I am 36 years old and am from West Tennessee. I grew up in a dysfunctional home where I was always told how worthless I was and how I would never amount to anything. There is life and death in the power of the tongue, and everything I was told, I eventually became.
When I was introduced to alcohol and drugs, they captured me because I liked the way they numbed me so I did not have to feel all the hurt I had on the inside. I went from one addiction to another. I wanted to change and I did not want to be the person I had become. My family had turned their backs on me, I lost all 3 of my children, and jail had become a revolving door for me.
On August 6, 2014, I found myself tired and miserable and I tried to end it all. But God stepped in and showed me that He had a bigger and better plan for me. Instead of my life ending, I was blessed to have a new beginning. I went back to jail and something happened to me there. I was tired of going in and out of jail, only to leave God behind when I left each time. I was willing to do whatever it took to change. I wanted to know how I could keep God first in my life, no matter how rough things might get. That is when I decided to come to Teen Challenge.
Since being here at Teen Challenge of the Upper Cumberland, God has helped me to accept the pain that I tried so hard to cover up for so long. I no longer have the bad feelings that I wanted to change, I now have true happiness and joy. My greatest desire now is to be a follower of Christ and to share what He has done for me, so that maybe others will not make the same choices that I made. When I came here my family had turned their backs on me and I had no way to communication with my children. Graduating from Teen Challenge soon, I now have the opportunity to enter into my children’s lives again.
I have an amazing family in Christ from Teen Challenge of the Upper Cumberland that I will be surrounded by. They push me to be the best that God has called me to be. I no longer think of myself as less than I ought to. I am a child of God, and He has created me perfectly to be able to do what He has called me to do. My doubts about God are gone, and I know that all things work together for the good for those who love Him. What the enemy meant for bad, God has turned around for the good. I now know how to be the example for my children, and for the rest of my family, helping them to see the truth and to live the abundant life God has for them. The verse that I stand on today is Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” I know that by putting Him first, He will give me my heart’s desires.