Investing in Future Generations

I am in Sacramento today and just attended a luncheon with local pastors and leaders at our beautiful new facilities in Lincoln. A few of the pastors have agreed to put us in their mission’s budget, and several are considering paying for the furnishings of at least one room. Our goal is to have this home open sometime this summer. The new facility has 23,000 square feet, and will house 40 more girls and additional office space for our new West Coast staff. Two of our former graduates from the Northern California came and shared their personal stories with our guests, and it made us all so excited about the countless numbers of girls who will walk through those doors in the months and years to come to receive new life in Christ! Speaking of former residents, today I wanted to share with you an encouraging letter I received from Amber, who graduated from the Nashville home in April 2005, exactly four years ago…

Dear Nancy and Mercy Staff,

Hi, I hope you are all doing well and in good health! Recently, I noticed that I was mentioning Mercy Ministries quite often in my discussions. It has caused me to reflect on how much Mercy means to me and the specific things I learned during my tine there that have changed my life. Normally, I simply send a check, but this time I wanted to give you an update because it has been a while now since I graduated (April 2005).

I recently moved to Boise, ID after living in Monterey, CA for 6 months and before then, I was in Olympia, WA for three years attending Bible College. I am currently living with my parents, which is going really well, and pursuing some career options. I am looking into Esthetics.

I have been able to have some really good talks with my parents (I haven’t lived near them for a long time). When I tell them about things I have learned or what has helped me these past several years, it almost always tends to be from my time at Mercy. Some specific things I learned were that healing and freedom came when I began to focus on my relationship with God and not my problems. I had to quit talking about and focusing so much on them. I also learned that I HAD to take action in changing my THINKING or I was never going to change or experience lasting freedom. It was also the first time the WORD ever really became a live to me…even though I had been to Bible school for three years before then.

Now when struggles and down times come, I always find myself going back to the foundational principles and tools that Mercy taught me so that I can get back onto the path I want to be on. Giving myself grace when I fail, changing my thought patterns, and knowing that I can be free and not in bondage to the “issues” that the devil uses to take us down. It’s hard, but once I take action, the chains slowly fall off again, and I start to gain my freedom back again.

I’ve told my parents again and again that if it wasn’t for Mercy Ministries, I don’t know what I’d have done. I don’t’ know what would have become of me by now. I was a complete mess and could not have made it without going to Mercy for help. So basically, I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything. For teaching what you do and helping to change so many lives through the power of Jesus Christ. Thanks so much! I pray right now that God would bless Mercy ministries as a whole, all the people involved including sponsors, and that you will continue to grow and grow! Love you all. In Jesus’ wonderful Name. May we TRUST Him for all we need and have no fear.

Love,
Amber

Not only is Amber an amazing example of what God is doing in transforming the lives of these young girls, but she is also a monthly partner with Mercy! Her own life was changed because she was able to come free of charge, and now she is investing in the lives of those young girls who are coming today to get the same help that she herself received in the past. If you are reading this and you want to make an investment in future generations, please consider becoming a monthly partner with us today – we need your help!! There are many more Ambers out there waiting to be reached. Together we can make a great difference.

Love,
Nancy

On the Road Again…

I decided to do more of a relational blog today to tell everyone what’s going on in my life. I just spent an amazing week at the Watchman Intercessors prayer conference at Christian International near Panama City, Florida. There were a total of five of us from Mercy who went. We got to hear Bishop Bill Hamon speak as well as Pastors Tom and Jane Hamon, Dutch Sheets, Cindy Jacobs, Barbara Yoder, and Chuck Pierce. It was such a powerful time! It is so very important to learn all we can about how to pray for people, and for our nation.

I got back just in time to do some laundry and leave again! I am now in route to a great church in Hobbs, New Mexico – Choose Life Church with Pastors Dean and Kathy Shropshire (www.chooselifehobbs.com). They have been great partners with Mercy Ministries for years helping us do all that we do, but this will be my first visit to their church. I am so excited! After speaking tonight, I will head out tomorrow morning for Sacramento, California for a few meetings there. We will be opening our new facilities in that area sometime this summer, which means 40 more girls off of our waiting list – very exciting!!

Please pray for the services tonight, that God will speak through me the message that He wants me to impart.

Also pray for my dog Jude. He was very sad that I was leaving again. He actually kind of gave me the cold shoulder when I was leaving. So, today’s prayer focus will be for my dog Jude☺I’m starting to understand you cat people because cats don’t actually care when you leave – ha! By the way, for all you cat people, there’s a reason why dog is God spelled backwards! Have a great day!!

Love,
Nancy

Another Mercy Ministries Graduate Prepared for the Mission Field

I just received a note and a college graduation announcement from a girl who graduated from the Mercy Ministries program in 2004, 5 years ago. In May she will be graduating from Bible college on Saturday, May 9th with a BA in Biblical Studies, Magna Cum Laude. Her story is a must read - I can't improve on it with my words...

