Hi, my name is Amber, and I’m the house manager for the women at Inspiration Ministries.I didn’t grow up in a Christian home. My childhood was filled with dysfunction, and I was exposed to things no child should ever have to experience. From a young age, I was searching for love, security, and purpose—but I looked for it in all the wrong places.At just 15 years old, I became pregnant, and I had to grow up fast. Around that same time, I lost my brother while I was pregnant. That loss broke me. I fell into a deep depression and began making choices that only added to my pain. I turned to drugs, thinking they would numb what I felt—but instead, they pulled me deeper into darkness.Later, I met a man and fell in love. For the first time, I felt like I had stability, hope, and the love I had always longed for. We had two beautiful children together, and I finally felt like I had a family. But addiction still had a hold on me. In my darkest moments, I went back to it—and eventually, my husband discovered my drug use and divorced me. Taking with him my 3 boys, shattering my heart.I felt broken, ashamed, and completely hopeless.After my divorce and loss of my sons things only got worse. I surrounded myself with the wrong people and began stealing to support my addiction. That led to my first felony. Even after bonding out of jail, I continued down that same path.Then I was picked up on warrants and sent back to jail. While I was there, I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. Even in my brokenness, God was still writing my story. While in jail, I was offered drug court. At first, it was just another program to me—but it became the first time in my life that I experienced being clean. I began to see that maybe freedom was possible.But I still struggled. I tried to do things my own way, and when I was faced with consequences, I ran. That decision only made everything worse.Around that time, I found out my mom had stage 4 lung cancer. Now with the loss of my boys, and the death of my mom I went on the run, trying to escape my life—but deep down, I knew I couldn’t keep running forever.E ventually, I was caught and sent back to jail. While I was there, I lost custody of my daughter too. That pain was overwhelming. I spent four and a half months in jail and was dismissed from drug court. When I got out, I barely had time to breathe before my mom—my best friend—passed away.I was drowning in grief. Instead of turning to God, I went back to my addiction. My life spiraled completely out of control.Eight months later, I lost my dad too.That’s when I truly hit rock bottom.I felt completely alone. I believed I was a lost cause. I even began to contemplate suicide because I thought my life had no meaning.But then something started to change.My brother Chris began coming around, and I saw something different in him. He had a peace I had never seen before. I didn’t understand it—but I knew I wanted it.He would pick me up for church—even when I showed up high. One day, I reached out to him for help, and he prayed with me in an alley. I didn’t believe anything could help me—but that moment mattered more than I realized.Not long after that, I was picked up on another warrant and sent back to jail. At the time, I thought my life was over—but looking back, it was God saving me from myself.While I was in jail, someone invited me to church. I didn’t want to go at first. I wanted to stay in my cell and sit in my pain—but I knew something had to change. So I went. That’s where I met a chaplain named Vikki. As she spoke, it felt like she was speaking directly to me. For the first time, I felt peace—real peace. Something I don’t think I had ever truly felt before.I called my brother and told him, and he sent me my first Bible. I started reading it every day. That Bible became the light I desperately needed.That was the beginning of something new.Even in jail, I had peace.Eventually, I was court-ordered to a faith-based program in Indianapolis called Teen Challenge. There were many days I wanted to give up and leave—but I stayed, because I knew I needed it.About 10 months into the program, I started worrying about what would come next. I didn’t want to go back to my old life. I could have stayed there, but I didn’t feel like that was where God was leading me.So I called my brother, and he connected me with Inspiration Ministries. They were looking for a live-in house manager, and it felt like exactly where I was supposed to be.A few weeks after graduating, I started working there.I was nervous—but I knew God had opened that door.Around that time, I also began visits with my daughter, and my sons slowly started opening little windows into their lives. It was emotional, but I kept praying and asking God for guidance. And then—God answered my prayers. God has done a monumental move of restoration in my life and my family, as he allowed me to get custody of my daughter back, and my sons have fully welcomed me back into their lives and I now get to see them and spend time with them and my beautiful grand daughter! The road hasn't been easy, and restoration hasn't happened overnight. There have been difficult moments, and I have had to learn patience and trust God's timing. But little by little, the lord has changed my life! and restored my kids back to me and it has been a beautiful reminder that God is faithful to His promises and that He is always working, even when we cannot see it.

Today, I can honestly say that God is still working in my life. He took a situation that seemed hopeless and is turning it into a testimony of His mercy and redemption. I am grateful that even when i failed, He never gave up on me, and i trust that the work He has started in my family, He will continue to complete