by Allan Miller, Executive Director

When Cheryle Fish first heard about The Hem of His Garment, she wasn’t convinced she needed it.

Years earlier, Cheryle had gone through a painful divorce after 33 years of marriage. The verbal and mental abuse she had experienced, followed by the end of her marriage, sent her into a severe depression and left her questioning her worth.

The years that followed led Cheryle back to church, Bible study, and singing in her church choir. She later married a Christian man who encouraged her study of God’s Word. By the time a friend from church began encouraging her to consider a Healing Hearts study, eleven years had passed since her divorce.

“I believed that I had moved past the pain and bitterness,” Cheryle remembers.

Her friend continued to encourage her, however, and eventually Cheryle agreed to begin The Hem of His Garment. She entered the study excited to see what God might still want to teach her.

She soon discovered that he had more for her to see.

Through The Hem of His Garment, Cheryle was repeatedly brought back to what Scripture actually says.

Instead of looking inward for another forgiveness she needed to somehow give herself, Cheryle began learning to rest in the sufficiency of what Christ had already accomplished.

“Self-forgiveness is never presented in the Bible,” she says. “The Bible instructs us to repent and to trust God’s truth, grace, and mercy. Only God can change and heal hearts.”

For Cheryle, this wasn’t merely a theological distinction. It broke a cycle of self-condemnation that had repeatedly drawn her back toward feelings of guilt, unworthiness, and depression.

“When my walk started, I felt I had no value or purpose,” she says. “God has taught me that because He created me, I have value, and He has given me purpose.”

Cheryle wasn’t walking through those truths alone.

Her Healing Hearts Certified Biblical Counselor, Shelly, had already been through The Hem of His Garment herself and was trained to faithfully walk another woman through the same process.

“Shelly was wonderful!” Cheryle says. “She kept me on track, called me out on incorrect thoughts, and showed me through Scripture where my thinking was off. She encouraged me every step.”

That relationship didn’t simply end when Cheryle completed the study. Shelly continues to pray for her and make herself available when Cheryle needs further counsel.

And somewhere along the way, Cheryle began wondering whether God might be calling her to do for other women what Shelly had done for her.

“I had been praying for many years, asking God to show me where He wanted me to serve,” she recalls. “If God calls me to use my past to help other women, then I must obey.”

So Cheryle entered training to become a Healing Hearts Certified Biblical Counselor.

Training gave Cheryle an opportunity not only to deepen her understanding of biblical counseling, but also to learn how to faithfully walk alongside another hurting woman.

“My training has helped me to listen better and to be bolder in approaching participants when I see a pattern or thought that needs addressing,” she says.

In February, Cheryle completed that training and became a Healing Hearts Certified Biblical Counselor.

Cheryle has completed her first Hem of His Garment group with two women and is currently walking six more women through the study.

“Watching God work in women’s lives is a beautiful, humbling experience,” she says. “My job is to guide them. Christ and the Holy Spirit do all the work.”

She has even had opportunities to walk other women through the same struggle with self-forgiveness that once held her captive.

And while Cheryle is now the counselor, God hasn’t stopped counseling her through His Word.

Cheryle’s story is one reason we are so committed to training, equipping, and supporting faithful men and women to provide biblical discipleship counseling in their churches and communities.

This year, nine new Healing Hearts Certified Biblical Counselors—six women and three men—have completed their training. Another 21 men and women are currently in training.

At our Healing Hearts National Conference, September 17–20, we’ll have the privilege of inviting this year’s new discipleship counselors to stand before their fellow leaders, introduce themselves and the communities they serve, and be surrounded in prayer as they begin their ministries.

But certification isn’t the end of their training.

National Conference is also an important opportunity for our discipleship counselors and trainees to gather for continued biblical training, encouragement, fellowship, and support as they seek to faithfully serve the people God places before them.

Cheryle describes what that ongoing support has meant to her:

“Receiving the support of Healing Hearts Ministry, my trainer, and other leaders, and knowing they are praying for my groups and me gives me confidence and has encouraged me to develop and grow so that I may be a better discipleship counselor.”

Someone hears about Healing Hearts and tells a hurting friend. A discipleship counselor faithfully walks beside that man or woman through God’s Word. God uses His truth to change their heart. And sometimes, He then calls that same man or woman to become equipped to walk alongside someone else.

Today, Cheryle is doing just that.

🌱 Pray for Cheryle and our other new certified counselors. Ask God to strengthen these nine newly certified leaders as they begin and develop their ministries, giving them wisdom, humility, courage, and an ever-deepening dependence upon His Word and Spirit.

🤝 Pray for our trainers and trainees. We currently have 21 men and women in training. Pray that our trainers would equip them faithfully and that each trainee would persevere through the process as God continues preparing them to serve others.

🛡️ Pray for our National Conference, September 17–20. Ask God to use this time of continued training, fellowship, worship, and encouragement to strengthen our certified counselors and trainees and prepare them to return home better equipped to serve.

✈️ Pray for the Answers for Pastors Conference, where Healing Hearts will be exhibiting September 27th–October 2nd. Ask the Lord to connect us with pastors and ministry leaders searching for practical ways to strengthen discipleship counseling within their churches.

Behind Cheryle’s story are people who prayed, gave, shared the ministry with others, counseled, trained, encouraged, and faithfully pointed her back to God’s Word.

As we equip a new generation of Healing Hearts Certified Biblical Counselors, provide ongoing training and support for our existing leaders, and introduce more churches to this model of biblical discipleship, we remain dependent upon God’s provision through friends like you.

Would you prayerfully consider making a gift to help us continue equipping counselors like Cheryle to walk alongside hurting people with the hope and truth of God’s Word?