Dear Nancy,

I wanted to send you my college graduation announcement. Not that I expect you to be there, but just for you to know that I am grateful for your support and love throughout the years. The whole thought of graduating college was only a dream. In six weeks, it will be a reality. Not only that, but a few months ago, I sat before a board and passed an interview to become a licensed Four Square Minister. I never would have guessed that I would be Reverend Kiyomi. God sure does have us on an interesting journey full of surprises. It can be a challenging journey, but ever so worth it.

I’m praying that by September, I will be back on the mission field with YWAM. I hope to go to Ukraine to do a few more counseling schools with YWAM. After that, I want to take all of these skills to Southeast Asia and help those girls who have been victims of sex-trafficking.

I hope that things are going well there. May His presence be near to you. Thanks for loving those who are broken.

- Kiyomi

God is truly raising up champions to reach their generation and beyond. Hope Kiyomi's story is a reminder of the transformation power found only in Jesus Christ. Hope you have a great weekend and a very a Happy Easter!

Transformation Never Gets Old

Hearing stories of transformed lives never gets old to me! A lot of times I share with you about girls that have graduated from the program in recent years, but recently I heard from one who graduated over 11 years ago. She is now happily married with one child and another on the way, very actively involved in her local church as a worship leader, and traveling sharing her story with a major ministry that is internationally known. We couldn’t be more proud of what God has done in Katie’s life. With her permission, I am sharing a recent email with you that I received from her.

Hey Nancy,

I am currently living in Clarksville, TN where we are building our first home. I have a wonderful husband, Brad who just returned home from Iraq in November from his second tour. We have a beautiful son named Connor who is 17 months old and we just found out we have another baby on the way. We also attend Faith Outreach Church in Clarksville, TN where I am a worship leader and we, as a family, serve faithfully. I will have been there seven years on Father's Day. I have also been blessed to tour different churches, prisons, state capitols, and events all over the country, as well as singing locally and sharing my testimony which you are very much a part of. The Word became ingrained in me through what I like to call discipleship at The 700 Club where I remained a Prayer Counselor for almost 3 years. I was given the opportunity there to send many hurting young women your way through the phones. I was blessed also through my home church to go as a missionary to South America – Maracaibo, Venezuela. Plus if you look in my photos, I have lost 200 pounds since I left Mercy, and God has given me a 3-D cake business that He continues to bless. Nancy, I stand in teary-eyed awe everyday for what God has done with and through my brokenness. My life is FULL of blessing, full of His Holy Spirit, and is an absolute adventure IN HIM! I am FOREVER thankful for Mercy Ministries! You planted a seed in me that was truly infallible, incorruptible, indestructible, and irreversible! I am a life transformed to prove it! I just wanted to say that I love you and remind you of what kind of fruit God is producing through you! :o)

Love, Katie

Isn’t that a powerful example of someone who has chosen to walk out their transformation all of these years?! Thanks to all of our financial supporters who make transformed lives possible. Jesus told us to judge a thing by the fruit of it, and there is definitely fruit here – fruit that is remaining!

New York Mets Opening Day!!

I just got back from Phoenix, Arizona yesterday afternoon after speaking in a wonderful conference at Living Word Bible Church. Today, I am in St. Louis at the Mercy home hosting an event for NCAA basketball coaches that are in town for the Final Four, and also various staff representatives from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes organization. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to share the vision of Mercy Ministries with people who are in touch with young women everyday who struggle with the issues we deal with. This is a very exciting time for the sports world as well, since we will know at the end of the evening tomorrow who the National Champion will be.

Speaking of sports, today is the opening day of the New York Mets baseball team. Even as I am writing to you, they have just started their first game of the season, a road game against the Cincinnati Reds. It is my great joy to tell you that I am a huge New York Mets fan because of their Manager and leader, Jerry Manuel. Jerry and his wife, Renette, are not only monthly partners with Mercy Ministries, but they also recently sponsored the furnishings for a room in our new California home. I had the wonderful privilege of being with Jerry and Renette at one of the games in the last series they played on their old field. The picture you see was taken that weekend in late September last year.

I am so excited for the Mets this year, as I believe they are positioned to have an amazing season. Just wanted to introduce you to one of our monthly partners and his amazing wife, Renette. They are very special people in our life! Go Mets!!

