Jessie’s Story
My life before I knew Jesus was horrible. Growing up in Washington I lived in a ghetto with my mom and two older sisters. Both my parents are schizophrenic. My mom was never there for me as a kid and my dad was never really around.
When we moved out of the Projects my mom decided to move in with my uncle and his kids, but it didn’t work out. So we kept moving to different places with different family members. I was taken away from my mom twice during my childhood. Growing up I was bullied a lot by family members and people at school. As a teenager I was sexually abused by three of my cousins. One of them raped me. I didn’t know how to deal with it. My mom and I fought a lot and I was frightened to tell her about it. I started to cut myself, drink and pop pills. I was high 24/7. I ate very little. I thought about committing suicide a lot.
When I was 16 my mom left, so I lived with my cousins and one older sister. When I was at home, most of the time I just hid in my room. I became depressed and stopped eating. My cousin took me to see a counselor, who prescribed anti-depressants.
A few months later my sister graduated and moved to Georgia. After she left, my cousin said I could no longer live with her because she was working through some issues in her marriage. I had no other family to go to. A friend took me in and I lived with her for a few months.
I started going to church with her and really liked it. I gave my life to Jesus when I was 17 and stopped cutting, drinking and smoking. I also broke my habit of not eating. It felt so good to be loved by Jesus because I had never felt loved growing up. I was baptized when I was 18. God began to change me and I am no longer the dark, angry person I used to be! I even spoke at the front in my church – something I never thought I would ever do.
I kept moving in with different friends, but nothing really worked permanently. Eventually I dropped out of school because I was so stressed about where I would live next and just couldn’t focus. I became homeless and ended up at a women’s shelter. I cried for a whole week because I felt so alone. But even when I was homeless and struggling, Jesus was there for me. I felt his great love as I have never felt it before in my life.
After a few months I moved to Georgia to live with my sister and cousin. I’ve been here for a year now. I don’t have many friends and my family aren’t Christians, so I get through life one day at a time with Jesus’ help. I still get depressed sometimes but I know that God loves me.
A friend invited me to come to Compassion Christian with her. I came because I want to have a church family and be in fellowship with loving people.
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