Meet Debbie

Debbie grew up in a world of contradictions, of light and darkness, of love and fear. “I went to church my entire life and always believed Jesus was my Lord and Savior,” she says. “But I also had a long history of being abused.”

She never told anyone, never processed her pain with family or turned to the Lord for healing. “I suppressed the memories and locked my pain away. I had walls up all the time.”

Eventually, Debbie went into nursing, married a wonderful man and adopted two children. Her life looked perfect from the outside, but on the inside, she was being torn apart by the secret she carried. “I was a wreck, a complete mess.”

Then her husband was injured on the job and a dishonest lawyer botched his workers’ compensation claim. Meanwhile, Debbie fell ill and couldn’t work. Little by little, the couple’s savings dried up. They lost their home and custody of their daughters and wound up living in their car. “I couldn’t believe we were homeless,” Debbie says.

That’s when they entered our New Beginnings Covenant Recovery Program, and through biblical discipleship, Debbie’s faith has grown strong. “I went from knowing about God to really knowing Him.”

“God is in this place.”

His love gave Debbie the courage to lower her walls and process her pain with her counselors. “God wanted me here so He could open my heart. Now I can talk about everything,” she says. “I’m happy and peaceful.”

When Debbie and her husband find work and are financially stable again, they’re looking forward to being reunited with their daughters in a place of their own. And everywhere she goes, Debbie plans to be a walking, talking testimony of the power of Christ’s love. “I want people to see the light in me.”

Debbie is thankful for the way you have answered God’s calling to love your neighbor as yourself – and have helped her learn how to love herself. “The Mission showed me how to change my life through God. They gave me hope.”

Click here to download the Summer 2023 issue of Light Newsletter