TRINITYWOMEN on A MISSION: A.S.K. MATTHEW 7:7
When I was asked to write this article about my A.S.K. group, which is so close to my heart, I wasn’t sure how to begin. So, I have decided to give a little background about my spiritual beginning, so you could see how we were formed.
In the fall of 1979, I was invited by a close friend to come to a Bible study at the Baptist Church where she was attending. Having been raised in the Catholic Church, I struggled going to this church and Bible study, but decided to humor and accompany her. My expectations were low, yet I was amazed to see such faith in these women, a faith which I felt I should have had being a member of the one true church. On Tuesday morning, January 8, 1980, all that changed for me. On that day, Jesus dramatically broke into my life bringing salvation and the forgiveness I never knew I had needed. On that day, the Word of God became alive to me, and I have had a deep love for it ever since.
My family kept attending the Catholic Church. For three years we participated in different ministries. Through one of those ministries, I became acquainted with another woman who was also a born-again believer. We started meeting, praying and studying the Word together. It was during this time I felt the Lord impressing on me that there were women in this church who also needed to know the truth of God’s Word: women who were hurting, in troubled marriages, whose families were falling apart and who were not getting enough on Sunday mornings. They needed to know Jesus and what the Bible said about the issues they were facing. When I mentioned this to my friend, she said she had gotten the same message. We now had something specific to pray about. We prayed about this for months, and we finally felt God was giving us direction. The desire of our hearts to bring hope and healing to the women in this church was finally being realized.
As we sought the Lord, He gave us a scripture to base this ministry on: Matthew 7:7 which says “Ask, and it shall be given to you, seek, and you shall find, knock, and the door shall be opened to you.” Another woman we knew from church offered her home to us. We then invited about 10 women we knew to our support group. Some of the women were leery - never having opened a Bible, never knowing what God’s Word said about being a wife and mother. Some did not come back and some are still with us today.
Over the years the group has evolved. We started as a support group for Catholic women; then, in later years, we centered more on studying the Bible. We welcomed women from all denominations, but we have always remained faithful to our original focus as a support group. If someone comes with a need, the study is set aside and we minister to that need.
Our group has been meeting for over 30 years, and we know that it is only through God’s grace and will that we are still together because we all know that for women to be together for that long without any clashes is not the norm. Right now we have 16 women in the group. The closeness and love that we experience is beyond words. We consist of women from many backgrounds: Catholic, Presbyterian, Church of God, non-denominational, Baptist and, of course, Assemblies of God. We have one rule: we don’t discuss the churches we attend. Our focus is on Jesus and Him alone. Our common beliefs consist of what is written in the Word of God. It has been my privilege to co-lead this group for all these years. Our plan is to stay together until Jesus returns or He takes us home. Either way, He gets all the praise, honor and glory.
