Dawn Ward is a speaker, writer, and Bible teacher. She is the founder of The Faith to Flourish, a ministry equipping women to live transformed lives through inspiring teaching, mentoring, and biblical resources. The ministry also offers support and encouragement to women with addicted loved ones. She is married to Steve and mom to three adult children. Dawn lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she prefers scenic mountain hikes over the lure of the city lights. When she is not busy writing or serving in the Women's Ministry of her local church, you will find her hanging out with her dogs and reading a good book. Dawn's new book, From Guilt to Grace: Hope and Healing for Christian Moms of Addicted Children, published September 2024, is available for order.

Social Media links:

HTTPS://www.thefaithtoflourish.com

HTTPS://www.Facebook.com/thefaithtoflourish

HTTPS://www.instagram.com/thefaithtoflourishblog

https://youtube.com/thefaithtoflourishwithdawnward

https://linkedin.com/in/dawn-ward-93975b266

Welcome to 12-Minute Converse with Jesus Believers.

God chose first to have a conversation with us, His creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you, Dawn.

What part of the world are you in today?

I'm in Las Vegas, Nevada, so that's the western part of the United States.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

I got the opportunity to look into one of your most recent books that you've written and of course see some of the things that you've been posting on addiction and children specifically, our children, and going through that.

So please walk me through what has brought you to this point of believing this is necessary for you to share.

If I could have chosen anything, any platform that the Lord would have wanted me to speak from, I'm sure I would have preferred it not be my child's addiction and the experiences that we've had with that.

But growing up in a home where my father struggled with alcoholism, I strived a lot to make sure that my children avoided alcohol, that they served the Lord, that they knew the Lord, that they were raised in a Christian home.

It wasn't on my radar that and to substances like drugs would be a problem, but it turned out that my younger son, my middle son, when he was in his last year of high school, got in with the wrong friends, the wrong crowd, and he had some exposure, started, you know, messing around with drugs and got himself into a predicament where he actually asked for help.

And praise the Lord, we were able to get him help through a faith-based program.

A few years later, my older son, who had already graduated from college, actually became addicted following a surgery to the prescription medications that were out there at the time.

And so this has really been an ongoing journey for us for the last 20 years.

And it wasn't until about 10 years ago that I was really noticing and God was really pressing on my heart the effects that this was having on my relationship with Him.

In my personal life, in my own heart, in my own mind, I was really struggling.

Just years and years of trying to fix this problem, trying to save my children, doing everything possible had taken such a toll on me.

And to be honest with you, Angel, my son had become an idol in my life and became so consuming that the Lord finally put on my heart, hey, Dawn, do you trust me?

And I thought, you know, Lord, I don't know if I really do, if I say I do, because I pictured this big tombstone that said she's going to worry herself, she worried herself to death.

And just this actual thought of being so consumed and ruminating so much with my child's and my adult child's choices and behaviors that it was taking over my life and hindering my walk with the Lord.

And what I mean by hindering my walk with the Lord was that I knew he had a calling and a plan and a purpose for my life, but everything had been put on hold while I was waiting for my child to be healthy, happy, and whole.

So that was right at the point when the Lord started to impress on me that, Dawn, your relationship with me is precious to me.

I love you.

I care about you.

I want our relationship to be that, a relationship of intimacy and trust for you to know that I love you and I care about you and you're special to me.

Even if your child never changes, I want you to follow me.

So that's where I really began to shift my mindset and started to ask the Lord to show me, what does it look like to trust you, Jesus?

You know, to trust you when the answers don't come, to trust you when somebody that I love and would die for, my child, doesn't change and things don't seem to be getting any better and the addiction and the mental health issues in a lot of ways are getting worse.

So that's when he called me to start serving in that area and the area of ministering to other moms and other women who are going through the addiction and going through mental health problems in their families.

And so that's how the ministry was born, was out of my own necessity to really grow close to the Lord and learn how to continue to serve him in the midst of a situation that was ongoing.

If we isolated the situation and looked at you coming forward as someone who would then be set on stages in terms of sharing your story, was that a natural strength of yours being able to do that?

