Church event a success

I am scheduled at a local church (no names; I'm not engaging in any advertisement or missionary work here!) to present the spoken ministry for three consecutive weeks. The topic is "Overcoming turmoil, pain, and despair." The topic was suggested by several survivors--older women, all--in the congregation who pointed out that the issue of victimization, surviving, hope, and recovery is never talked about from the pulpit.  Instead, we usually settle for slogans and "church-y" brands of rhetoric, with little or no honest and brave exploration of painful childhoods, betrayal trauma, lonely depression, etc. These women are survivors of childhood sexual and physical abuse, and made an agreement as a group to approach me and ask for this topic. I've been pouring my heart into this for three months to prepare. (I never write down my notes until the day before, but it's only at the end of lengthy personal preparation).  Yesterday was the first Sunday of the series. Now, this isn't a large church; it's a small-ish "peace and justice" denomination, with no flash or high-tech dazzle. And two of the rows were filled with friends of mine from DS and their families, all come to support me! Some of them know that I have been going through great difficulty lately, and they came to offer comfort.  I felt very good about the message, and saw that people responded so strongly to it. Oh sure, there were some people with confused looks on their faces ("what does this have to do with me?"). But when it was over, a dozen people of all ages came to me with tear-stained faces and hugged me. One 70-year-old woman said to me, "this touched some things way deep inside of me. Thank you." Another woman shook my hand; her hand was wet with tears. I've had phone calls from women who are starting to tell their stories, and one said "I can finally begin to talk about this." One friend of mine brought her teen-age daughter, who was less than thrilled about being brought involuntarily to church, but within the first minutes of the sermon was in tears, and is pleading with her mother to come back for the next two parts. We had a visiting family from out of town who said that they will make the road trip for the next two parts.  Mockingbird (Leitha) contributed the closing prayer, by composing a blessing for all survivors and strugglers and sending it to me to read. Kaye is not aware of this, but I chose her suggested scripture from Isaiah as the chentral theme. Lucinda and NILY are also working on special prayers of blessing for survivors, too, and their written words will close the next two services. I am recording all three, and will make the audio available for people who are interested in hearing the messages.