Transformed Life Stories

I am very grateful and blessed to have found out about the Loudoun Aftercare Program. It was just by chance one day when I was in the prison library at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women that a brochure caught my eye. My children were living in Leesburg and knew that I was going to find a way to get back to them and try to restore my relationship with them somehow. Anyway, some time passed, and I applied to the program even after some obstacles were set before me. I ended up being incarcerated longer that I thought and became very discouraged. I just did not think I was going to ever get out. I was visited in jail by Debora Lavin and my new mentors Lori and Carol and I knew my prayers had been answered. They picked me up on my release date and drove me to Leesburg. As if that were not enough, they delivered me to a room that they found for me and paid for through donations by caring people who did not even know me. I had nowhere to go, and I wanted so much to be self-sufficient, but I had nothing.

I was blessed by the Lord and continued to pray and have faith, I was really afraid and felt so alone. My mentors took me to church, to AA meetings, made sure I had food and loved and supported me when frankly I felt like I did not even deserve it. These caring Christian women were there for me every step of the way. I stayed sober and established a network in recovery and secured employment by God's grace and the fact that these women were such a positive force in my life. The day to day loneliness and isolation were never able to take hold of me because I always had love, support, and a direction that I am not sure I could have accomplished without these mentors. They were always accessible to me by phone and helped me with transportation until I could find it myself.

Now I was stubborn at times and wanted faster results than I was getting and they kept me grounded and always kept it real. I am not easy and I had times when I thought I was not going to make it. I am reminded as I prepare this writing that this had nothing to do with me but how God was caring for me and loving me and giving me what I needed. He was showing me that Love is so important, My love for Him and allowing others to love me as well. My part was simple. It was to do the next right thing and stay under His will and direction which was happening through other people. It has been so amazing. I have not been perfect but I have been shown a better way to live.

In closing I want to say that my mentors Lori and Carol will forever be in my heart and I will never forget the day their beautiful loving, smiling faces were the first I saw leaving that jail, and the hope that filled my heart as I got to know and love them each day. I only hope that I can do the same for someone else one day.