Debra's Story

I was ready to give up,” says Debra. For 10 years, she had been smoking marijuana and then used crack cocaine for three years to quiet the voices in her head, what she today calls “a spiritual battle with Satan.” Debra knew she could no longer live with her addiction, and she needed to get right with God. When Debra’s sister told her about Hope Gospel Mission, she realized she didn’t have to give up … she just needed to give everything over to the Lord.

Debra arrived at Hope Gospel and found that following the program and taking the classes gave her exactly what was missing from her life: structure. “I didn’t have a routine before,” she admits. “Everything the Mission planned for me has worked out really well.”

One thing Hope Gospel gave Debra was time to look back on her early years and understand why she turned to drugs for comfort. “My parents divorced when I was very young, and my dad died when I was 12.” Debra, her two sisters and her mother lived with her grandmother. Then her mother left them, and Debra felt abandoned for years. Since coming to the Mission, Debra recognizes that her mother had been abused. “I can’t really blame her for abandoning me,” Debra says, “and she’s making up for it today.”

In fact, Debra enjoys good relations with all her family, including her adult daughter and teen-age sons. “They all know I’m staying focused,” she says proudly. “They’re happy I’m here.”

Debra will graduate very soon, and she plans to enter our Discipleship Transitions Program. She is sober and stable … and the voices that troubled her are now silent. Right now, she says she is taking life one day at a time but looks forward to living with her family again.

“God brought me here to get help,” Debra says of Hope Gospel Mission. She is thankful to you for “showing me love and kindness without even knowing me. Without your help, I wouldn’t be able to get better. I’m getting healthier, and I know I’m going to be okay.”

---