Adena Giles is a wife, mom, singer, and radio host. From an early age she sensed a calling into ministry. At the time she thought this would mean a grand adventure overseas, or a theater-based ministry. But the Lord has a way of taking our plans and expectations, putting them through a hard edit, and saying, “See: I am making a new thing!” 

Marriage and family, turns out, is a ministry in-and-of itself. Married to Wailer Giles in 2005, life has been mostly bearing, nurturing, and educating their six children, and that is where the brunt of her spiritual formation has taken place. As a child from a broken home, while Adena was committed to the daily work of loving her husband and raising their children, those early adulthood years also brought long-hidden wounds and painful questions to the surface. That journey required facing the realities of sexual trauma and cultivating a deep resolve to protect her children, and to pursue healing for herself. By God’s grace, and with the steady support of a patient and faithful husband, she never walked that road alone.

Before they worked at Proven Ministries, the Gileses were regularly engaged in conversations around healthy sexual formation. Ever since their children were conversant, this was a central part of ongoing discussions at home. It was also a recurring dialogue with friends of all ages as they navigated the treacherous waters of dating and walking into marriage. Doing this ministry now in an official capacity has been a very God-has-his-hand-in-this kind of venture. 

Adena is passionate to destigmatize the struggle for women desperate to recover from sexual sin. She finds great joy in walking alongside the intrepid soul who pursues freedom and transformation through sexual integrity. Now she and Wailer often laugh together at the winding road that – finally – brought them into ministry life alongside one another.