My name is Noelle, 5 years ago I was a completely broken person. While I was in high school, I was getting high and drunk every chance I could get, and I developed an eating disorder that controlled my life. When I graduated, things only got worse. I started experimenting with other drugs, eventually leading to my rock bottom. I started using cocaine and heroin daily, I was isolated from all my family, and I had no real friends. Eventually, I became homeless in the middle of winter, and I refused to go back to my family because I kept my addiction a secret from them.
I tried getting clean on my own multiple times, but I could never get it right. I kept falling back into using and my life was just stuck on repeat, doing the same old things that were killing me every day. I was scared and I didn’t know how to get out of the life I was living. A part of me still wanted to use, but eventually I had nothing left and I had burned every bridge. So, I went home, and my mom told me about Hannah’s house again. I always ignored her when she’d bring it up, but this time it was my only option to possibly change my life.
I closed my eyes and I asked God what I should do, then I felt him clearly speak to my heart “Hannah’s house”. I made the call and come Monday, November 13th, 2017. I stepped into the place that changed my life forever. I was given so much love from all the women working there and that includes tough love that I really needed. I learned how to care more about pleasing God rather than pleasing people. Hannah’s house taught me how to be still for the first time in my life. It taught me how to develop a close relationship with Jesus and once l had it, I never wanted to let it go.
I learned about his mercy and grace. I started using my talents for his glory, and I would play my guitar and sing for him rather than playing for drunk people in the bar. I found my identity in Christ, and I felt so free for the first time. It was very hard to stay at times. My old life and my flesh would call to me, but the women who worked there gave me the support I needed. I knew deep down that if I left then I would go back to my old life. God gave me this hope, a promise that if I stayed then he would bless me beyond all measure.
When I graduated, the normal stresses of life were challenging to face but I wasn’t facing them alone. Temptation came my way often, but by the grace of God I have stayed clean. When I make mistakes, I come to Jesus and his mercy gets me right back up again. All I ever wanted was to be a wife and mother and God gave me just that! Shortly after graduation, I reconnected with a friend from childhood, and I told him about everything I had been through and how Jesus changed my life.
He wanted to go to church with me, and The Holy Spirit kept telling me he was the one I was meant to be with. He proposed to me, and we got married, then we had our son a year later. Our son is such a blessing to our lives, and I believe God brought him at the perfect time. Being a mom is another motivation to stay clean as well, he makes me a better person. I can truly say I love my life now, I’m happy and I no longer have an eating disorder or an addiction to a substance. It all started when I laid down my life at Hannah’s house.
Noelle
Hannah’s House Graduate