The Healing Hope Newsletter

The Healing Hope Newsletter - July 2010

2010-07-13T00:17:20Z

Healing Hope Newsletter
July, 2010
http://www.marionduckworthministries.com
http://www.healinghopeonline.com

Dear Ones,

Dorothy* has been through the fire. Like Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego, however, God met her there.

Growing up, although she knew that her mother loved her, she also knew that her mother was fragile. “She hit the wall several times during my childhood. I felt as though I could never bother her. So I learned early on that the deep things had to be taken to the Lord.”

Dorothy married a man whom, she later learned, was restless—perhaps due to the fact that his biological family moved frequently. “Gerald also had a desire to be free of accountability.” She tried to adjust to his lifestyle. Much later, however, she realized that he made decisions based on what was good for him, never considering her. “He abandoned me emotionally from the beginning of our marriage.

“We served with a Christian organization for ten years. When he decided to go to China to live and work, he expected me to wait for him to come back.” But Dorothy also knew that he was seeing another woman. Gerald decided to remain in China so they agreed to get a divorce. God showed her very clearly that she needed to give him over to God.

“My grown children had families of their own. My parents were elderly. My friends helped me, but no one except the Lord knew how alone I felt. He became my stability.”

Although Dorothy was born again when she was twenty-one, she realized that she’d been defining her life by her relationships. “God wanted me to define myself as His child.” Until then, she says she was always “doing”; now she settled into ‘being’.” As result of spending hours in fellowship with God and in His Word, she realized that He was her husband.

“My whole life was about to be recreated.” Alone the next two years, she learned to rest in the Lord and His care and not stress over the future. “I tried to accomplish one thing a day and feel good about it. I ate nourishing food, walked, read, exercised--very practical things to do when one is under stress. I tried to find out who I was apart from being someone’s daughter, sister, mother—and especially wife. I asked God to show me who he wanted me to be in this next phase of my life.”

She also chose carefully the people with whom she spent much time, maintained an eternal perspective and an “open hands” attitude with God. “He cannot place things in a tight fist—only in hands that are open wide.”

Two years ago, Dorothy remarried. “I felt loved and cherished from the beginning. When I let Wes down, he doesn’t go into a fit of rage.” She says they laugh a lot. They study the Bible together. They pray together for family, friends and acquaintances. “We celebrate victories. We simply enjoy one another’s company. I didn’t experience any of these things with my first husband. He mostly liked doing things alone. He was impatient in prayer and didn’t want to discuss the scriptures.”

Dorothy says that just when she thinks she’s been healed of her abandonment wounds, a situation arises that causes old feelings to surface. “I share them with Wes and he reassures me of his love.” When she meditates on Scripture, she is reminded that God loves her everlastingly and unconditionally.

Jesus’ words before He went to the cross have become a key principle in her life. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except you abide in me” (John 15:4).

“I learned from this scripture that I need to constantly rely on His wisdom, strength and power in order to glorify Him through my trials.”

“I have been through the fire! God did meet me there! “I am acceptable because of Jesus. I don’t have to earn his love. He is my constant companion. Whatever losses I experience in life, He will be by my side.”

Blessings,
Marion
http://www.marionduckworthministries.om
http://www.healinghopeonline.com

*Names have been changed

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The Healing Hope Newsletter - June 2010

2010-06-23T22:56:40Z

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Healing Hope Newsletter
June, 2010
http://www.marionduckworthministries.com

In last month’s Healing Hope Newsletter I introduced Markus who had been abandoned by his birth father. His cherished career in soccer was over. Money was tight since he had to support his mother. Worst of all, he concluded that God had abandoned him. In desperation he cried out to the Lord. “I’ll do anything if only you won’t reject me.” In the middle of the night, he went to see his Christian brother-in-law. When Garrett prayed with him, Markus asked Jesus to come into his life.

“It blew my mind that the God who created the universe was paying special attention to me, even though I spit in his face. Satan couldn’t touch me, and if he did it was because God allowed it for my good.” At twenty-four years of age, he was completely changed.

“I didn’t want to get married for fear it would end in divorce the way it had for some of my friends. But God let me know that he was going to give me a wife. If I were to live him life for Him, then I wouldn’t have to worry that she’d leave me.”

“Still, when I met and married Jinny, I thought we’d have the shortest marriage in history because we are both so independent. As it turned out, the relationship grew strong and that struggle made me a better person. An easier relationship wouldn’t have sharpened me.”

