| Testimonies |
From Group Participants:
"This ministry has become a safe place of refuge for me; a safe place to come for love and support while God is in the process of healing me. I no longer feel so alone and isolated in my lesbian struggles. I realize now that there are others like myself walking this road of healing. What comfort it is to know that I am not alone anymore."
"This ministry has become a safe place of refuge for me; a safe place to come for love and support while God is in the process of healing me. I no longer feel so alone and isolated in my lesbian struggles. I realize now that there are others like myself walking this road of healing. What comfort it is to know that I am not alone anymore."
From Parents:
As a mother with a child who is struggling with gender identity confusion, the Living Waters Program became a necessary step in my own personal healing. Living Waters was the tool the Lord used to keep my focus on Him, His Word, His Truths, His Ways, when my mind was wandering fiercely with the concerns of my family. Living Waters supported what God had been teaching me through His Word. It was a soothing balm at a time when I felt so alone with no one in my current family, social or spiritual circles to come along side me. The Focus in this program is your relationship with Christ. This is where all healing and growing begins. I recommend this program to anyone who desires to draw nearer to the Lord and find peace for their souls.
Anonymous
"We'd been to so many places and counselors and our hearts and souls never felt as they did Monday night. We want to congratulate you for your efforts to help all of those people in the room, and I am sure that there are many, many others that are looking for a place like yours. I only pray to God that one day they will find you."
From a Living Waters participant:
"I would recommend this program to anyone who is suffering from any type of sexual problem. I feel free of a lot of junk that has been hounding me for many years. It is a wonderful program with wonderful caring people."
I was exposed to pornography when I was in grade school which sparked a curiosity that quickly changed to an addiction which the devil used to lead to a deep hole of looking for the perfect image of a woman. God began a 28 year journey of revelation and restoration by giving me a verse that gave me hope. 2 Timothy 1:7 God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and self discipline. That journey of failure after failure in my own power was used by God to show me his love that never ended, his grace that was sufficient, his mercy that was new every morning. In God's timing he provided the Living Waters program to challenge me to allow other people into my lonely dark sins and hurts so that his light might heal my heart.
I moved to the Tampa Bay Area from Chicago in 1998, and first got involved with New Hearts Outreach in 1999.
I became interested in this type of ministry due to a vision I received at a church service in 1987. This vision directed me to begin to explore ways in which I could share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those in the Gay community. I had never been involved in this lifestyle, and I knew this was a group often not open to the Gospel, and therefore was not initially eager to obey God in this matter. In the following months, however, God softened my heart towards it. While living still in Chicago, my approach varied from direct evangelism, such as Gospel tract distribution in areas with a high homosexual population, to simply trying to build bridges, such as walking several times in the annual AIDS walk, which benefited research and also those currently suffering from the disease. Although I believe God used what I did, it did not offer the Gay community direct insight into why their lifestyle might have originally been attractive to them, and how a closer walk with Jesus could weaken its hold. New Hearts Outreach, which I learned about shortly after moving to this area, has given me something more concrete that I can present to those I try to reach. Through the Christ-centered testimonies of its Director, Mark Culligan, and also of the many helped by its support groups, I have hope that anyone in the Tampa Bay Gay community open to giving God a chance in their life has a good place they could go to. My involvement in New Hearts has been very instrumental in my own healing as well, because I have seen that Jesus offers me far more love and purpose than the self-striving and often manipulative options I have often chosen for myself. I personally have continued to try to reach the Gay community on their turf, primarily outside of two particular Gay bars on Friday nights, but am glad I can mention New Hearts as an option people I speak to might consider in the future.
Coming from a physically/sexually abusive background, Living Waters allowed me to forgive my perpetrator and myself. I released all of my resentment, anger and bitterness.
I am 35 years old and have spent most of my life carrying an unbearable burden in silence. As far back as I can remember I have struggled with same sex attractions. From an early age I knew that this was wrong, so I kept silent about it. I begged God to "fix" me. When the years began to pass by and He hadn't, my relationship with God became jeopardized. I began to believe that God was cruel and hated me and this is why He wouldn't wake me from my nightmare. He wouldn't heal me.
Entering my thirties brought on a new form of panic. The clock was ticking. I thought for sure I would have beaten this by now. I could not fathom going into my forties and fifties still carrying this much sorrow and loneliness.
In desperation I shared about my struggle with a couple of pastors from my church. They encouraged me to attend Living Waters, which I reluctantly did in 2006.
What happened during those six months is very hard to articulate. What I had kept secret in darkness for years was now brought into the open. What I once carried alone, I now faced with teammates. I learned that the shame that had kept me captive was not sent from God. As a believer in Christ, my sins have been eradicated from God's perception of me. Satan, however, had used shame to keep me from seeking help. In Living Waters I experienced the true healing that comes from confessing my sins to my brothers in Christ. God began a work in my soul that challenged the very foundation of who I thought I was. The truth is I was not a homosexual. I was a little boy who had missed some key components vital to healthy development: male affirmation and acceptance. Same sex attraction was an attempt to have those needs met. It wasn't a description of who God made me. It wasn't truly me. I am a changed man. The openness, the accountability, the confession of struggles- these were the missing pieces in my recovery. Living Waters was the vehicle God used to open my eyes to true surrendered living. When I finally gave up my pride, God replaced it with hope and purpose. I am not cured, but now I am ok with that. Being tempted by something is not a sin - it is what you do with the temptation. Now my struggle serves me in keeping me reliant moment by moment on my savior.
All of these years I wanted to snap my fingers and be cured. God wanted me to learn how to really seek Him with all of my heart; to find all that I need in Him alone. Once I truly committed to that chase, He revealed Himself to me, like He'd promised. I am not free of struggle. I may never be free from it. But through Living Waters, I have learned that I can endure my struggle and find God's grace sufficient to carry me into my forties and fifties and all the rest of the days of my life. God was always ready for me. I had to jump off the cliff and find out if there is a God, would He catch me? I have been held secure in His grip ever since. I will never be the same again!
When I discovered Living Waters I was scared to death about coming clean with my sexual brokenness, and yet I was desperate for help. What I found was freedom from my addictive patterns because of a number of elements within Living Waters: the strict confidentiality, the unconditional love, the solid theology, the understanding of my issues, the powerful application of truth, and the support from those who have 'been there.' Through Living Waters I realized that I could trust Jesus and allow Him access into the depths of my being, knowing that His intentions for me are restoration, wholeness, and healing.
Living Waters has been life changing. In the past, I was a very quiet person who preferred not to be seen or heard. I did not admit to others that I had struggles or pain. Through Living Waters, God has broken the chains of fear, shame and self hatred, and He has shown me just how precious I am to him.