The following statements come from individuals who have participated in Heart t’ Heart over the years. Honoring the tradition of anonymity, their names are not included. However, having received permission to do so in each case, their names, addresses, and phone numbers can be provided if further information is desired. Many others could also be added to this collection.
“I really love the Heart t’ Heart program. It has really helped me make some positive changes in my life. I have bipolar disorder and grew up in a dysfunctional home. Heart t’ Heart has been a real blessing in helping me find my healing. I really believe in this program and believe it can change lives. I’ve SEEN it change lives!”
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“Dealing with low grade depression for the past 35 years of my adult life and knowing deep inside that for me it was a spiritual ailment, I could not manage to overcome it, even with professional and ecclesiastical attempts of help. Sharing and learning from the others in Heart t’ Heart has given me the needed understanding of how I could let the Savior heal me. We all come with such different backgrounds and challenges, but the awakening is to the same powerful realization. The realness and honesty is the fertile soil in which acceptance, love and testimony grow. I will ever be grateful that my over-eating addiction led me to Heart t’ Heart.”
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“I am a survivor of incest and during the critical part of my recovery I was guided to Heart t’ Heart. It has brought my fragmented soul into the Savior’s loving arms. With the Savior’s help and the help of others within the group, I am feelings less fragmented and more whole. I recommend Heart t’ Heart to anyone who is on a spiritual path to recovery.”
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“I have been attending Heart t’ Heart for the past seven and a half years and plan to continue attending the rest of my life. Why? Because I continue to grow in my relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ; my Heavenly Father; and of the Holy Ghost. Through learning how to ‘work’ the twelve steps, I have learned how to turn my life over to the Savior and trust Him in all things. Heart t’ Heart is helping me to overcome my co-dependency (my fearful need to control other people), perfectionism, pride, and over-eating. I have come to feel joy, peace, and love such as I have never felt in the past. I have had many hard experiences during these past eight years (surgery, the death of my husband, breaking my leg twice, and relationship problems with family members) but I have been able to deal with them in a most extraordinary manner because of my growing relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ. Heart t’ Heart had helped me to place Him at the center of my life.”
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“For many years I thought my husband, three children, and I were ‘mainstream LDS.’ We had been married in the temple, continued to attend regularly, held church callings and so forth. Periodically my husband would have a bout with ornery moods. This concerned me a great deal but I realized no one is perfect.
“After almost 21 years of marriage, I discovered my husband was addicted to pornography and had been since before we were married. His ornery moods were a manifestation of this addiction and fit right into the ‘obsessive-compulsive cycle.’ Needless to say I was devastated and very shocked. I’d go to church and felt completely alone. I didn’t feel I had anyone on earth I could talk to. I spent hours on my knees and poured out my heart to my Heavenly Father. Through following my promptings I was led to Heart t’ Heart.
“At Heart t’ Heart I was able to be totally honest. I found a loving supportive fellowship. The people who came to our meetings truly became my brothers and sisters. They accepted me and let me work through my pain. I learned the importance of unconditional love because I have truly experienced it. Tremendous healing has taken place in my life.”
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“Because Heart t’ Heart is based on scriptures, and attended by persons truly seeking answers through God, it is different from other twelve step groups. The members of the group are seeking Christ-centered lives, and are honest, open, and full of unconditional love. This promotes an uplifting feeling, which fosters hope… hope to struggle on, knowing there are these handful of people struggling with you. In the three years I have been attending Heart t’ Heart, I have truly come to believe that my Father in Heaven does love me and I have learned to trust Him to have my best interest at heart. This may sound elementary, but trust is the core issue with childhood abuse survivors like myself. Especially trust of anyone called ‘Father.’”
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“During my entire life I have had a spending problem and after I got married it became worse and worse. Over the past twenty-one years my husband and I quarreled continually over our finances. I had used all of our charge cards to the limit and had even forged my husband’s name in order to get a loan. We talked to many counselors, bishops, and social services but nothing seemed to help. Then I attended my first Heart t’ Heart meeting. My healing hasn’t been an overnight cure, but Heart t’ Heart has given me a new way of looking at things and the ability to turn to the Lord in a way I never knew before. It’s been 4 1/2 years and though I’m not perfect I feel whole, I like myself, my husband likes me and we never fight over money. I am definitely a Heart t’ Heart advocate. It saved my life and my marriage. I know it was a gift from the Lord to me.”
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“I find that pinching myself each day to see if this is really happening is becoming a regular ritual. Is this truly the reprieve I have yearned for for so long from my addictive behavior? What ever the reason I thank the Lord regularly with humility and gratitude for this peaceful, precious time of my life since I’ve been in Heart t’ Heart. I have learned how to have sacred, quality time to praise the Savior’s name, to thank Him, read of Him, and share my testimony of Him with family and friends.”
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These testimonies are also found in the pamphlet, “Heart t’ Heart Members Speak”