I would like to extend a Happy Thanksgiving to each of our subscribers, supporters, and sponsors. Recently, Rahab Refuge Ministries updated and created our new logo, thanks to Ben Oxenford from https://congius.org/, with a muted olive tree behind our ministry name. Let me share with you why we decided on the olive tree for our new logo. The olive tree is an extremely slow-growing plant which requires years of patient labor to reach full fruitfulness. The outer fleshy part of the fruit is what yields the valuable product of olive oil and is considered good for your health. The olive tree is mentioned frequently in the Bible and implies numerous symbolic representations in the word of God. I will only mention a couple of meanings that idyllically represent Rahab Refuge Ministries.
The olive tree and olive branch have been symbols of peace and reconciliation ever since the account of Noah’s flood. When the dove brought Noah “a plucked olive leaf in its beak,” the olive branch represented new life sprouting on the earth (Genesis 8:11). The olive tree was alive and growing and conveyed God’s new beginning for humanity, peace and reconciliation. When survivors, and their child, partake in our future residential program it is a new beginning for their life, for reconciliation, and hope.
The slow and substantial growth of the olive tree implies formation and peace. Having the wonderful opportunity to walk thru the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in March 2018, with my husband Jeff, we observed some of the oldest olive trees in the world still growing today. It was so peaceful in the garden and we recognize that true peace only comes down from the “Father of lights” (James 1:17). We can only receive this when we are engrafted into the family of God upon salvation (James 1:21). As we seek to help women who have been exploited, we know that the love and compassion of Jesus Christ is essential to their complete healing and ultimate reconciliation.
The flowering olive tree is a symbol of beauty and abundance in the Bible. The tree’s fruitfulness and ability to thrive suggests the model of a righteous person (Psalm 52:8; Hosea 14:6), whose children are described as “vigorous young olive trees” (Psalm 128:3). Rahab Refuge Ministries will impart to every women and child that they are beautiful, God loves them and that they are wonderfully and fearfully made by the hand of our Creator; in Him they can thrive, find victory, and have a fruitful future for themselves and their child.
Rahab Refuge Ministries 