I've taught in women's ministry and I've taught Bible studies and I've always been comfortable speaking with people.

My career for 25 years was as a medical esthetician, which means I worked in a doctor's office and I did chemical pills and skincare.

So I was talking to people all the time and I also taught in that area.

So I do believe that my calling as far as serving women in the body of Christ over the last 30 plus years was a strength for me when he called me to start doing this.

And when our lives were falling apart, I set everything aside other than my work and taking care of my family.

And it was just one of those things where no matter how hard I tried or how hard I prayed, I was the one who was putting my life on hold when the Lord was calling me to do things and calling me to serve him in the midst of all of that chaos.

So that was a real process for me just to say, OK, Lord, what does that next step look like?

And the first thing he had me do was to start, believe it or not, to start a Facebook group.

Well, prior to that, I had co-authored a workbook with a friend to help moms who were going through this.

But the actual starting of the support group, I was pretty reluctant with it.

And when he was calling me to serve in the area of addiction, the first thing I remember before he said addiction and he said, start the ministry, I said, Lord, anything but addiction.

So the very first thing he had me do when I kind of wrapped my mind around what he was calling me to do was I started an online, just a Facebook group for moms whose children were struggling with addiction.

And I was like, Lord, do they really need another Facebook group?

And he just said, just do it.

And I said, well, what's going to make it different?

And it wasn't until I I started the group that he showed me the mission was to encourage the moms, pray for the children and glorify God.

And that's been our mission ever since is to to not be that platform where we're advocating for change in our communities or we're talking about the politics of things, but really that spiritual strengthening for the spiritual warfare that we're undergoing.

And then knowing that out of that, other moms have gone and done things that the Lord has called them to do.

Their mission has perhaps been more in advocacy or legislature or whatever.

But in my case, it's always been to encourage them to know who they are in the Lord and to step into the purpose and plans he has for their life.

But in the meantime, we'll continue to be praying and believing for our children.

Has it been worth it?

It has been worth it.

Now, has it cost me a lot?

It's cost me tremendously.

Over the last few months, my son has had a serious breakdown.

It's included a suicide attempt.

It's included arrests.

It's included hospitalizations, him being missing for a couple of days.

And then there's times when he does very well and he seems pretty well balanced.

But there's been times I've said, Lord, if I were to just put all this away, would my family be better?

Would my son be better?

I mean, I'm willing to do whatever you want me to do.

And he's just told me to keep persevering.

And our group recently had its nine year anniversary.

And a few of the moms came on and said they wouldn't be here today if it hadn't been for the support that they had received.

And so I'm grateful to know that, you know, while we don't always know everyone whose lives that we touch through the ministries that God calls us to, I'm grateful to know that a few have been been touched and have received from the ministry.

What's on the horizon for you?

Right when I do feel like I'm like, okay, Lord, I'm a little wary.

It's, you know, it's time.

He always strengthens me.

And I find that the ladies and the women are start, they'll actually minister back to me.

But I've also currently been working, I've completed two Bible studies, and my church has gone through taking those, I've written those.

And so I'm getting those in the process of getting them ready to, you know, hopefully have those published, working on writing another one, and just continuing to also minister boots on the ground.

The Lord has said, I really want you in your local church.

And so I've been involved in my local church and more involved in my local community.

And that's been such a tremendous blessing to me.

And so I'm really praying, I'm really praying about how what the Lord wants me to do as far as the online ministry.

I know I'm to continue in it, but how he wants to move that forward.

So I appreciate your prayers for that, Angel.

Dawn, this has been a great pleasure.

In closing, is there anything else you'd like to share with our amazing audience?

Well, thank you again for having me.

And I want to really encourage you that if you are going through something very hard and very painful, a difficult journey, do not lose hope.

Our hope is in the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

And he hears our cries, he hears our pleas, and he bows down and he listens to us and he comforts us.

And he cares about your wandering loved one.

So don't ever forget that and be encouraged knowing that God is fighting for them.

Dawn again, a pleasure, a treasure.

Thank you for being on What is Inspired by 12 Minute Conference.