Journeying Towards a Giveback Cafe

Nov 9

Friday I drove out to the land where Storyteller Cafe will be built.

If you have followed me for any length of time you may know how much that statement means. If you are new here, we have been praying for, talking about, working towards a giveback cafe whose purpose will be to fight human trafficking, for the past 8 years. I have been talking so confidently about this cafe for so long this past summer as I was finally watching it unfold before my eyes I began to wonder if I had lost people in the waiting. Supporters at the beginning have tapered off, people who were excited in the middle and maybe watched us stumble have disappeared. I have even considered at times if I had heard wrong from God on this one, been too rash, moved too quickly. Yet again, over and over he has confirmed his plan. He has continued to move us forward, even if only an inch at a time.

So, Friday night, I chased the sunset out to the land. I arrived at dusk to film a video so we can reveal to you all where the cafe will be and what the next steps are. As I stood, awkwardly, filming a declaration of a thing long prayed for and long awaited, I realized that I am living a miracle. I am walking out what it actually looks like to live by faith. I have trusted in the not yet seen, walked (blindly at times) into the unknown and God was doing a thing, right before my eyes he is doing his thing. He is doing his thing through the purpose of this building. Storyteller Cafe will exist and work as a conduit of opportunity, a vision of hope, a tool of education, a meeting place where people can come together and be united.

I wrote about faith last week. How we who follow Jesus have maybe lost sight of what it actually means to follow Jesus by faith. Looking back on my life I wonder if my child-like faith has been sort of an experiment. Does God still work in our lives like he did with David when he flung stones at a giant? Will he still feed us when we are in the wilderness like with the Israelites? Does he still make walls crumble when we walk in obedience, shouting his praises like with Joshua and the Great Wall of Jericho? I have believed since I was very young this great God still exists and desires to work in and through us today. This was my confidence in my early 20’s and the sole foundation for thinking a giveback cafe could help in the fight against human trafficking. I am not alone in this experiment of faith, my friends Angie and Sam Platt are going to build a house of prayer to combat trafficking and exploitation in Thailand. My friend Laura uses friendship and mentoring to see generational change. The nonprofits who are a part of Restore Honor are pursuing honor partnered with prayer and worship to activate the Church to combat an over sexualized culture that perpetuates exploitation. When we step out against a culture that values results, 3 year plans and a hierarchy of the deserving and move forward doing it God’s way we are going to stand out and look different.

This year I felt the pull again, God saying trust in me, I am going to do this thing. Walk it out. Move toward it. When most nonprofits (and businesses) were pulling back, slowing down, taking a pause I was moved to do the opposite. To move towards this cafe as everything around me was shutting down. It was about halfway through the summer when things were looking really dreary. I wasn’t questioning if God was going to do it as much as realizing if he did do it, it was going to be him and him alone. I literally had no ability to make this dream happen. I was talking to a dear friend and mentor and I remember telling her that I had been praying for a Moses parting the Red Sea kind of miracle. I needed this big Bible story kind of miracle if this cafe was going to happen. So we prayed for it.

This past Friday as I stood on the land with my selfie stick (yes, yes I did) I realized I was in the middle of my Red Sea miracle. God is going to build Storyteller Cafe.

You might be wondering why in the world God would care about a little cafe being built in Ramsey, Minnesota (ahem, location drop)? I will tell you, because he cares about the women, girls and boys who are abused, judged, forgotten and explained away. He sees the pain, trauma and hurt. He is a God of hope and he sees the hopelessness they find themselves in. He sees their tenacity to keep surviving. He hears their prayers. And he is asking us to take risks, in faith, to show his love and care. These people are his children too and like how we would do anything for our own children to have hope, opportunity and a chance to flourish, he is asking if we will trust him and give these things to those who haven’t had them.

We haven’t broken ground yet, and it is looking like we won’t this year, and that is ok. We are well on our way to breaking ground this Spring and if there is one thing I have learned about God in this journey it is; his timing truly is perfect. I used to resent when people would say that to me, it felt like an excuse for them to not help me fight human trafficking. But I have seen where man can’t be trusted, God can, he is working when we can’t see and when he asks us to wait it is for a good purpose for all involved.

I am still moving forward in faith, and I have to tell you it has gotten easier. As I have let go of the reigns and surrendered to God I have settled into a most peaceful place. I want to ask you to join me on this faith walk. To consider what God might be wanting you to risk and sacrifice on behalf of what he is doing in the world and then trust him with whatever you give. The peace and purpose you are searching for may be on the other side.

Walking by faith isn’t easy, I wouldn’t want to give you an inauthentic picture. When you walk by faith, surrendered and trusting, you receive peace in the midst of chaos and unknown. Purpose and encouragement is yours even when there is a storm pushing back. It isn’t lost on me one week to the day of us getting city approval to build Storyteller Cafe my personal Facebook account was permanently deactivated. Then, the day I went to post about where the land was on social media and create an instagram account for the cafe, the hashtag I had been using #storytellercafemn was untaggable and even though the name was available, Instagram claimed error when I went to complete the process.

I know what you are thinking, I am one of those right wing people who wield human trafficking as a weapon to make everyone vote the way I want them to. I must be using this issue as tool to create and perpetuate fear, this must be why social media is shutting me down. If you know me even a little bit, I hope you know this couldn’t be farther from the truth. I have been talking about human trafficking before it became cool to do. Before it became a hashtag. Storyteller Cafe is the least political thing I will ever or have ever done. Human trafficking is a bi-partisan issue, or it was until this past summer when it was co-opted to bully people to vote a certain way. I have no part in that business.

I believe the opposition I am facing is a Spiritual battle. It says in Ephesians “we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” I know this isn’t a popular topic but I believe in an unseen enemy like I believe in an unseen God. I am not here to bash Facebook or Instagram, but to point out when we walk by faith the enemy of God doesn’t like it and he will come against us. However, it is important to note he will not win.

In Matthew 16 after Jesus tells Peter his name means rock and that on him (Peter) he (Jesus) will build his church, and the powers of hell will not conquer it. I like to think the community of people God is asking to come around those on the outside of our culture through building this cafe is one of the things Jesus had in mind when he thought about building his church in 2020. I believe Jesus is less concerned with us building up our own kingdoms of self worship, comfort and security and more concerned with building up a people who are wiling to risk on behalf of those He loves. You can think I am wrong, it’s ok.

The moral of today’s story is, we are now in the permit process with the city of Ramsey. It will take about 3 months for site plans to be approved and the correct permits to be in order so we can be ready to close on the land, and begin to build shortly after that. This also means now more than ever we need to get the word out about this cafe, we need people like you to come behind us financially whether it is at $25 a month or $25,000 a year, or more. And more than all of that, if you pray, I would ask humbly you will pray for us and pray with us. Because then you will be a part of the miracle too.

And if you don’t pray, will you share our story?

Or maybe you would like to consider meeting this Jesus I keep talking about. I want you to know he is so real, redeeming, and he didn’t come to condemn you, he doesn’t speak the language of shame. He came to offer you a way to live in the chaos and still have peace and purpose. He came to show you a way to not live depressed about all the ways you mess up. He came to offer you hope and a new, full way to live life. You can meet him if you’d like, he is right here, all you have to do is ask.

And if you already know Jesus, but what I described above isn’t your current soul reality, I would gently remind you who you are in Him. What you have access to, and to remember who is in control of all things. Surrender to it friends, don’t allow fear and anxiety to win. You don’t have to live under that garbage. Live free, live trusting, let go and live by faith.