The Father’s Safe Space

During the last few months, Bruce and I have had the incredible opportunity to serve on a Fatherheart ‘A’ School ministry team in Vermont and also attend a Fatherheart ‘B’ School in San Diego. This came after each of us attended an ‘A’ School as ‘students’, during which our lives were deeply impacted by an encounter with the love of God the Father. Our experience led us to delve even deeper into the Father’s love. While on team in Vermont, we were blessed beyond belief as we shared with and prayed for 23 people who came from as far as Brazil to experience the love of their Heavenly Father. It was in this environment that I began thinking about our current cultural fixation with the quest for and creation of so-called ‘safe spaces’.  But first let me give you a little background…

If you’re not familiar with Father Heart Ministries, you’re probably wondering what I mean by ‘A’ School and ‘B’ School.  Both are a one week experience of the revelation of the Father’s love described as “a place to come home, a place to find that you belong; that you are accepted, a place to find that His strength is perfected in your weakness, a place of rest.”  Those who have completed an ‘A’ School may repeat it or choose to go deeper by participating in a future ‘B’ School.

As we went through both of these schools, which include teaching, soaking prayer, forgiveness exercises and plenty of time for conversation, I heard many of the participants share about having finally found a ‘safe space’ to open their hearts…to grieve, to rejoice, to forgive, to heal, to love. This was truly beautiful to see, and it struck me as very different than the ‘safe spaces’ that people are seeking on school campuses and in workplaces.

The Safe Space Network describes a safe space as “a place where anyone can relax and be able to fully express, without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or unsafe on account of biological sex, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, cultural background, religious affiliation, age, or physical or mental ability.”

I got to thinking about what is the need driving this current safe space trend, and in many ways I believe the need is universal. We all want to know and experience love and acceptance. As I rested and received during the ‘B’ school, even more was revealed to me about this need for safety, and I was overcome by a sense of grief for our younger generation. It suddenly became clear that what so many young people are looking for is actually comfort — comfort they may never have received in a broken home or an achievement driven upbringing.

This need for a ‘safe space’ is very real. The difference is in where and how we seek it. The part that bothers me most about the Safe Space Coalition’s definition is the idea that we should never be made to “feel uncomfortable.”  This mindset says that we must avoid circumstances where our pain is triggered. But our triggers are actually a clue.  They reveal the areas where we are most in need of comfort – where our hearts are bruised and hurting. This is where God the Father longs to meet us.

The secular safe spaces popping up in college campuses and workplaces cannot offer anything truly safe. They cannot provide true comfort. Nor do they offer any real environment for healing. In a sense they are a counterfeit – a poor substitution for what God longs to offer each and every one of us.

The truth is, when we encounter the immeasurable love of the Father, it changes us, and that is not always comfortable. Our loving Father wants us to be whole — to be vessels into which He can pour out His love. He wants to heal the cracks, so to speak, that make us leaky vessels, unable to hold love. In order to be made whole, we must let go of unforgiveness towards others and towards ourselves. Not always easy, but so freeing.

Encountering the Father is truly safe. He has nothing but the best intentions for all of us.  But we must choose to receive his comfort, to allow Him to heal us. He doesn’t force us, and He never condemns us. The change we seek will never happen if we run away in fear.

Today’s secular safe spaces are rooted in fear – fear of being uncomfortable, fear of being offended, fear of having our beliefs challenged, fear of being judged, fear of being unwelcome or rejected. The safe space our Father offers doesn’t provide just a Band-Aid for those fears. It provides a way to enter into His heart, to receive true comfort. It is only in this place that our fears are banished, that we find genuine love and acceptance, that our true identities as beloved daughters and sons are revealed. In His heart we are welcome, we are home. There can be no safer space than that!

It was truly a privilege to share the love of the Father with so many beautiful brothers and sisters in Vermont (and to delve even deeper in San Diego). We were able to pray with people who were walking through some very hard places, but God is faithful, and I know He was holding their hearts. There was crying, there was laughing, and there was healing. But the enemy would rather that we run away in fear than become healed and whole individuals capable of carrying the Father’s love to the ends of the earth.

I am so excited that Healing Spring will be hosting a Fatherheart ‘A’ School in May. Bruce and I can both personally testify that receiving a revelation of the love of the Father is a life-changing experience. If you’d like more information, visit our Fatherheart ‘A’ School page at www.healingspring.org/fatherheart. Pray about whether this is something your Heavenly Father is calling you to do. Even if you’ve already experienced an ‘A’ School, there is always more of the Father’s love!

~Shay