The Beginning
Pleroma is Open!
You can trust Him with the outcome, no matter your circumstances or how bad things look.
Those who know even a snippet of my story and how I lost everything in the “Glen of Weeping,” instigated by powerful entities and the City of Cincinnati, bear witness to my testimony that God Makes Beauty from Ashes.
Twelve years ago, after a brutal battle, I was stripped of everything I had worked to achieve. The vision for a revitalized community, years of work, millions of dollars invested, my business, beloved employees, friends, and investors who supported our vision. Even my identity went up in flames.
My life was in ashes.
The final blow came with the notice that the Supreme Court of Ohio had declined to hear our precedent-setting case. There would be no justice, no recourse, no restitution.
The life I had put my faith in was over.
But what came next was far more significant than the justice I yearned for; Redemption.
Do you remember the most significant invitation you ever made?
I do, and it was a life changer.
It happened on that dreadful day when the door to justice and restitution slammed shut, there was nowhere else to go, and I thought I was defeated.
At ground zero in my office on Victory Parkway, I cried to God, “Lord, build my life!”
And God accepted.
I think I even heard Him say, “Hallelujah! What took you so long!?"
It marked the beginning of healing, transformation, and restoration, beyond anything I could ask for or imagine.
He began doing the work only He can do; Dismantling lies, delivering me from distortions that had disfigured how I saw myself and God, and healing wounds that profoundly scarred my heart and soul.
He began restoring my identity.
Terry Wardle, Founder of Healing Care Ministries, says your identity is the foundation upon which your uniqueness rests. Yet we spend our lives trying to affirm our identity by our uniqueness - what we do, what we have, or how we look. External things.
So here is another question, who are you outside your roles, titles, and achievements?
Are You...
Living an abundant life or striving to measure up?
Pursuing purpose or pleasure?
What is in the way of becoming all that God created you to be?
All of us in Christ are in the process of being unveiled. Reclaiming our beauty and unlearning things that distort the true image of God and His image bearer - ourselves. We are learning to eat foods of wholeness instead of the processed junk we’ve been fed.
You might ask, what are foods of wholeness?
They are aspects of God that enable us to arise from slumber and live fully awake; Truth, Love, Beauty, and Freedom. (Eph 5:10-16)
Embodiments of wholeness - complete in the fullness and Godhead of Christ, which is the meaning of Pleroma (pron: Play-Roma).
I created Pleroma Sanctuary to cultivate these things in a community of women. For our spiritual, relational, and physical nourishment.
To start the new year, January 6th- 8th, 2023, Women Blooming will host a small group retreat for Reflections and Vision Casting at The Springs, Indiana. A beautiful Christian retreat center only an hour from Cincinnati.
Because to flourish, we need to see God at work in our story, past, present, and future.
We need Truth and one another to become the fullness of who God created us to be.
There are still a few spots left. Why not join us?
See you there, or soon, at Pleroma Sanctuary.
Grace-filled blessings,
Pauline
