The Story Behind B.E.A.R. Ministry
For years, I have had the privilege of serving families in many different roles: as a foster and adoptive parent, educator, youth director, Awana leader, and Sunday School teacher. Many people have seen me work with children and teenagers who struggle with behavioral and emotional challenges.
Those experiences certainly helped prepare me for B.E.A.R. Ministry, but they are only part of the story.
The story behind B.E.A.R. Ministry began long before Matt and I ever imagined this ministry would exist. When I look back over my life, I can now see how God was preparing my heart through experiences, relationships, hardships, failures, and restoration.
Today, I want to share that story- not because my life has been perfect, but because I believe God can use every part of our story for His purpose.
Where God Began Preparing Me
I grew up in a faithful Christian home. My parents loved the Lord and taught me to trust His provision. Church was at the center of our lives. I attended a church-school and was surrounded by a small, close-knit Christian community.
We didn't have much financially. By worldly standards, many would have considered us lower class. But I never felt poor.
My parents taught me to focus on what God had provided rather than what we lacked. They taught me gratitude, contentment, generosity, and the importance of trusting God.
I watched my parents give to people who were in need, always quietly and without anyone knowing. Years later, one of those families told me how much my parents' generosity had meant to them during a difficult season of their lives.
Looking back, I realize those experiences were teaching me one of the earliest lessons about ministry: Ministry isn't about how much you have. It's about being willing to let God use what He has already given you.
We always had a roof over our heads, food in the house, and clothes to wear. I have so many wonderful memories of growing up in a simple home.
Then, when I was fourteen, everything changed.
My mother was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer.
Our lives quickly became filled with doctor appointments, chemotherapy, hospital visits, and uncertainty. I watched my father faithfully care for my mother, and I watched our church family become the hands and feet of Christ.
People brought meals.
They prayed.
They encouraged us.
They showed up.
That experience taught me something that continues to shape B.E.A.R. Ministry today:
God often ministers to hurting people through ordinary believers who are simply willing to show up.
Around that same time, I met Matt, and we began dating. For a little while, our relationship made me feel like a typical teenager. But we came from two different upbringings, and our relationship was forbidden at the time.
I was heartbroken.
At the time, I didn't understand why. Looking back now, as parents ourselves, Matt and I can understand why my parents made the decisions they did.
Life continued to change.
My mother's cancer eventually went into remission, but it returned and spread throughout her body.
When I was seventeen, doctors told my dad she had less than a year to live. Hospice was set up for her final months. While many seniors were enjoying their final year of high school, I finished my senior year at home. I would go into school once a week for testing or to complete any work that needed to be done.
I didn't feel bitter about helping care for my mom, but I was sad.
I helped bathe her, brush her hair, and care for her when the hospice nurse wasn't there. At the same time, I was helping care for my two young nephews, one of whom had special needs.
I remember one particular time when a nurse was at our house. My mom proudly told her that I was going to be a nurse one day. In my heart, I knew God was not calling me to be a nurse.
I believed He was calling me to be a teacher.
Looking back, I know this was one of the times God was beginning to develop my heart for children with special needs.
At the time, though, I didn't understand how all of these experiences would eventually fit together.
On the outside, I looked like a responsible Christian teenager. Inside, I was overwhelmed.
I was dealing with grief, fear, confusion, and questions I didn't know how to express.
And looking back, I recognize something that has become central to B.E.A.R. Ministry:
Children and teenagers can become experts at hiding their pain.
Adults may see the behavior, but God sees the broken heart.
That is why we don't want to simply ask, "What's wrong with this child?"
We want to ask, "What has this child experienced?"
That question can change everything.
When I Ran
As my mother's health declined, so did my own faith. I still believed in God, but I had questions I thought Christians weren't supposed to ask.
Why my mom?
Why our family?
Why now?
Instead of bringing those questions to God, I buried them. Eventually, the weight became too much. When graduation night came, I was overwhelmed. And I ran.
I didn't show up for my high school graduation. My family, church, and school didn't know where I was for a few days. Eventually, I made my way to Lynchburg to stay with my older sisters until I turned eighteen.
At the time, I probably didn't understand what was happening. But looking back now, I can see God's protection Even when I was running from God, He wasn't running from me.
After my mother passed away, I remained away from the Lord for nearly ten years. During that time, I became involved with drinking and smoking cigarettes and surrounded myself with people who encouraged choices I never imagined I would make.
I told myself I was free. But the truth was, I was still hurting.
