“Welcome home”
When Shauna was lost and at her lowest point, you helped lead her home.
Shauna was hungry. She was also tired, hot, and needed a shower badly. She had just given birth to her fourth child, but she was on the streets with nowhere to go. No one to turn to.
There was only God. And at that moment, all she could do was scream and yell and pour all her anger out on Him.
“I thought He had done this to me,” she says. “I wasn’t wanting to take responsibility for my choices. I had to blame someone, so I blamed God. I was at a dead end, and I didn’t know how to get out of it.”
As a child, Shauna “lived in a house that was always hurting.” Her family struggled to make ends meet, and Shauna remembers her mom and dad fighting all the time. Eventually, both of her parents slid into addiction. Shauna and her siblings were taken away by CPS.
“There was just a lot of pain and anger towards my mom and dad,” she shares. “I tried really hard to be a different parent and a different type of adult from what I witnessed through my parents.”
But things didn’t turn out the way she planned.
"Just another addict on the streets"
“I found myself repeating that exact same lifestyle,” she admits. “I was married. We got divorced. I had two kids that had to watch me basically kill myself through addiction and being on the street and being an absent mother. I got pregnant again. I tried to stay sober, but I just couldn’t avoid the relapse.”
Soon, drugs were all Shauna cared about.
Even when she was homeless, living outside in the heat of summer or the biting cold of winter, “As long as I had my drugs, I was okay with it,” she says. “I put myself in situations or places that were dangerous, but I accepted it because I felt worthless. I felt like that was all I deserved, that there was no way out, that there was no hope, that that’s who I was — just another homeless drug addict on the street.”
"I was just a hot mess"
When Shauna finally found her way to the Mission, she had her baby daughter with her and all of their belongings in a black trash bag.
Walking into the Mission, she recalls, “It was really warm and welcoming. It was not what I expected. Everybody was smiling, and I was just this hot mess.”
"I Found strength. I found hope."
Working on changing her life was hard, but Shauna acknowledges that “the changes I had to make were extreme, coming from the environment I had come from off the streets. [But] I found strength. I found hope. And I stopped believing the lies of the devil.”
Looking back, she’s still in awe of the changes she now sees in herself. “I’m working and I’m reliable,” she says. “I’m able to pay my bills. I got my driver’s license back. I’m doing really well.”
"He helped me. He heard me."
Today, Shauna works at the Mission, helping women adjust and feel as welcome as she felt when she first walked into the Mission. “I’m the first one to say, ‘Hey, welcome. This is where you’ll be sleeping tonight. Here are clean towels and clean bedding. Do you need a toothbrush?’”
Shauna has her own place now and has also been restored to all four of her children. “We’re not perfect, but our house is filled with laughter and love,” she says.
God has mended many relationships in Shauna’s life, including with her parents. After entering the program at Hope Place, her dad and mom attended church with her and gave her support.
She shares, “My dad passed away last May, which was devastating. But he died with love from Jesus in his heart. God took him home a believer. My mom is an amazing woman. I am grateful for her today. My family doesn’t make me feel broken anymore. If it wasn’t for my mom’s love and support that I have today, I would not be doing as good as I am.”
As for her relationship with God, she’s extremely thankful for His perfect plan for her life that she’s now able to see. “Even when I told Him I hated Him and I was angry, He helped me. He heard me. I know He provided me with the push I needed to be on the right path. It was a long way to recovery, but I was able to accomplish so much.”
