We Rise Up in His Arms

It's crazy to me that Blessed is She started almost four years ago. It has been an amazing road and an amazing journey with thousands of women like you.

I'm reminded that I've never felt equipped enough for this ministry. I've said to myself: I'm not smart enough, I'm not good with business, I didn't major in Theology or Philosophy. I failed school. There are so many better equipped for this than I am.

On the hard days of working on and with this ministry, the devil comes swooping in when I am emotionally, physically, spiritually exhausted.

He whispers in my ear, "You shouldn't be doing this. You move too quickly, you shouldn't follow your instincts, you are a bad leader, you don't read the Bible enough, you don't know enough about the teachings of the Church..."

The evil one uses my fears against me. Telling me, "Right, you aren't enough."

And on hard days, the devil eats away at me. He uses what I perceive as my weaknesses and presses hard on those soft spots to make a bruise, twisting and turning until I feel crushed under the pressure.

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I got my one and only tattoo around ten years ago. It sits right on the inside of my left wrist, a spot I chose because I wanted to see the tattoo as a reminder to myself. The tattoo is "Talitha koum" in Aramaic from Mark 5:41:

He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”

Every time the devil is pressing in on my weakened heart, every time he whispers to me lies about myself: that I'm a failure, that I'm not good, that I wasn't made for this... I look down at my tattoo on my left wrist, and I am swept up in prayer:

I close my eyes and imagine the space where the Lord looks at me with the adoring eyes of a Father. I see Him reach down into my frail, weakened state and say, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!"

And I rise up, with His hand steadying me the whole way. Holding me up with all my frailties and all my tears and all my weak muscles from being put down for so, so long.

He rescues me, this God of ours. He rescues you.

What is it in your life that the devil uses against you to keep you and hold you down? Know that the Father sees. He holds out His hand. He goes into the messy trench of life when we are down and lied to by the evil one, and He reaches for us, with the safe hand of a father.

He reaches to you, picks you up, and dances around with His beloved daughter.

He whispers to us the truth about ourselves: that we are beautiful, we are good, we were made for this moment in our lives, we are called and equipped and He will always have us. We dance in the arms of our Father who kisses our forehead and endures with us.

And I look into His eyes and remember that Our Father is good. He is good, and He is faithful. He is calling us, and He is equipping us. He is forming me and you, every single day, just by us taking His hand.

The devil's whispers fall away, and the Father speaks over us: "Arise."

And we rise up into His arms. And we dance.