As we say goodbye to 2023 and hello to 2024, here is a little look back at what the year has held for Life-Giving Wounds! More than anything, we rejoice in God’s providence throughout this year, and thank Him for all of the moments of healing we’ve been privileged to witness in the beautiful ACODs we’ve encountered this year.

So, just for fun: 1st) a photo gallery of snaps from the year (click on the images to enlarge), and

2) Life-Giving Wounds by the numbers in 2023…

What we’re grateful for from 2023….

16 in-person retreats (+ 1 online)

We again ran retreats from coast to coast, at least one almost every month, plus our internationally-reaching online retreat. To be candid, it chokes us up a bit to think of these opportunities for healing taking place throughout the year that did not exist before LGW… Each and every retreat we’ve personally attended has been a powerful instance of God’s abundant love and mercy – many tears cried and shared – many “aha” moments and connections made – the Lord’s healing received — just so much goodness taking place. Such holy spaces!

6 new chapters (including our first international one!)

We broke new ground this year in Kansas City, Wichita, Birmingham, St. Augustine, Toronto, and the University of Maryland. Our dream and goal is for all of these new chapters to carry forward – with our support – local ministry for adult children of divorce. In fact, Kansas City will host our first retreat of 2024! We want every ACOD everywhere to look at their local Church and see support for them.

Particularly exciting this year was expanding beyond U.S. borders for the first time, with our September retreat in Toronto. (We gained some great on-the-ground knowledge about doing business internationally!) It’s thrilling to plant Life-Giving Wounds officially in another country. Next: how about Europe…or Australia?!

427 LGW participants

This is the MOST important number: we were overjoyed and humbled to walk alongside 427 men and women from broken homes this year at our retreats and support groups. This is an intensive activity, as any LGW alumni could share. We do our best to pour God’s love into everyone who joins us on retreat or at a support group, and provide help and other opportunities for healing into the future – and we pray so, so hard that whatever graces were received at an LGW event bear fruit for years to come in everyone’s lives and bless the people around them.

Welcome to the LGW family, each and every 427 of you! 😊

189 volunteers (+ 6 contractors and 1 head honcho)

As in previous years, there is NO way Life-Giving Wounds could exist without the generosity of spirit of so, so many beautiful men and women throughout the country (and beyond, now!) who give their love, care, and expertise to fellow adult children of divorce. We just about doubled our volunteer team since last year! These generous souls help lead retreats and support groups, write for our blog, help with behind the scenes events, and so much more. We are so grateful!! (And we believe so strongly that our volunteers, too, gain so much by blessing and helping fellow ACODs.)

(If you want to join our volunteer team, reach out! info@lifegivingwounds.org)

We also grew our paid team this year, with Dan (Mr. Boss Man 😉) serving incredibly generously as our sole employee (such a blessing and important milestone!) and six part-time contractors contributing in significant ways to the mission. We are praying hard for the ability to keep expanding our team as Life-Giving Wounds grows! The harvest is plentiful!

33 blog posts

Thanks to the thoughtful leadership of our blog editor, Sam, we ran 33 brand-new pieces on our blog in 2023 (not including this one). We see our blog as a key part of our mission to give voice to the pain of adult children of divorce and help them find transformational healing – and we’re so grateful to all the authors who contributed their perspective, stories, and expertise to bless other ACODs.

And there was such a range of topics covered! Blog pieces looked at everything from a deep dive into attachment theory to a reading of Lord of the Rings as an ACOD to practical tips for difficult family gatherings. And so, so much more! If you have some time and want to explore the blog, take a look. (And if you want to write for the blog, contact Sam: blog@lifegivingwounds.org.)

1 new book published

Last but definitely not least is probably the single most exciting thing from 2024: the publication of our new book, Life-Giving Wounds: A Catholic Guide to Healing for Adult Children of Divorce or Separation. Wow, we still can’t believe this happened! It is such an honor to have a book out there in the world, and our deepest prayer is that everyone who picks it up finds encouragement for themselves (if they’re an ACOD) or gets a better window into the pain that divorce causes for children.

2024 will bring more book publicity, interviews, and an official book launch event, but for now as the year closes out, we bask in the completion of what felt like an insurmountable task at times but now we can hold the fruit of our efforts (and prayers and help from so many people) in our hands.

So: we’re closing out 2023 and welcoming 2024 with an incredible amount of gratitude and joy in our hearts. The path is not always easy, the challenges sometimes feel daunting, but we place all of our trust in Jesus and pray for His will to be done in every decision we make. We are excited to keep walking forward hand and hand with our Lord into the new year! With God all things are possible!

Bethany Meola is the co-founder and Vice President of Life-Giving Wounds.