Guiding Light Executive Director Julianne Burk celebrates 10 years since its grand opening.
Precious Grundy | The Lima News
LIMA — In 2013, Julianne Burk’s childhood home was transformed into a maternity home for young mothers. Ten years later, Guiding Light Ministries has expanded to serving any woman in need at three separate locations in the city of Lima.
Burk weighed in on the anniversary of the opening Monday afternoon.
“We started out helping pregnant teens and young moms up to age 23 with any kids,” said Burk. “It was mostly focused on pregnancy to save the babies. This home was a licensed maternity home for three years in our early years and we almost got mandated to only take in pregnant women. Which was a limited population of people that needed our services.”
What began as an idea from God quickly became a Christian ministry for the city. Once the doors opened, the organization began to reach more women who were in need. In 2015, Burk said God nudged her to open another home after the heroin epidemic.
“We started opening that house up specifically for moms either coming out of the maternity home because you could not keep newborns in the licensed home and also for any age group of women from teens to the elderly,” said Burk. “It was for women that needed services, structure, life skills training and case management. Everything we were already offering.”
As the world continued to evolve so did Guiding Light. Burk said following COVID-19, the organization began to serve more women who were being evicted from their homes, suffering domestic violence and battling mental health.
Guiding Light does not work alone. Burk said the ministry partners with other organizations in the community to help the women they serve.
“There are a lot of social service agencies that we collaborate with and us being faith-based, we have never stopped being very holistic and spiritually minded, knowing that God had this idea,” said Burk. “He spoke it, started it and continues it. Without Him, we would not even stay open. We do a lot of walking by faith every month.”
Moving forward, the ministry plans to continue to expand and keep a firm foundation of faith. Burk said women who enter the home anxious soon feel the peace of God after two weeks. Burk also said their hygiene, emotions and faces change after knowing Him.
“They start having this reality of God is for me and He is with them,” said Burk. “As we do devotions in the morning or pray for them if they want prayer they start to recognize God is working on my behalf. They realize that and some of them begin to pursue God. They want to keep their devotions when they leave. They learn how to pray which is a foundational key because they learn that prayer changes things. The Lord just really does something in them.”
For more information, reach Julianne Burk at 419-236-7935 or by email at [email protected].
Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.
