“I felt all doors had been closed to me…”

“It was a moment in which I felt all doors had been closed to me,” Alondra says, describing how she and her young son and daughter had been asked to leave the place where they were staying.

Yet it wasn’t the first time she’d experienced the overwhelming sense of fear and frustration. Four years earlier, the three had fled the childrens’ father to escape domestic violence. “I gave up everything,” she says, focusing on her little ones’ needs and neglecting her own health. “And I never addressed the situation.”

Now once again on the verge of homelessness, Alondra’s challenges were compounded by her son’s struggles with autism, which made it difficult for others to take them in. So she turned to her son’s social worker who referred her to the Rescue Mission.

Physically broken and spiritually depleted, the first Bible verse she read when they walked through our doors told her she was at the right place: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. “I let go of everything,” she says, and she began her journey to a new beginning.

“I’ve learned to use my newfound growth to be the best mother I can be!”

Through our faith-based environment, compassionate staff and practical resources, Alondra saw God’s Word in practice. “I told my children, ‘Look at what we have – beds, blankets, food. Not a day do we go hungry.’” The children were also calmed and comforted by the rules, schedules and daily routines that offered structure to their days, instead of chaos.

Through classes on domestic violence and parenting – as well as counseling and therapy – Alondra is learning how to care for herself as well as her little ones, and she’s addressing the issues at the root of her challenges. She has also rekindled her passion for working with children and hopes to pursue that as a career.

Most important, the Rescue Mission equipped her to face the future as a new woman. She’s completed her 12-month program and she even ran a half marathon!

Alondra is excited to celebrate the restored hope she has been given this Christmas – and wants YOU to know just how grateful she is. “The Rescue Mission gave me my life back and allows me to feel the joy of the Lord every day.”

To read this issue of Mission in Motion, click to download.