HE
Loves
ME
“I NOW AM THANKFUL FOR THE LOVE OF THE FATHER, HIS PRESENCE THAT IS ALWAYS WITH ME, AND THE LOVE OF THOSE AT THE MISSION.”
I
remember this day like it was yesterday. I was living at a local hotel, but knew I wasn’t going to be there much longer. I had $67.00 left in my account and no clue where I was going to go. I was in the bathroom putting on my makeup when a commercial for Downtown Rescue Mission came on the TV. I called the Mission and asked the man who answered when the Mission closed. “Ma’am, we never close,” he replied, and I burst out in tears. My life completely changed during one family trip to the beach when I was around eight years old. My dad, oldest sister, and I went to Daytona, Florida. On the way back home we stopped in Woodville, Alabama, and to my surprise, they ran off and left me there with a couple I did not know, though my dad said we were somehow related (I found out later that I had no relation to this couple.) My dad said he would come back and get me but he never came back. This couple took care of me as if I was their own child. They loved me, and I grew to love them, calling them papa and momma. When I was around nineteen years old, my papa was killed on north parkway near Sparkman Drive. Momma died four to five years later of a broken heart. Since I had nowhere else to go, I moved in with their daughter and her husband. They had four children, and I never fit in there. During this time, I met my future husband at the Church of God in Gurley (AL). He was a good man – a God fearing man. We were married for eight years before divorcing. Time is a blur after this happened. I moved
quite a bit from place to place. Years later, in 2011, my ex-husband passed away, not long after apologizing to me for how he had treated me during our marriage. Even though we hadn’t been married for years, I was so lost without him. The pain was so great – not only did I miss him but everybody who had once loved me had died. I felt so alone and empty, like I had throughout my life. The battle with feelings of abandonment and loneliness became more intense and I started drinking a lot of alcohol nearly every day. I couldn’t wait to get off work to begin my drinking. This went on for the next six or so years – drinking by myself and accountable to no one. Though nobody knew of my addiction, you can believe Jesus knew. I got tired of being drunk and feeling isolated. I’ll never forget one Sunday night at church. I repented again and again but this time something was different. I felt a kind of love overcome me like I had never felt before. I asked Jesus to forgive me of all of my sins, known and unknown, and to lead and guide my steps. I was ready to surrender control over my life to Him. I had a friend bring me to the Mission in September 2017. I briefly stayed in their emergency shelter before entering their L.I.F.E. recovery program. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. By God’s grace, I will graduate their program on January 15th. He has helped me break the chains of alcoholism that used to keep me in bondage. I’m free now to serve Him with my life. Though I have felt abandoned and unloved at different times in my life, I now am thankful for the love of the Father, His presence that is always with me, and the love of those at the Mission. Linda
https://donate.downtownrescuemission.org
