-NEW TESTIMONY- 3/24/13
"I feel like Jesus has taken me from sorrow to joy, from suffering to comfort, from shame and guilt to life and peace, and from feelings of abandonment and hurt to feelings of acceptance and love. Although I still struggle at times with thoughts of fear I am no longer addicted to it. Back when I was fourteen there was a man in my church who would sexually abuse me. It didnt go on for very long and it wasn't intense but it was enough abuse to cause me to feel paranoid and afraid around men, period. It didnt matter if they were trustworthy men, or Godly men the waves of fear would come and I would freeze up inside. I told my parents later when I was 18. It didn't seem like it made sense to them or they didn't understand. But it hurt my heart and my desire for marriage one day when a man I both trusted and loved growing up, that I would talk to him about life and spiritual things and then he'd abuse me. It sent mixed signals about who I was, how I am valued as a women, and it violated me as a person. With all the paranoia and annoyance over the whole situation God was still able to speak. He brought some very significant people around in my life as I got older. Shonnie and her Healing Streams Ministry was one of those people. We discussed and prayed over several different issues before I felt like trusting the Lord in her with one of my darkest and deepest secrets of my life. I had only told 3 people including my parents about what had happened and I still needed to experience freedom. In prayer and asking the Lord for pictures I received freedom. One of the things He showed me was that there is a huge thorny, black, ugly weed that He had to uproot in my life before He could plant flowers there. It was beautiful. He also showed me that Jesus has forgiven my sin and that the man's sin who did it to me is forgiven as well. That all my sin can not out do the cross and that because of that I must extend the same pure love and forgiveness to the man who violated me. I am so free! There are days I have to watch over my heart more than others, watch out for anger and bitterness and fear. But overall the Lord continues daily to offer His grace and forgiveness to me which I in turn can offer to others! :) I hope you find freedom in your life through the grace of God in your life and that you know it's for freedom Christ set us free!"
~*~*~*~
"I grew up thinking that I was alone and that no one cared. I went to church and heard that God sees everything, but I didn’t understand for most of my life how that could be possible with the things that went on at my house. Feeling like, if God is watching, how could He let these things happen? Around the age of seventeen, when I had to transition to adulthood faster than most and without much guidance, I found my comfort from the hurt my parents brought me in getting high, smoking weed. I hid behind it for five years of my life, the times I would try to stop, I would hurt so much, I would cry and be confused, blame God, and ask Him why He would even put me here. At the beginning of last year, 2011, I stopped getting high, I hated the feeling of not being normal and only being able to function if I was stoned. I started begging God for something, anything, I would cry out to him for direction, a sign.
"I met Shonnie in January of last year, I knew she was a counselor, but I had no idea how this would affect me (I honestly didn’t think it would). I have never been comfortable opening up about the things that went on during my childhood because of the fear of being judged for it or blamed. Very soon after I met her, she wanted to get to know me and it was so easy for me to open up to her. She saw the hurt in my heart and never judged me or told me not to feel sorry for myself, like I have heard from others that I have tried to open up to. She offered to do Christian counseling sessions with me; it has helped me so much. I learned that Jesus loves me and He can take away the pain, He doesn’t want us to have it. Shonnie helped me to forgive my parents and pray for them. I can honestly say that I have told Shonnie things that I would never tell anyone else. I still have work to do on myself, but I feel better now that I have given all the hurt and pain to Jesus that I have ever felt in my entire life. Even after all the things I told Shonnie, fearing every time I would be judged and shot down, she cares about me and my heart. God put her in my life for a reason."
