This blog has been written by Guest Contributor and Restore Member Caitlin Frew.
War. Slavery. Climate Change.
What do these words mean to you? Maybe they strike a nerve in you, or maybe they feel distant, something that we can’t do anything about.
When I read these words I just feel…hopeless.
It’s easy to get lost in the swirl of instant media, where stories of violence and hurt buzz on our phones every few minutes. Sometimes we become numb to the news, feeling there’s nothing we can do about our broken world.
But what if I told you we can do something? We have a God who loves to hear our prayers! God answers our cries for justice, and God’s heart is for justice. We are blessed to have a God who flips our societal narratives on their head by loving the outcast, the forgotten, the marginalised. God cares, God listens.
Lockdown was pretty formational in my walk with God. I was brought up as a Christian and had really experienced Him moving and guiding me in my life, but at this time I felt a wall stand before me. It was a time of darkness, as everything stood still. I began to question, where was God? What were his plans, not just for me but for the broken, the lost, the poor? Where is God in the midst of suffering?
In this time, God revealed to me that his plans are bigger than I can even begin to imagine. I completed an online course with Tearfund in which I was introduced to the theology of justice and empowered with the influence and voice I held. I began to discover my part to play in a call for justice..
God cares for the marginalised, the voiceless, the hurting. He has compassion on all that He has made and he continues to bring restoration to our planet. Personally, I knew that I wanted to be a part of that.
This continued into my uni experience where I was part of a society called Just Love. I began to dive further into scripture and learn the ways of Jesus in truly loving our neighbour, on a local and global scale. This ultimately led me to my current role at Safe Families and Home for Good, where I work part-time while studying for a postgrad in counselling.
Over the last few months I have had the privilege of joining the Restore Glasgow community, taking part in monthly prayer meetings, training and friendship, sharing a passion for justice in a broken world. I have learnt about hidden networks even within Glasgow where perpetrators continue to abuse unnoticed. Until this point, I viewed human trafficking as distant. I had no idea of the scope of human trafficking in Glasgow. Restore opened my eyes to the hurt, but didn’t leave me with that. Through their training, I now feel empowered to ‘spot the signs’ and informed on how I can advocate for the voiceless.
But, being part of Restore has also taught me to hold on to hope. We meet monthly to pray over our city because God is the one who can transform, and He loves to answer our prayers. With God, we have hope.
It’s easier to ignore what’s happening behind closed doors, to pretend we don’t have agency in advocating for freedom. But we do! Each of us can be equipped to spot the signs and speak on behalf of those who have no say. So today, how can you play your part? Where might God be directing you? What, or who, has God placed on your heart?
Where can we bring the true hope we find in Jesus into the lives of those around us?
Interested in contributing to our blog? Let us know: hello@restoreglasgow.org.uk
This is great, Caitlin! Love praying for hope and light with you each month!