“I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth – Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.” Psalm 40:1-3

In my last devotional on women and addiction I shared the grim facts about addiction and some of the reasons why women enter into a life of bondage. Psalm 40 expresses the pain of bondage, of being stuck in a place that is anything but fulfilling and free. It talks about the fact that it takes an outside source to help us get out of that place or “miry pit”.

When it comes to addiction, there are services out there to help one out of the pit, but often while in the pit they are not seen or used. It is like there is a wall between the help and them. Women in addiction face many barriers in their life and circumstances that make getting help or receiving help difficult.

Half of all addicted women are mothers, and the lack of safe and healthy child care is difficult and they fear losing their children forever if they have to give them up for any length of time. The women tend to be poor, lack insurance, or are the only source of support in the family and walking away from a job is difficult. Many women are sitting not just in the pit of addiction, but the miry bog of mental health issues and that struggle complicates the process or the ability to get and accept help. One of the biggest reasons is, as mentioned in my previous victory call, 70 percent of the women have been abused and/or traumatized in some way, and more often than not many times over. These women find it very hard to trust anyone else to help them, they are fearful of others’ motives, and are extremely fearful of opening themselves up to men. Since many secular addictions programs are co-ed and have a significant male staff they are very hesitant to feel safe.

So, here at America’s Keswick we need to be designing our program with these thoughts in mind. It will be our goal to create a safe, affordable place for the women to come and find the One that can help her out of the “Pit”. We want to first and foremost introduce her to God and the saving work of Jesus Christ. Salvation and freedom will come from no other. Our goal is to help set the stage and atmosphere so that when she is ready and willing to break down some of the barriers and learn to trust us, we can help her trust HIM.

Will you pray for us in this endeavor? Pray for the staff that God is putting in place to come along side these ladies as they share their lives and stories. Pray for the preparation of the hearts of the women God has chosen to participate in the house, those He has chosen to find healing and freedom out of their pit. Pray as we prepare the right program and set up the house structure. I will talk more about that in the next victory call.

Lynne Jahns
Barbara’s Place Program Director