The First Great Awakening brought major social and religious changes to England that quickly spread to the colonies in America. At a time of great moral and spiritual darkness, evangelists began to preach that all must repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this far-reaching spiritual revival might never have been propagated except for the efforts of one woman–Lady Selina Shirley Huntingdon.

Lady Selina was born into an aristocratic family in England in 1707. As a child she was a quiet, religious girl who was often melancholy. During her adolescence however, she blossomed into a charming, outgoing young woman who was at home in high society.

For too long, Pastor’s wives have built walls to protect themselves from the women they are called to lead. It’s time to break through the barriers.

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At the Charisma Women’s Conference in April 2000, Cindy Jacobs led a prayer of repentance and forgiveness. She called for a pastor and his wife to come forward to repent on behalf of any pastors and their wives who had ever offended women. I nudged my pastor-husband and indicated that we needed to volunteer.

We made our way to the platform and repented before all the women present. God ministered powerfully by His Spirit that night. Since then I have had women from different parts of the world tell me how deeply impacted and encouraged they were by that prayer.

During my sophomore year of college, when I was 20 years old, my mother, Regina, was diagnosed with cancer and died three months later. I was very close to her, so her death was extremely painful. It was particularly hard because my father had died three years earlier.

My parents had worked very hard for my brother and me to attend college and “make something of ourselves.” Having lost them both, I felt alone but determined to finish school and see my dreams realized.

My mother’s death came in July, and I was scheduled to return to classes in September. I was concerned that I wasn’t prepared emotionally or financially to go back.