Praise and Testimony!

What do you do when your whole world is shattered when the person to whom you devoted your entire life suddenly dies? What are your options? Why bother? Everything you loved is gone. All your “feel good” is gone. Therefore, you must find a substitute; mine was Jack Daniels (neat).

Fortunately, my drinking only involved me so I thought it was only casual. When faced with the possibility of serving some time for DUI’s I began a journey of sobriety and a renewed and intensified relationship with God. I had always been a Christian since childhood, but like many, I chose to use the “cafeteria” method for following Him. I took what I liked and what was convenient and left the heavy lifting to the good Christians. The ticket to avoiding jail time was recovery and rehab programs. That was almost four years ago. The Arukah House gives me a safe place for my continuing journey. It provides all I need and even more. It gives me purpose. It fulfills me just like that one person had been able to do.

The Arukah House provides me the opportunity to do what I do best. Talk about God, His love, the pitfalls of having to do it alone, and hopefully make a difference in someone’s life. I am asked all the time, because I am the person who has been here “forever”, and am “old”; Why are you still here? Or, when are you going to leave? Especially in light of the fact that the ladies are usually half my age. I then smile and say, “When God tells me I can,” I am alive and flourishing because of Pastor Charlton and Mrs. Christie.

~Ms. Mona

I was raised in public housing in Mobile, Alabama, on Michigan avenue. My Dad was a painter heavily into drugs. My Mom stayed at home to raise my sister, brother, and I. My Dad was rarely there and when he was, he was on edge, isolated, and angry.

We did not have family dinners, family meetings, or family outings. My parents divorced when I was eight years old. My Dad went his way and my Mom and we went ours. I did not really see him much after that. I did not know what it was like to feel safe, feel loved by my Dad, or feel like everything would be all right. My Mom worked long hours to provide for us, so she was rarely home. I remember feeling so broken, so empty inside, that I did not see my life going anywhere. So, at ten years old I tried to overdose on prescription medicine from the medicine cabinet. From that moment on, I was in counseling which gave me medication and labels like bi-polar, manic depression, obsessive compulsive disorder.

I found an outlet around the age of twelve through drugs from a boy down the street that I liked. He did drugs, offered them to me and I liked the way I was numb; for a little while anyway. I started trying other drugs, older boys, and not coming home. I would be in and out of juvy and stayed on juvenile probation. By then I was angry, rebellious and too numb to care. I met Noah when I was 18 and we had our first child when I was 21. His name was Thomas and 14 months later we had Johnathan. These boys are my heart.

Noah and I used drugs together when we met, but I managed to get sober during my pregnancies and I stayed sober a little while after Johnathan was born. The same problem my parents had in their marriage were some of the same problems Noah and I started having. We started using drugs again; our relationship was over before it was over. I went to jail several times for different reasons. I just could not get it together. I lost custody of my children to child services in 2006. I entered rehab and completed the program and I got custody of my children back. I did well for a few years. I got a good job and started going to church but I just “went to church”. I relapsed again, went to jail again, and the cycle continued. In 2013, I lost permanent custody of both of my children. My whole world changed. The reality of what my life had become, how I had let my children and family down, the pain I had caused hit me hard. I tried everything I could to numb that pain. I did not want to think, feel, or live my life without them. I was truly lost, hopeless, and broken. I could only imagine how they felt. I wanted to be a good mother and a good person but I just did not know how to break the cycle of sober, relapse, sober, relapse. I was desperate for help!

~Amanda

I grew up in a Christian home. My Grandma was my Sunday School teacher. I was raised in a Christian family but just followed through the motions of doing “Christian Things” that I thought you were supposed to do. I didn’t know God, I just knew about Him. I found myself searching for my purpose and meaning in other people. I was a people pleaser. I was living for acceptance of the world.

I met Whitney five years ago. We had a daughter, Isabella, in 2018. We left South Carolina where we lived in June 2019 headed to Slidell, LA, for him to do a job interview. Our vehicle broke down in Loxley, Al. We were 12 hours from home, had spent all our money on hotel rooms for two months. We had no jobs, no vehicle, no food, no home, and an eight month old daughter. We were broken people trying to do everything in our own strength. We had exhausted all our options.

A family friend gave us Pastor Charlton’s phone number for the Arukah House. I didn’t like the idea of having to go to a “recovery center”, but they were the only place we could go that would take families so Whitney and I called. Whitney told him our situation and of course, his response was, “let me pray about it”. He called back within the hour and was at our hotel room the next morning picking us up. I found out Arukah House means restoration and that’s what Pastor Charlton and his wife, Mrs. Christie stand on, Jeremiah 30:17 “For I will restore health unto thee”.

Whitney and I both owe our lives to this ministry. I was taught how to actually live life.  I was led to the Lord, led to complete surrender. I have found my joy and my peace. I have found life through Jesus. Whitney and I both completed the program and graduated in February of 2020. I became housemother in March of 2020 and intake coordinator. I get to be that person that gets to tell our clients: “yes” we would love to have you at Arukah House. I now get to minister and lead others to the Lord and the wonderful life I enjoy every day. Whitney and I had another daughter in October of 2020. I could not imagine being anywhere else raising my girls. We have been given opportunities of a lifetime at the Arukah House as clients in the program and now leaders in the program.

Thank you, Pastor Charlton and Mrs. Christie, for your obedience to the Lord and following your hearts, my family is together, alive, and God loving people because of you two.

~Jennifer