Story of Total Transformation

We are so thankful for the wonderful medical staff and psychiatrists that God has blessed us with in the various communities in which we operate homes. We are so grateful for the ones who help us in helping the girls cope with what life throws at them until they can work through the pain and hurt of their issues. There are times when some girls need to remain on medication even after Mercy for different reasons, and there are other times that girls are able to get off of their medications altogether. The following testimony is one such time where God helped this young woman work through the issues of her past, and as a result she was able to be off her medications. In fact, the very same psychiatrist who was seeing her before she came to Mercy was the one to gave her the go ahead and blessing to be completely off of all of her medications from now on. He could not believe the miraculous transformation when he saw her after she returned from her time at Mercy. I just received this email from her sharing her story. I hope it blesses you as much as it blesses me.

I graduated from Mercy Ministries in Monroe, Louisiana just over three months ago and this afternoon I was able to see just how much Mercy Ministries has impacted my life in another way, as did my psychiatrist. I was diagnosed with many mental illnesses in my life starting when I was 17 years old. I was labeled with Major Depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, an Anxiety Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar Disorder. Hospital visit after hospital visit, doctor after doctor and counselor after counselor, told me that all I could ever do was try to manage the symptoms. I had chronic mental illness and my brain and my personality were both broken. With so much disorder in my life and a life sentence for that disorder, hope was impossible to find. But Mercy gave me just that. Hope! I have had several opportunities to speak since graduating and that is the biggest thing I speak about. Without that hope my efforts to change were in vain because I knew that I was broken and could never be whole. Mercy taught me otherwise. Mercy taught me the truth. After graduating Mercy I followed up with my previous psychiatrist to determine what changes could be made, hoping to be able to come off of medication all together. This visit was a check up because I have been completely off of medication for six weeks. As I communicated with my psychiatrist how I was handling life and difficult things, like the unexpected death of a dear friend, he smiled from hear to ear and was, at multiple times speechless. At the end of the appointment the realization of something I did at Mercy was made concrete. I broke off every one of those labels at Mercy, but today, they were physically deleted off of the computer system and my medical record. That was an indescribable feeling; knowing that he was doing that. Then he responded with congratulations saying that he had truly NEVER seen such miraculous change in anyone he has EVER known or worked with. He said he was amazed at the minimal amount of time it took to correct things that were a severe and chronic hindrance to my life. He helped me stay alive to get to Mercy, not knowing what it was, but today he sang praises of this program and the work of God, as do I. Not only have I been given my life back, but I have been given that life more abundantly!

I want to thank you for your obedience to God that allows those of us who have been given up on from the beginning, a chance and a hope. I know God is what worked the change in me and continues to do so, but I had to experience the love of God through others before I could even try to grasp love as a positive thing and from a God that seemed so unreal and distant.

-Ivy

We thank God for this psychiatrist, and we also thank God for the faithfulness of our staff in Louisiana who worked so diligently to help this girl work through the pain of her past. Thank you for your support and prayers. May we all trust God through the difficult times in our lives, no matter what those difficulties may be.