An Uncharted Call

A former elementary school teacher seeks to change the lives of sexually abused women through her compassionate ministry.

by Lisa Faulkner

Women who come to Wellspring of Living Water Ministries have different addictions and destructive behavior. They all, however, share a common tragedy. “We work with young women whose core issue is childhood sexual abuse,” explains Wellspring president and mentor Mary Frances Bowley. “They may be into addictions, pornography, prostitution, cutting or eating disorders; but the core thing that caused them to begin to numb their pain was childhood sexual abuse.

“One in four women over the age of 20 has suffered childhood sexual abuse. So, you think about it—it’s twenty-five percent of the women in your church. Twenty-five percent of the women at your office have had that as an experience in their life.”

Ashley, a resident of Wellspring Living, describes some of the problems that eventually led her to seek help. “I came here because I was addicted to drugs—prescription pills—for about six years,” she explains. “Growing up, my family didn’t really have a whole lot of money, and so I felt out of place. I didn’t have what everybody else had, and I never felt like I really belonged anywhere—I never really had a whole lot of friends.”

Wellspring Living nurtures the journey to healing by meeting women where they are, caring for and putting them on the Lord’s path for their life. “God is not here to judge or condemn anybody. He’s here to love us,” Ashley says. “He wants me to live in freedom and doesn’t want me to live in bondage to drugs or to depression or unhappiness. That, I think, is the key thing I’ve learned here that I don’t think I would have got anywhere else.”

The ministry aims to teach each woman the truth about herself and God, offering a personalized approach for holistic healing—body, soul, and spirit. “It’s a twelve-month program, where the first six months are an intense therapeutic environment. Six months of after-care helps to insure that these women can have not only the healing that God wants them to have, but also the practical way to live the life that God wants them to live,” says Bowley.

Bowley didn’t always serve broken individuals as she does today. She once would have treated the women she helps at Wellspring differently. “As believers, many times, we look at people who are not performing so well, and we think, Well, you know, they should be doing better—and not see them as people,” she says. “God has helped me to realize these are His children—His girls—and that they’re people. They’re not projects; they’re people.

“Everybody has a story. And if we can just begin to know them, then we won’t condemn. And if we begin to know them and love them, then they won’t condemn themselves any longer either.”

For more information on Wellspring Living, visit www.wellspringliving.org.