Two Years and Still Going Strong

I just received this amazing email from a Mercy graduate that I had to share with you. Devin just celebrated her two year anniversary from graduating the Mercy program and is doing awesome! Her email totally made my day and I wanted to share it with you…

Dear Mercy,

It has been two years since I walked out of the doors of the Nashville home and into the big, scary, real world! At times I can’t believe it has been so long and other days it feels like yesterday that I was standing in line for a meal or lining up for rec! I remember life before Mercy and it doesn’t even seem like my old life. In retrospect it seems like another life time or a completely different person, which I guess is partially true.

Before coming to Mercy, I struggled with an eating disorder for six years. Added on top of that was a long list of root issues and other addictions stemming from deep self-hatred. It didn’t feel like I suffered from an addiction, but that I was the addiction. I was so wrapped up in my past hurts, bitterness, anger, rage, family problems, and self hatred that I could not even fathom a life different than what I knew. I was hopeless and never thought I would make it past my eighteenth birthday. At Mercy, I not only found freedom but I learned how to live again. For years I felt like I was already dead, just a cocoon of a broken and shattered life. But at Mercy I came alive again while working through my counseling, laughing with my friends, sitting in class, and during worship. I left Mercy two years ago, full of hope, in love with God, and happy about my future, along with countless amazing memories and a whole bunch of priceless friends that I still stay in contact with!

Since leaving Mercy, I have started college and will graduate in four months with a degree in Marketing and Sales. I have not only seen my eighteenth birthday but my nineteenth birthday and have plans of seeing many more! I also started my own business called Legacy Photography this past year and have been blown away by God’s blessings! Last December I also became an Aunt and am so grateful to Mercy for giving me my life and future back so that I can experience all the joys of having a niece. In addition, I have seen such restoration with my relationship with my family that only God could do. My dad and I now go out to lunch every other week and I talk with my family on a daily basis! My relationship with God has continued to grow and even when the big, scary, real world is hard to handle- I know Who to run to for protection!

I don’t know if this will ever be shared with anyone else but I would also just like to say “THANK YOU!” to all the Mercy supporters. I am forever indebted to you for helping to provide a place, completely free of charge, where I could regain my life. You may never know what an impact you have, but I am one life you saved from the grips of death.

Thank you for teaching me how to live again!

Devin

Me with my good friends from Mercy!

Nancy and I while still at Mercy

This Christmas season I am so grateful for the incredible life-transformations that we get to witness on a daily basis that are only possible through the gift of Jesus Christ.

A special thanks to all of our Mercy supporters who give so generously and sacrificially to see the lives of the young women we serve transformed through the power of Christ.