Pat Hastings

Pat Hastings has been leading Women's Spirituality retreats and workshops for the past eight years. In her retreats she helps participants find a loving relationship with God through prayer and forgiveness, as well as making peace with the past. She is a dynamic speaker who recently won a Toastmaster's inspirational speech contest. She is available to give presentations on a variety of spiritual subjects including faith, prayer, self-love, self esteem and manifesting and creating your dream.

With God’s grace, I strive to overcome the effects of growing up with two alcoholic parents and the sexual abuse by a priest in my early teens. Learning to face and work through my fears, low self esteem and forgive has been a long process. Finding a therapist that I trusted was essential to getting better. Every week I poured out my heart trying to understand myself and what happened. People pleasing had become my addiction. I used affirmations on a daily basis-to help free myself from the negative beliefs I had about myself. I joined a 12 step program for children of alcoholics and faithfully attended every week. Over time and with much prayer, I learned to trust, believe and love myself. God’s loving presence has healed and transformed me. I went back to college at age 40 - something I was desperately afraid of doing and eventually earned a Master’s degree in counseling. Ironically, my life’s work is now working with alcoholics and drug addicts. It’s not a job, but a ministry that I love and am grateful for. I recently wrote a book, Simply a Woman of Faith. It’s an inspirational memoir of my life and my faith journey. It’s about how God answers prayer when we ask and believe.

I am an inspiring woman because I refused to let my childhood and the abuse stop me from becoming whole and healthy. Through my book and my life’s work, I am inspiring others to do the same. My own healing and transformation has allowed me to make a difference in the lives of others.

She is also a psychotherapist with twenty years of experience, both in private practice and in a local government agency. She counsels those with addictions and their family members with a focus on spiritual healing. She has recently written a book titled Simply a Woman of Faith in which she shares her everyday experiences of faith and answered prayer. Whether you are searching for more meaning and purpose in your life or already have strong faith and prayer, her poignant stories will touch you deeply. Whatever your spiritual beliefs are, her stories have a universal message of love, hope and transformation.

Pat received her Master's degree at Springfield College in Massachusetts and completed two years at the Spiritual Life Center in R.I. She has been living the spiritual life for over thirty years.

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