Encouragement from our first-ever UK Graduate!

I’m sure that you are excited it’s Friday, and I just want to be one of the first to tell you to have a great weekend!!

I thought a great way to close out the week would be to highlight one of the stories I have received of one of the girls from one of our international homes. I just got this amazing update and pictures from Kirsten, our first ever graduate of Mercy Ministries in the United Kingdom. Kirstin graduated exactly two years ago in March 2007 – here is her story...

My life before Mercy Ministries is best described as hopeless. I was always striving for happiness and love, perfection and control, but was never able to attain any of it. I spent so much of my life trying to fix everything including myself, but the more I tried, the more out of control everything got until eventually I gave up trying. I allowed the depression and addictions that were controlling my life to take me over. Yet despite it all, there was always something inside of me that could not give up. I now know that was God.

I found out about Mercy Ministries during a time that I spent in Australia. Just reading about the program began to spark that sense of hope that lay dormant inside of me. I wanted to apply in Australia, yet being from the UK it would not have been possible for me to enter the program there. I figured that was it. I had no idea that they were even thinking about opening a house in the UK. Of course God knew. He knew all along what was best for me and the right time. As soon as I found out that there was a home opening in the UK, I knew that it was the right place for me.

Kirstin with her friend, Thandazile, whom she met
on a recent mission trip to South Africa

Mercy was literally my last hope. I was accepted into the program before the house was ready for girls and I called the staff up regularly, wanting to know when I could come. I knew that this had to work. I was at a point in my life where I had had enough. I knew that things had to change; that I had to change. I had tried it every other way, now I had to try it God’s way. Upon entering the program I learned that with God’s help, I had the power to make choices that would, step by step, take me out of the darkness that I found myself in. It was a time when I was able to intensively soak in the truth of God’s word and learn His thoughts towards me.

Being the first UK Mercy graduate is a privilege. It still completely overwhelms me how amazing God is that He has directed the course of my life despite me. Even when I gave up on myself, He never did. When I look back, I see his fingerprints throughout and I realize more and more how much He loves me. Now I am excited for the future. God has used Mercy to give me my life back and more. I have learned that by giving God the control, I no longer need to worry. I used to be petrified of being on my own, but now I know that I never really was and never will be.

God is so cool! There is no time or distance in the Spirit and He is all about setting people free, regardless of where they live!

Have a great weekend!

Love to all,
Nancy Alcorn