Standing on Your Prayers
We are standing on your prayers. As we conclude another year (our fifth year of serving women who have been commercially sexually exploited), I’m so struck by what God has done in and through the dozens of women we’ve served. The entire NH team—our staff, our volunteers, and you!— have been faithful in prayer and support and have equipped this organization to do more than anyone could have imagined when we launched in 2016.
We just celebrated our 11th graduation! Our graduate’s time in NH Residential was a blessed demonstration of what happens when the Church comes alongside a traumatized woman and provides the resources necessary for healing. At her graduation, overcome with emotion, she said, “This life takes a toll on us, and there are very few people we genuinely look up to for guidance and understanding…I feel grateful for having all of you in my life. The support and care you give is unmatchable.”
In the book Trauma Recalled by Dirk Lange, the author says this about trauma: “Trauma is a continual awakening to an event that was not fully understood and that, because of this incompleteness, is being continually made present.” That really seems to sum up our graduate’s experience. I appreciate this definition because it paints a clear picture of how someone who has been through a traumatic experience can feel incomplete. We feel like we fall short of who we are intended to become, that we’re less than who God designed and created us to be. And we start to believe the lie that says “I am incomplete.” BUT … if you are a believer in the Living God, that is untrue! Because of Jesus, you are more than enough. You are worthy, complete, and filled with the Holy Spirit!
This encapsulates the ministry of Naomi’s House. Women like our newest graduate are more empowered with the truth of who they are because of Jesus. He beautifully fills in the gaps in their hearts and minds. He does the incomprehensible work of restoration and completeness. He puts the past in the past and enlightens us to live in the present. Our traumatic experiences are no longer our present; instead, the truth of today comes alive and we can live fully in the present time.
So here’s to five years of walking with Survivors and helping them find wholeness! Here’s to you for upholding the dignity of dozens of women you may never meet, but who you believe in nonetheless. And here’s to the work of the gospel that brings us all from death to life. Thank you for reflecting that good news by your faithful support!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Simone