Wounds
PS: Teen Challenge is NOT just for teens! They serve all ages!

9-13-13
I was thinking about my girl, Brandy, and her journey in life. In fact, I popped out of bed at about midnight with an analogy of what we go through in life and how the Home of Hope, Teen Challenge, deals with wounds. You see, for someone like Brandy, you would think that the big scars do the most damage. She was molested by an uncle at the age of 10 and never told me. That is when the drinking and acting out started. She ran away several times after that and was raped while house sitting. Then the drug use to numb the pain started.  Later, her husband would beat her, dump her in the desert to make her walk home then later ran her over with a suburban, almost taking her life from me. She didn’t want to think or feel. She just reacted. She self-medicated for most of her life.
You might think that these ‘wounds’ would make an extremely large impact. But you must understand, for your sake, and everyone’s around you, that it is the dark lies that wound the deepest. It’s the things people speak at you and to you, and the things you think about yourself that cut the deepest. And for every bad choice you make, you also speak darkness and accept another poisonous lie about yourself. So you can imagine, with all the bad that happened to her, and all the bad choices she made for her life, she was very adept at accepting all manner of dark poisonous lies about herself because outwardly they appeared true. (She was the only one who couldn’t see the beautiful loving person that she was. You couldn’t convince her.)
For every wound we carry, there is scar tissue and a poisonous dark lie that we accepted in that circumstance. That is why when you say something to someone, and they lash out for ‘seemingly’ no reason, you likely pressed on a wound. Tread lightly on those things you do not understand.
When a doctor cleans a wound, he must first touch it all over again and cause pain. It isn’t enough to just clean the outside, because the poison is still inside making that wound fester.  He must cut into that wound and extract the poison, and clean it like new, to make it truly heal. That is why 30 day programs usually don’t work. How can you take years and decades of pain, wounds and poison, dig deep enough to reach each wound, extract all the poison from each one, clean it and fill it with healing light in 30 days? That is why many leave those programs and for a little while they do ok… until the poison surfaces from their wounds.
The Teen Challenges around the Country, and my Home of Hope understand this. Their program is 13 months for a reason. It takes every bit of that to dig deep into these broken soul’s wounds. Teen Challenge Home of Hope staff are quite skilled in teaching the women first, to recognize their wounds. The girls there used to laughingly say, with an undercurrent of truth, “That’s a wound.” (I miss Gabby.) That helps them identify why they react the way they do to life issues. Once they find the wound, it is time to dig deeper to understand what poisonous dark lie that they accepted with that wound. This is the longer process because those lies are raveled around half-truths and some truth and it becomes very difficult to extract just the lie and leave the rest intact. Do you know the secret to that?
God. You cannot fight the dark without the Light. You cannot heal the fear and pain without Love. You cannot combat the lies without the Truth. The Holy Spirit within us can and does guide us into all truth to help these women. When they accept Jesus Christ as their savior, He then works from the inside out to heal them and bring them to a personal relationship with Christ!  So the thing to understand is this isn’t just a program that saves them from addiction, though that is what they are most known for. This is a program that witnesses to the dying, heals the sick and, if the Holy Spirit leads them to it, sends them out to be disciples for other lost souls. Or in some cases, keeps them there as staff to counsel and love on others. And as an added bonus, they teach life skills, emotional intelligence, business acumen, parenting, accountability, team building, and all manner of knowledge to help them be a productive member of society.
Do you know anyone who drinks or uses drugs? Most of us do. Maybe it is your parents, children, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, teachers, neighbors, ex’s, the postman?  Maybe you don’t know how to begin the conversation? Well, we started by pleading with Brandy to take a tour of this awesome facility where she could literally take a break from life’s responsibilities for a year. She could live in a clean environment with other women and children, no bills, no outside stress, just a break from the world. Initially she said no. She had it all together and didn’t need anyone. The weekend we took her on a tour, her plans to get an apartment fell through because she broke up with her boyfriend, her cell phone broke and if that wasn’t enough to convince her she needed a break, the company she worked for went under. That quick. Plant the seed and trust God do the rest. He loves us THAT much.
 Maybe you don’t know anyone. You are lucky. But in this dark world, addictions tend to be the norm, not the exception. There are many people out there abusing prescription drugs and you many never know it. And as you know, addictions sometimes lead to crimes, sometimes unspeakable. So I urge you… if you can’t find someone to save, support someone who is already there. When you sponsor someone from Teen Challenge, you aren’t just affecting A life. You are affecting EVERY life that person touches. When people see the transformation of that one life, they too could be saved. You don’t have to give a lot. Give monthly what you can. Let the Holy Spirit lead you and what He asks you to give, give. He will bless you in ways you cannot imagine.
Brandy’s salvation and healing has transformed the lives of many in her family and because of her and the Home of Hope, my deepest desire is to start a women’s and children’s Teen Challenge ministry in Flagstaff. Because of a little idea planted by Pastor Diane, I am now in ministry classes at the Arizona School of Ministry. My husband, who initially used to argue with me about his idea of ‘Christians’ in a negative sense has now seen the deep selflessness of the Home of Hope and Assemblies of God churches associated with Teen Challenge. He not only loves the women and children of our Home of Hope, but he sees what a true Christian should look like. His heart has gotten even bigger than it already was. But more than that, when I am down, he is the one to remind me of what the bible says. He supports me whole-heartedly in my ministry goals. His plan is to be the maintenance and father figure in the Teen Challenge.
Now how many lives do you suppose we can affect because of our first meeting with Megan Garrison in the back hallways of that Home of Hope? How many lives do you suppose all of the parents and friends can affect through their conversations, facebooking, emailing, and living deeper in relationship with God? There is no limit with Him. There is no better contribution to society nor easier way to help others find salvation and healing through Christ.
Praise God for all the people who impacted a life in this manner.