For several years, I (Sally Hall) was blessed to be a volunteer and later a volunteer coordinator at a crisis pregnancy center in Easton, PA.
Praise be to God our community has several crisis pregnancy centers where women who are pregnant can find truth, compassion and help. There are other places within our community where women can find assistance too, but during my time at the crisis pregnancy center, I realized there were not enough agencies or people in place to meet the needs and handle the many and different crisis women in our community face.
I began to ask myself and God questions like... What are women in so many different crisis to do and where can they go? What about the woman who finds herself in the middle of a crisis in her marriage or suddenly a single mom forced to go back into a work force with no training, childcare, resume, clothing, or transportation? Where will she find help? What about a woman who faces a relationship crisis due to addiction, infidelity, lying, theft, or a host of other relational issues that can cause crisis? There can be health issues and financial issues that can cause a crisis in a woman's life. Even if a woman is receiving financial support or assistance, often there isn't enough money left to buy food or clothing. Where can she go for emotional support or to whom can she turn to help her figure out what to do and how to do it? Some women are in crisis because they have believed more than one lie, and as such need dose after dose of truth in order to set them right in their thinking. I had more questions but few answers. I knew help could be found within local churches and ministires, but more questions....
Where do all the hurting and confused women (and I'm talking about women from every background) find truth for their circumstances? Where do they find compassion and godly counsel? Where do they go to find acceptance, safety, and have their needs met? Who prays with these women, seeks God's Word concerning their circumstances, holds their hands, feeds them truth and walks them through the crisis? Who is there to wipe their tears and show them compassion and the love of Jesus? Where do they go to find the truths that will dispel the lies? I decided to ask women at the crisis pregnancy center as well as women in my church and community these questions.
Praise be to God, many churches in our community offer truth, help, support and encouragement. But sadly, there are more hurting women than available churches. Also, many women who have church homes say they would not go to their church for help for fear of rejection, exposure, uncomfortable talking with men, etc. The point is, real or perceived, many women are not going inside a church building or setting for help. Women who have no church home or affiliation say they would never go to a church building or setting for help because of various concerns (real and perceived).
So, what we have are a lot of women in varied risis who are hurting, feeling alone and isolated and no one ministering truth into their lives or offering the help/support they need. What if the model of the crisis pregnancy center could be expanded to include women in all kinds of crisis? And, what if a way to fund this ministry and enlist community, professional and civic support was to open a thrift boutique? Sure, it would require finding hundreds of godly women within our community and training them as peer counselors and volunteers. Women, who by the grace of God, had survived their own crisis. No shortage of those! There appears to be lots of extra clothes in a many closets that could provide inventory for the thrift boutique which could provide funds to support The Women's Center!
After much prayer and reading of the word, I wrote up a proposal and presented it to the board of the crisis pregnancy center. As supportive as they were, their God given vision and focus was for women in a crisis pregnancy. As such, they had to decline involvement. In the fall of 1996, I tucked the proposal in a file and put it in a drawer, and with every passing year God confirmed to me the need for such a place and the desire in my heart grew ever stronger. I would have to trust and wait for God to move for it would be a supernatural project and not possible in the flesh. Certainly not my flesh!
In the meantime, God was stretching me and growing me up spiritually. He was in the process of giving me a passion - especially for Him and His Word. By the time 2000 rolled around, my desire to see women know and understand truth was greater than ever and the organization Truth for Women (TFW) was born. To read more about Truth for Women, click here.
During the summer of 2003, God put within me a sense of urgency to share the idea about a women’s center and a resale boutique with the TFW leadership team and with the community. I pulled the original proposal out of the drawer and mailed it to the TFW leadership team for review and prayer. Late in the summer of 2003, Teri Klinger, Donna Storrs, Eileen Alpaugh and I put the finishing touches on a document we would entitled “A Special Message from Truth for Women.” (To view this document, click links at right) In the fall of 2003, this document was mailed to 1500 people as a way to share the vision, enlist people to pray, and allow God to move in hearts. Perhaps the dream of a women’s center and a resale boutique could soon become a reality.
Since then, Truth for Women has incorporated, registered names for the women’s center and the resale boutique and designed a logo for each. We are still waiting to see how and when God will bring about The Women’s Center, Lehigh Valley, and My Sister’s Closet.
The vision statement for The Women’s Center, Lehigh Valley is: A haven where women are treated with honor and respect. Women are offered hope, help and healing through biblical counsel, mentoring, professional counseling, attending a support group, participating in Bible studies, finding resources, referrals, life skills, job skills training, and/or clothing. All services are private, and confidential. Services are free with the exception of professional counseling which will be charged based on client affordability.
The vision statement for My Sister's Closet is: A place where the community can donate personal belongings whre they will be sold at reasonable prices. A unique place to shop, volunteer or gather to fellowship. Proceeds will fund the ministry work of Truth for Women and develop and fund The Women's Center, Lehigh Valley.
Glory be to God! Pressing on and praying forward...