“That was when I made the decision to fully submit my life to God, surrender everything, and walk in His will for my life. ”

My life before House of Cherith was filled with abuse, violence, and drugs; my life was completely out of control. I spent most days wishing I was dead for the first 17 years, and the last seven were filled with so much pain and suffering from trying to find love and peace in all the wrong places. I was so desperate to end the pain that I did anything to try to stop it; subconsciously, I ran as hard as I could away from God. I felt like I had to prove to God that I didn’t need him. After all the deaths, trauma, neglect, and abandonment in my youth, I’d developed resentment and hatred for God. Me trying to drive him out of my life completely ultimately led me right into His grace & mercy. 

I was able to heal, which is what I had searched for my whole life. God’s love and protection ultimately came as a jail cell. In fact, it was his grace and mercy above all. While I was in jail, facing 20 years on my first incarceration, God made himself very, very clear that I had to do something different or this was going to be my life. I was faced with the decision to either reject God again, despite how real he’d been in my life, or turn to Him and allow Him to work in my life. That was when I made the decision to fully submit my life to God, surrender everything, and walk in His will for my life.

-M, Resident at House of Cherith