Stories from our Residents

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Speaker 1 00:06 I, uh, recently lost my son six months ago. I remember when my husband came home and um, and told me that my son died. I remember collapsing on the ground and raising my arms and asking God, why has He forsaken me? Uh, it was the darkest hour for me in my entire life and I started to feel this despair and this depression. I felt stuck. Like there's no future for me. But then my, my daughter told me about the Women's Refuge. She told me, She said, mom, there's this place you can go for healing. Um, I need you to go there. I took a leap of faith and I filled out the application. and I came through the refuge. I was introduced to this new way of living. I was given hope. There is life after death. There is life after a separation, after divorce, after abuse, whatever place that life is taking you. There is definitely hope and healing here at the refuge.
Speaker 2 01:21 I started coming to the refuge for counseling when I was 17 years old. I had severe depression. I had anxiety and it was crippling my life. And then it was intensified when I went into college and I was engaged to a man who was abusive and by the time the relationship ended, I felt so worthless. Those words, "you're worthless", absolutely was a wall between me and accomplishing anything. One day my counselor said, you know, Marissa, you don't have to live like this. You could come into the program here and you don't have to be depressed anymore. You can heal. Everything changed. Everything. It was like I was being told the truth for the first time. It was like being cocooned in love and compassion. It changed me so much. I can go out and have a job and make friends. If it wasn't for this program, I would not be successful or have joy and peace. I would still be crippled by depression, stagnant in my relationship with the Lord. I see women come and go from this place and they're forever changed and their families are forever changed in their lives are forever changed. I know that this place has brought me hope and I really want that, for as many as possible.
Speaker 3 03:15 My husband and I met in Miami, Florida. We got married and we had three children. We learned about a ministry in North Carolina and it really impacted us. So we decided to move to North Carolina and be part of this ministry. But about 12 years into our marriage I realized that he was not saved so a lot of the turmoil that we'd had through the years kind of made sense.
Speaker 2 03:43 In 2016, this church suffered a split, which was very difficult for me in particular. I basically lost all my friends. The situation in my marriage was not great. I was not doing well. My downward spiral began at that point when I saw myself without a church body having lost all my friends for the past decade, I started losing hope. I became depressed and um, and unable to function on a day to day basis to the point that at some point I was despairing for my life. And um, it was a scary place. I started questioning whether God loved me. I started questioning who am I? And another friend of mine send me the link to the Women's Refuge and I decided to look up the link. I just knew in my heart instantaneously that this was, this is where God would meet me. The Lord is here. The Lord is in everything that is done in this place, and the name Women's Refuge of Vero Beach does not signify come to us and we will fix your life. It says, come to us and we will lead you to the one true refuge who is the Lord. This place has made all the difference in my life. I came to not only see hope, but I came to receive very deep healing in my heart. What the teaching and this place has given me is something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life and what God has done for me and many women who've come through the program, He can also do for you.