| Lena – a physician turned psychiatrist, organizer of citywide ministry outreaches, and now a business consultant to entrepreneurs and the head of our business chaplaincy program. But what I love about Lena is her simple love for Jesus, her teachable spirit, and her almost boundless energy to serve others to know true freedom in Christ. I trust you will be blessed by her story. |
| A broken therapist As a psychotherapist, my job was to hold space for others’ brokenness. I was trained in everything from body-oriented therapy to neuro-lingustic programing. I had even studied counseling at church. But when my own life collapsed, my professional knowledge was useless, and my faith, the very thing that should have been my foundation, became a source of torment. No help at church The crisis was total. For twenty years, I had served in the church—leading, organizing, giving myself to various projects, both small and large-scale. And when, once again, we found ourselves in a financial pit, I had the same question: If this is God’s system, why am I faithfully serving and still drowning? I waited for help from my husband, hoping he would take some action, but he only spoke pious words about trusting God, yet nothing changed. I was filled with despair. The theology I had built my life on crumbled to dust. I was experiencing not just burnout; it was a crisis of life’s meaning and a deep heartache. It’s no secret that we operate from deep-seated beliefs – unconscious scripts that run our lives. My belief about God was that He was a “strict coach.” My relationship with Him was like a performance evaluation. I was an anxious student, and He was a coach who could never be pleased. This “orphan mindset,” as I now call it, poisoned everything. To live in it is to live in a state of constantly falling short and being rejected by God. Coming to Novo Having been introduced to Novo through a friend, I encountered tools that did what my prayers and psychotherapy could not. God removed my pain and showed me a way to talk with Him. I consider Novo’s training on “How to hear God’s Voice” and the Transformation Prayer Ministry (TPM) to be two of the most powerful approaches in soul care anywhere. TPM is a place where they don’t give advice but lead you into an encounter with God. This is incredibly important to me – a word that gives freedom in your situation. I saw my situation through God’s eyes; I saw that I am valuable to Him as a daughter. From Orphan to Daughter Now when anxiety washes over me, I ask: “Am I acting as a slave or as a daughter right now?” The answer is almost always the same: I have slipped back into orphanhood, trying to control what God has promised to carry Himself. My practice now is to stop and ask Him directly: “Jesus, what does it mean to abide in You right now?” This is a very deep rethinking of who you are. Today I see that many problems people face in finances, at work, or in building one’s own business are rooted in those same “orphan scripts” that prevent a person from reaching a new level. My pain has now become my ministry. We help people come to God so He can change deep-seated beliefs. This is the most reliable path. |
| The Next Step: Raising Up More Leaders Like Lena Our goal for 2026 is to launch our new training program to produce corporate chaplains to serve in the workplace. These ministers will have a unique combination of three skills for a business environment – coaching, pastoral/counseling, and evangelism. We are already in the process of getting the curriculum accredited and are applying for grants to run the first pilot program. |
orphan dreams 