By Rachel Mari
“The Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.” -Isaiah 61:1
Caring for wounded women and men is at the core of Healing Hearts Ministries. An outreach to women who have undergone an abortion and to others affected by the tragedy, the organization’s goal is “Healing Hearts…One at a Time.” And with statistics showing that 40% of women have had an abortion, there is a staggering need. In Metro New York, some of those women are finding healing through local Healing Heart counselors.
“Words can hardly express the heartbreak of abortion and the path of damage that it leaves behind,” said Sue Liljenberg, the founder of Healing Hearts and an abortion survivor. “By the time clients reach our door, many of their marriages and families are on the brink of destruction…Some of them have thousands of dollars in secular and Christian counseling bills and still have not been set free from their pain and torment. Some are suicidal, dependent on drugs, and drowning in a sea of hopelessness. When we began ministering to post-abortive women in 1988, we knew that there was a great need.”
Healing Hearts, based out of Washington State, offers personal support and a series of Bible studies, including Binding Up the Brokenhearted (for post-abortive women), The Hem of His Garment (for women not necessarily post-abortive), and Wounded Warrior (for men). The organization has leaders in 31 states and also internationally. Throughout 2009, Healing Hearts ministered to 800 hurting people through group and on-line ministry and today, there are 106 enrolled online alone.
Some individuals choose to go through the studies either in a group or through e-mail. An assigned lay counselor guides both methods. Many of the counselors are former clients who have worked through a study, experienced a desire to help others find healing and freedom, and then trained in the counseling program.
“The Healing Hearts Bible studies are based solely on the Word of God,” said Donna Murgola, one of only two New Jersey counselors. “Anything else is a mere band-aid, but true healing is found in Christ. The study focuses on areas such as grief, guilt, shame, forgiveness, bitterness, and the grace of God. It’s a practical application of the Scriptures that promotes healing and walking in freedom…I truly felt like I was born-again, again!”
Murgola, who oversees Jersey City and Bayonne, NJ, has led several studies out of her home church, Riverside Assembly of God in Jersey City. Having lived through trauma of her own, she can relate well to her clients. Murgola endured the hardships of an alcoholic parent, sexual abuse, and substance abuse. At 16, she became pregnant and underwent an abortion. “I believed IF there was a God, surely He didn’t care about what happened to me,” said Murgola. “Over the years, I was able to break away from the addiction that held me captive and led a ‘successful’ life. I married the love of my life and we had a beautiful son, owned a home, held good jobs, even had a dog—I was living the American dream. But I was angry. Something was missing in my life. Peace and hope were missing. Someone shared Jesus with me and my life was forever changed. Hope and peace replaced the hopelessness and despair I felt, but I still had this nagging feeling that I would never be ‘good enough’…I had done too many things to truly be freed from my past. The Healing Hearts Bible study changed all that for me.”
Murgola was introduced to a Healing Hearts Bible series when a woman in her church needed help healing from her abortion and sought her help. When she found Healing Hearts, she found something for herself, too.
“How surprised I was to see I had so much guilt and shame that I needed to deal with,” she said. “God needed to do some serious heart surgery and heal me from my painful past. As I went through the study, I was able to truly forgive those who hurt me and be freed of the bitterness that had taken root in my heart. I was invited to become a counselor in this ministry and have had the privilege of helping other women find the same freedom I found in God’s Word.”
This March, Murgola will accompany Liljenberg to Tel Aviv, Israel to meet with a church and a ministry that reaches out to women who have been trafficked into the country as sex slaves. Other teams will be sent to Africa and Holland as well.
“Through this study and through my wonderful counselor the Lord revealed to me that I had been holding onto bitterness and anger toward some of those involved in my abortion and in that period of my life,” said Amanda after completing the Binding Up the Brokenhearted study. “I learned that some of the scars that I thought I had to bear for the rest of my life could be completely healed! I have been a Christian for 15 years and a pastor’s wife for nine of those. I have a wonderful, biblical, Gospel-centered, Christ-exalting church, but I had never experienced, in my own life, intimacy with our Lord like I have during this study.”
“Had I not been exposed and fully involved in this study, I would still be a broken, misguided, less whole, confused, and unhealed woman,” said Brittany after completing The Hem of His Garment. “In my opinion, the healing I’ve received through this study is the cornerstone of the next level in my relationship with God and the next chapter in my life’s journey…I am liberated and alive because of the work God has done in me through the study. I now look with excitement towards the future and know that God has good things planned for me in the days ahead.”
All online Bible studies are free of charge and the ministry is supported by donations. The organization is also funded by the sale of private label, all-natural skin care lotions and lip balms (HealingHearts.org) and through its annual June fundraising walk.
“I want [people] to know that there is healing for EVERYTHING we have gone through,” said Murgola. “Too often, women walk through life defeated in spite of the fact that they are children of God. Guilt and shame can be crippling and although we know there’s no condemnation in Christ Jesus, we still carry the weight of our past and the feeling of ‘being less than.’ We go to church, go to seminars and conferences, raise our families, do our jobs, but the ‘wholeness’ that God wants for us is elusive. That ‘wholeness’ (healing) can be found in this study.”
For more information on Healing Hearts Ministries, visit http://www.healinghearts.org .
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