Sitting down with you in a cozy cafe this afternoon, would be wonderful! Since that’s a bit of a challenge for now, I want to share with you here some of what’s on my heart. Our Catalyst theme this month is perseverance and I feel like this is a topic that hits close to home--not only for Catalyst Ministries and our dear residents, but for all of us.
If we take a deeper dive into this word, we see that it’s defined like this:
Persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.
We all have times and seasons when difficulties and delays can just feel HARD. Sometimes just doing “today” can feel this way. That’s why I want to encourage your heart right now.
God whispered some encouragement to me today that I want to share with you. 2 Corinthians 4:17 says this, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
At Catalyst Ministries, we determine that what we’re about, in helping the women we work with to fix their eyes on what is unseen and eternal, is going to require some perseverance. This is a marathon and not a sprint. We’ve chosen a model where survivors of human trafficking have an opportunity to live in a Restorative Home for up to two years. Then they can transition out to independent living, employment, school and lives that they could not have dreamed of on Day 1 at Catalyst Farms. We’re in the business of helping dreams become realities!
In this process, we need to persist--along with them, despite “difficulty and delays,” so we can see these precious women achieve success. Of course, this is done one day at a time, as a cohesive team and with a lot of prayer and faith in Jesus. He’s the one we fix our eyes on and He’s the one who helps--all of us.
I’m thankful today for all those on this journey with me! Just a few days ago, our wonderful tribe gathered around our newest Catalyst Farms graduate. In her time with us, she’s made life changing decisions, become financially independent, and has received help and healing--physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. We’re thrilled to celebrate this milestone with her!
All this is only possible because of her own perseverance and that of our loving team. If you need a word of encouragement yourself today, I hope you’ll let this whisper in 2 Corinthians 4:17 settle into your heart and mind. Our troubles are light and momentary and are achieving an eternal glory for us--much greater than this world can dish out! Let's persevere together!
Julie
Join us this month: