From bringing smiles to the world through her pretzels, the founder of world-renowned Auntie Anne's Pretzels is launching a new mission: to bring healing to victims of sexual abuse.
Anne Beiler, founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels, who went to work on her business to support her husband's vision of counseling people for free, was already content and happy with just a single kiosk. God, however, blessed her business with an amazing recipe and soon, her pretzels were being sold in other countries.
Now, Beiler is starting a new organization that aims "to help women find their voice and break free from the secrets that keep them stuck in pain, blame, & shame," reported CBN News.
"Break Your Silence" will launch in 2018 as a collective of women journeying together to overcome what they have gone through or are going through in order to live out their ultimate purpose.
Being a victim of abuse, Beiler believes in the power of confession. In a 2008 interview with the 700 Club, she openly shared that at one time she was seduced by a pastor into a sexually-abusive relationship.
Her healing, she says, started when she began opening up to family, after which she discovered that the same pastor was abusing her sisters and her best friend. Despite the pain, she said being able to confess her darkest secret helped her get free from the 20 years of bitterness that she had from the abusive relationship with the pastor.
"And you know," Beiler told the host, "but the thing that really helped me more than anything, I prayed, I went to church every Sunday, I read my Bible, I cried out to God for deliverance and, you know the thing that changed my life was the confession."
Beiler believes that when a person is able to share her darkest, deepest secrets to someone she can trust, she will be able to heal from her wounds and start to live life to the fullest.
And for this reason, she is starting her new initiative next year.
It comes at a time when sexual abuse is being widely discussed in the media as a result of the Harvey Weinstein scandal that prompted high profile stars to share their experiences.
The #MeToo hashtag went viral trend around the world to reveal a huge number of women suffering from sexual abuse or assault from someone at any time in their lives.
Prominent Christian women Beth Moore and Kay Warren, themselves victims of sexual abuse, are also encouraging women who have experienced such abuse to speak out.