Before he became a Christian, Markus kept quitting jobs. “But God opened the door to the printing trade and let me know I was working for him. He was my boss. “Even when there were layoffs, I learned not to be afraid. For now I was working as unto the Lord. He would take care of everything else—and he did.”

When the printing trade became computerized, Markus went back to school to keep up. But he says he was intimidated by the kids with whom he had to compete. “I hated to go to work and was exhausted all the time. One Friday at work, I was hurting bad and didn’t know what was wrong. I drank some coffee and the next thing I knew a colleague was slapping me in the face. But I continued to pass out.

“They called an ambulance but the first hospital they took me to was full so they had to find another. God’s peace came over me. I knew that even if the ambulance had four flat tires, he would get me there.”

During surgery, the doctors discovered that his aorta had burst and said his family should come immediately. A nurse friend told him later that people just don’t live with a burst aorta. His doctors said the fact that he was alive was a miracle. “But I was mad at God. Why didn’t he just take me to heaven?” But after about ten hours in the hospital, Markus sensed that God really was with him.

After he recovered, however, he couldn’t find a job. Even though he fought the idea desperately, he was finally declared disabled and disqualified from working any longer. Realizing that God had allowed this to happen, he stopped fighting and began to study the Bible and grow spiritually. When he began attending a messianic congregation about a year after his surgery, he grew even more in his faith. Eventually, he was appointed to be an elder.

“When I heard that my father, who lived in Holland, died, I was not moved. Six months later, I was taking a shower and God reminded me of him. He let me know that I didn’t care about my father and that was worse than hating him. For hatred means he’s able to hurt you.”

Convicted by the Holy Spirit, Markus wept. “I’d been a captive of hatred most of my life.” Now he knew he had to forgive his father for abandoning him. “When I finally did, I was set free.”

A year ago, he experienced life threatening heart symptoms again and had extensive treatment to which he responded well. These days, instead of blaming God for what he doesn’t have, he cherishes what he does have. A wife and family, church, the opportunity to watch world cup soccer on television and life in the family of God, now and forever.

Blessings,
Marion Duckworth
http://www.marionduckworthministries.om
http://www.healinghopeonline.com

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The Healing Hope Newsletter - May 2010

2010-05-04T11:52:22Z

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Healing Hope Newsletter
May, 2010
http://www.marionduckworthministries.com

“My father deserted my mom, my sister and I when I was eight years old. I wanted what my friends had growing up—a dad to help me make decisions. I felt short-changed.”

Born in the Dutch colony of Indonesia, Markus* immigrated with his family to Holland when he was fourteen. “I began to play soccer and before long, it became the most important thing in my life.”

After eight years, the family moved to Pasadena, California. “My mother worked long hours to support us so I pretty much raised myself. The money she earned didn’t stretch far enough to pay for clothes like other kids had.” When his soccer coach noticed that the soles of his shoes were coming off, he asked why he didn’t get new ones.

"I don’t have any money.”

“Where does your father work?”

“I don’t have a father.”

"He took me to a closet that had shorts and shoes. Even though nothing fit me right, they were better than what I had."

In those days, Markus says, he was always angry. ”So I tried to be tough. And soccer was my god.” Although he couldn’t accept an invitation to practice with a pro team because he didn’t have a car, he was able to play with the city league.

It was during practice one day as he lay on the ground that quite unexpectedly he sensed the presence of God. That experience made him hungry to know more about Him. So when Markus went on dates, he’d asked the girls what they knew about God. “They thought I was crazy.”

Now that he was making a name for himself in the soccer league, Markus wanted to return to Holland and see if he could make money playing pro soccer. “But in a game one day, he injured his knee badly. “Another player said he could hear it crack from the other side of the field.” That was the end of his professional soccer career.

“I blamed God for allowing me to get hurt. ‘Lord, you don’t know what you are doing here,’ I told him. ‘This is the only way I can make some money!’” He’d always prided himself on being a self-made man and now he saw himself as a failure.

For the next two years, he fought with God. One day, he drove to the ocean at Long Beach. “As I sat on the sand and watched the ships come in and go out, I thought about how easy it would be to end my misery. I could walk out into the harbor and just keep going

“I was so angry: my birth father had abandoned me; my career in soccer was over. I had to support my mom and that didn’t leave me with an extra penny to spend.” He concluded that the God his mother had taught him about since he was a child, had rejected him

“As far as I was concerned, God was dead.” In frustration, he vented his anger at his mother. She wept and told me to keep praying and not give up.

