Healing Hearts Ministries was formed in 1988 by Sue Liljenberg. Sue personally experienced an abortion in 1972 at the age of 18, and for many years suffered emotionally, physically and spiritually. In 1982, she was given hope for her life when someone loved her enough to tell her about Jesus and how He died on a cross to pay the penalty for her sin. She received Jesus into her life and knew that she would never be the same again, but she also knew that there was something that kept her thoughts captive and ruled her life. That something was her abortion and the realization that she took the life of the only baby she would ever conceive. After seeking help from physicians and psychologists with no lasting results, she turned to the only source that she knew: the God who saved her and His Word.
For several years God walked Sue through the Scriptures. As she learned the truth in God’s Word regarding her past sin, and who she was in Christ and how much God loved her, healing came. She knew this healing was not just temporary, but eternal and she longed to show other women how they, too, could become whole again. She began writing a Bible Study so other women could walk the road she had already walked with God and find hope and healing for their lives.
After several years of counseling post-abortive women, Sue decided it was time to train these women so they could reach out and help others. She had a passion to disciple women in God’s Word and to see them productive for the Lord. In 1988 a local Pastoral Advisory Board and a Board of Directors was assembled to oversee the ministry and provide Biblical accountability. Within seven years the ministry was transformed from a kitchen table-top ministry to one serving the needs of women and men throughout the Puget Sound area of Western Washington. In 1997 as the ministry made preparations to reach beyond the Puget Sound area, the name Healing Hearts Ministries was trademarked and the “Binding up the Brokenhearted” Bible study was published. The “Binding up the Brokenhearted” Bible study has been taught to thousands of women with outstanding results. Not only did they receive healing through the study, but many came to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior and are serving Him in many different areas of ministry.
Because of the tremendous impact that abortion had on Sue and the father of her baby, she had a burden for men who had been affected by abortion. With the help of Dan DeVries, who was an elder at Sue’s church and who was also post-abortive, the study “Restoring a Father’s Heart” (formerly “Wounded Warrior” was written to minister to the needs of men. The men’s study was published by Healing Hearts in 1999.
Because post-abortive women have many other areas of sin and hurts in their lives, many of the post-abortive leaders started using “Binding up the Brokenhearted” to minister to friends who were suffering from non-post-abortive issues and needed a healing touch from the Lord. Due to the tremendous success of this attempt to reach beyond the post-abortion issue, Sue authored another study entitled “The Hem of His Garment” that would minister to all women. This study was piloted for two years and now women who have not had abortions are being trained to minister to the hurts of non-post-abortive women. The Hem of His Garment was published in 2002. As God leads and provides, we hope that other materials will be written to help heal a hurting world.
“Binding up the Brokenhearted” and “The Hem of His Garment” have been translated into Spanish, Russian, Lugandan, Romanian, Bulgarian.
Healing Hearts gives all of the glory to our Lord Jesus Christ and His Word for the healing that has taken place in our lives and the lives of the men and women that we have ministered to since our beginning in 1988.
Church Ministry: Healing Hearts partners with the local church to train individuals who have completed our program to minister to the brokenhearted. Hundreds of Healing Hearts leaders minister in their home churches under the guidance and direction of their church leadership.
Outreach Ministries Include:
- Email Counseling Ministry (E-Ministry): Using our Bible Studies online.
- Women’s Prisons & Institutions
- Purdy Women’s Correctional Facility in Washington
- Union Gospel Women’s Shelter in Seattle & Everett, Washington
- Foreign Missions
