Danielle’s Success Story

Today, my life is very different than it was a year ago. I’m going to school, working toward a career in business, rebuilding my relationship with my son, and most importantly, growing in my relationship with Jesus Christ. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I’m building a future instead of simply trying to survive.

That is something I don’t take for granted.

I grew up in Roosevelt, Utah, in the foster care system. I never really had a permanent home growing up. When I turned 18, I aged out of foster care and was on my own. I started using drugs recreationally when I was still a preteen. At first, it was something I did on weekends. Eventually, it became something I was doing almost every day.

Drugs affected almost every part of my life. I had a hard time keeping jobs and maintaining housing. Sometimes I would find work and get an apartment, but eventually things would fall apart. I also found myself in trouble with the law because of my drug use.

For about ten years, homelessness became a part of my life.

About three years ago, I was living in the Salt Lake City area when I finally realized something important: I wasn’t going to get sober if I stayed around the same people and the same environment. I knew too many people and they knew me. There were too many places where I could get drugs.

So I left Utah and went to Wichita, Kansas.

For a while, things got better. I was able to get an apartment and stayed there for about three years. I was working and had an apartment. But eventually I started struggling again. I lost my apartment and found myself homeless once more.

The police helped me get a bus ticket back to Utah. I came back to Salt Lake City, but I had nowhere to go. I checked with the shelters, but there weren’t any beds available at the women’s shelters.

That’s when I heard about a place in Ogden that would take homeless women. I went there, but I quickly realized it wasn’t the environment I needed. There was a lot of drug use, and I knew that if I wanted to stay sober, I needed to be somewhere different.

Someone told me about the Ogden Rescue Mission. I came to the Mission and joined the New Life Program. It turned out to be exactly what I needed.

The program has taught me practical things like coping skills, recognizing thinking errors, budgeting, self-discipline, and self-control. But the most important thing I’ve learned is how to strengthen my relationship with Jesus Christ.

I had been working on myself for a long time, but I had never understood Scripture the way I do now. I started with Bible studies, and then I began reading the Bible on my own. The more I read, the more I understood. There is something amazing about reading the Bible and suddenly realizing that God is actually talking to  you.

My faith has become a big part of my life. I love going to church and learning more about the Bible. I appreciate that every lesson gives me something new to think about. My relationship with Jesus continues to grow as I learn more about who God is and what He has done for me.

God also used some of the most frustrating parts of the program to teach me.

As part of my work therapy, I was responsible for cleaning up the Mission’s kitchen. That sounds simple, but it could be frustrating when people didn’t clean up after themselves. There were plenty of times when I wanted to get angry.

Instead, I learned patience. I realized I could choose to react in anger, the way I always had, or I could choose self-control. Learning that has been one of the most important things I’ve taken from the program.

Today I am going to school at Ogden-Weber Technical College. Because I aged out of foster care, I qualified for financial assistance that has made it possible for me to attend college. I started school in January and am studying business. I’ve completed my core classes and am moving into my electives. I’m learning about spreadsheets, Excel, communication, grammar, entrepreneurship, and other areas of business.

About a month ago, I moved into the employment phase of the New Life Program. I’ve had a couple of job offers already, but they have ended up not working out with my school schedule. So, employment is something I’m still working on. I know change doesn’t happen overnight, and I’m learning to take things one day at a time.

Another blessing has been reconnecting with my son. He’s 21 and lives in Roosevelt. Our relationship isn’t perfect, but it is getting better. After being apart for so long, simply being able to text and talk to him means everything to me.

I’ve also been working with the court system to have some of my old convictions reduced to misdemeanors and, where possible, expunged. I want to remove as many barriers as I can as I work toward employment,  housing, and a stable future.

There is still a lot of work ahead of me. But I’m not the same person who arrived at the Mission. For years, I thought I had to figure everything out on my own. Now I know I don’t. I have Jesus Christ, people who care about me, a church family, an education, and a place where I can continue learning and growing.

I’m especially thankful for the Ogden Rescue Mission because they didn’t just give me a bed. They gave me a safe place to get sober, people who challenged me to change, and an opportunity to learn what it means to live a different kind of life.

Most of all, they helped me grow closer to Jesus. I don’t know exactly what the future will look like, but for the first time, I’m excited about it. I’m taking things one day at a time, trusting God, and believing that He has a purpose for my life.

And that, to me, is what a new life really means. Thank you so much for your support of the Ogden Rescue Mission and for helping to change my life!