Dear friends,

I hope this letter finds you well and enjoying the quiet hope that stirs in Spring. I wanted to write to share some very bittersweet news with you. The time has come for me to close down Restored Home. This summer, I will be transitioning into a new ministry job, and I know I can’t give both ministries my full heart, time, and investment. We will be wrapping up the ministry and non-profit aspect of Restored Home this summer. I’m writing to you with tears down my cheeks because this is very tender news to share. 

If it’s ok with you, I’d like to pull back the curtain a bit to share what the Lord has been doing in my life. If you’ve followed along for long, you will know that I moved to Scotland in 2013 to plant a church with my husband. This came on the back of years and years of longing, praying, waiting, and taking slow, careful, obedient steps. The Lord began a work in me when I was nine years old. First calling me to salvation through his Son Jesus, and a few years later, calling me to the mission field. Since my teen years, my heart has beat for the global Church. The longer I walked with the Lord, the more he refined and worked out that calling in my life–eventually leading me to work with women in the local church here in Scotland. That was always the dream, the calling, the hope, the prayer. And in 2013, I landed in Scotland and knew I was finally home. 

You will also know that in 2016, that dream, and all I held dear, shattered before me as my marriage broke down. But you see, that dream and calling on my life never died. But oh, how I felt so completely lost–not knowing how the Lord could ever use me again with a story so broken. In 2021, he stirred my heart to begin Restored Home. I did so with a lot of fear and a very shaky obedience. I had a lot of questions for God! Lord, this is NOT the plan! I remember thinking it every day as I opened my laptop and tried to write from my heart. As this little community grew, so did my heart for the most precious women I’d ever met (that’s you, dear ones!) The Lord kept adding to our number, but it always felt like a death each time a woman was led to our little community, for it meant that another marriage had broken. 

Restored Home gave me my voice back. My confidence began to grow in the Lord again. I was feeling useful and connected, and like my broken story had a place in the Kingdom of Jesus. Over the last five years, I feel like I’ve healed beside you and have been handed the most sacred treasure. We are a community of broken, but not hopeless women–BELOVED by the Lord and cared for in extravagant ways. It was the ministry I never wanted, but in time came to deeply love. 

But if I’m honest with you, I’m so weary. This is heavy, heavy work. Each day as I meet with women on Zoom or write out more of my story, I dig deep into my own pain and walk back into the pit so I can be shoulder to shoulder beside you. This has been incarnational ministry. I have cried with you, begged the Lord with you, and prayed for you with tears and angst. We have worked towards healing together. And it has been hard fought, hasn’t it?? 

But this has all taken a toll on me. Working online is lonely. Carrying my own pain along with the pain of others is heavy. I don’t say that to have your pity, but just to be honest. The ministry of Restored Home is becoming less and less viable–emotionally, spiritually, financially and relationally. Add to that needing to work a second job to support my family, dwindling financial support, and impacts on my mental and physical health–I knew something needed to change. In 2024, I began meeting with a counselor (again!), and I began praying and working towards clarity on what steps I needed to take to safeguard my wellbeing and my longevity in ministry. That time and space also allowed me to really think and consider what I find most life-giving. 

And of course, it was the original dream–the original calling–working with women in the local church in face-to-face, real-life ministry. So I began to pray for the Lord to lead, guide, and show me the way to walk. Because here’s the thing–there are very few paid ministry jobs for women in Scotland. It felt like an impossible dream, but I started to pray. 

This January, a church here in my town of Glasgow, where dear friends work on staff, approached me about joining their staff team as their (first ever!) Women’s Minister. Over the last five months, I’ve gone through rounds and rounds of interviews, meetings, times of prayer with family and friends, and personal prayer and reflection. In time, the church offered me the job, and I joyfully accepted. 

As I began to pray about how this would affect my work with Restored Home, I had a quiet peace knowing that it was time to lay down this precious ministry. I am so limited, so weary, so weak. I know that I can only give my heart and life to one ministry in this next season. And I know that it needs to be the precious women at the church just down the street from me.

The dream has come full circle for me. “...a wide door for effective ministry has opened for me” (1 Corinthians 16:9). What I thought was gone forever has come around again–just like Spring. Just like new life. Just like an impossible, God-sized dream. I hope that’s an encouragement to you today. Those crushed dreams you carry might have life in them still. 

So what does this mean for Restored Home? 

With my new job beginning in July, I will be wrapping up my time with Restored Home in mid-June. I will continue taking Zoom calls until the end of May. I will continue writing and hope to (FINALLY!) finish my story (that I began writing five years ago!! EEK!) We will also have a morning of reflection on Saturday, June 6th at 11 am EST on Zoom. You can book your spot here.

Our website will remain up until at least February 2027, and I plan to keep the social media channels up for now, too. Our Facebook Community Group will remain open indefinitely, and I will remain a member. Hopefully, friendship and community will continue in that space as we support one another. I have answered some FAQs further down the page.

In time, the dream is to compile all the writing I’ve done into a comprehensive and meaningful collection–maybe in book form, on a blog, or in newsletter form. I will need help and support in that undertaking, so we shall see where that dream goes. If you have ideas on how we can do this, or connections in Christian publishing, please get in touch. I’d love to chat! 

There are still a lot of details to figure out! And in time, I hope to share further updates. But for now, I wanted to share what the next few months will look like as the sun sets on Restored Home.

It’s been a precious, hard, unforgettable season, and I’m so thankful the Lord saw fit to lead me on this winding path. I’ve met women along the way who I know I will have a lifelong connection to. 

For now, go download all our resources, book a Zoom call, and join the Facebook community group–all of that is still available. Oh, and sign up for our time of reflection on Saturday, June 6th. 

Thank you for letting me share my heart and my life with you these past five years. I look forward to future friendship and connection, and most of all, to the day when we are all well and truly RESTORED HOME. We will spend millennia praising Jesus shoulder to shoulder and face to face. What a glorious day that will be!

I will be in touch more soon. For now, this verse is my heart…

[I] cared so much for you that [I was] pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also [my] own life, because you had become dear to [me].

1 Thessalonians 2:8

Brighter days are ahead, dear friends. Press on…

Yours,

Rachel xo

PS– Remember, it’s (and always will be) about beauty from ashes…