Hello dear sisters (and brothers), I am truly excited to open our blog back up to content. We have had a crazy couple of months but the Lord is good and our team is incredible and we are all excited for what the Fall will bring.

To start with, Kateri and I (your co-directors behind this ministry) would like to introduce our theme for the rest of 2020:

The Story in the Middle.

This theme came from the book “This Too Shall Last” by KJ Ramsey and it is our hope that it will be the beginning of deep dive into greater freedom and healing. We desire to walk hand in hand with you to the foot of the Cross, to Mercy Himself and we desire to start having conversations that shatter the silence and shame that so often consumes us.

There is a dangerous lie that tells us we have to struggle alone and that this space in the middle is not meant to be shared and that grace can only be found once we have overcome our struggle. But it is time to rebuke that lie because it is precisely in our brokenness that God desires to show up and restore us – and if we allow him, others too.

So we invite you to come journey with us as we listen to the stories and experiences of our fellow sisters – right where they are at.

“You don’t need another before and after story: you need grace for the middle of your story.” – KJ Ramsey “This Too Shall Last

-Mary Kate

I struggled with a lot of things in college and lost some friends because of it.  I felt bound by my own suffering and knew that if anyone would find out, I’d lose everyone else that was still around.  Others had already judged me and left, so why wouldn’t the few remaining do the same?  While I quickly found out that those were lies, I also felt ashamed knowing that women I had looked up to left me when I needed them most.  Instead of calling me on to reach for good, they just left, unable to see past my sin.

I’ll admit, I was angry and hurt for a while.  Weren’t good, Christian women supposed to walk with you at your darkest hour?  That was when I vowed to be that woman amidst the struggle.  Those that were suffering did not need my grief or my advice.  They needed to tell their story and I needed to listen.  

We here at Arise, Beloved want to do the same for you.  That’s why this season we are going to tell our story in the middle, amidst it all.  Not that we want to glorify the sin, no.  We want to bring to light the lie that tells us that we are alone in it, that we are islands. 

Praise God that we are free to struggle.  Let us remember that we were not meant to struggle alone. 

-Kateri