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Thanks for Changing My Life! (A Message to Seeds Partners)

Hello, dear friends,

My name is Katelyn. I am a field instructor at Seeds Wilderness Therapy. You haven’t met me, but you changed my life and the lives of a group of teens in crisis this summer. I want to say thank you for enabling our group in the field to encounter Jesus in powerful ways. Because of your support, Jesus had the opportunity to demonstrate His love and faithfulness to whole families. I am excited to share with you some of the miracles you facilitated this year. 

This was my first season as a field instructor at Seeds, and I was awed by the miraculous ways Jesus met our every need—in answer to our prayers and yours. As you may know, even in May and June, Seeds was in prayer about whether our summer season would happen. We had financial needs, staff shortages, state inspections, and car problems, as well as no committed students, and seemingly unrelenting attacks from the enemy against family and friends of staff members. But God gives just enough, just in time. Within a month, we received two generous donations, and gained another wonderful field staff and a talented logistics coordinator. Finally, we got confirmations from families that we would have students! We were ready to start our first 40-day cohort on July 2nd and to meet the families to which Jesus wanted to offer hope and healing.  

The best part of that waiting period was that Jesus was not only working to meet our physical needs, but our spiritual ones as well. While preparing to minister to kids, all three field staff found deeper healing themselves. (The more you do your own work, the more you can help others.) Even though I have a Masters in social work and am trained in counseling, I was able to identify lies I was believing about myself and about God and to find hope and healing.

Hope and Healing. What simple words; what vital grace. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gifts! I am sure you have encountered times in your life when hopelessness and brokenness are all too present. There are seasons when they are constantly with you, whispering lies that God doesn’t see nor care. I felt that God was frustrated and disappointed with me. Through Dean and Megan’s staff training in May and June, I rediscovered Jesus’s love and limitless forgiveness. Hopelessness and brokenness, meet your end—the victorious Savior, the Author of Truth. I am forever grateful for the opportunity you, Seeds’ supporters, gave me to find new Hope and Healing. 

And once we were up and running, Jesus met all our kids in the wilderness with His overwhelming love, offering them Hope and Healing. In the Uncompahgre forest, surrounded by blue mountains and the vanilla cinnamon latte smell of ponderosa pines, Jesus showed up. Through silent solitude and the crackling of a hand-lit fire, He spoke love and truth. Friends, I am overjoyed to tell you that every kid with us accepted Jesus this summer.

I have had the privilege of continuing to meet with one of our kids each week on Zoom, and been blessed to see his heart for sharing Hope and Healing with his family, his school, his friends. Seeds plans to invest in the kids from this summer for at least three years, discipling them to be fishers of other men and to expand the kingdom of God.  

We thank God for all He has done, and look forward to what He has for us next.  

After the close of the 2024 field season, the whole Seeds staff discussed how to take all we had learned and apply it to next summer. In our own lives and the lives of our friends and family, we saw so many who were struggling and broken. We wanted to share the Hope and Healing of God with everybody. How might we make Seeds for everyone? We are rebranding Seeds to expand to more people who need Jesus. Your prayers for wisdom and discernment are appreciated during the off season as we seek to follow Jesus’s plan to lead everyone to Hope and Healing.  

We all understand the need for Jesus’s Hope and Healing in our own lives, but when things are going well we can forget how much we are in need. After coming home to Pennsylvania in September, I was living in the comfort and joy of all that God had done and the excitement for what was next.

Then, just yesterday, my uncle killed himself. What hopelessness rushed in! What brokenness! Jesus was the first one I turned to. The Seeds team was the second phone call I made. Thank you, friends, for enabling me to not only find healing in my own life in May and June but to also have a community to turn to in my own hopeless and broken situation. Thank you for helping me to find new Hope and Healing through one of the hardest times in my life. Thank you for continuing to provide opportunities for others to encounter Jesus and His Hope and Healing.  

Despite current challenges and circumstances, we at Seeds are expectant of Jesus’s continued provision. We covet your prayers as we live into Jesus’s plan, as we rebrand for next summer, and as we wait with exceedingly abundant hope for the incredible ways our God will meet our needs. 

May you be blessed in the name of Jesus our Refuge to receive Hope and Healing in your own lives as you continue to walk in obedience to Him who has called you. May you receive abundant treasure in heaven for all the miracles you have facilitated this year. I also hope you know how grateful we are for all you have done for us, our kids, and their families. I am excited to partner with you next year and see what else God will do through you!

With much love and steadfast hope in brokenness, 

Katelyn
2024 Field staff

“Why my soul, are you downcast?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.”
Psalm 42:5,11 & 43:5 

About the author:

Katelyn Bartley

Katelyn brings a wealth of experience in the mental health field and a deep passion for working with children and teens. Her love for God’s creation makes her a perfect fit for Seeds Wilderness Therapy. Katelyn has completed her Masters in Macro Social Work and gained valuable experience in community engagement, family-based mental health therapy, and trauma-informed care. She continues to disciple teens in her community through sports, Bible studies, and therapy provision, while also appreciating the beauty of nature as a testament to God’s greatness and love.

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