by D’Ann Davis, Previous Director of Women’s Ministry
2009
It is so exciting to see what the Lord has been doing in the Women’s Ministry at Living Hope! He has been so faithful to consistently bring women to us who are seeking to know Him more and to walk away from the bondage that has entangled them for years. We have been blessed to grow from two women to around twenty, and it is amazing to see how the Lord is working in each of them and in the group collectively. It is a blessing to my heart every week to get to walk with women as they journey toward healing in their walk with the Lord. Many of them have been deeply wounded and hurt by both men and women in their past and overcoming that pain can be a long, grueling process for them. It is very rare to have the opportunity to be involved with a ministry where people are so anxious to have the Lord come in and perform the necessary heart surgery, but our ladies impress me every week with their humility and desire to grow in the Lord.
One thing I love about Living Hope is we get to see the Lord not only rescue women from their bondage, but also lead them into a greater grace. One of the greatest joys of my job is getting to watch people walk into the life they have missed out on for years into feeling, loving, and living more fully. The joyful emotions, experiences of desire and fulfillment, hope and healing are no longer unrealistic dreams, but realized realities. Not only do they get to experience Gods mercy for sins past and present, but also Gods grace leading them into life anew. Many are able to experience trust in relationship for the first time in their lives and they are able to walk in healthy, holy intimacy in fulfilling relationships with other women, and even men. They find a new freedom to obey, and they find a new levity in a life previously spent weighed down by issues and brokenness. I get to watch as they discover the joy of serving others and giving within and outside the body of Christ.
Another gift Im privileged to enjoy in this ministry is watching women flourish in their femininity. One of the root causes of same-gender attraction in women is a detachment from their God-given femininity. Watching the walls come down in a womans heart that have shielded her from vulnerability and intimate relationship for decades is a truly amazing thing to see. Women who have previously rejected most outward and inward forms of femininity are beginning to thrive as responsive, relational, beautiful, tender-hearted women of God. As the Lord softens the hearts of women and gives them hearts of flesh in exchange for their hearts of stone, it is an ever constant reminder of how He has done the same thing for me in my own journey. These women unknowingly, constantly convict me in their steadfast desire to know Jesus more deeply and crucify their flesh as they take up their cross daily. Some of the most heart-breaking stories I have heard have been from women sitting in my office or writing in our forums. At the same time, some of the most beautifully redemptive stories I have ever heard in my life have come from the same places, as Jesus repeatedly proves He is a good God who brings restoration and redemption when we continually cling to Him and rest on who He is and what He has done. God is so faithful to all of us and pursues us even when we do not want Him to do so. I am so grateful for the opportunity to watch the Gospel transform lives as He works in the lives of the women at Living Hope Ministries.