Samaritan Women
Community AfterCARE Resources

"Assisting Ex-Inmates To A Better Life"

Elsie

I grew up in a home where there was constant fighting and unhappiness. When I was 15, my parents divorced. My parents sent us to church to get us out of the house so that they could sleep off their hang-over from the night before. I remember sitting in church and hating being there and my parents for not being with us. I have 6 siblings. The two older ones had the responsibility of caring for the rest of us, thrown on them. They resented it and were mean to us. As a result, we suffered at their hands.

I became a person consumed with fears, insecurities, and deep feelings of hurt and guilt. I never felt good enough about myself to make my dreams come true. I was in such fear of not pleasing my Mother that I made decisions I regret even until this day. I had an abortion when I was 17. When my Mother found out, she kicked me out of the house before I graduated from high school.

My life was one of emptiness, loneliness, and hurt. There was such a deep hole inside of me. I tried desperately to fill that hole with alcohol, drugs, and men. I was in a relationship with a man who had a stronghold on me. I did drugs to please him. I began to go in and out of jail. My life was a mess. In 2003, I was charged in a drug case and was facing time in prison. This was my wake up call. I knew that if I kept living like I was, I’d end up in prison. One day I fell down on my knees and ask God to change me, help me be strong enough to pick up the pieces of my life. With God’s help, I let go of my bad relationship, drugs, and alcohol and moved on to something better.

As a requirement of my probation, I attended AA meetings. I didn’t like the meetings and I wasn’t getting anything out of them. One day while I was at Work Force Connection, I met a young lady who invited me go to a celebrate recovery meeting with her at cornerstone church. That night I went and made an instant connection with God. I listened to professional people shared about how they were once trapped in lives controlled by sin and addiction and with the help of God and the support group they were set free.

I began going to Cornerstone church on a regular basis as well as AA and NA meetings and enjoying them. I found something I would have never been able to do if I had not made a connection with my higher power, Jesus Christ. Soon after this, I violated my probation and spent 4 months in Jail. While in jail I began to realize that God was using that time to help me learn about and bring me into a personal relationship with Him. I began to pray on a regular basis and read my bible. My cell mate and I started a prayer circle and began to hold nightly devotions, which we opened to other women in our pod. I wanted a new life, once I was released from jail. I prayed for a way to maintain this beautiful relationship with God, once I enter into the world.

God sent me Nancy Dixon who told me about Samaritan Women. I was accepted into the program and the house (TLC) upon my release from jail. The Executive Director came out in the middle of the night to pick me up after my release from jail. This was the first of many acts of kindness and love I have been showered with since coming to Samaritan Women. Today the Scripture Jer 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”, speaks to and encourages me to trust in God and the many Godly people he places in my life; I have been blessed and know this is just the beginning of all the good things God has planned for me. I praise Him and thank him everyday for the ways He’s restoring me and building me up.

I am a new creation all the old is slowly passing away. I Love my new life in Christ!