I wish I could feel the way I do today, before I met you. I cannot believe all the 37 years of my life was revolved around you. I have to admit I did love you. I enjoyed your company and I really loved the way you made me feel. You made me feel loved. You took all the pain, sorrow, guilt, and my depression away. I never had to deal with anything because I had you by my side. Nothing in my life mattered. It was all about me and you. I could never picture my life without you.



I had a baby boy who almost died because I was too much involved with you. At that time in my life it was you who took all the pain and suffering I had to deal with. With you, my whole life was a big foggy cloud. At times I got so sick and tired of living in that cloud, but you wouldn’t let me out. As much as I begged and cried to you, I was your prisoner for so many years.



But today I have a few words of my own. I have lost so so much in my life. You took my self-respect, my self esteem, my dignity, and my hope. I sold myself cheap, mentally, and physically! You put me out in the streets with my children, empty in and out. Today I am a different person. I no longer need you as a crutch. I would crawl today to get back everything you have taken from me; my self-respect, my dignity, and self-worth. But most of all, there is one thing you can’t or never will is take my sobriety…not this time around. I am done with you. I know the road is going to get real bumpy, learning to live without you. But I will do whatever it takes for however long it takes. I wish you never existed because all you are going to do is hurt or kill someone else.

GOOD BYE

Linda





Sharing the message behind Linda’s journey

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*The lost sheep…

Luke 15:1-10

[1] Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. [2] But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

[3] Then Jesus told them this parable: [4] “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? [5] And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders [6] and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ [7] I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

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The beginning to today! 40 days of sobriety in Christ Jesus!

· Yes, Linda took herself to the hospital (Holy Family detox), because she now has medical. (A new 4 day program) That was 40 days ago.



She stayed in the hospital (room 310 detox wing) until she was well enough to be sent to ABHS in the valley. There were 100 women at the ABHS program! Linda voluntarily stayed through her 30 days. (She was not court ordered!) Thirty days was all they would pay for since she was not court ordered. This is the beauty of who Linda is in Christ.



· Over 3 years ago she walked into the Freedom House in Post Falls (led by God) to seek Him and find Him (If He was real). She wanted to know if she could find God and KNOW God like I do! She wanted His power too. She gave her life to Christ and was released from that program after 3 months with NO PLACE to go. Of course, she lost her way and went back to West Side because that was her home. The only home she had. (Homeless for years)

· That is where God’s mercy and love found me may years ago. Finally, I get it. Finally I see it! Linda found Jesus and we had no place to help send her. (Like the birth of Love in Christ at the table! We will be stable when we get to Heaven but God also promised On earth as it is in Heaven… Stable in the Light of His HOUSE…HOME)



· ROUND two! This is Your round Father, let’s knock out the enemy in the power of Your Son Jesus Christ! The SON shine of our LIVES! The HOPE of new beginnings!

Today, she is running after Christ. She voluntarily (again) went through detox with God’s amazing help. Imagine, a beautiful room in the hospital filled with God’s angels of LOVE (nurses) who are linked to recovery outside the hospital. Women who loved her through her journey to new physical health. Women who loved the Lord inside the hospital! Wow! This is God’s DETOX with dignity! Too bad Thomas Kinkade – (died of alcoholism in 2012) - didn’t have a buddy he could walk with through doors like we found in Holy Family!



· Fast forward through Linda’s last years to today and you see what God has and is doing.

She wrote this letter as an assignment. She was supposed to write her feelings on paper for her to share with her small group. And when she read it to me (yesterday) I wept tears of JOY… Tears and tears that tear open my old “beliefs” that all people are just drunks (addicts) who will never find their way. (Forgive me Lord but thank you for never ever giving up on Linda. Thank you that I did not listen to counsel from well-meaning believers to leave her to self-destruction!)



Linda was led by the Father! God was the driving force behind her decisions. He carried her moment by moment with a heart transplant to STAY under the shadow of His wings! Linda’s passion to seek Him abounds today in a mighty way! We are in prayer and we surround her as a body of Christ with a Hospital of recovery in the neighborhood called Fell-On-Knee Flats! FFCC has 7 days of “God’s Treatment” (4 blocks from the lighthouse) where she can walk to and be centered in serving others as she “stays centered in the Word.” She is on the war path against the evil one.