It felt as though God had nailed me to the wall. ”For three days, every minute I was awake was torture. ”Finally, in the middle of the night I cried out to God that I was willing to do anything if only he wouldn’t reject me. Despite the hour, Mom decided we should go see my brother-in-law, who was a Christian.”

His brother-in-law, Garrett, came straight to the point. “Do you want to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?” Markus said that he did. “Are you sure? You know that you will not be your own.” In anguish, I told him that I was ready.” That night, the one-time soccer player asked Jesus to come into his life.

"On the way home, we drove through the section of Pasadena that was full of addicts and prostitutes. But in my eyes, everything had changed. “’Man, this city is beautiful,’ I told my mom. ‘Look at that building!” We passed a park I’d never noticed before. ‘Look at that tree!

Now, I had a personal relationship with God who is my Father. “I’ve never looked back. The world was taken off my shoulders. It blew my mind.”

In June’s Healing Hope Newsletter you’ll learn how God changed Markus’ ideas about marriage, how he narrowly escaped death twice and how he finally forgave his father.

Websites: http://www.marionduckworthministries.com
http://www.healinghopeonline.com

* Markus and Garrett are pseudonyms

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The Healing Hope Newsletter - April 2010

2010-04-16T11:22:04Z

Healing Hope Newsletter
April, 2010
http://www.marionduckworthministries.com

The winter of 1963 in the Pacific Northwest was brutal. “When I watched the plight of the homeless on the news, my heart went out to them,” Annie* recalls.

The more she prayed, the more she became convinced that she should do something. “I decided to volunteer every Monday in the Salvation Army drop-in center where the homeless could get in out of the cold, drink a cup of coffee and rest. My job was to prevent fights, keep people from smoking or drinking inside, visit with them and help at the coffee bar.”

The first time she walked in the gathering room full of men, the odor was overwhelming. “I prayed for help and my concern for the men quickly overcame my sense of smell!” That day, she met Willie*, who was a wino. “He leaned on the counter and looked me straight in the eye. Once, he blew a raspberry and the alcohol was so strong it made me dizzy.”

I learned that Willy had walked away from his job as a long-haul truck driver in California years ago. Each Monday, his trust in her grew. Finally, he agreed to let her help him apply for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and an apartment. “My church provided household items. Willy was so very grateful.” Twice Annie was able to get him into rehab. “He’d fall off the wagon but always got back on.”

“I loaned him a book I’d written that had a Christian message.” After reading it, he called Annie on the phone, sobbing, that he wasn’t a Christian. I asked if he believed in Jesus Christ as savior and wanted to ask for forgiveness for his sins. He said he did. So, with the football game playing and my family unaware of what was going on, I led him in the sinner’s prayer.”

After he moved into his apartment, Willy never lived on the streets again. “He became a dear friend of my whole family and many of our friends. He even built a toy box for my grandson. Every week, he came to see Annie at the mission.

Finally, he was hospitalized with a diseased liver and died a week later. “I arranged to have his body flown home.” Annie smiles wistfully. “We miss him.” A large oil painting of Willie hangs in a prominent spot on her living room wall. “My son’s best friend in high school was an artist. He painted the portrait from a photo I gave him.”

Annie continued to help the homeless until family responsibilities required most of her attention. She is convinced, after studying the Bible carefully, that all Christians are called to help the poor. “To me, however, it was a special calling.

“I’m a good listener and the homeless need to be heard. No one on skid row is willing to listen.” During her years volunteering at the mission, she got to know four other men especially well. “Eventually, I brought them home for dinner, took them to church, and helped them wash their clothes. With assistance, some of them got off the streets and into an apartment.”

When regulars failed to show up at the drop-in center for a week or more, Annie was concerned because she knew that some became violently ill with colds during the winter. Were they still alive?

What did she learn during those two years? “Everyone needs a friend who will listen.” Once she got to know them, they became more than a Monday friend. “I assured them that they could call on me when they needed. That’s what friends are for. That’s how God’s love shines through us.

“They can spot a phony a mile away so anything we do must be genuine. When one of the homeless asked why she was at the mission, Annie replied honestly: “I want to be your friend.”

