Monica grew up believing she was unlovable. “When I was little, my mom would hit me a lot and I felt it was because I was a bad person,” she says. When she was an adult, Monica married an abusive man, and when she finally left after nine years, blamed herself for the divorce. “I couldn’t understand what was wrong with me that kept my husband from changing,” she says. “I hated myself.”
She’d experimented with meth as a teenager, but after her divorce, Monica began using every day to numb her pain. “I tried to stop, but I couldn’t do it on my own,” she says. “My parents took my kids for me and I lost my house, but I still couldn’t get clean.”
While staying at a shelter, Monica learned about our Christian Life Training Discipleship Program, and decided to come. “I was lost and I was hoping to find myself,” she says.
Through Biblical studies, Christian counseling and faith-based addiction recovery, Monica has found sobriety, a personal relationship with the Lord and a new sense of self. “I had known of Him, but I didn’t have an intimate relationship with Him,” she says. “Now I know He accepts, values and loves me no matter what, and that’s helped me love who I am.”
Monica has now graduated from the program, works in our Encore Boutique and lives in our Transitional Housing so she can save money to get a place for herself and her children. They can hardly wait! “Before, they didn’t want anything to do with me, but I’m very close to my kids now,” she says.
She’s also looking forward to going back to work in her former profession as a medical assistant, and continuing to grow in her walk with the Lord.
And she’s grateful to friends like you for your continuing support of the Mission. “Before coming to the Mission, I was hopeless and helpless. Now I feel complete.”