When asked why she came to the Kokomo Rescue Mission, Susan replies with two words:
“Despair. Hopelessness.”
Once you hear her story, you will understand. The abuse started when Susan was just a toddler – every kind of abuse you could imagine, and from a family member at that. She’ll never forget the day he yanked a handful of hair out of her hear . . . because it never grew back.
“I grew up in total fear because you never knew what could get you hurt,” Susan says. “The wrong look on your face could cause a beating. He even threatened to kill us.”
Susan finally got out of the house at 18, but she had no self-worth. She started doing drugs, particularly meth, as a way to escape her pain. She got married and thought that would bring some measure of safety and security. Unfortunately, it didn’t: Her husband did not protect her from another abusive situation.
Susan continued taking drugs. She attempted suicide several times. At 40, she was diagnosed with PTSD and bipolar disorder. More despair and hopelessness. Finally, she wound up at the Mission, where she began to feel her burdens lifted, soon after she walked through the door. The love was palpable.
“You can feel it,” she says. “It’s uplifting. It’s amazing.”
Susan began to relax, to change, to feel safe and secure. She began to open up to counselors. She began to heal. She can smile and laugh again. She can live again.
“If it wasn’t for the Mission, I wouldn’t be alive,” she says. “Now I have hope and joy.”
Thank you for bringing hope and joy to Susan and so many others!