Blessings,

Marion

http://www.marionduckworthministries.com
http://www.healinghopeonline.com

*Annie and Willie are pseudonyms

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The Healing Hope Newsletter - March 2009

2010-03-17T22:28:39Z

Healing Hope Newsletter
March 2010

Dear Friends,

Russ* says that his education fell entirely from the secular tree of knowledge. “Best I can remember, there wasn’t a twig of spiritual content. That was for the weak-minded, the infirm or deluded. The study of law seemed the straight path for me.

“I passed the bar exam in 1977 and became part of a large firm with an impressive client list.” He made partner and earned an impressive income. Now married and the father of four sons, he was becoming more and more unwilling to sacrifice closeness to his wife and child rearing joys for the illusory comfort of money and the foggy presumption of prestige.

When he finally left the firm in 1990 to join a small law school as Associate Dean, a younger partner said, “You’re crazy!” But Russ says, “It felt right and it was!”

At the age of five, Russ was baptized upon his profession of faith that Jesus was his Savior. When he was seven, he went forward at a Billy Graham rally. But it wasn’t until he was in his late thirties and read a book titled The Unity of the Bible by Daniel Fuller that Jesus’ words of deliverance became real. I’ve been set free from the control of my sinful nature!, he realized. By the amazing grace of God, I can learn to live a Christlike life! (Romans 6:18).

He began attending a Bible study for men. “The more I studied, the more I delighted in God and wanted to share Him with others.” For several years, however, he’d been bothered by muscle cramping and twitching. In 2002, he was diagnosed with an immune disorder similar to Multiple Sclerosis that attacks the peripheral nerves but is treatable with immunoglobulin infusions. “I spend about ninety days each year in an infusion room. By midday, a pounding headache kicks in.” But the treatment keeps nerve damage to a minimum.

During this time, he began to realize that he’d been using his career, position and authority to present himself as someone who had achieved and become successful. He had to admit, however, that he still ached for inward joy and satisfaction. “The war within was intolerable.”

As his energy waned and he spent more time with doctors, his significant responsibilities at the law school became more and more difficult to fulfill. In 2003, he began to work part time. Finally, in 2007, he retired but continued to work on important school projects.

“The hardest part of having a chronic condition is that I still don’t know the prognosis. Some folks get better. Others die rather quickly. Still others drift along for years in various states of disintegration or regeneration.” Finally, Russ chose to trust God more than his puffed up self to meet his deepest need for contentment and delight. “That Russ never had been great at meeting those needs.”

What he learned is that God will give him peace IN trouble. “Now I let Him set the day’s agenda. That’s a whole new experience. I changed from ‘What am I doing’ to ‘Am I listening?’

“My pastor encouraged me to go to seminary and my wife supported the idea. By spacing my infusions just right and praying intently for God’s help, I completed the work. I am now a licensed pastor.” In addition to providing pulpit supply, Russ teaches men at the local chapter of an international Bible study organization; gives devotions weekly to his church choir, to students in the law school where he taught, and is writing a book.

“On some infusion days, I want to climb in a cave and avoid all human contact. But a surprising thing can also happen. While reading is painful, still the act of reading just one verse in the Bible is something like stepping outside for fresh air.

“God is the master heart transplant surgeon. He meets me in my troubles with His peace inside of me, driving out anxiety and stress. Even if my lousy circumstances never change, He is enabling me to endure and overcome the brokenness of life on earth.”

Blessings,

Marion

http://www.marionduckworthministries.com
http://www.healinghopeonline.com

*Russ is a pseudonym

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The Healing Hope Newsletter - February 2010

2010-02-19T12:35:29Z

Healing Hope Newsletter
February 2010

Harriet was three years old when her father died in an auto accident. “Mom and Grandma kept saying that he was ‘dead’, but I had absolutely no idea what that word meant. Every evening for two weeks, I kept watch by the window for my daddy to come home.” When her hopes faded, she lapsed into a grief so intense that it even slowed down her physical growth.

“I felt so abandoned—not only by my father, but by my mom, too. She was forced to work long hours to keep our family going. My grandmother did move in to care for my two siblings and I.” But Harriet continued to blame herself for the fact that her dad left. “Deep down, I felt that if I’d just been a better girl, he’d have come home.” She says that Jesus brought her comfort several times. “But I had no idea it was Him.”

Those feelings of abandonment followed her into adulthood, greatly affecting her personal development and marriage. “Six years into my marriage, my husband was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I ran to Jesus for help. To my delight, He introduced me to my Heavenly Father.”