All Things Made New

For several years, Mercy Ministries has had a relationship with the Oral Roberts University missions department in which every year a team of female students choose to give up their spring break to come and serve in all of our U.S. homes—they clean, organize, work in various offices, and help with whatever is needed. They also take time to encourage the residents and share their individual testimonies. This year we were so excited to hear that one of our very own Mercy graduates, Erin, who is now attending ORU, was going to be coming back to serve in our Nashville home as a volunteer. Her story of God’s redemption and restoration is absolutely amazing – check it out for yourself…

“When I arrived at Mercy on June 19, 2007 I was angry, hurting and wanting to die. For the past six years I had been battling anorexia, addiction to exercise, self harm, depression, and suicidal thoughts. I had been in the hospitalized twice and fed through a tube in my nose. I was told that I would never recover. They said once an anorexic, always an anorexic.

During the Spring of 2007, I hit rock bottom. I was attending Oral Roberts University, and I was supposed to be going on a spring break mission's trip to Mercy Ministries in Nashville; instead I was told that I was too sick to go. Not only was I kicked off of the mission team, but the Dean of Women told me I had to move out of the dorms as well. The doctors were hesitant to treat me because I was severely malnourished, which meant I was a liability.

I was hurting so badly on the inside! Anorexia was my way of showing my pain to others. I wanted God to let me die. I remember one night I was running, and I cried out to God, "Let me have a heart attack and die, God why won't you let me die?!" I did not, and could not live with an eating disorder anymore. I couldn't seem to live, but I couldn't seem to die either. My parents could not afford to get me help, and nobody else offered any help. I was in a downward spiral, and I was going to die. I had no hope. At one point I thought I would go to Mercy Ministries as a volunteer, but soon I realized that I needed to apply to the program for myself.

After going through the application process, I arrived at Mercy Ministries in Monroe angry, scared and discouraged. The eating disorder had a strong hold on my life, and it would not let go without a fight. It took me a few months to soften and finally decide to surrender, but I did and this time there was a true heart change. I had a vision of Jesus taking out my old broken, bruised, hardened heart, and putting in a fresh clean heart. The new heart He gave me was soft and moldable. I finally realized that He loves me! From that point on, God transformed my life. It was hard, but this time it was different…my heart had changed. I never thought freedom was possible. I thought I would always count calories, always "have" to exercise, and always be defined by an eating disorder.

I graduated from the Mercy program on December 19, 2007, completely changed from the INSIDE OUT. I arrived home on December 21, and spent Christmas with my family. On January 5, 2008 I reentered Oral Roberts University and moved back into the dorms.

Let me tell you about the "coolness" of God. In February of 2008, only a few weeks after graduating from Mercy, I became a Resident Advisor in the dorms! I was the leader on a floor of thirty girls!!!!! Just the year before (2007) I was asked to move out of the dorms, and one year later, in 2008, I was in leadership! WOW! God is amazing. At the end of the year, during the Resident Advisors banquet, I received the award for most valuable RA. Over the summer I worked as a nanny, and this year I am back at ORU. I am the RA of a floor called Zoe ß Zoe, which means life!!!!!

Over Spring Break this year, I led a team of five women to the Mercy home in Nashville to volunteer our time! The same trip I was kicked off of in the spring of 2007, I am leading in 2009!!!!! God restores!!!!!

I am not going to lie, and say it has been easy. It has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do. God NEVER said that it was going to be easy; He just said that it would be worth it!! God has transformed my life. The "old" Erin has passed away, and behold all things are new! I am no longer bound by depression, anorexia and self-hatred. I am a beautiful daughter of God and He is enthralled with my beauty.

It is all about choices. I choose life!!!!!! I am walking in freedom! When I step back and look at where I am today there are no words. I stand in awe of my Creator.

Thank you God, thank you Nancy, and thank you Mercy Ministries! I realize that Mercy is not the healer, but in my case Mercy was the vessel God used so I could receive my freedom!

To the staff: Thank you for your hard work and dedication. The seeds that you sow are producing a harvest. Do not become discourage in well doing because in the end you will reap a reward!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Chris Tomlin's song says it best:
My chains are gone,
I have been set free.
My God, my Savior has ransomed me.
And like a flood His mercy reigns.
Unending love; Amazing Grace!”


For all who are out there reading this, please remember that God can take your mess and turn it into a message!! You will actually use the very thing that tried to destroy you as an encouragement to help others who are going through the same thing. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Have a great weekend!

2 Brand New Books – Just Released Today!!

I am so excited to announce that we just received the next two books in the “Mercy For” series – Beyond Starved: Mercy for Eating Disorders and Beyond Cut: Mercy for Self-Harm. These books include the personal stories of many girls who have overcome these issues, along with a study guide at the end of each chapter that gives practical principles of freedom.

For the next seven days, for anyone who is struggling with either one or both of these issues, I will be happy to send you a free copy or copies of these brand new books, which I believe will be life-changing for you.



Just send me an email at nancy.alcorn@mercyministries.com and let me know what issue(s) you are struggling with, and I will be happy to send you a book free of charge. Be sure to include your mailing address. I just want to encourage you today that freedom is possible, and it can be yours!