I’m back to being myself!

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“Since I’ve been here, life is good,” says Kathy, shown here with her daughter.

When Kathy came to Open Door Mission, alcohol had taken over her life to the point that she didn’t even know who she was anymore. “I didn’t think I’d ever find myself again,” she says. “But I have—through Open Door Mission.” Although she liked to party, and her life wasn’t perfect, Kathy’s drinking didn’t get out of control until well into adulthood.

After a teenage pregnancy and a failed marriage, she met Randy—the man of her dreams. “He was like the perfect person for me,” she explains. “Everything I was looking for in a partner.” Kathy and Randy had a baby girl and were looking forward to spending the rest of their lives together. Then, when the baby was 6 months old, Randy was killed riding his motorcycle. At the time, Kathy rarely drank. But she says, “The first thing I did when he got killed was go and buy alcohol.” It was the beginning of a downhill journey that would last for over a decade. “I needed to keep my mind and body busy and numb myself up,” explains Kathy. “That’s how I dealt with Randy’s death.”

Angry with God

But in reality, Kathy wasn’t dealing with anything. She was running from her pain...and she was angry with God. “I stayed away from Him for a lot of years,” she says regretfully. For a long time, she was able to care for her daughter, work various jobs and babysit to make extra money. But as her alcoholism got worse, an “incident” occurred, and her daughter was taken away. “I did receive her back,” says Kathy. Then came a long legal battle. “I was still drinking the whole time,” Kathy recalls. “I was just playing a game.”

It was a game she lost on December 7, 2009, when Family Services took her child from school and placed her in foster care. For the next week, Kathy says “I was drunk 24/7. Then...I kind of had an epiphany. I woke up and, you know, I just couldn’t do it anymore.” That’s when Kathy cried out to her family, who had always supported her. Her brother-in-law brought her to Lydia House, just a few days before Christmas 2009. “It’s been the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” she says.

A little determination goes a long way

Kathy will never forget the day she came to Lydia House. “I had no idea what to expect,” she says. “I was scared. I was anxious. But I was also determined that I was going to turn my life around.” Kathy admits she wasn’t “real crazy” about the Christian-based program, in the beginning. She was still avoiding God. “But through this program, I’ve found my life back, in Christ. I’ve been blessed many times over. My daughter came back to live with me...and they closed the court case. So I don’t have anything hanging over my head...life is really, really good!”

Kathy is getting ready to move on. She’s excited about getting back to work, and having her own place to live with her daughter. The Mission is helping her work toward those goals—one step at a time. “It’s been a wonderful time in my life,” she says enthusiastically. “I’m back to being myself...and it’s wonderful!”