Susan Binkley
11 min read ⭑
“My motto is ‘Why settle for ordinary when you can have extraordinary?’ Living like this requires a willingness to take risks, and that’s simply the way I am wired. I love living on the edge, and running a nonprofit built on faith is exactly that.”
Why did God call a professional artist and serial entrepreneur like Susan Binkley to build a recovery center for women and children dealing with abuse and addiction? Maybe it’s because she’s a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is risk-taker. Or maybe it’s simply because she loves God and is willing to follow him wherever he goes. Whatever the exact reason, God confirmed his call — since founding Blue Monarch in 2003, Susan has watched the ministry grow from three homes for residents to 14, serving nearly 1,000 women and their children and reuniting around 350 kids to moms who had lost custody. She’s also built Out of the Blue Granola (which you can find in Publix and Whole Foods) to provide jobs and income for Blue Monarch residents while they heal and find healthy independence.
Keep reading to find out where Susan goes when she needs a mental health day, how she encounters God through visions and how an unexpected prophetic dream kick-started her residential recovery ministry. Be sure to read to the end to discover her favorite Christian books and worship songs — plus what God has on the horizon for Blue Monarch.
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
There’s much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?
This will make some cringe, but I am a closet bacon addict. I cook an entire pound of crunchy bacon every week and munch on it throughout the week. So when I’m looking for a special restaurant experience, that’s the first thing I look for on the menu. I’m in heaven if I find it because breakfast is my number one comfort food.
I also enjoy eating out alone. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy the company of others, but I absolutely love eating out by myself, despite the fact I often get sympathetic looks as if I’m a sad story and not alone by choice. I have to keep a careful eye on the hostess as she will immediately park me by the bathroom, where she probably assumes I want to hide in shame.
My home is at the edge of a bluff on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, where several state lines cross. When I need a “mental health” day just to treat myself to something special, I love to take off to a neighboring state and look for a new place to eat — preferably a unique cafe in a small town. There is something magical about crossing the state line. In my mind, I’m flying down the highway in a convertible with the top down, a long flowy scarf around my neck, and when I leave the state, I toss my cellphone out the door. Oh yeah, and Bruno Mars is blaring on the radio.
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QUESTION #2: REVEAL
We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So what are yours? What so-called “nonspiritual” activity (or activities) do you love engaging in, which also helps you find essential spiritual renewal?
I’m a sunset junkie. In wintertime, the sun is going down when I leave my office. I’m convinced God saves spectacular sunsets for the ladies at the nonprofit I founded, Blue Monarch, because he knows the women and children we serve have been through a lot, and it’s a little treat to remind them of his presence. Sometimes I sit in my car and admire the sunset as I watch the lights gradually come on in all our Blue Monarch houses. Many times, I get an overwhelming, “Oh, my goodness, we are responsible for all these families who have come to us for help!” Seeing each bedroom light up reminds me of all the woundedness, trauma, addiction and abuse that each woman and child is striving to overcome. The conditions are the same, but the stories are unique. It’s a powerful reminder that God has given me a front-row seat at the greatest show on earth.
In the summertime, I have a perfect view of the sunset from the balcony off the back of my home that sits on the bluff. I have hundreds of photos that never seem to capture the brilliant colors completely, but I save them anyway. It takes my breath away to think the Creator who painted the sky in all those spectacular colors also created me. So no matter what time of year it is, each sunset feels like a specially wrapped gift from God at the end of every day.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness. Every human too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite, and how do you hide it?
My second husband used to jokingly follow me around at parties, reassuring people, “She didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” The funny part? He hadn’t even heard what I said! The truth is, I usually did mean it, but he was always preemptively smoothing things over in case someone took offense.
Tactfulness is not one of my strengths. And I often lean heavily on snark — but not in a mean way. I simply have a dry sense of humor. So running a Christian nonprofit for 21 years has often presented a challenge for me.