Harriet says she never realized how her dad’s death permeated her until the Lord began untangling the web of brokenness and lies. She felt, for example, that her sins and imperfections had caused her father not to come home. She imagined they caused her husband, Bill, to be violent when he drank. She even wondered if her failings caused his disease.

Gently and gradually, God began to heal the damage her father’s death had caused. She learned that God is greater than the greatest pain we can suffer. “His healing grace has enabled me to move forward in power.”

Immediately after Bill’s diagnosis, Harriet had surrendered to Jesus Christ. ‘I seldom began my day without reading my Bible, praying and listening as the Holy Spirit whispered inspiration. He also used people, mainly my local church, to bring encouragement and cheer. I became so strong and confident that I was able to nurse my husband for thirty years.”

Bill didn’t surrender to Christ until twenty-seven years after his diagnosis. “Bill made unprovoked statements of repentance. ‘You know those times I when I got drunk and beat you? I’m so sorry.’“ Harriet knows that God used M.S. for the salvation of their entire family. It was an amazing display of the power of God to destroy evil and preserve good.” Bill became the most enthusiastic member of their church. He died in 2006.

“Today I live solely to serve the One who healed my broken heart and opened the doors to my Heavenly Father’s love.” Now, Harriet says, God has called her to write about Him. “Initially, the very thought frightened me. But He hasn’t abandoned me to the task.

She is at rest, now, she says, because her Abba Daddy is at home.

Blessings,

Marion Duckworth

http://www.marionduckworthministries.com
http://www.healinghopeonline.com

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The Healing Hope Newsletter - January 2010

2010-01-12T17:28:36Z

Healing Hope Newsletter
January 2010

I’d known Betty* for more than a decade before I had the courage to talk to her about God. Outspoken and strong minded, she wouldn’t hesitate to slam the door on the conversation if she thought it was too personal. But I reasoned that since she had started attending a Bible class I taught and we were comfortable talking about everything else--why not her faith?

Extremely responsible, she was adopted at birth by an older farm couple and worked hard, milking cows and driving the tractor. In an era when adoption was an anomaly, she felt different from her schoolmates.

Betty married, had a couple of children and helped out in the family business. After her husband’s death, she continued the lifestyle of a hard working farm woman transplanted to the suburbs. One summer day I knew God wanted me to ask her if she’d ever invited Jesus to come into her life and be her personal Savior. In true Betty fashion, she answered me immediately.

“No.”

“Do you want to do that?”

“Yes. I do.”

Without hesitation, Betty bowed her head and invited Jesus to come into her life and be her Savior. For the next several months, we studied the Bible together weekly. When my family and I moved to another city a few years later, she and I kept in touch, visiting every few months. At the end of each visit, we stood in the center of her living room and I held her hands while we prayed. One of those times, however, I asked her first: “Betty, where will you go when you die?” Her face softened with childlike vulnerability. “I hope I’ll be good enough to go to heaven.”

I looked into her eyes. For Betty, so used to proving her worth by her work, the idea of grace was almost too good to be true. One more time, I reminded her that we were saved because God’s own Son paid for our sins. That God did that because He wanted to. That she was his daughter and He had a home for her in heaven. After we prayed, I’d walk down the steps, wondering if this would be the last time we’d complete our parting ritual.

One of those times was the last. I’d written her a note and in a couple of weeks, received a letter from her son. Betty was dead. I wept over the loss of my old friend.

After I dried my eyes, I smiled faintly. How shocked she must have been to find Jesus waiting with His arms outstretched. Not one of the angels handed her a work list. “Polish the heavenly candelabra and vacuum the clouds.” Instead she found herself the guest at a grand welcome home party given in her honor.

*Betty is a pseudonym

Visit my websites at:
http://www.marionduckworthministries.com
http://www.healinghopeonline.com

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The Healing Hope Newsletter - December 2009

2009-12-10T11:58:30Z

Healing Hope Newsletter
December 2009

Dear Friends,

First, here’s an update on Theresa’s story (Healing Hope Newsletter October 2009). At this writing she is sightless. Doctors will perform two more procedures soon in an attempt to restore some vision. The fact that she’s had little or no sight for almost two years has caused her to ask God: “How long will this continue?”

She was listening to a sermon in a retirement home where she ministered before her loss of sight when God answered her question. She wasn’t to ask “How long?” Instead, she was to praise God for the opportunities to witness for Him during her darkest valley. After that, “He took my impatience for healing away.” Throughout the process, He has provided her needs through a network of friends who clean her house, drive her where she needs to go, bring food and come and stay overnight with her.

