Glory House - hope, healing & direction for women

A class in our program

We have a class at Glory House called Reality Check 101 – Taking Action. In this class we ask residents to deal with real issues; the kinds of problems that can affect people their whole lives unless they deal with them. Often we call these kinds of issues “rotten roots”, those deep dark secrets that no one likes to talk about.

Artwork created by a resident who was dealing with frustration.

So we ask our ladies to draw and write their issues on a "Pitiful" page, revealing their feelings, fears, secrets and pain.

Releasing unresolved issues on a page not only opens up a dialog in a group setting, but it helps women see the problems for what they are and gives them the strength to overcome them.

This Pitiful Page depicts a dead, lifeless tree. Written to the side, it says: Angry, Sad and Help Us. A sad face and a hurt face are also drawn on the page.

We then ask the ladies to draw and write a "Powerful" page. This allows them to put their feelings, fears, secrets and pain in a new perspective, giving them the power to map what their life can and should be. It’s a visual and empowering lesson, as you can see from the drawings here.

This Powerful page was drawn by the same resident and shows a tree bursting with leaves and fruit. There are happy faces drawn around the trunk. The words Peaceful, growth, healing, and happy are written on the side.

This Pitiful Page was titled "Ball of Confusion". The resident who drew this said it was the only thing that came to mind when asked to draw her Pitiful page, as she felt confused, hopeless, and unable to untangle from the life she had created.

Artwork made by one of our residents who was beginning to know who God really is and that He is love.

This Pitiful page was accompanied by a journal entry that read in part: My house was never clean. My husband and kids lived in filth with dirt and rotten food on the counters. Full ashtrays and dirty clothes were everywhere. The house was infested with mice and roaches. And this was all because of my addictions. I was too high to care. I was also lazy. I hardly ever let my kids go outside because I was too lazy to watch them.

The drawing shows a house with the words Broken Street written across it. Roaches are drawn on the page along with an unused swing set in high grass. At the top it says. My husband was depressed. I was suicidal. My kids were sad and out of control.

This Powerful Page shows how the resident feels after accepting the Lord into her heart. She drew a large glowing cross with her family dancing around it. The words Powerful and Redeemed are written on the page.

Another Pitiful Page, showing flames with the words anger, jealousy, greed, ashamed, lust and gossip. This resident said all of these things brought such pain to her life, a pain that made her seek comfort from things that were hurting her.

This Pitiful page was drawn by a resident used drugs, smoked too much and contemplated suicide almost every day.

This Powerful page depicts the power discovered by the resident though journaling, singing, talking, loving, smiling, and reading the bible.

These pages show how this resident's heart is feeling when she is pitiful and how she feels when she is powerful. Notice the huge difference in emotions.

Artwork made by a resident who needed to express her feelings of pain and why she cut herself to feel better.

This Pitiful image depicts a woman broken, with a crack down the middle of her body as tears spill from her eyes. Some of the captions include: Broke, I'm dying, My kids don't want me, Have another beer, No one cares, and HA HA HA.

This Powerful image was drawn by the same artist as above, only this time she's not broken or cracked and her heart swells with love. Some of the captions include: Look my kids love me, Jesus is my life, Yea! I can still be free, and Thank you God.

So often, when people don’t deal with their painful past or destructive life choices, they self-medicate with drugs, alcohol, and a continuous pattern of more bad choices. This can lead to a life filled with hopelessness and low self-esteem.

This Pitiful page depicts a woman inhaling gasoline fumes. It states: My high is all I care about. You are my friend gasoline. You got me started on inhalants why did I fall for you? You are destroying my life but I love you so much!

This Powerful image was drawn by the same woman as the picture above. It shows a knife, gun, ziplock bag, can spray paint and gasoline. It states: No weapon formed against me shall prosper!

This Powerful page is a letter to Jesus. It states in part: I was standing in the crowd lost and alone. I tried to reach you, I felt as if I never could. You reached for me and filled my cup and made me new. Thank you for the joy, I'll love you always Jesus.

This Pitiful page shows a woman huffing paint from a ziplock bag. It states: I feel so sad. You have no idea how I feel. This gives me a way to escape from physical reality. My body hurts when I am coming down so why should I quit?

This Powerful page illustrates: I Know - My Hope - I Can - Finish Strong. Praise God and Faith.

These heartbreaking works of art are helping our residents
take away the pitiful and bring on the powerful!

This is why it's so important that Glory House continue
to help the women who come to us seeking positive change.

A powerful image created by a resident who was dealing with anger issues.