People tend to assume a person in ministry is a Bible scholar and speaks fluent “Christianese.” The truth is, I still struggle to keep all the characters in the Old Testament straight, and in fact, I have read “The Bible for Dummies” three times. I have never learned “Christianese,” so if I am asked to pray in public, I sound like an eighth grader talking to her buddy on the playground.
If I’m perfectly transparent, I’m afraid of accidentally saying a bad word while speaking to a large crowd or flipping the bird at someone who later turns out to be someone I know. Both are unrealistic fears, but anything seems possible ever since I saw Loretta Lynn publicly lose her mind in the movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your current obsession? And why should it be ours?
In 1995, I was an artist, ran a horse farm and had just married a man I met at my 20-year high school reunion. Shortly after, I had a powerful dream where I was required to read a thick book that was a business plan describing how to develop and operate an organization like Blue Monarch. It even described how the women would be employed by producing a product. I felt I had intercepted someone else’s dream! It had nothing to do with me. Plus, it was all about helping women and children, and I wasn’t particularly fond of either.
Several years later, there was an amazing moment when I realized God was asking me to implement the plan in my dream. I spent three days in the belly of the fish crying and resisting because it felt so overwhelming. Had he made a mistake?
But through a supernatural journey, Blue Monarch was created in 2003, and since then, we’ve served nearly 1,000 women and children. Over 350 children have been reunited with their mothers who had lost custody. And Out of the Blue Granola was developed, which provides jobs for the women in the program. Out of the Blue Granola is a handcrafted product distributed in major grocery chains like Whole Foods and Publix. All of the women who work to craft the Out of the Blue products are graduates or residents of Blue Monarch, and each package of granola has a card with the testimony/picture of a Blue Monarch graduate enclosed.
This journey has been documented in my book, “From My Front Row Seat,” which is a raw, intimate description of my experience walking alongside women in recovery for the past 20 years. I share miracles that take my breath away every single day.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Cashiers, CEOs, contractors or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?
People are often puzzled as to why God would ask me to start Blue Monarch when I had absolutely no experience in the addiction or domestic violence space. I believe it’s because he knew I was a risk-taker. This gave God the perfect opportunity to develop Blue Monarch with a completely clean slate. I did not get in his way with preconceived notions about recovery because I had none.
I am also a chronic outside-the-box creative thinker, which has allowed us to try ideas that seemed outlandish but have become remarkably effective. My motto is “Why settle for ordinary when you can have extraordinary?” Living like this requires a willingness to take risks, and that’s simply the way I am wired. I love living on the edge, and running a nonprofit built on faith is exactly that.
Every morning, I wake up with a trust fall. I rarely know where God is leading me. And I know it’s the Holy Spirit when I feel compelled to do something I don’t really want to do. But because I have developed profound faith through the years and I want to be obedient, I have been able to witness miracles that seemed impossible. I have seen women heal from almost 20-year addictions. Not just get sober — but truly heal! I have seen children reunited with their mothers after years of painful separation. And I have watched families embrace God in a sweet, tender way that many Christians have forgotten — or perhaps have never known.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied habits that open our hearts to the presence of God. So let us in. Which spiritual practice is working best for you right now?
God speaks to me in my dreams, which are often prophetic, so I journal when the details are fresh. I study the components: What are the colors? Who are the characters? How did I feel in the dream? These help me interpret what God is saying. So many of my dreams have come true that it’s fun to revisit them to see what might happen next.
There’s also a new practice I’m enjoying. I sit quietly and envision myself flying through the clouds and sky until I land in heaven. Oddly enough, even though this is a vision I initiate, what I find when I get there is still surprising. One time recently, I discovered Jesus sitting on a bench in a beautiful garden, and he said, “I’ve been waiting for you.” There was a clothesline next to him with several pieces of clothing. The first was a little blue dress my grandfather bought me when I was a toddler. The second was my cheerleading uniform from middle school. The next was the robe I wore when I received an honorary doctorate. But the next two were only silhouettes.
