23 Feb Lisa is celebrating hope!
“I felt so broken… I just needed help to get back.”
Lisa’s life changed dramatically after a car accident. She was unable to keep her job after working at a nearby hospital for 16 years. Despite surgeries on her neck and shoulder, she still suffered from chronic pain and physical problems.
“I lost my ability to work so I lost my income. I don’t have any family and when I eventually lost my place, I was homeless.”
With all the struggles in her life, Lisa fell into depression. She even attempted to take her own life. “I was just so nervous… so frazzled… so alone. It felt like everybody turned their backs on me.”
The day she walked into Long Beach Rescue Mission, everything changed for Lisa.
“I needed to be somewhere I felt safe,” she says. “I was hoping to find spiritual healing because I felt so emotionally and physically broken.”“The biggest thing you can provide a female is safety, as far as food and shelter. When you feel safe, you’re able to mentally recuperate.”
Lisa came to our Lydia House, where she found restoration and peace. She rededicated her life to God and is so grateful for the difference it made in her outlook on life.
“What I needed to do was focus on God again and the good things in life… how faith can really heal you. Now I actually have hope again.”
Though she doesn’t have any family, the friends Lisa calls her family are amazed at the changes they see in her. “They’re really impressed with how much I’ve turned my life around,” she says.
Today, Lisa volunteers at the Mission while she looks for a job that’s not too physically demanding with her limitations. She also plans to learn Spanish so she can travel to a Spanish-speaking country on a mission trip someday.
Thanks to the blessing of your support, Lisa is celebrating Easter as a new creation in Christ.
“The Mission helped me regain my confidence in myself. I feel like my dreams are actually able to come true again.”
To read the rest of this issue of Rescue Review, click here.
Help other people like Lisa…
Lisa’s story of hope and healing is inspiring. Our long-term recovery programs exist to help other men and women find healing. Will you provide this help to others?