I have seen my share of crises—divorce, a factory accident that left permanent damage, a fire that gutted the basement of our home, and the sexual abuse of my daughter, to name a few. I understand the emotional, mental and physical fallout. I have been fortunate enough to have had two things that helped me weather hardship: faith in God, and friends.
Unless you are a hermit, I expect you know, or have known, someone who is in crisis and have struggled with the question “How can I help?” We often want to alleviate the pain or fix the situation and that is rarely possible. Sometimes, we avoid a family member or friend because we don’t know what to say or do. Helping isn’t difficult and need not be complicated either.
I long to help women in need of recovery. When the crisis is over and safety has been established, healing is required in order to stay safe and avert further abuse. Support groups are my main avenue of ministry at this time. However, the group I have set up for the fall will probably be cancelled because of a lack of participants.
ReplyDeleteThis group is called Women Restored and will be provided through Gateway of Hope in Olathe, Kansas. The group is designed to help women who have been sexually abused. The rate of sexual abuse in this country is an astounding 30%. That is one out of every three or four women.
Do you have any suggestions of how I can reach these precious women?
Dear DR,
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful ministry you have. It is encouraging to know that other women are working to help the abused. My advice to you is too long to cover in a post here. I'll email you. For now, just keep plugging away and pray for God to open the right doors to reach the women he has for you.