Montana Healing Project

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

A good friend of mine, a Native American pastor of several small churches on a reservation in Montana, called me last fall to ask if Lutheran Indian Ministries would come and help the community. The tribe had seen an epidemic of suicide, in one month last summer over 15 individuals (most between the ages of 11 and 24) attempted to end their lives. He knew it was time for the healing grace of Jesus Christ.

The most important lesson I have learned in my time at Lutheran Indian Ministries is when God calls, you say YES!

So we gathered our team, packed our bags, and traveled to Montana to bring the healing grace of Jesus Christ to the Native people through our program, Sacred Story.

The issue of trauma for Native people is real, and the struggle to heal is critical. Consider the words of this poem that was written and shared with me by one of the Native people who attended our healing project:

Who am I? I can’t be certain.
I know there is a child hiding somewhere
deep within, but each time I go to search, I find ugly.
I find dirty. I find unloveable.
My search is so painful that I am forced to stop looking…
I never found out who I was.
Someone took that from me…

The author ends the poem with these words, “…I am not worth finding.”

This is why God called us to Montana. These words, these thoughts are the reality for so many of our Native brothers and sisters. This is the reason and rationale behind Lutheran Indian Ministries’ Montana Healing Project.

Your support of Lutheran Indian Ministries made it happen. Because of your passion and commitment to Native ministry, we were able to be there for a hurting community. The Native people of Montana live in an area of little industry and few jobs. Unemployment is close to 70%. The tribes have few resources to put towards combating the serious issues of trauma and suicide. But through your gifts and prayers, Lutheran Indian Ministries is prepared and ready to make these trips to the remote places where healing, through the Holy Spirit, is so desperately needed.

Because you recognize the importance of this work, LIM has been able to send our Sacred Story team to Montana twice, in the past 4 months, to two different reservations. And we have already been invited back! It is our prayer to bring Sacred Story to all seven Montana reservations. With your help, we will do that.

I am asking you to prayerfully consider a significant gift today to support the work of Lutheran Indian Ministries, the Montana Healing Project, and the opportunity to answer more calls to assist Native communities to heal and hear the Good News.

Together, as His grace heals, we will begin to change the sad words of the poem to reflect the words of the psalmist:

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)

God knows our Native brothers and sisters. His hand is upon them. Healing begins with the realization that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. This understanding gives our lives – yours, mine, and our Native brothers and sisters – purpose and meaning.

Thank you for making a meaningful gift to Lutheran Indian Ministries to help our traveling ministry team reveal the love of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ to all of the Native Nations of Montana.

May the Lord bless and keep you always.

Tim Young Eagle (Pawnee)
Executive Director

P.S. We praise God that He made us fearfully and wonderfully. Your gift today will help our Montana team share that joy with our Native brothers and sisters. Thank you!

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