Last updated January 10, 2019

Welcome to the NEW Fragrance Arise! I’m very excited to launch into a new chapter in the life of this blog. To kick this off right, I want to share the story and heart behind Fragrance Arise.

My name is Caitlyn, and you can read my full testimony on the My Story page. I started Fragrance Arise as a free WordPress blog in 2011, when I had just gotten accepted to the One Thing Internship at IHOPKC (what’s that? I have an IHOPKC FAQ page all about it!). I wanted to chronicle my journey at the house of prayer in Kansas City and share with family and friends what God was teaching me. Over the years, it has become so much more than that, much like the unfolding of my own life journey.

How did Fragrance Arise get its name?

I came to the One Thing Internship with a desire to be like Mary of Bethany, pouring out my worship like perfume at the feet of Jesus. In fact, that’s where the name “Fragrance Arise” came from.

“Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
(John 12:3)

Julie Meyer, who was one of the original worship leaders who helped start IHOPKC and was there for decades, wrote a song about this fragrance called “Alabaster Box”. This song became the cry of my heart and I sang it many, many times:

“All I am is all I have
And all, all I have to give, and I give it all to You
It’s my fragrant oil, it’s my costly perfume
I’ll take my alabaster box and I, I break it open
Let the fragrance arise, la la la la…”

“Alabaster Box”, Julie Meyer
Listen on Youtube

During my time in Kansas City (which ended up being four years rather than five months), God opened my eyes/blew my mind with a bigger story than I had ever imagined: a worldwide prayer movement of Mary of Bethanys worshipping Jesus day and night in prayer rooms all around the world, crying out to Him in lovesick abandon, culminating in the literal second coming of Jesus to the planet. (That’s a big idea to unpack— check out my House of Prayer FAQ to see more of what I mean!)

The Bible often uses the image of fragrant incense to describe this reality:

“For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.”
(Malachi 1:11)

It’s a new chapter for me and for Fragrance Arise!

I’m now on full-time missionary staff at a house of prayer in the Dallas area called The Prayer Room Missions Base (check out The Prayer Room FAQ page for more info), living the Mary of Bethany life, spending 30 hours a week in a prayer room, and literally making it my job to see this dream in God’s heart come true.

Along the way, the vision for Fragrance Arise gradually became less about my personal journey (although that’s still part of it) and more about equipping and inviting the church into this great Story that God is telling in the final handful of decades before Jesus’ return. I wrote in that vein with my free little WordPress blog for several years.

A shift came in the summer of 2018. God began stirring my heart to take this blog more seriously, to actually get my own domain at fragrancearise.com and start promoting it more effectively, to be a faithful steward of my gifts and my message to be a voice to this generation. I’ve spent the past six months planning and preparing, and it’s finally go time!

JESUS IS BEAUTIFUL. LOVE HIM. JOIN HIM.

It took me a while to figure out how to put into words the message of this blog, which is really my life message as well. I believe the core thing God has called me to proclaim is the beauty of Jesus (read my post “Why The Beauty of Jesus is My Life Message“), and that has huge implications for how we live our lives.

The truth that Jesus is beautiful is about the amazingness of every aspect of His character. His love, mercy, humility, kindness, compassion, justice, wrath, jealousy, power, playfulness, wisdom… He carries all of these attributes to full perfection. (My favourite book about the beauty of Jesus is Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge!)

So, since Jesus is so mind-blowingly beautiful, the only reasonable response is to love Him fully– heart, soul, mind, and strength. He deserves our full love, trust, and worship.

Part of loving Jesus is to join Him in what He’s doing. Jesus longs for partners, friends, and lovers who will be with Him where He is (John 17:24) to carry His desires and partner with Him to see them come to pass. He’s telling a story throughout history, and we are invited to be part of that story.

As I mentioned, this story is pretty massive. God is doing big things in this generation in preparation for Jesus’ return. He’s looking for worshippers, intercessors, and messengers who will “prepare the way of the Lord” just like John the Baptist did for His first coming. I want to be a part of that story, and through this blog I want to invite you in as well!

So here’s some of what you can expect on Fragrance Arise:

• posts with encouragement and equipping for the church in a lifestyle of prayer
• posts about the beauty of Jesus and the glory of God
• posts about the big picture Story of God, especially about the story of Jesus’ return
• posts highlighting specific houses of prayer around the world and specific staff members at my house of prayer in Texas
• posts about what I’m praying lately and/or the “prayer vibe” around our house of prayer
• posts about what I’m reading – so many incredible books to discover and share!
• posts about my life as a full-time intercessory missionary, including ministry updates and testimonies
• posts with occasional giveaways – like THIS SPECIAL LAUNCH GIVEAWAY HERE!

I want Fragrance Arise to be a strength to the global prayer movement. My goal is to encourage those serving in prayer rooms across the world, and to invite those who may be newer to the idea of the prayer movement to catch the vision of what God is doing and jump in wholeheartedly in whatever way He would call them.

How can you help launch Fragrance Arise and stay in touch with me?

• Subscribe to my email list for updates from the blog, plus exclusive content!
• Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.
• Share your favorite posts on your social media.
• Comment to make your voice heard and build a community here. I love hearing from readers and I always respond!

I’m so excited to see what God has in store for Fragrance Arise as we take this new step. I’m setting my heart to be a faithful steward and let this site be used for His glory. Please join the journey with me!

Note: As of right now, I don’t plan to run ads or sponsored posts or try to use this blog to make money in any way. If I promote a product or a ministry, I won’t be getting any financial return from it. But it does cost money to run a blog, and I’m a full-time missionary raising all my own support, so if you want to invest financially in my ministry, you can do so from my Partner With Me page.