Chains

Restore started as a vision for a women's gathering for the purpose of making space for us to dwell in the goodness of the Father as we reflect on the gospel, the safety He offers, and how the definition of eternity is our greatest hope. The ministry itself has been designed to invite renewed awareness of our need for restoration with Him. My heart is for women to experience a renewed belief in Him as well as a knowledge of the greatest rescue plan that has been written and for them to ultimately know it was written for them. That it wasn’t just meant for those who appear to have it all together but for those who have the strength of the gospel surrounding them in a way that allows them to lay themselves at the foot off a cross praying to be cut free. God sees our chains, He knows how they got there, how we put them on, who put them on, and He has a plan to cut them and set us free. What if your story didn’t just include the hurt but had potential to include the story of pursuit and ultimate rescue, and you could share it freely without the shame or fear of where you've been but through the hope of where you are headed through His power not your own, through His love for you, through His knowledge of you, through His constant and active care and cultivating of all the yuck and of all the joy? What if you could experience the intertwining of it all in a way that allowed you to see the promise of heaven in every corner? I know it to be His heart, and I know it to be His will.

Through this awareness of our need for restoration with Him I am praying for women to be free from the chains that bind their hearts and to be aware of the gospel in a way that allows them to cling to the knowledge of their safety in Him, allowing them to enter in together and rejoice in those above mentioned truths together, ultimately becoming aware of the freedom that is offered to us through what Jesus has done for each of us separately and all of us collectively. This single prayer is so heavy on my heart that I can not possibly bear it alone anymore. Please join me in it. God has a desire for us all to experience a deep community with one another, and I do not believe for a second that women are being left out of this desire. What if we knew we were protected and loved enough that we could freely confess our mess to one another, and if those around us were aware enough of that same truth to wrap us up in the truth and freedom of the Gospel rather than condemnation? What if when we saw each other’s chains we felt no shame or judgement but we desired to draw nearer to one another in order for them to break as we reminded each other of the goodness we have been given to claim in Him?

Restoration is continual. We will never stop needing it, we will never get to a place in which we will have figured it out. And within that knowledge we are given great hope that He will never revoke that invitation or forsake you in your need. I realize that this message involves risk, that it involves vulnerability and an invitation to let go of some things that probably feel quite safe. I have not been left out of those experiences; He has been good to show me some pretty dark and dusty corners of my own heart through this last year, allowing me to be the ultimate Guinea Pig to a lot of this, and I can testify to His existence and constant availability to supply my need with His mercy and His grace. But in knowing that I also realize that this may not sound like good news to some of you. Please know that there is grace enough for you, that we serve a patient and kind Father as daughters of a king who has not come to burn you but to raise you up. And that 4takes time that has been made available to you through that blood of His son. You are safe to come and listen and rest in the knowledge of what is true and be honest about where you are at in your story. You are loved and known and seen and delighted in already, and you will continue to be so. This will be the constant prayer and mission of all that we enter into with Him.