Good Morning! – or good whatever time it is for you. I’d like to say some "spring and new life and grass growing" kind of thing, but I can’t. The lawn is growing like a 14 year old boy. Totally out of control. Everyone’s kids are antsy, waiting for summer break to come. It
seemed as if we were shoveling snow one day and getting out the lawn mower the
next. I’m ready to sell this time-sucker of a house and do the condo thing. What a whiner!
I want to introduce a new friend, Lilada Gee. Lilada is from
Fountain of Life Church in Madison. She has a vision and heart about the size
of Dane County. She’s beginning an important ministry to women called Women of
Worth. One of her visions (this woman is visionary and multi-gifted) is to
minister to young, single moms. Other desires are to reach out to women with
support and encouragement. We’ve been talking about healing and recovery for
sexual abuse survivors – just one of the areas God has set fire to in this
wonderful sister’s heart.
We all bemoan the increasing rate of birth to young, single
women. I often cry out to the Lord. Stop this! What can the church do? I note, with pain, that the pregnant girls least able to
parent a child are often the ones least able to see that. The enemy of our
souls has succeeded in making adoption a shameful thing in our nation. Girls
are taught to say, "Oh, I couldn’t possibly give my baby up." So, in their brokenness and fear and immaturity,
they abort their baby or keep a child they cannot raise. They bring another
generation into a life of not-enough, fatherless struggling, and financial,
spiritual, and emotional want.
In fact, the young women I’ve known who actually chose adoption
were the ones I looked at and thought perhaps they had what it would take to
raise a child…the support, the maturity, the resources inside and out. They were the ones mature enough to say
"I can’t" and choose another way.
So, one of the purposes of Women of Worth, this flower
sprouting in Lilada’s heart, is to reach out to young, single mothers. Can
love, mentoring, support, a healthy church body, and a substitute family make
the difference between another generation of conception outside of marriage and
kids without dads and a child raised with what he or she needs to live as a
whole person?
You can connect with Lilada at http://www.lilada.com; email at Lilada@lilada.com I know God has some daughters out
there who carry a flame in their hearts for young, single mothers. Is that you? Women willing to invite friends over, hear Lilada’s vision, and put our money where our hearts are. Women in ministry leadership in Madison who know the great need for
outreach and encouragement to women from women. Sound like you? Then, meet my friend Lilada!
love to you all,
Julia