Below are some bullet points of the highlights that happened in the Life Issues ministry over the last month:
· We updated our website in early April with some poems, check it out at www.lifeissuesonline.org
· One of our students celebrated 1 year clean, and another 2 years sober in April
· We got a student some gas on 4-7
· We gave out 3 boxes of food on 4-7 – The church body at HBF have really come through in a big way to restock our Morsels for Many food pantry, so that we can distribute to those in need!
· We bought a prescription for a student in need on 4-8
· Our student, Kevin, got baptized on 4-9, and became an HBF member on 4-16
· One of our married couples celebrated their 25 year anniversary in April
· One of our leaders, Jim Worthington, is going through Calvary Bible College’s Biblical counselling course, and has started teaching a weekly Bible based class at a men’s transitional house for his internship criteria? We are excited about this opportunity, and hope it will be an ongoing opportunity for him to minister to the men there.
· We had 9 folks attend a two-day Recovery Seminar in Jefferson City on 4-28 & 4-29, and they brought back a good report of their learnings from other faith-based recovery groups!
· We also have 9 folks going through our eight-week Project Strength nutrition class that started on 4-23. We are collaborating with Harvesters on this project, where our leader, Laura, got trained.
· Our garage sale, which was held on 5-5 & 5-6, We appreciate all that was given to us, and we were able to donate what we didn’t sell (a whole 6’ X 16’ trailer full of items), to a ministry friend in Clinton!
· Amber C. gave a powerful testimony on 4-25, and Hollie B. gave a great testimony on 4-28! A man from Butler MO prayed to accept Christ during prayer time on 4-28, hallelujah!
· Life Issues will having a ministry-wide meeting on 6-3 @ 9am @ HBF, for anyone and everyone interested in our ministry. We will be rolling out plans for this year’s Recovery Walk (9-1), as well as receiving training from Pat Lee, on how to best use our early recovery program, The Journey Home, curriculum!
Here’s a testimony from one of our ladies, that I think you will enjoy:
My name is Amber and I am a believer in Jesus Christ who struggles with addiction. I walked through 15 years of varying stages of addiction to methamphetamines, lost as to why I couldn’t overcome this lifestyle. I was everything from a desperate junkie to a fairly successful drug dealer and was ultimately sent to Federal Prison for drug trafficking. At different times throughout my addiction I would try to get clean and sober but was always left feeling lost. It was like part of me was missing and the part that was left I just didn’t want. I didn’t know who I was or who I was supposed to be without drugs. I couldn’t figure out how to create some sort of person or life from what was left. In April of 2013 I was indicted by the Federal Government. I was suddenly faced with a very real, very serious wake up call. My daughter was 4 months old and I was being charged with distribution of methamphetamines. Talk about a wake-up call. I cried out to God. I knew I couldn’t do this on my own; I had tried and failed so many times. I spent nearly a year on pretrial wondering how long I would be sent away for. How I was finally sober and happy. How unfair it seemed that I could finally be getting my life together and becoming a good mother and it was all going to be taken away from me. Like, really God, this is what you saved me for? I was sentenced to 84 months in Federal Prison. I was devastated. I clung even harder to my faith though. God put amazing people in my path that held me up and encouraged me when I would begin to lose faith. He has given me a family that stood by me through the all the chaos and stress caused by the destruction Satan brought to me through methamphetamines. By God’s amazing grace my sentence was reduced to time served in December 2016. I am now home with my daughter and family where I belong. I’ve been clean now for 4 years and life has never been better. I’ve been blessed with fulltime employment and am in the process of enrolling in school for a biblical counseling degree at Calvary University. My hope is that through my experience I can be an asset to other people struggling through the darkness of addiction. Through Life Issues here at home and Celebrate Recovery during my prison sentence I have experienced true freedom and forgiveness from my savior Jesus Christ. I believe that God is still working on me, molding me into the person He created me to be. I don’t believe that He is even close to finished with me yet.
Sincerely, Steve Fleshman – Life Issues pastor and founder, Proverbs 4:23…
No comments:
Post a Comment