I was carrying pain I hadn't dealt with, and I was trying to find my way through life without God.
Eventually, God began drawing me back to Himself.
It wasn't one dramatic moment. It happened one step at a time. Motherhood became one of the ways God began healing the places in my heart that had been hurting for years. Slowly, He began replacing bitterness with grace, fear with peace, and questions with trust.
And through that process, I learned something I carry with me every day:
No one is beyond God's reach.
Why This Ministry Is Personal
When parents tell me they are praying for a child who has walked away from the Lord, I understand their fear.
I know what it feels like to be that child. I also know what it feels like to have a parent who refuses to stop praying.
My dad never stopped praying for me. He didn't just pray for me....he prayed for the friends I was partying with.
He continued to believe that God could reach me even when my choices seemed to say otherwise.
That is why, when parents ask me if there is still hope, I can honestly say yes.
Not because I've simply read about redemption. I've lived it.
My story is one of the reasons B.E.A.R. Ministry is so personal to me.
B.E.A.R. Ministry exists to educate, encourage, and equip parents before their children reach a crisis.
We want to help families recognize warning signs, understand the risky behaviors young people may encounter, and connect with resources before a situation becomes more difficult to change.
We especially want to reach families who may believe, "That could never happen to our family."
I understand that mindset.
I grew up in a loving Christian home. I attended a Christian school. I was surrounded by people who loved the Lord.
And yet, I still struggled.
That doesn't mean my parents failed. It means I was human.
It means that even children raised in loving, Christ-centered homes can experience pain, struggle with questions, make poor choices, or find themselves heading down paths their parents never expected.
Children and teenagers can experience things they don't know how to communicate. They can carry grief, anger, fear, loneliness, peer pressure, and questions while appearing completely fine on the outside.
Sometimes the warning signs are subtle.
Sometimes we don't recognize them until the situation has become serious.
That's why B.E.A.R. Ministry exists.
Our goal is not to create fear in parents. Our goal is to create awareness.
Because awareness gives us an opportunity to respond sooner.
God Can Use the Whole Story
When people know me today, they may know me as the teacher, the youth leader, the foster or adoptive parent, or the person who works with children who struggle with behavior.
Those experiences have certainly prepared me for B.E.A.R. Ministry.
But now I understand that God was preparing me long before I recognized it.
He used my childhood. He used my parents. He used my mother's illness. He used my church family. He used my experiences caring for my mother and my nephews. He used my mistakes.
He used my rebellion. He used my restoration. He even used the years when I felt farthest from Him.
None of it was wasted.
That is something I want families to understand.
Sometimes we look at the difficult chapters of our lives and wonder why God allowed them to happen.
Sometimes we can't see any purpose in the pain while we're walking through it.
But God sees the whole story.
He sees what we cannot see.
And sometimes, years later, we can look back and recognize that the very experiences we once wished we could erase became the experiences God used to prepare us to help someone else.
That gives me hope for families who are walking through difficult seasons today.
Maybe your child is struggling.
Maybe your teenager has made choices you never imagined they would make.
Maybe you are praying for a child who has walked away from the Lord.
Maybe you're looking at your family and wondering how things got to this point.
I want you to know something:
There is still hope.
God can work in places we cannot see. He can reach people we cannot reach. He can restore what we thought was lost.
And sometimes, He chooses to work through ordinary people who are simply willing to show up.
That is the heart behind B.E.A.R. Ministry.
We don't have all the answers.
But we want to be there. We want to listen. We want to educate. We want to encourage.
We want to equip. And most importantly, we want families to know they don't have to walk through these difficult situations alone.
When I look at my story today, I don't see a perfect path. I see God's faithfulness.
I see His protection when I didn't recognize it. I see His grace when I didn't deserve it.
I see His patience when I was running. And I see His purpose in places I once considered broken.
The story behind B.E.A.R. Ministry is ultimately not about me. It is about what God can do with a life that is surrendered to Him—even a life that has taken some very difficult turns.
It is a story of a God who never gave up on me. And that is why I believe so strongly in the mission of B.E.A.R. Ministry.
If God could reach me, He can reach your child.
If God could restore me, He can restore your family.
And if God can use my story, He can use yours too!
There is hope. There is help. And no family has to walk this journey alone.
"I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on paths they have not known. I will turn darkness to light in front of them and rough places into level ground. This is what I will do for them, and I will not abandon them." Isaiah 42:16
~ Juanita Lewis
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