DEE BARNES
“I also received much healing prayer over many years for the various traumas I’d experienced in my life. Today, I’m very secure in my womanhood.”
I grew up the oldest of three children in a happy family. Mom was home, and my dad worked faithfully. Though we would have said we were Christians, no one in our home really knew God. A tomboy at heart, I felt very disconnected from girly things. While my friends enjoyed playing with dolls, babysitting or wearing makeup, I preferred sports. I was, in fact, a very confident and talented athlete. When it came to matters of femininity, however, I was very insecure. Wearing dresses felt stressful and uncomfortable, and I had trouble connecting emotionally with the women in my family. If I’d been a young girl living in today’s society, I would have easily identified as trans because I felt much more comfortable in boy clothes.
Tragically, around age 15, I was molested by a man in my neighborhood, and this event altered the trajectory of my life. Driving me to further disconnect from the feminine, the molestation also kick-started a season of sexual promiscuity with boys and an addiction to pornography. Then, after having an abortion at age 19, I became emotionally enmeshed with a married woman with whom I began a sexual relationship. This relationship was my introduction to homosexuality, and because it felt so right, I believed the lie that I must be gay.
For the next five years, I lived in and out of relationships with other women. However, when I turned 26, I began to question my lifestyle when an attractive woman who played in my adult soccer league encouraged me to read Romans 1. A lesbian herself for 15 years, she was also a Christian, and she believed the way we were living was wrong. For the first time, I felt a sense of conviction in my spirit as the words of scripture began to penetrate my heart. Though I had been baptized at age 15, I knew I didn’t know God in the way my friend did, so I began to visit various churches in search of truth. The more I learned, the more I felt convicted. As if blinders were removed from my eyes, I could see how unhealthy and dysfunctional my life relationships had become.
Six months later, and after experiencing yet another rejection, I knelt by my bed alone one night and cried out to God. “Lord I am sick of this,” I prayed. “Please, whatever it takes, get me out.” The next morning, I visited a random church alone, and for the first time, I heard a message of repentance. Responding to the altar call, I repented and surrendered my life to Jesus and was born again.
In the following weeks, I found a counselor who eventually introduced me to the Living Waters program. For the next five years, I journeyed into healing in this Christ-centered community where I was accepted and discipled. Beyond Living Waters, I also received much healing prayer over many years for the various traumas I’d experienced in my life. Today, I’m very secure in my womanhood. God gave me a wonderful husband and three amazing children, two boys and a girl who are all now young adults. I absolutely love being a wife and mother. Currently, I am the CEO of my family’s metal stamping manufacturing company. I am also the founder of His Wonderful Works ministry, where I have the privilege of helping others walk out healing from LGBT through lay counseling, healing prayer, and teaching at churches and local conferences.
Dee’s Ministry, His Wonderful Works, Inc.: hiswonderfulworks.com