath, let this be trueThat all my heart, for all my life, belongs to You Song by Steffany Gretzinger