Theresa could have plunged into depression as a result of her experiences, convinced that God had abandoned her. But faith keeps her smile and her spirits bright because she knows that the One in whom she believes loves her and will take care of her now and always.

Jesus believed the same thing—and with good reason. The moment He made His entrance into the world in Bethlehem, God , a proud Father, sent a chorus of angels to make the birth announcement. At Jesus’ baptism, God spoke His affirmation from heaven: “You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you!”

But there came a time when the Son—beaten, humiliated and nailed to a cross where He suffered wrenching pain—questioned His Father. “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?”

When we go through our own times of suffering, we may feel that way, too. But the resurrection proves that the Father never abandon His Son. Believers in pain throughout the centuries have testified that He never abandoned them, either. Here’s how Paul put it:

“We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair; there are enemies, but we are never without a friend.” (2 Corinthians 3:8-9a).

Why write about Christ’s death at a time when we celebrate His birth? To remind you at this time of new beginnings that your suffering need never be futile. Jesus’ wasn’t. Theresa’s isn’t. And with His help, neither will yours.

Blessings,
Marion Duckworth

*Theresa is a pseudonym

Websites: http://www.marionduckworthministries.com
http://www.healinghopeonline.com

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The Healing Hope Newsletter - November 2009

2009-11-02T22:46:39Z

Healing Hope Newsletter
November, 2009

Evelyn was a successful realtor in Florida when she wed a man who was an alcoholic—her second marriage. “After his death I became a fuzzy-thinking alcoholic myself and stayed drunk for three days after his funeral.” Confined in three mental hospitals and victimized by her business manager, she wound up penniless and living on the streets, sleeping wherever she could and foraging for food. At one point she was arrested for making a scene in a restaurant in a Manhattan restaurant and confined in a psychiatric hospital.

“I wanted to die.” One Sunday she tried to throw herself under a truck. “I wound up in the hospital, a candidate for amputation, but a Christian doctor decided he could save my leg. I underwent fourteen operations and spent almost a year in the hospital—but he was successful.”

After nine more months of treatment for bone infection, she learned to walk again.

In an effort to make amends, Evelyn let people know that she intended to pay her debts. She also published a letter in her local newspaper. “I turned to God when there was nowhere else to turn and my life began to change. I received the physical and mental help I so desperately needed. He provided a place to stay, clothes and friends…and employment as I could cope with it. Once employed, although there were different jobs, I was never without a means of support. He truly supplied all my needs.”

Stabilized, Evelyn made her way west, attending churches along the way. Christians she met befriended her, helped her find places to stay, employment and ways to grow in her Christian faith. She continued to talk with mental health professionals. As a result, God continued to help her grow in peace and stability.

When she was offered an opportunity to work with a Christian service organization, Evelyn knew she’d found her mission. In service to others who were down and out, she found the kind of fulfillment she’d been seeking for so long.

No longer did Evelyn “hear voices” because of her mental illness. Now, she was able to sense the Holy Spirit within and follow His leading a moment at a time.

*Evelyn is a pseudonym

Websites:
http://www.marionduckworthministries.com
http://www.healinghopeonline.com

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The Healing Hope Newsletter - October 2009

2009-10-08T15:29:14Z

Healing Hope Newsletter
October, 2009

For a year after Theresa found her husband Doug dead, she thought about killing herself. “But my husband’s death had devastated my mother. If I committed suicide, she’d be completely destroyed.” (See Healing Hope Newsletter September 2009 at www.marionduckworthministries.com)

Although she wasn’t a Christian, Theresa began meeting with her sister-in-law to pray for her sixteen-year old son, Harry, Theresa’s nephew, who’d gotten into drugs. When someone told her about a church in the next city they thought she’d like, Theresa decided to try it out. “Six months later, I gave my heart to Christ.”

About that time she pulled into a gas station and a scruffy kid walked toward her “It was Harry, whom I knew had been living on the street. After we exchanged greetings, he ran to catch the city bus.” Later she learned that after Harry sat down, the bus driver—who was a stranger—turned and told him all the things he was doing wrong in his life, including his drug habit. “If you don’t get right with the Lord,” you’ll be dead in a year.” That scared Harry badly.

He got off the bus, went immediately to see the man who’d been his youth pastor and told him what had happened. “Harry fell on his knees and asked God’s forgiveness. Miraculously, he was completely delivered from his drug addiction with no withdrawals.” The family tried to find the bus driver to thank him, but were told that no man who fit that description drove that route.

