Read Stories 

December 14, 2009

We had a fantastic grad in November: two more women of excellence equipped to do their very best in meeting life’s challenges. We are connecting with the new pastor from the Pentecostal Assemblies down the road from us. He had some great words of encouragement at the commencement and I noticed that he connected with every person present before the gathering dispersed.

Melia F.’s personal message to us:

Before I came to Lydia Home I lived to use and used to live! One day I woke up to reality, the one I had created. I saw that it was full of lies, secrets, shame, guilt, debt and hovering death. I feared myself and what I had created.

All I wanted was to stop the insanity and live but did not know how. I reached out for help and was brought to this wonderful house of miracles! Since that arrival day my whole life has changed for the better. I have learned such important skills – among them anger management, healthy relationships, stress control, co-dependency and how to thoroughly work the 12 Step program. But most important of all, I learned how to have a relationship with God so he can be the most important part of your life.

The program has given me spirituality, direction, focus, security and how to truly accept myself for me.  I came in a broken woman, living in constant fear with no idea who I really was and what I was capable of. My confusion has been replaced with a purpose in life. 

With God and his word in my life, as well as the skills I learned here, I have confidence that I will live not only clean and sober but also happy, joyous and free for all my years to come. I am so grateful for Lydia Home’s program and the wonderful people who work here. God bless.

Dorothy H. shares:

I was completely hopeless before I came to Lydia Home because I was lost in my addiction.  Alcohol had become so much a part of my life that I thought about it constantly. At the back of my mind I was in constant fear – how I’d function at work, would I even make it to work, would I be fired, would I lose my home.

But no matter how hard I tried to stay sober on my own, I was not able to do it. The sleeping tiger was awake and wanting to devour me. In the program here I learned that without a strong spiritual foundation and without walking closely with Him I would never be able to achieve and sustain sobriety.

Alcoholism is a very complex disease.  I saw that only a strong belief in God could save me from certain death. If God is #1 and if you put your recovery over everything else then living a life that is free from alcohol is possible. I also know that ongoing fellowship with other believers has to be part of an ongoing recovery and I am going to make sure that stays in place.

I have been restored and healed since I came to Lydia Home. The empty spaces in my life have been replaced by peace, joy and, most of all, hope. I have so much gratitude to all who work here, all such caring and loving women. Thank God for this place.

Frieda Buchner
Lydia Home