Doug and I started Life Hurts God Heals at Saddleback Church because, sadly, our hurting kids had no place to go for life-changing support. We started with just a few students, but then word got out to the surrounding community, and it began to grow. Now we are looking for a bigger room! So we made it available for all of you. Since then, Life Hurts God Heals has sold nearly 7,000 copies to people and places all over the country. In the obvious places such as the church, but also the not-so-obvious places like juvenile treatment centers, residential homes and yes, even public schools.

It's incredible to see it out there, but even more awesome to hear the stories coming in. like 16-year-old Michael, who has visited juvi more times than he can count. He showed up to lhgh an atheist addicted to meth, and left a young man believing in god and living sober (now, almost a year). Then there is 18-year-old courtney, who basically lived on the streets like a prostitute addicted to men and alcohol, who testifies that Life Hurts God Heas is "home" and has been sober for eight months.

Here's the deal: Life Hurts God Heals works because teenagers and young adults get lifelong tools to help them through their pain. Having taught through the Life Hurts God Heals 13-week curriculum several times, I decided to update the material to make it even more student and leader-friendly. Some of the new content includes material on using Life Hurts God Heals in juvenile treatment centers, additional student and leader testimonies, additional student questions in the workbook, and more!

And all of this is in addition to what's always been there: 8 steps, a small group workbook, personal guided devotional, surrender prayer, sponsor guidelines, 8-week message series, training, and more! I am beyond excited to see how god is using Life Hurts God Heals in both christian and secular environments. It blows me away! But god does these things, doesn't he? We just show up and let god use us in the lives of hurting kids and mountains move.

Amazing.

co-author life hurts god heals