When Theresa thanked God for saving Harry, she clearly sensed these words: “But I want you, too.” “I dissolved in a puddle of tears right there in bed and surrendered to God.”

Theresa had attended Bible studies faithfully and was very active in her church. But watching couples share the bond of Christ in the pews Sunday after Sunday, devastated her. “I found my place by helping others.” When a friend’s father developed Multiple Sclerosis and then Alzheimer’s Disease, Theresa adjusted her work schedule so she could help. She also made several mission trips to Mexico, volunteered to help people find low cost housing and gave block parties in their neighborhoods.

Often, she went to prison and talked with families standing in line waiting to visit a loved one. Always she wore two colorful bracelets designed like the wordless book so she could use them to tell the Gospel story while they waited. “Now tell the story back to me, so I know you can tell it to someone else.” she’d say when she finished, Then she’d give them the second bracelet. “Often the women were poor and delighted to receive a handsome piece of jewelry.”

Twice her ministry has come to a screeching halt. The first was when she had a heart attack in the shower. “Lord,” she prayed, “if this is my appointment with you, I’m ready.” When she arrived at the hospital, the doctor told her that if she’d been one minute later, she would be dead.

Then, early in 2008, Theresa developed diabetic retinopathy—a condition that causes bleeding in the back of the eye. “Suddenly I couldn’t be active because my vision was practically zero.” Although she’d known for years that she had diabetes, she admits she hadn’t taken good care of herself. “I wasn’t a good steward of my own body.” Recently, with treatments, she has been gradually regaining sight and is eager to return to ministry.

What has she learned from her experiences? “Our faith is measured by how we react when life takes a downturn. But we can be sure that God will never abandon us.”

*Names have been changed

Websites:
http://www.marionduckworthministries.com
http://www.healinghopeonline.com

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The Healing Hope Newsletter - September 2009

2009-09-05T21:20:49Z

Healing Hope Newsletter
September 2009

Theresa* was driving home from work on August 5, 1995 after a graveyard shift when she suddenly sensed a presence in the seat beside her. It was her orthopedic surgeon who was scheduled to perform surgery on her knee in three weeks. “He didn’t say a word, but I blurted out that I couldn’t have the surgery without my nurse.” The vision of the man faded.

The nurse she referred to was her husband, Doug*. “He had taken wonderful care of me after each of nine major surgeries. I burst into tears and cried all the way home. “I didn’t know why I was crying or what all this meant.” When she got home, she found the front door locked. Doug, who was retired and in bed at that early morning hour, always left it unlocked and open just a crack.

“Immediately, I knew.”

She rushed inside where she found Doug dead in his recliner where he’d been all night. Although he’d survived a heart attack, damage from asbestosis contracted when he was a Merchant Marine had caused his breathing to become more and more shallow. Eventually, he had to stop the smallest chore to catch his breath.

“Doug was the love of my life.” We did everything together. He taught me to golf but he didn’t go off and join the men’s club. I didn’t join the women’s club. We always played the course together.

“The first year after his death I was very suicidal. I simply didn’t want to be in this world without him. I’d go to work, come home, cry myself to sleep, and stay in bed all day.” Theresa kept thinking about buying a gun. “Or I thought maybe I could run my car off the road and no one would know that I’d killed myself.”

“It was my mother who kept me from committing suicide even though she didn’t know it.” Theresa’s mother and Doug were very close. “He treated her as though she was his own. So of course, his death had a profound effect on her. I knew that if I committed suicide she’d be completely destroyed.”

While other members of her biological family had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Theresa did not. “I thought I’d never be good enough to be a Christian. I resisted so strongly that when I went to a Billy Graham crusade and he gave the altar call, I kept my hands glued to the arms of the chair.

“But when my nephew got in trouble, my sister-in-law and I prayed for him. Then one Sunday I visited a church and the pastor gave an altar call, “My hand seemed to shoot up of it’s own accord.” The whole experience terrified her.

Read about Theresa’s encounter with a second mystery man, her new birth and fruitful ministry, the day that darkness fell and the faith that sustained her in the October 2009 edition of The Healing Hope Newsletter.

Blessings,

Marion Duckworth

*Theresa and Doug are pseudonyms

Websites:
http://www.marionduckworthministries.com
http://www.healinghopeonline.com

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