Conduit April 13- Shame

Sherry Morris has an incredible story. She was molested at 5, survived a drug overdose at 13, she was raped at 15, was pregnant at 17 and again at 22, both pregnancies ended by abortion. It wasn’t her desire. However, she was pressured by others that it was the right thing to do at the time. From there she had more relationships that were bad, used drugs to escape the spiral her life was on. She married and divorced in less then a year. Then she got pregnant again. Just like before, she was encouraged that abortion would be the best thing, but this time it was different. She was stronger. She chose life.

She gave birth to a son, and named him Jason. Many of you know Jason. Around Conduit we call him J. He is the smooth creamy dancing machine from the Haiti Ball that has been leading worship at Conduit for the past couple of months.

Sherry made the decision to follow Christ in a rehab facility in 1988. The questions of what to do with the guilt and the shame are part of her story. It’s powerful because that’s a truth that all of us deal with on different levels. It’s recorded in Genesis that Adam and Eve felt no shame. We can’t imagine what that must feel like. It was Eden. It will be again, but in the meantime it’s a very real emotion that some of us battle with more than others.

These are emotions Paul must have dealt with. I wonder how many times Paul ran into the families of Christians he had personally executed before his conversion. How difficult it must have been to forgive himself. Shame is a powerful emotion that takes hold of your thought life. Perhaps that’s why it’s Paul that told us about “taking every thought captive”. (2 Cor.10:5) It’s something he probably had personal experience with.

Sherry is doing exactly what Paul said he did. 2 Corinthians 1:4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Today, Sherry works for an organization called Healing Hearts Ministries. It is an International Ministry, which is currently located in Bonney Lake, Washington. It was formed to provide Biblical counseling and Christian ministry to individuals who suffer emotionally and spiritually from the pain, trauma and afflictions of their past, not forsaking it’s original calling to minister hope and healing to women and men who have been afflicted by the sin of abortion.

A couple weeks ago I wrote to you that our story, the story of what God has done and is doing in our lives is one of the best apologetics for our faith in Christ. It was true for Moses, it was true for Paul and it is true for Sherry Morris it’s true for you and I. Monday night we’re going to get a front row seat to just such a story. We’re going to get to meet Sherry Morris AKA “J’s Mom” as she shares with us what God has done and is doing in her life.

In other news, the Hezlep’s are back from the Everlife European tour. I’m hoping for lots of great Europe stories from Jeremy and Amber. It felt like something was missing while they were gone. I guess it’s because there was. It’ll be good to see them back.

We’re rapidly approaching our trip to Haiti. We leave from Nashville on April 30. My trip is paid for, but I encourage you to pray about helping out with an extra gift for our brothers and sisters in Haiti. In Nashville we talk a lot about “doing lunch” with each other. Maybe you can do lunch with our friends in Haiti. For $15 you can feed a child for a month. A month of “doing lunch”. You can do that at www.conduitmission.org.

Remember we are a 501C3 nonprofit organization and any gift that you give is fully tax deductible. Also remember that we are a conduit and not a lake. The money you give is sent into the front lines at the end of every month. We have very little operating expenses and were able to give away 96.5% of all money that came in. You can see a full record of our finances at our Facebook group. It’s posted publically for everyone to see.

I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be fantastic. I can’t wait to hear what God has to say through Sherry Morris. Monday night at 7:30pm.

Blessings,
Darren

PODCASTS: The podcasts are up to date at www.darrentyler.podomatic.com and on itunes.