“Behold, the Virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.”
Which means “God is with us.”
December 2010
My Dear Family in Christ,
I am writing this letter during the week of the great feast of the Immaculate Conception. The feast when we ponder our belief that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived by her parents without original sin. A singular privilege given to her in preparation for her role as the Mother of Jesus Christ, God who became man.
In preparation of her feast day I am doing a special novena, which is nine days of prayer and fasting for a particular grace or purpose. Already I am seeing the fruit of my prayers, and it moved me to write this letter to encourage you to love and honor the Blessed Virgin Mary and to pray and fast regularly. Being a good Jewish woman, I’m sure Mary frequently fasted and offered sacrifices as was the custom.
I wish to express my gratitude to all of YOU who offer sacrifices and intercede for the women coming through the Ten-Step Program. The wounds of abortion keep them bound to the past, blind to their own goodness and crippled in their relationships as they dwell in guilt, grief and shame. Many are afraid of God!
Through your faithful prayers they receive the graces needed to accept God’s forgiveness, which precedes healing and transformation. This reconciliation allows them to be the mothers they need to be for their children, better wives to love and support their husbands, better daughters to comfort and care for elderly parents. Their healing and conversion is crucial if we are to build a civilization of life and love. Their abortion witness is important to reveal the devastating truth of how abortion hurts families and all of society. Abortion recovery gives them their voice and their conversion gives them grace to bear witness for Christ.
I want to express my appreciation to all who support Healing Hidden Hurts ministry throughout the year. Some lend a helping hand, others share their expertise and others support us financially. May God bless you for your giving!
Those of you who faithfully support the ministry with monthly gifts are the backbone of the ministry. This year in a particular way, it was the monthly donors who enabled me to keep the doors open. These donations allowed me to meet our fixed expenses when income slowed to a trickle and no Parish Visits were scheduled. Although it was a very difficult year, God was with us. We survived and in some ways even thrived, serving more women than in previous years. Yeah!!
It was also a very difficult year for me personally. Because of our financial circumstances I was really tempted to seek a job to help support our family. I prayed and asked the Lord what He wanted me to do. At the time I was working with four women. I had appointments in the morning, afternoon, evening and Saturday, and I wondered how would I be able to work an outside job and remain faithful to the Lords call to ministry. In prayer, I felt the Lord answered ‘this IS your work’. So I continue to do full time what I have begun, trusting as Mary did, that God is with us and will provide for our needs according to his perfect will.
Recently, I listened to a CD from Dr. Scott Hahn, Professor of Theology and Scripture, that a great evil of our day is the fear of pain. The pain of poverty, the pain of being a single mother, the pain of rejection from a loved one. This fear of pain leads to all sorts of sin, including abortion. Jesus tells us to fear not, because God is with us, and He will help us when we place our trust in Him. He will either shield us from the pain or give us the grace necessary to accept what he allows.
Jesus teaches us from the cross that the one who loves God suffers willingly. In the Gospel of Matthew we read … “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” To overcome the great evil of abortion, great suffering will be required. And our trials and suffering born patiently bring great graces for us and for others.
I am very hopeful and excited about the coming New Year. More women than ever are coming forth to begin the Ten-Step Program. Parish Visits and talks are scheduled. A Facilitator Training will be offered at Matrix Pregnancy Care Center in Lafayette. Volunteers are working on a revision of the Facilitators guidebook. The new website will be launched soon and a professional DVD will promote the ministry. Yes, God is good and there is every hope for a very good year!
May you prosper in faith, hope and love, because God is with us!
Merry Christmas,
Debbie Miller