“God has a plan for my life and I look forward to a wonderful future living for God without the fears of death and drug addiction.”

To be honest my family has had me in the church since I was very young. I was baptized when I was born and grew up catholic so did my communion at a young age. We joined the Christian denominational church family when I was about 12 and I think this was the first time I asked Jesus into my heart. Although I believe I was saved by the blood of Jesus since I was in my mother’s womb because my family has been so involved since they were young. Just like “The Chosen'' I am one of the Chosen Children of God as well. 

As a child, I would pray with my family and friends daily and on my own. I’ve always been very close to God. I never questioned His existence. This didn’t keep me from still having a corrupt childhood. I was a bad apple and became friends with the wrong crowd regardless. Which only led me closer to god. In third grade, I was sent to a catholic school. By 5th grade, I was on the verge of being expelled for a threatening letter to my teacher. I got my way out of that. By 7th grade, the “bad girl” crew we had formed since 5th grade had developed into us thinking we were the “mean girls” and us bullying all the others from younger to older. 5 of the 7 of us that formed this clique had gotten expelled. My best friends and I are the first to be kicked out without any further notice or reconciliation. They kicked us two out for exertion. My family then found another Christian school to send me to since I was already extremely involved with older boys in the neighborhood and getting in a whole bunch of other trouble with them constantly after school.

They sent me to a Christian school and found a Christian church which worked to my parents’ benefit when I really  became a true follower of God and was saved as well. 

My family became the deacon and deaconess of a Christian church. I became a member of the worship dance team and a Sunday school teacher. I also started my dance team at the school as well. This only lasted so long since “school work” was not my priority ever. I was failing everything and still running away and causing chaos everywhere but church. By the 7th month of my second year of 7th grade, I got expelled from school for being a bad influence, failed again and my parents left with no other options but either to send me to a military school or home for troubled teenagers called Freedom Village USA in Update NY. It was Christian as well. So this was where my family chose to send me. It was a 1 year or more rehab program for teens, most being court-ordered by the juvenile justice system. We were not allowed to talk to guys but we would still see them and be in class/church with them. It taught me a lot about God, prayer, and relationship with Christ but also how to break rules and sneak and become a smooth troublemaker. 

Now the punishment was extreme: walking around a woodpile and I spent ¾ of the year on that woodpile barely making it out by the end of the year. 

I told my parents I was changed and would be good so I could come home. By this time my family and the new church moved and opened a church in Georgia to give me a new life. They didn’t want me to become friends with the same kids in my neighborhood. So when I was 15 I moved to Gwinnett County and went to public high school and got my Sunday school teacher position back. 

By December the first year, only being home since June I was already failing pretty much every class. Hanging out with boys and girls who weren't the best. I was constantly skipping school and sneaking out all hours of the night just like when I was younger. I started smoking and drinking. I was completely off the chain and my family had no idea what to do. My “boyfriend” was a Christian, involved in church, and also an active gang member of the Bloods. I would attend church with him and also become involved with his fellow gang members. One of those friends told me about the Atlanta Job Corps on the Westside of Atlanta, without the help of my family I signed myself up. I moved out of my family’s house with their support and agreement. By 16 years old I had my GED and a Business Tech Certification and got a job and moved in with my girlfriend. I started stripping at night and weekends making $500-$1,000 a day and at 17 I quit Dairy Queen to become a full-time stripper. I became friends with older strippings and got a fake ID and began dancing in Greenville, SC. 

I was kidnapped for a month, going back and forth from ATL to Greenville by a pimp. I was raped and forced into prostitution at Fulton Industrial and Metropolitan. I eventually got away. Although discovering clubs on FIB that let me dance without a permit. I had one abortion by 18 and a full-time stripper job. Between Greenville, ATL, and Miami I got involved with Pimp after pimp, drug dealer after a drug dealer, abusive relationship after abusive relationship. 4 kids, 3 rehabs, and a meth addiction by the age of 26. 2 heroin overdoses, being brought back to life both times in the hospital. The father of my first child got arrested for pimping. The father of my second child was in and out of prison for drug dealing. All kids have been adopted.

I’ve been on my own for the past 2 years with my meth addiction growing worse. Living in Maryland, being a full-time escort and exotic dancer, my driver, and security. Although it looked like from the outside I was okay having 75,000 followers on Instagram internally I was dealing with depression surrounding separation from my children. My drug abuse grew worse and worse. I only trusted God, nobody else. I just know God was with me every step of the way,  sending real like angels and divine intervention over and over again. 

By 30, with only 2 options, either continuing extremely dangerous situations daily with only God to trust daily, already life or death every day. Nobody was close to everyone in prison or real deep in addiction, nobody to trust. My only help was two stalked men to keep me safe. Always ending up in the mental hospital for believing cannibals were after me. My mind is being tortured by drug use daily. My life could only get worse if I stayed living in these conditions. I would only end up dead or in prison. 

I chose to return to the House of Cherith here in Atlanta. I've been here for almost 2 months and I will be staying here for the full time. I believe in obeying God’s voice being here and God didn’t bring me to it not to bring me through it. God has a plan for my life and I look forward to a wonderful future living for God without the fears of death and drug addiction. Being fully committed I only look forward to what God has for me and my children. 

If you don’t walk away today with anything else just know that through all trials and tribulations God always wins and they only make you stronger. He will always have your back. Just have faith.

-L