Becca Stevens is an Episcopal priest working with women who have left abusive relationships, or who are working to overcome their addictions. Her ministry was profiled in the Washington Times over the weekend.
From the article:
Women who used to pound the pavement as prostitutes and drug addicts have been reborn over the last few years as Mrs. Stevens’ program first nurtures them back to health in mind and body. Then they are taught the value of teamwork, responsibility and dedication as they run their own business. Much like their namesake, the tough little thistle, they have persevered to survive.
“There’s this myth in the criminal justice system, that these women ultimately will manipulate you, they’ll use you and relapse and should be written off, that they aren’t worth saving,” says Mrs. Stevens, founder of Thistle Farms.
“Here, watching them doing the work, gives me permission to be hopeful again. I look around at them and go ‘Oh, my goodness, women recover” says Mrs. Stevens, 45, as the ladies of Thistle Farms work around her packing boxes and affixing labels to jars and bottles.
“We see women who seem at first like they are half-dead just resurrect. … Here, we want to love them back … and I think they learn more from mercy than from justice.”
The full article talks about how The Rev. Stevens uses her own experience of being sexually abused in her youth to help her understand the way that the women she’s helping have found themselves in the situation they are in.
Do read it.