ACTIVATE(D): Rose #2 - "So Beyond Me"

Hey ACTIVATE(D). Last week we introduced you to the lovely Rose, a woman whose life was turned upside down by a reckoning with her identity! Of course, there are layers of her story yet to tell…

Through exploration of her life story, Rose recognized ways in which the Lord had been preparing her to become a beacon of hope to the broken and abused since the very beginning. She was uniquely compassionate to speak into the lives of young women, claiming the truth that their identities did not have to be couched in the struggles of their past. They could be defined by a relentless, loving God who called them free and whole!

In the wake of the development of Rose’s Impact Statement (below), the door swung wide with opportunity to become an educator in cosmetology. When she went back to school, her environment was fraught with brokenness and the helpless pursuit of vanity. She noticed a profound emptiness with which she could identify, and asked God, “How can I speak for You in this place?” So, she did what any sensible lover of Jesus would do. She told her story. “I felt tainted, but I am redeemed. I felt broken, but I am healed and whole. I was lost, but now I am found.”

Several months later, after seven attempts at a loan approval, Rose opened up her own salon, Amore’ Beautiful You: “We believe beauty isn't just skin deep… Our goal is to build a brand of beauty that doesn't fade.” Through her dual role as employer and educator, Rose breathes life into those under her care. She explicitly invites women to come have a career and be discipled, meeting both their physical and spiritual needs! Several women have come to know our great Savior through Rose’s consistent challenge to pray and debrief with her. She anticipates and walks with them through spiritual warfare, because “the enemy hopes we never learn who we are!” She fights to restore a sense of what it means to be a wife, who worships and finds wholeness in her God. She disciples them to raise the banner of God over their homes. She hosts Bible studies, healing prayer groups, and even baptisms at the salon! And she surrenders her space and position to serve the call of God that Amore’ would be “a place where people will come and find Me.”

Something struck me as I listened to Rose speak. It was not the clarity of her vision: she had no idea that she would become an instructor or open her own salon. It was not the privilege of her opportunities: she had to endure the difficulty of pushback from those who look with suspicion on a cosmetologist who claimed to be an ambassador of Jesus. It was not even her dogged persistence: she prayed and waited and struggled just like anyone would. What struck me was when she repeated over and over, “It’s so beyond me.” God uses those who are willing, regardless of their training or confidence or internal fortitude. Rose was willing to take up her cross and follow where He led. She said to Him, “Lord, here am I. Send me. I have no idea how to make this happen!” And He responded, “Do I not make rivers in the desert?”

Praise God with us! How have you seen the Father make a way for you when you have been willing? When have you paused to say, “this is so beyond me?”

ROSE’S IMPACT STATEMENT

“The broken and abused will find themselves healed and whole, as they learn to search and surrender all the hidden places of their hearts. Christ-like identities will come to life, as women of God learn to walk in freedom and discipleship.”