There are themes of our hearts that despite being tossed around in the storms remain robust enough to stand firm in us. The last two years have been a bit like a swirling of weather that has sought to uproot the very root of our being. However, we are resilient and though we definitely felt the battle and the shaking and had our moments of faltering in expectation, we have determined to not flee or falter, but push against the raging wind and lean ever into what we believe is part of our being.
We are made to be connected, we push against the intimidation to retreat and carry that flag inwards. As we enter deeper into a new year, we choose to press in to Father's invitations, for all He has for us, the inheritance that is ever laid out for us. We acknowledge our need for healing, His kindness leads us to repentance and challenges us to return to Him in every area of our hearts, circumstances and lives. We cast off our learnt comforts and compromise. In His call we stand taller and remember who we are, what we were made in, and for, and by. We acknowledge the road we've walked and we face the wounds we endured in the battle, but we keep on rising and walking and seeking.
This is a year of hearts recovering and being "re-wilded" in the love of God and His provision for you in people, community, family.
Family He wants to put you in and affirm you in. He has not withdrawn His invite, nor moulded it to fit within the circumstances of the world. He still calls us into family, a family un-conformed to the pattern of the world, satisfying the heart of our Master, Father and King. Glorious, bright and captivating in the world as He is. We are aware in these former years a spirit of isolation has been brooding and been assigned against the hearts and stories of many. However, ever louder and zealously we hear the Father declaring the restoration and reversal of isolation and yokes of loneliness. He is pressing on His people to arise, to return, to gather, to become, to be fashioned once more for the destiny of love and in family to which we were made. He is sounding truth’s trumpet over our lives, reminding us we are His.
We are made to belong, for deep connection, for community. The roots of who we are, are in this, we are made for unity in Him, the entwining of our hearts in our Father’s who is in perfect family as One with the Spirit and Son. As so we are to reflect with others, this bliss of belonging, connection and love. We are made to know and be known. This is the epicentre of community. We are not made to be alone.
Community draws us deeper into God's heart and into our own and into others.
We become as we belong, we enter the realms of our dreams and destiny as we give ourselves to others.
This is connection, we learn, see, experience God in and through each other, as Paul talks of in Corinthians. We are a body, one body, in need of each other, made with intention to be connected, in desire for each other, held together in Him.
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This is our calling and also our challenge. The question ever echoing in the human heart, who are my tribe, my people, the place of connection and true belonging? Do I? Where are? Who are? Am I enough, welcome, can I belong? The adventure of our sonship actually invites us to quest the answers, and we must not settle in the wilderness of isolation but journey with and to the promised land of being a family. We must push through the winds of change the world may face and continue on in truth and integrity of who we are, the vitality of being one.
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Maybe you can answer all these questions with confidence, maybe your exploring, maybe desire is awakening, maybe the pain of being answer-less is real. The good and beautiful news is; You do belong, there is a people, a tribe and a family where you are welcome, where your human longing is stilled and met.
There is a Father with arms wide open ready to welcome you, comfort, heal and restore you in your pains.
There is hope and there is provision. Where desire is instilled it is also met if we dare to be led by it. You are not alone. This is the beauty that is generously drenched through our history and time, our story, and stories old. We were made for connection, designed for belonging, intended for deep fellowship, crafted in love, for love and loving. This is part of your identity and very much your destiny. We are linked by golden threads from the Giver of Life Himself. He has a place for you, a part for you to play, a surrounding for you to belong in and to, there's a space at the table just for you.
This is the family of God, we make room, space and welcome.
May you find your tribe, may you know you belong, may your homecomings be tangible and transformational, may love lead you and you know its provision. May your quests be fruitful and laden with treasures. And, may you who has already found theirs, may you ever honour, nurture, empower and guard the riches of unity you delight in. May you be a people of His presence, as you drench your lives in unity with Him, may you become ever more glorious unto and in Him. May you be fashioned as a people not like the world but by your high calling and homeland as Unto Him, and His. May you ever stand out and stretch out to welcome the homeless and lonely and may you be a dwelling place, a space for those searching to find.
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Dare to offer, dare to welcome, dare to seek, for you shall find. There is healing and restoration for what has come against you, against your heart. Now is the time to take what's yours, recover heart, and journey on, in and with a company of hearts who will champion you into the full measures of life destined for you, a company of hearts who will walk with you.
You were made for connection. Find community in the adventure.
We press on, personally, to create community, to nurture and empower, to make space for connection and build places for encounter. Encountering Him, our All in All, our Father and the Root of our existence, our Absolute. Encountering Him together entwines us in unity no man can muster in our own striving and strength. For He is our centre. We press on, we invite and we take delight. We build our house of hope, and prepare to lay a new table ready to feast. We anticipate in faith.
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We bless you to know and be known in the divine manner with which you were made, and be a sign of hope to a world that’s longing.
Ever lovingly and welcoming you. US X