5/1/2017 Prayer Letters

As a Healing Hearts leader, the thing that I am most thankful for is the privilege of being a part of a ministry where the lives of women of all ages, from all walks of life and all social and economic levels, are healed and restored from the inside out. With every live group, I get a front row seat to witness the amazing healing power of God’s Word transform the lives of women.

Recently, I had the privilege of leading four women through Binding up the Broken Hearted, our post-abortion trauma study. When a new group begins, I never know who God is going to draw to the group or what the group will look like. This particular group was diverse in age, with two women over fifty and two women 23-plus years old. One would wonder how these four ladies would connect with one another given the age difference, and on top of that the fact that each one is coming in pain--shrouded in guilt, shame, and most of all, secrecy.

From the very first night of this group, I was in awe of the power of God. The gals were unusually open and committed to doing whatever it took for the healing they were desperate to receive. The older gals embraced the younger two, commending them for being a part of the group and encouraging them towards healing. They communicated the importance of finding freedom at a young age, as opposed to struggling through many years of heartache as they had. It was beautiful to see these women be cheerleaders for one another.

At the beginning of the group, all the women were regularly attending church, some longer than others, but all professed belief in Jesus Christ. As we continued through each lesson, in the study’s perfect timing, two of the gals understood for the first time the Gospel of Salvation and received Jesus as their personal Savior. For the first time, they understood what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus and make Him the Lord of their life. They understood that their life was no longer theirs, but that they belonged to Jesus--they were bought and paid for. Willingly they submitted to His lordship.

Upon coming into the study, these two women thought they were Christians. They were attending church and participating in women’s studies, but they were “copycats.” They were doing what they saw others around them doing. They looked like believers and therefore they thought they were believers. When they understood the complete Gospel, they were changed in an instant. From that point forward in the study, they celebrated what Jesus had done for them on the cross; the scriptures came alive, and they were like sponges for the Word.

The other two women received freedom from their past--freedom from the guilt, shame and pain of their abortions; freedom from sinful choices, failed marriages, and broken relationships; and freedom from the past addictions that held them in bondage, defining who they thought they were. Simply put, they were SET FREE.

We started with a group of four women. They did not know one another. They were generations apart in age. They were at different places in their spiritual understanding and spiritual maturity. They each came with one motive: seeking relief from pain. Theirs was the kind of pain that only they could share with one another--pain that was rooted in the most intimate of unspeakable conversations; the pain of the most devastating choice a woman can make, buried under shame and guilt. Alone…

In conclusion, each one of these women got what they came for, but oh, so much more. Isn’t that just like God, to not give us what we deserve, but to shower us with His grace, mercy and loving kindness, giving abundantly more than we ask for? These four women came face to face with Jesus and they are not the same; their lives have forever changed. They are walking testimonies of His healing power. And to think – it all happened in 10 weeks.

My prayer is this: Lord, raise up leaders who have your heart—a heart with the passion for bringing the healing power of your Word to the many women who are sitting in our churches, being “copycats,” suffering in silence, suffering alone. Amen!

- Adena