There was a time in my life where I was exhausted

mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I kept trying to

fix things on my own, carry everything myself, and

search for peace in anything other than fully

surrendering to God. The more I tried to control my

life, the more lost and broken I became.

I knew who God was, but I did not truly have a

relationship with Him. I knew about Him, but I had not

fully surrendered my life to Him. I was holding onto

pain, fear, shame, and my past while still asking God

to heal me. Eventually, I reached a place where I realized I could not do it anymore on my own. I was tired of surviving and knew I needed Jesus to completely transform my life.

For most of my life, I believed the saying that God will never give you more than you can handle. But through my own journey, I learned that isn’t true and isn’t what Scripture teaches. There came a point where I was carrying far more than I could handle. I was overwhelmed, broken, and completely out of strength. Looking back now, I can see that God allowed me to come to the end of myself so I would finally surrender everything to Him. It was in my weakness that He revealed His strength. In the breaking, He raised me up in Him. What felt like the end was actually the beginning of God teaching me to depend on His power instead of my own.

Looking back now, I can also see God’s hand guiding me long before I recognized it. Out of all the places and paths I could have taken, He chose me and brought me into a discipleship program where I learned about the greatest love of all; the love of Jesus Christ. For so much of my life, all I wanted was to be loved. I searched for that love in people, circumstances, and things that could never truly satisfy. But through discipleship, God showed me that the love I had been searching for all along was found in Him. For the first time, I began to understand what it meant to be fully known, fully loved, and fully accepted by Christ.

Coming back to TLC was not just about finding stability again. Looking back now, I truly believe God brought me back here because He was calling me closer to Him. He placed people around me who love me, pray for me, encourage me, and remind me who I am in Christ. Through TLC, God gave me a safe place to heal, grow, and learn what it truly means to walk with Him daily.

The Lord has refined me through hard seasons. There were moments where I questioned everything, but even in those moments God never left me. He continued pursuing me, strengthening me, and teaching me to depend on Him instead of myself. Through every struggle, He has shown me His mercy, grace, faithfulness, and unconditional love.

As I grew in my relationship with Christ, I began to understand that following Him meant more than simply believing in Him. It meant surrendering my life completely and choosing Him above everything else. Jesus teaches us to count the cost of discipleship before following Him:

“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:27–28)

Following Christ requires complete surrender, obedience, and trusting Him even when the road ahead is uncertain. Through discipleship, God has taught me what it means to lay down my own desires, count the cost, take up my cross, and faithfully follow Him each day.

Once you have truly been touched by the Lord, everything changes. There is a closeness and love that nothing in this world can compare to, and you never want to be separated from Him again. Because Jesus saved me, I want my life to bring Him glory. Every opportunity He gives me to serve, encourage others, and walk in obedience is an act of gratitude for what He has done for me. I work as though I am working for the Lord because He rescued me, redeemed me, and saved me from an eternity separated from Him. My life is no longer my own, it belongs to the One who saved me.

Today, I can honestly say that Jesus has changed my life. I am not the same person I used to be. I still continue growing every day, but now my hope, identity, and purpose are rooted in Christ instead of my circumstances.

Being moved into the House Mom position is something I never could have imagined during some of the darkest seasons of my life. It is a reminder to me that God restores, redeems, and gives purpose to our pain. The same place I once came to needing help is now a place where God is allowing me to help encourage, support, and pour into other women. It is a testimony of God’s faithfulness that He can take our brokenness and use it for His glory.

If my story shows anything, I hope it reminds people that no one is too far gone for God’s love and redemption. Jesus truly meets us in our brokenness, and He can restore what we thought was lost. If He can take someone who was exhausted, overwhelmed, broken, and trying to carry everything on her own and transform her life, then He can do the same for anyone willing to surrender to Him.

“All those the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I certainly will not cast out.” John 6:37