As a child I remember feeling unloved. I started looking for love in the wrong places and at the age of 15 I became pregnant. I was forced to terminate this pregnancy and this decision left me with shame and guilt. I started using pain pills to mask the pain and fill the void of that child. When I had my three children, I thought I had found the love I had always been longing for. Shortly after my third child was born, all the pain and guilt started creeping back into my life.
After receiving a DUI with my child in the car, all my children were in state’s custody because I could not stop using on my own. This is when I turned to harder drugs and lost all touch of reality. I was completely numb and hurt everyone I came in contact with. I was running from myself and chasing whatever made me feel alive. When standing in front of the judge, I was given the option to go to Adult and Teen Challenge of the Upper Cumberland. I was willing to do whatever it took to live again.
The love I had been longing for was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I now have a joy and peace in my heart I have never experienced. I have been delivered from drugs and alcohol and forgiven by not only God, but by my family. I know that I am loved unconditionally and the shame and guilt I carried for so long has been taken. My entire life has been transformed from the inside out and I now have the joy of the Lord shining through me.
Through the help of this ministry I have started attending Bible college and I am believing God for restoration with my children. I know He will open the doors in His timing for me to be the godly mother He has created me to be. When I come across trials, I am reminded of James 1:2-4, my brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you my perfect and complete lacking nothing. With the help of Jesus, I can get through any circumstance I face because He is walking before me and He already won the battle!