Liz Miller and Julie Balducci are two compassionate women from Houston County dedicated to seeing lives transformed in their community. Through fostering meaningful connections and providing essential support, they are making a significant impact on the lives of women and children facing vulnerabilities in our county.

Both Warner Robins High School graduates, these best friends said yes to the calling of the Lord to return to Warner Robins, GA in 2020. Liz and Julie had moved away over twenty years ago and vowed to never return. “The Lord laughed for He knew that He would be calling us back to fulfill His assignment on our lives and the lives of those that we would touch,” shared Julie.

In 2019, Liz had an ATV accident that left her neck broken in two places. That is when she began a journey of discovering God’s unfailing love for her. “I grew up as a Christian, but for many years I did not know how to fully surrender myself to God and have a relationship with Jesus,” Liz shared. “This resulted in living a life full of bad decision-making and staying in destructive relationships to fill the void.”

It was a long road to recovery. She began to pray for what she was being called to do. In response, she received only one phrase, “woman at the well.” At the time, Liz was unfamiliar with the story of Jesus approaching the Samaritan woman retrieving water from the well. She searched the phrase on the internet and read the biblical story in John 4. “I asked in prayer what the story meant for me,” Liz says. “He told me, I was the woman at the well and to go find other women at the well and bring them to the feet of Living Water.”

Liz reached out to Julie, her best friend of thirty years, to ask for prayer for the new direction, but Julie quickly felt the call to do more than pray. Both women took a leap of faith returning to Houston County to answer the calling they felt to minister to the women in the community. Liz and Julie were amazed to see God’s provision in their lives as they left their comfort zones.They began to reach out to local churches and speak with others about the vision they had for Living Waters. Their ministry began as they connected to people in need of the kind of support and guidance they felt led to give.

The Living Waters Ministry has a specific but open-ended mission: To take women and children who are experiencing brokenness, and are ready for change, and bring them to the feet of Jesus through individualized biblical education and mentorship. Since its inception, The Living Waters Ministry has supported women and children with housing and discipleship, providing custom care to each person they minister to. Each of the ministry’s graduates has begun a new life full of hope, including being accepted into higher education programs, actively serving in the community, and reconciling with their children. Each of these women had unique circumstances, and The Living Waters Ministry was able to tailor programs to help them get on their feet and experience living free from emotional and physical abuse and bondage. These women now live a life truly transformed by Jesus, the Living Water.

The Living Waters Ministry continues to build relationships with women in need of healing and freedom. The ministry started by connecting with local churches, and their collaborative spirit has only gotten stronger. “The first three years of the ministry have been foundation-laying”stated Julie. “We have seen God-inspired transformation in the women and children that we have helped thus far. Now, we see an even fuller picture of collaborating with other nonprofits and organizations to provide these women and children resources for trauma healing, long term housing, and education and employment training, just to name a few.”

Since Spring 2022, The Living Waters Ministry partnered with Evergreen Family Fellowship in Warner Robins, launching a weekly youth program that continues to serve upwards of 100 children from local neighborhoods. Each week, kids ranging in ages from infant to their early20’s, flock into the sanctuary of this long-standing church to learn biblical truths and receive mentorship.

“The relationships we have with these youth go deep,” stated Liz. “They have become like family to us in a lot of ways, and Living Waters comes alongside the parents to support the many hard situations their children are facing.” After church on Sunday, members of the youth group can be found hanging out and cooking meals together in her kitchen. “For now, we make due with the resources we have,” Liz stated. “We serve local teens in our homes regularly and cherish the opportunity to connect and influence them in such a vulnerable season of their lives.”

The Living Waters Ministry is gearing up to start a trauma therapy program for the youth and women they serve later this year. This program will offer individual and group therapy focused on processing traumatic experiences in turn leading to healing and forgiveness. They are currently working on securing funding to launch this program in Fall 2024. “The Lord has highlighted these children as the next world-changers,” emphasized Julie. “Our job is to help remove the false identity that trauma, economic disparity, and cycles of addiction have placed on them and empower them to walk in their true identity.

The Living Waters Ministry has secured a fifteen and a half acre property to open a self-sustaining homestead with separate wings for women and children. They are preparing andpraying for the opportunity to make this dream a reality. The vision includes closing the housing gap for women who are ready for change, to get back on their feet in a safe family-setting,offering their children mentorship and support as well. The long term goal for the property is to build an agricultural program in which residents would have the opportunity to contribute produce and products to the community. “We see this home with intentional programming as a unique and powerful way to demonstrate the gift of giving back,” explained Liz. “This in turn restores students’ confidence and gives them a feeling of fulfillment in their work.”

The Living Waters Ministry hopes to continue building new partnerships as they grow, believing that the job of the Church is to fulfill the unmet needs of the area. Liz expressed the importance of The Living Waters Ministry working closely with other organizations. “While the need is great,Houston County is blessed with diversity and a heart for our community. We are excited for what the future holds and the many lives that will be transformed.” The amazing women at Living Waters Ministry have dedicated their lives to loving people as Jesus did, serving the broken with open arms, hearts, and homes. We thank them for their work and are inspired to do the same.

To learn more about The Living Waters Ministry and how to partner, please visit their website https ://www.livingwatersministryga.com/.