For several days, I tried to understand the two mysterious pieces of clothing. Then I heard the Holy Spirit say, “You haven’t worn them yet. They are yet to come.” It was such a graphic illustration of how God is in the details. He knew what moments were special to me — even down to the outfits I wore.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Looking backward, considering the full sweep of your unique faith journey and all you encountered along the way, what top three resources stand out to you? What changed the game and changed your heart? What radically altered your life? What changed your reality?
The Blue Monarch journey has been powerful and wonderful, but it has also been extremely difficult, and I have probably cried a million tears through the years. But for me, music brings me to the place I need to be, and I feel God’s presence in a mighty way with the right song. I search until I find a song that gives me chills.
During the intensely challenging year I worked to get Blue Monarch off the ground, I listened to “Wonderful, Merciful Savior” by Selah 1,000 times while holding onto a wooden cross so tightly that I eventually rubbed a big dent in the center of it. CeCe Winans also has a way of bringing me to the feet of Jesus and lifting me up when I feel defeated.
Today, I love to discover amazing, less popular artists, so I enjoy listening to Forward Message with Jordan Feliz on Sirius XM because he finds some absolute jewels.
We all have things we cling to to survive (or even thrive) in tough times — times like these! Name one resource you’re savoring and/or finding indispensable in this current season, and tell us what it’s doing for you.
As a frequent dreamer, it was difficult to find a dream resource that didn’t cross over into New Age. I love using “The Divinity Code to Understanding Your Dreams and Visions” by Adam F. Thompson and Adrian Beale. It is biblically based, and I love that it offers positive and negative interpretations with corresponding Bible verses. After all, a dog may mean something positive to someone who is an animal lover and negative to someone who was bitten by one as a child. Some dream dictionaries only have one meaning, which is not practical. Asking God for interpretation is always the best idea, but this book is helpful in narrowing or confirming the possibilities.
QUESTION #8: dream
God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
A few years ago, God said, “You need to be in the trees and out of the weeds.” So I worked very hard to develop a gifted leadership team to handle the daily operation so I could focus on big-picture development ideas for Blue Monarch, which is where I have the greatest strength.
Since 2003, our campus has grown from 50 acres and three homes to 108 acres and 14 homes. We have enlarged the housing for the residents in our core program and have developed an adorable cottage community for our graduates. A new 24,000-square-foot multipurpose building is currently under construction, which will house all our operations, offices, activities, events and a chapel. This new facility will also allow us to accommodate more families in the house we currently occupy.
We are also building a new commercial kitchen for Out of the Blue Granola, which will double our capacity and allow us to take on additional customers while offering more jobs to our residents.
Because of the profound success of our unique recovery program, we are constantly contacted by other similar ministries and organizations for guidance. We are excited to put all our systems and procedures into a marketable format to share with others more effectively. And the new multipurpose building will provide a wonderful space for training.
I am excited that we are positioning ourselves to serve many more families by training others to apply the effective methods we have developed over two decades.
Have you ever had a dream that seemed like more than just the byproduct of an upset stomach or underlying anxieties? Like maybe God was trying to show you something? There are many ways God communicates with his children.
If you want to grow in hearing God’s voice, here’s an idea: next time you have a dream, an experience or even a thought that seems like it may have been from God, take 15 minutes to sit down and journal about it. Write down what you saw or heard, the emotions you felt and what the Word of God has to say. You can also use this time to ask God any questions you have about your experience. Then get quiet and give God space to respond. You may be surprised to find you’re more equipped to hear his voice than you thought.
For the past 20 years, Blue Monarch founder and president Susan Binkley has worked alongside nearly 1,000 women and their children in the ministry’s sobriety and rehabilitation efforts. Blue Monarch’s unique program focuses on the child’s recovery as much as the mom’s and prepares women to parent their children as nurturing and sober mothers through services proven to help residents find freedom from addiction and achieve healthy independence. In addition, Blue Monarch makes Out of the Blue Granola — an all-natural, handcrafted product that uses local wildflower honey — which provides residents with valuable job skills while also earning an income.
