The church ended up being “an amazing place of healing,” says Amanda. “It was the first time I felt like there was no shame in my story. I had felt a lot of shame at my old church. I realized, ‘God has brought me here and he brought me here to heal me.’”

Amanda became friends with a man who was deeply involved in the church. After a while, they began dating. Still new to the church, she was worried. She says, “I remember thinking our pastor wouldn’t want me to date him because I was damaged goods. But he was so excited for us.”…

Pope Francis told an interviewer last year that the church should be a, “field hospital after battle.” He added, “The thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity.”

Which is why, as he exhorted Christians to support divorced people, he reminded them that, “[W]hen…love fails—because many times it fails—we have to feel the pain of the failure, [we must] accompany those people who have had this failure in their love. [W]alk with them.” Help them heal.