Eboni never knew her father and always felt the void of not having his love. Although uncles and older brothers did their best to help raise her, it wasn’t enough. “With the awareness that he wasn’t in my life, I sought love in other places,” she says. And through the years, her search drew her into destructive relationships, exacerbated by substance abuse and homelessness.
When her mother passed away, she was devastated. She rekindled her addiction to cope with her grief and sought comfort once again from a man who abused her. When he threatened to kill her, it was the wake-up call she needed.
“I had to change the way I was living,” she says. She fled the relationship and came to the Mission.
Today, the void in Eboni’s heart has been filled by her heavenly Father’s love. In our residential New Life Program, she is learning about codependency and “the lies we tell ourselves to survive.” Now, she says, instead of trying to manage life on her own, “I just give all things to God.”
She works as our weekend house manager, setting a faith-inspired example for other women in our care. “When they see me, I want them to see God in me,” she says.
When she graduates, she plans to further her education to provide assistance for women who are going through the same struggles she did. “If God could do it for me, He can do it for anyone.”
This year, Eboni will be celebrating Christmas as a new creation, filled with the great joy of God’s love. “Now I do things with a purpose that’s more positive and pleasing to Him.”
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