Diane Earley loves the beach. When she and her husband go on vacation, along with fishing and other beach activities, she loves to walk the shore line, praying and meditating on God’s word. It gives her a sense of peace, with the sound of the waves rolling in, and the warm sand beneath her feet.The scenery and the tranquility sets the tone for her to commune with God in a quiet, intimate environment. In essence, the beach is her prayer closet.
But, since she lives in the mountains, those beach visits are confined to a few days a year. So, Diane brings a little beach back home with her every time she goes. Seashells, a little sand, pictures and large helping of rejuvenation from those walks along the beach.
But, Diane has another love. It’s a love for people, but her heart is especially directed toward young women. In the last several years, God has opened the doors for her to minister to women in various homeless shelter, as well as several jails, and she has seen fruit from her labors.
Her heart is for the hurting~to help undo the damage done to them from others, and from themselves. The Lord has now moved her and her husband into an orphanage as house parents, where she ministers to young girls from all kinds of backgrounds, with all kinds of issues. Here is a little of her story, in her words, that explains how she got here.
PPM: How did your burden for women, and in particular young women, begin? Did it stem from experiences from your own childhood?
Diane: Yes. It came from not being understood. I know the Lord had my heart from a young age, but from not being fed through the church body, I chose to go to the world. I see now that it was a path that God let me take. And I spent many years there, but I can see where God had His hand on me all the way through it. By man’s standards, I should have been dead, or in jail.
The people that I hurt should not have been in my life, but God used it to teach me forgiveness by having them forgive me. Through the whole thing, God was teaching me perseverance. It was a lesson in persevering to the end goal.
It was at a young age that I made a “deal” with God. I had always heard of people making deals with the devil, but I made mine with God. If you let me do more than sit on a church pew, when I hit my 30’s, I’ll come back. God kept me to my word, and brought me back. But, He allowed me to go and do what I thought was fun, yet I always knew that He was there. That’s why I kept pouring in the drugs and the alcohol, to create a separation between Him and me, and through all that, trying to fill the void that was His place in my heart.
I see the same thing in the women in the jails, the homeless shelters, and the girls in the children’s home. Whether it is unhealthy relationships, food, cutting, drugs, or alcohol, they all are trying to fill that void. I look back now, and know that I missed a lot of blessings, and I hurt a lot of people but, I hurt Him most of all.
PPM: How old were you when God had you honor your end of the deal?
Diane: I was 33. And I hear a lot of people say that when they begin their new walk with Christ, that everything from the old was gone. It wasn’t that way with me; it was step, by step, by step. And that process helps me recognize the different traits in the girls at the home. Because I didn’t get what was needed in my little home church as a young woman, I am sensitive to those young women that seem to “have it” but don’t. They still need guidance. And my past definitely helps me to bear what the kids at the children’s home dish out.
I’ve always said that God has a great sense of humor, with me wanting kids. In never having children of my own, and then Him blessing us so much with *Angelice~with me being in my early 50’s~and being house parents in the children’s home, I something that could not happen naturally.
Even when my mother got Alzheimer’s, I never questioned God as to why. As hard as it was to see her like that, He gave me a child in her. He knew that I could not have handled a sudden separation from her; He knows that those kinds of things has to come in little chunks for me.
I see an element of myself in the kids; I know what they thinking, feeling, and doing. I want to spare them from any of the pain that I walked through, and to encourage them to think about the choices that they make, and what the outcome of that will be. And that helps me to understand that it’s tiny, baby steps that they have to make.
*Angelice is a bubbly 20 month old that the Earley’s have had from birth, and are in the process of adopting.
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