Welcome to The Rescued Letters!
Rescued, as in God has rescued me over and over again. And quite literally, He has saved my life. He is a rescuer. It’s what He does best.
Letters, as in I write letters to people here. Mostly to women and mostly about equipping them to trust in God, face their greatest fears, and choose life, especially when life presents its most difficult circumstances. I think it takes great courage to face life on this earth. I know this because I face life everyday with a terminal genetic disorder. So I’d like to help you live courageously too.
Every letter that you read here has been rescued by God. And so these are the rescued letters.
True confessions: I am really comfortable putting words in someone else’s mouth. I’ve been a ghostwriter in the corporate world and as a freelancer for quite a while now. Put me behind a keyboard and an alias and I’m your girl. I can write for days. And then I’ll go on home and pretend that I didn’t just expose my heart or mind or soul to the whole world…because I didn’t. And I’m really comfortable with that. I don’t do vulnerability well.
But this is different.
The Rescued Letters is the story of a simple girl from a small town who has been rescued by God’s grace more times that I can count. This is the story of two words spoken in silence on a quiet summer morning. This is the story of a faithful God, gracious enough to prepare the heart of a weary and doubtful follower. This is a story of hope found at the end of every dark road. This is a story about the power of the collective prayer. This is a story about choosing life, even when the path set before you is not the one you would have chosen.
I have a lot of stories that, before now, have been content to stay tucked away under the cover of a self-professed love of privacy. But somehow, when you have been told by man that you probably won’t live to see your child’s college graduation and you know that your lungs are filled each day with the breath of God only by his unfailing love, it changes your threshold on vulnerability…and courage. The stories here are the letters in my heart that have been rescued over and over again. And they are filled with words that need to be said.
What will you find here?
- Hope, encouragement, and a reminder that Jesus loves you so very much.
- Evidence that God is a faithful, loving, and compassionate God, who is always working for your good.
- Tools to help you trust God, face your fears, and live your most courageous life.
- Maybe a little humor….it will depend on how much caffeine I have had, which won’t be much since I gave it up after I found out I had Vascular Ehlers-Danlos. Those of you that know me well can guess the amount of tears I cried for the coffee beans.
But whether you have known me all my life or are just finding me here today, whether you know Jesus intimately or you have never heard of him…you are welcome here and you are a part of this. I can see your faces already and they are beautiful.
A few weeks into recovery after my latest surgery, my husband shared the passage below with me. His words were: “Have you read this??? You have to read this. This is exactly us. This is exactly where we’ve been.” And he’s right. If you read nothing else on this blog, read the verses below. God’s Word tells our story in the most perfect way, as always, so this is the scripture passage that frames my intention for all that is written here. But if you want to read from the beginning to see how we ended up in 2 Corinthians 1, you can right start here:
We don’t want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don’t want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God’s deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.
Now that the worst is over, we’re pleased we can report that we’ve come out of this with conscience and faith intact, and can face the world—and even more importantly, face you with our heads held high. But it wasn’t by any fancy footwork on our part. It was God who kept us focused on him, uncompromised. Don’t try to read between the lines or look for hidden meanings in this letter. We’re writing plain, unembellished truth, hoping that you’ll now see the whole picture as well as you’ve seen some of the details. We want you to be as proud of us as we are of you when we stand together before our Master Jesus.
2 Corinthians 1:8-14