THE LIGHTHOUSE HOME of HOPE! WE are a team. I am her buddy along with two other leaders! Who would ever think I would buddy up with a woman from the alley. A woman who came out of a family gripped in evil! Evil? The Lord spoke to me just now…and said she was born into a family of 14. They had no way to feed all the children so Linda was prostituted out when she was 8. Not of her own choice! Evil has been turned into GOOD and He is now A LIVE in her! This is what we are allcalled to see. We are to stop pointing fingers for every finger pointed there are 3 that point back to me! Wow! Today, God opened the gate and led us through the TRUTH in Christ’s Name.



This is the dilemma of the addict. They need a BUDDY in Christ! They need a person to pray for them, with them, and to believe with them.

Why we do what we do! Off-the-Broadway search and rescue! This is the day that the Lord has made, I rejoice and I am sooooo glad in it! The Father found the lost “1” and He used OBFO to plant the seeds.



Imagine, Linda watched us from the back alley off of Broadway for 7 years before she stepped into “trust.” Trusting Jesus is one thing, but to Trust His leaders is another. She watched to see IF we were “conditional” followers. She watched to see IF our love would STOP IF she walked down the wrong path! She watched us. A wounded “child” trapped in a body of an adult is now set free.

· Today, she no longer carries a hardened heart. She spends every morning in the Word with her LOVE of her life…Jesus! She no longer wakes up to the “Drug…”



Today we are meeting with Wendy at the Lighthouse to fill out her application to stay as a LIGHTHOUSE resident. (Wendy detoxed Linda over 3 years ago at the Freedom House in Post Falls) She is in the outpatient recovery intensive care program at SPARCS. She wants it. She is teamed up with AA meetings (she loves) and walks to the individual group counseling sessions just 2 blocks away. She has intense expectations from the program. She has to do UA’s and must not lose track of her goal (in Christ) or she will fail. Her bullets are the Word of God. She puts her armor on every morning (2 to 3 hours) before she walks out the door! She prays and waits for God’s orders to march and she goes out… As the Lord guides her she is becoming a new creation just like you and me.



We have our sister back. Embrace her in prayer and watch the miracle continue to unfold!



In Christ, we are boarding the ARK! Activating Revolutionary Kindles of Kindness My we sail out into the sea searching for the lost as we go. Too weak to swim herself, Linda holds onto the life preserver in Christ Jesus as we steer the boat to the lost little ones. Together, the Father is using our relationship to lead others on board to His perfect “LOVE BOAT” as our “G2’s God’s Gang” swim to help the drowning on the streets of our city!



By the grace of God, she will be surrounded by His people who love her to the way and path of Growth. Growing up we press on. (Teaching the Word of God SWIMMING INSTRUCTIONS)



And this is the most amazing day – January 3, 2013; a day set free to shine for His Glory as we tell His story of redemption!



Love in Christ,

Jan Foland



God’s search for the lost sheep!

Luke 15:1-13

Tax collectors and sinners gathered to hear Jesus. Pharisees and other religious people grumbled: “Jesus welcomes sinners and even eats with them.”



So Jesus told them this story: “Suppose you have a hundred sheep an lose one. Don’t you leave the 99 to search for the lost sheep?’ So listen to me. There’s no greater JOY in Heaven when one sinner turns away from sin. Much more than over 99 law keepers like you.”







Jesus and the Baby, lamb.jpg

Off-Broadway Family Outreach – PO Box 9813 Spokane, WA 99209 (509)998-2630 The Lighthouse of Hope for Women (509)688-5497

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Art by Jan For Him! See the Lord? See the child? See the Lamb? Cradled in the arms of Jesus may the mountain of our sinful addictions melt away in to the sea of forgiveness as we love the lost to the One who holds the Key to “Transformation.”



Jan,



the letter from Linda is wonderful to read.