~*~*~*~
"I originally went to Healing Streams at the urging of a friend who knew how much pain I was in and had found healing for herself through this counseling. I had gotten to the place in my life where I resigned that I would simply have to learn to deal with the pain because I didn't believe that Jesus could or would ever heal me. But reluctantly, I went. Through counseling, I found a lot of compassion and learned that pain is pain. Though my life may look differently or even easier than the person beside me, Jesus cares about my pain and wants to meet me there. However, this counseling went beyond a safe place to vent and a shoulder to cry on. Each time we counseled, Jesus met me in very personal ways. There were weeks of my life when I only heard God's voice speaking to me during counseling because the environment was so safe, peaceful and Spirit-filled. Through Healing Streams, I gained clarity about my past and my pain, experienced God's love in those places and was equipped to take my pain to Jesus each time I was hurt again. This wasn't a one-time experience, but a journey that I will carry in my heart for years to come. If you have given up hope on being whole, give it one more chance. Jesus is well able to heal you, and He has used this ministry in my life to do just that. "
"I feel like Jesus has taken me from sorrow to joy, from suffering to comfort, from shame and guilt to life and peace, and from feelings of abandonment and hurt to feelings of acceptance and love. Although I still struggle at times with thoughts of fear I am no longer addicted to it. Back when I was fourteen there was a man in my church who would sexually abuse me. It didnt go on for very long and it wasn't intense but it was enough abuse to cause me to feel paranoid and afraid around men, period. It didnt matter if they were trustworthy men, or Godly men the waves of fear would come and I would freeze up inside. I told my parents later when I was 18. It didn't seem like it made sense to them or they didn't understand. But it hurt my heart and my desire for marriage one day when a man I both trusted and loved growing up, that I would talk to him about life and spiritual things and then he'd abuse me. It sent mixed signals about who I was, how I am valued as a women, and it violated me as a person. With all the paranoia and annoyance over the whole situation God was still able to speak. He brought some very significant people around in my life as I got older. Shonnie and her Healing Streams Ministry was one of those people. We discussed and prayed over several different issues before I felt like trusting the Lord in her with one of my darkest and deepest secrets of my life. I had only told 3 people including my parents about what had happened and I still needed to experience freedom. In prayer and asking the Lord for pictures I received freedom. One of the things He showed me was that there is a huge thorny, black, ugly weed that He had to uproot in my life before He could plant flowers there. It was beautiful. He also showed me that Jesus has forgiven my sin and that the man's sin who did it to me is forgiven as well. That all my sin can not out do the cross and that because of that I must extend the same pure love and forgiveness to the man who violated me. I am so free! There are days I have to watch over my heart more than others, watch out for anger and bitterness and fear. But overall the Lord continues daily to offer His grace and forgiveness to me which I in turn can offer to others! :) I hope you find freedom in your life through the grace of God in your life and that you know it's for freedom Christ set us free!"
~*~*~*~
"I grew up thinking that I was alone and that no one cared. I went to church and heard that God sees everything, but I didn’t understand for most of my life how that could be possible with the things that went on at my house. Feeling like, if God is watching, how could He let these things happen? Around the age of seventeen, when I had to transition to adulthood faster than most and without much guidance, I found my comfort from the hurt my parents brought me in getting high, smoking weed. I hid behind it for five years of my life, the times I would try to stop, I would hurt so much, I would cry and be confused, blame God, and ask Him why He would even put me here. At the beginning of last year, 2011, I stopped getting high, I hated the feeling of not being normal and only being able to function if I was stoned. I started begging God for something, anything, I would cry out to him for direction, a sign.
"I met Shonnie in January of last year, I knew she was a counselor, but I had no idea how this would affect me (I honestly didn’t think it would). I have never been comfortable opening up about the things that went on during my childhood because of the fear of being judged for it or blamed. Very soon after I met her, she wanted to get to know me and it was so easy for me to open up to her. She saw the hurt in my heart and never judged me or told me not to feel sorry for myself, like I have heard from others that I have tried to open up to. She offered to do Christian counseling sessions with me; it has helped me so much. I learned that Jesus loves me and He can take away the pain, He doesn’t want us to have it. Shonnie helped me to forgive my parents and pray for them. I can honestly say that I have told Shonnie things that I would never tell anyone else. I still have work to do on myself, but I feel better now that I have given all the hurt and pain to Jesus that I have ever felt in my entire life. Even after all the things I told Shonnie, fearing every time I would be judged and shot down, she cares about me and my heart. God put her in my life for a reason."
~*~*~*~
"I originally went to Healing Streams at the urging of a friend who knew how much pain I was in and had found healing for herself through this counseling. I had gotten to the place in my life where I resigned that I would simply have to learn to deal with the pain because I didn't believe that Jesus could or would ever heal me. But reluctantly, I went. Through counseling, I found a lot of compassion and learned that pain is pain. Though my life may look differently or even easier than the person beside me, Jesus cares about my pain and wants to meet me there. However, this counseling went beyond a safe place to vent and a shoulder to cry on. Each time we counseled, Jesus met me in very personal ways. There were weeks of my life when I only heard God's voice speaking to me during counseling because the environment was so safe, peaceful and Spirit-filled. Through Healing Streams, I gained clarity about my past and my pain, experienced God's love in those places and was equipped to take my pain to Jesus each time I was hurt again. This wasn't a one-time experience, but a journey that I will carry in my heart for years to come. If you have given up hope on being whole, give it one more chance. Jesus is well able to heal you, and He has used this ministry in my life to do just that. "