While staying at Ciudad Refugio I encountered such a bright spirit. Her name is Alejandra. Wow did she blow me away. Her story is one of brokenness and redemption. It seems impossible that she used to live the way she did when I got to know her. She is so full of love, joy, emotion and peace. She graduated the program and has stayed around to help out all of the people who are in their own journey now. Here is a short part of her story I asked her to type in her own words.
“I was lost but I found the most deep lover in the universe.
I wanna share with you a little bit of my story. I’m gonna start with my addiction to heroine. I was so hooked, my entire life revolved around the high that heroine gave me. I lived for it.
I started shooting and injecting myself with heroine 6 years ago. I numbed myself with heroine for a total of 7 years. I thought I was going to die.
One night I bought 500 hundred pesos worth of bad cocaine and heroine. I was planning to inject myself but before I did, I began praying and begging God that I would die that night from an overdose. I was tired of living this life, I was tired of living this way. Before injecting, I finished my prayer saying that if I don’t die, it’s because you have a bigger plan for my life (Jeremiah 29:11).
I cried out to Jesus with my problems. That night God saved me from death. God listened to my prayer and guided me to Ciudad Refugio. Cuidad Refugio was God’s grace and mercy to me; it was my second chance at life. Ciudad Refugio offers love and hope to many oppressed people in Medellin. The program that changed my life was the drug rehabilitation program. This program is year long program focusing on developing a relationship with Jesus and discovering the hope, love, and redemption the God offers. I completed the program on February 23, 2017. By God’s grace, I have been clean for heroine for 32 months. I can’t believe God gave me the opportunity at a new life. I trust God in his healing and his power to change my desires.
One of my biggest struggles was that I believed the lies that heroine can satisfy me. I believed the lie that everyone told me I couldn’t beat addiction and become clean from using heroine. In my own strength I couldn’t do it but God can do it. God’s plan for my life was better than anything I could have dreamed of. Now I live a life of abundance following Jesus. I no longer need drugs because He is my beloved.”
Allie Dávila.
God is doing big things all over the world. Just because we cannot see them doesn’t mean he is not working. All over Colombia I saw him move. I learned so much from our last ministry but one thing remains no matter where I go. Our fathers love is continuous. When we don’t feel it. It’s there. When we don’t see it. It’s there. When we are alone. We are not. When we are lost. He is guiding us through in ways we cannot imagine. I couldn’t imagine being where I am today a couple years ago. I thought I was lost and gone for good. I wanted to die and just be done with the hell I was living in. But he was there. Guiding me and loving me through it so that I could be here. In Rwanda with no host and seemingly no direction but I know he has a path. I know his plans are good and that this month is going to bring incredible growth. I’m not sure where my new team and I are heading but he is. And I cannot wait to experience it. I will not fold to uncertainty but will push through to life.
My time with my old team has come to and end. It’s such a bittersweet moment. I have learned so much from the women I was blessed to be on a team with. I will miss them greatly but it’s time for a new chapter. MANISTRY. This month consists of myself and the three other men on my squad. We have no host and just touched down in Rwanda. I am beyond excited for this month.
Prayers.
My team and I can always use prayers. Prayers that we will grow into a team. Prayers for guidance. Prayers for opportunities to be revealed to us. Prayers for our ears to be opened to those opportunities. Prayers for the people here to be open to what God wants them to see.
Thank you all for the support so far. God is so good. I love y’all!
