Nothing Better Could Have Happened to Me!

Laughter comes easy for Becca, although
she’s well-acquainted with life’s dark side. Where she is today is a world away from where she once was. And getting here made her “tough and tender.” Becca came to Open Door Mission on parole. This was her second sentence for possession of methamphetamines. “I couldn’t do it any more,” she says. “I’ve got six grandkids, one on the way... I knew I needed help... but I didn’t know how to live life without dope.” Selling and using drugs had been Becca’s life for a long time. But the day she came to the Mission, she started to live differently.

Portrait of an addict

“I was in horrible shape,” says Becca, explaining how she only ate about once a week while on drugs. “My eyes were sunken in... I was way too skinny. My hair was all dried out and dead. I wasn’t a pretty sight!” Yet, when she walked through our doors, she was appalled by the sight of the others waiting for intake. It was a shock to think that she shared the same reason for being here. Becca felt like running. But what were her options? Dealing drugs. Back to prison. Like she said, Becca was done. “You know, you just gotta buckle down and do what you gotta do,” she says. What Becca had to do was get her life together. And that’s exactly what she did.

It began with a meal

It’s amazing what healthy food and plenty of sleep can do for someone like Becca. “They have good, well-rounded meals here,” she says. “It put my body into shock at first! I mean, your body doesn’t know what to do when it first starts getting food...and then it’s going ‘gimme, gimme, gimme!’” As Becca’s body responded to food and rest, her spirit came alive with hope. Going back to her childhood, she had been on the receiving end of abuse from people who were close to her. “Working through all of that...and just finally handing it all over to God...helped tremendously,” she says. “Now I have faith that God is going to carry me through, no matter what type of junk life presents... And, if God can forgive me, who am I not to forgive myself?”

Shortly after graduating from our program, Becca accepted a position at the Lydia House. “Nothing better could have happened to me!” she rejoices. As Becca works with women and families who come in to our Lydia House Emergency Services, she loves being part of that first step towards change. As she says,

“You know a meal doesn’t necessarily mean food...you can also feed a person with good words, good works... just by caring... If just one person finds God or finds a smile from what you have to give, then that’s great!”

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