reflections on our visit to The Refuge

Have you ever met someone who just radiates from the inside?  It’s like encountering sunlight trapped inside a body but oozing out from every pore,

and you know it has to be Jesus.  

Have you ever met someone who’s past just doesn’t line up with who they are today?  Someone who has been radically healed so that the deep wounds instead of marring the finished vessel only add grace and beauty, 

and you know it has to be Jesus.  

That is what it’s like to talk to and walk with women who have been rescued from the sex industry.  That is what I loved most about our recent visit to The Refuge for Women.

I have been just one of many visitors over the years to be welcomed to the refuge with hugs.  It is the first thing each resident encounters when they enter their new home and they learn the lesson well.   “Jesus loves me this I know…” it’s a new concept for these women and one that must be often repeated and continually modeled.  Sometimes it takes longer than others - but they get it.  These staff who radically love them are only a mirror image of an enormous God who loves them infinitely more and who has been pursuing them with His love all along.    

As we got to sit in on classes, and processing, share meals and hear life stories I was blessed by what radiant and real Christians these women now are.  Their worldview is astounding.  They understand sin and forgiveness, God and mankind far better than many of the people lining our pews today.  

Sometimes we are tempted to believe that someone is unreachable.  Or when we come face to face with the horrors of the sex industry we may think these women can be rescued and even perhaps redeemed but restored?  In these moments of doubt we reveal our very small view of God.  How could the effects of sin ever be greater than His power?  

The women who graduate from the refuge are a shinning example of the transforming and healing power of the gospel.  And when God begins something - He finishes it.  Yes, He CAN completely restore these women.  The amazing thing is He has chosen us as tools to accomplish that.  

I encourage you to visit the refuge’s website and listen to some of the stories of these women from their own mouths.  May you come away encouraged by the work being done there and burdened to see many more women and girls in the sex industry reached.    

www.refugeforwomen.org 

      
~ Tabitha

why

“ ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?  Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’  Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all of your workers…. 

‘Is not this the fast that I choose; to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  

Is it not to share you're bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house, when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?  

Then shall you right break forth like the dawn, and you healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be you rear guard.  

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, “Here I am.” If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 

if you poor yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.  

And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorches places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.  

And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.’"  
-Isaiah 58

the beginning...

We turn around sometimes on the path of life, peering backwards, trying to pin point when something first began.  At what moment did we know which career was for us, when did we first start falling in love with our spouse, what was the first step of our journey towards this God given dream?  There are epiphany moments, but the longer we stare at the past the more threads of God’s plan come to light woven through the most ordinary things so long ago.  Eventually I give up, marveling at His foresight to be forever preparing and shaping each of us for the next step which takes us to the next journey and on to a new vision.  

I can tell you when I first started thinking about The Tree House and I can tell you what lead up to it from my perspective.  However the more I follow this path the more I am convinced God was working towards this goal long before He started calling me, and the more I realize that this is in no way my story.

Hello and welcome to The Tree House Project; a vision to see a Christian safe house for minor girls who have been rescued from the sex industry established in Virginia.  As the name implies we are a project, right now just at the beginning stages.  We know that God’s heart is to see the enslaved rescued, redeemed and restored and believe this vision is what He has called us to invest in for this season.

This blog is a way to keep people informed in more detail about The Tree House Project, as well as provide a platform for anti-trafficking awareness.  

Thank you for joining us here - I hope you enjoy keeping up with the project as much as we enjoy sharing with you.

because God created people to be priceLESS,

The Tree House Project