Hello! I’m so glad you’re here. My name is Rachel. Can we just get the awkward introduction out of the way? In my old life I would have started with “I’m a wife to ______ and we’ve been married for 15 years.” However in 2016 my life came crashing down around me in the wake of my husband’s unfaithfulness and that introduction died. The new “labels” I carry are divorced, single mom, primary breadwinner. So there’s that out of the way! 

More importantly, I’m still here—living, breathing, some days crumbling and stumbling, but most days learning to walk in my new normal. All of that is because of Jesus. When my life fell apart, He was there. When I was pummelled down at brake-neck speed I slammed into the Rock of Ages. He picked me up, gathered all my broken pieces together and began a process of restoration that I can only define as extravagant. He has loved me so well. I can’t wait to tell you all the ways. 

My guess is you’re here for one of two reasons: you are a wounded and weary wife who is walking through the heart-shattering pain of betrayal, abandonment or unwanted divorce OR you’re part of the Church who wants to love the woman I just described (but maybe don’t know how). Whichever of those camps you find yourself in today, I’m glad you’re here. 

If we were meeting in a coffee shop for the first time, I would want you to know that there is space for you here at Restored Home—space to take a deep breath, space to cry, space to be angry at God and the Church, space to have needs, space to not have it all figured out, space to carry heavy burdens and space to lay them down, and most importantly, space to heal.

When my life fell apart, I couldn’t find a seat at that table even though I really (REALLY!) needed one. In 2021, God opened my heart and the necessary doors to build Restored Home from the ground up. Let me be honest—I don’t have all the answers. In fact, I have more questions than answers. But I have found the One who loves perfectly in this way: with patience, kindness, void of envy, boasting, rudeness, insistence on His own way, irritability and resentment. His love doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing but in the truth instead. His love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. And here’s the best part: His love never (ever, ever) ends (1 Corinthians 13).

I feel a bit like the woman at the well running to the village and shouting—come see this Jesus who knows all about me and loves me even still. Come and know Him—His love is for you too.

Good things are ahead. Yes, even for you. So pull up a chair and remember—It will not always be as it is today. Hope is dawning brighter and brighter. Love is real and His name is Jesus. He is pursuing our hearts today. Let’s be brave and let Him.

Brighter days are ahead,
Rachel {Founder of Restored Home}