BRINGING HOPE
by Pastor Leanne Parden, Program Director

Greetings! I am excited about all that God is doing. We have seen God answering prayer on many fronts.

I believe this is a year of great success. 2 Corinthians 4:13-yet we have the same spirit of faith as he wrote, I have believed and therefore have I spoken.

We too believe and therefore we speak. David was afflicted; he suffered at the hands of family and friends. People had let him down. David had learned that God was his only source.

I find as I go to the prison to do bible studies, many of the women that I minister to have been just like this. They have suffered. the bitter realization that people have let them down. Their families have abandoned them and their to the saddest of friends have now forsaken them. They are all alone! They are facing the realization that when they are released from prison, they will be on their own with nothing to go back to.

As we share the word of God with these ladies, they begin to see that their only hope is God. These women are learning that God has something so much better for them. We impart into them the same spirit of faith that we have. We don't go to share our troubles, but to bring hope and the promise of God. When we share the good news of the gospel, it will speak life, not death. It will bring hope, not hopelessness. It will bring joy to the saddest of circumstances.

My success is what I believe I can do. I am nothing in myself, but God knows what he created me to be. These ladies begin to speak the word of God into their own lives. They see the power it has in changing them and their situation.

They begin to have hope and begin to change their way of thinking. They were created by an awesome God who has great plans for them. He created them to be "Women of Excellence." So, "We too believe and therefore speak" that God stir up a new thing in each of them and we endeavor to help them grow in their relationship with God.