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Carolyn Moore is the founding pastor of Mosaic UMC in Augusta, Georgia and a Mission Society board member. Here, a member of Mosaic’s congregation shares her story and the transformation she experienced after a several-day mission event, a Global Impact Celebration, at Mosaic.

Read Kelly’s story of freedom and salvation.

By the grace of God, I have been given beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, and a spirit of praise instead of a spirit of despair. By the grace of God, I have a story to tell of a captive’s release and a prisoner’s journey to freedom.

It all began at last year’s Global Impact Celebration (GIC) at Mosaic.

In February 2013, I was in the most fragile state I have ever been in. I was in the trenches of a six-year war against an eating disorder that had mutilated my body, destroyed my relationships, and crippled my spirit.

I had just escaped an abusive relationship that managed to annihilate my self-worth and damage my faith in a way I thought no one ever could. I had spent months in an ultimately unsuccessful job search, and retreated from a misguided and foolish attempt at graduate school. I was still striving to navigate the dynamics of a new step-family. I was, without a doubt, the most hopeless, directionless, and depressed I have ever been.

And I didn’t see a chance for the redemption of any of it. Freedom was a word I knew, but it was a word I no longer believed could be my reality.

But God did.

At last year’s GIC, the Lord put into motion the restoration and reclamation of my life. It was during that week that I met Bob Beckwith, the director of the University of Georgia’s Wesley Foundation. After hearing my story, he offered me an internship with UGA Wesley.

After bouncing back and forth between hope and fear, excitement and disbelief, I finally accepted the internship and moved to Athens, Georgia in July of last year.

From the very first moment, I felt welcomed. I felt accepted. From the first day to this day, I have seen and experienced the powerful and special grace that the UGA Wesley Foundation has for community. The people at Wesley welcomed me with open arms, not out of obligation but out of pure love. They wholeheartedly believed that I had been brought to Athens for a reason and that the entire ministry would look completely different if even one intern were missing – including me. And if that isn’t a mindset and picture of the kingdom, I don’t know what is.

While at Wesley, I have grown into an entirely different person than I once was. I have been brought to a place where I can now fully begin to step into the person God created and intended for me to be. I have been brought to a place where fear still exists, but fear does not rule. I have been brought to a place where freedom is no longer just a word but a reality that can be mine through Jesus Christ. The Lord’s outstretched hand of healing led me here, and the Lord of Lords and King of Kings is walking me into that very healing and restoration.

Healing of the body
While at Wesley, I have experienced healing in my body. I weighed 90 pounds when I arrived in Athens and had been at that weight for six years. Every day, every meal, every hour was warfare. Since being at Wesley, I have gained 25 pounds and am within a healthy weight range for the first time and I truly feel alive.

Healing of the mind
I have also experienced healing in my mind. I arrived at Wesley not knowing my identity outside of my eating disorder and the lies established in my head from my previous abusive relationship.

Many of the things people struggle with all stem from the same problem – not knowing our true identity. I now know my true identity as a daughter of the Most High King. I am beloved. I am an heir. I am a conqueror. I am God’s and He is mine – that is where my true worth lies. It has absolutely nothing to do with a number on a scale or the weight or shape of my body.

Anything that tried to lay claim to me before or tries to lay claim to me now has no authority other than that which I give it. The eating disorder has no claim on me. Anxiety has no claim on me. Depression has no claim on me. Worthlessness has no claim on me. Fear has no claim on me. They have no authority to claim me as their own because of the blood of Jesus Christ. I belong to the Lord, and nothing can change that, and nothing can move me from His hand.

Healing of the heart
This year, I have experienced healing in my heart. When I came to Wesley, my heart was full of pain. It had been trained by years of rejection, an abusive relationship, and the constricting nature of the eating disorder. But after being welcomed into Wesley and shown that I had a place there – that I belonged – my heart began to open again. I developed my first real peer friendships in years.

Healing of the spirit
I have experienced healing in my spirit. I came to Wesley with a spirit full of lies from a previous abusive relationship. Within the very first month of being at Wesley, the Lord began to speak healing into those wounds – giving me insight into the destructive nature of that relationship in the light of His truth. He revealed Himself to be real to me time and time again through His Word, completely destroying any lie I had believed.

As Ephesians 4:20, says, “Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.”

The Lord has done great things.