Jung tried again and again to straighten out the mess her life had become — but now, thanks to YOU, her life is a success story.
Jung began her struggle with meth at just 12 years old. She was curious and enterprising, and wanted to make her own money. “I got some meth,” she recalls. “But for me to sell my product, I had to know how it worked . . . I got addicted instead.”
“For me to sell my product, I had to know how it worked . . . I got addicted instead.”
Somehow, she kept her drug use under the radar — but it wasn’t too hard. Her parents were busy working, and she hardly saw them.
At 18, Jung says she went “full blast.” She stopped coming home. Then her mom was diagnosed with cancer and her whole life changed. It fell to Jung to drive her mom to chemo treatments and therapy. Jung dropped out of school and took to doing drugs in her closet. Her mom ended up passing away in 2000. “I didn’t grieve,” Jung remembers. “I didn’t know how to process it.” So Jung went “full blast” again.
Soon after, Jung met a man. . . who turned out to be a monster. “If I didn’t do something or I got him angry, it escalated to torture. In the end it had to be sex. I felt like a dirty old rag, basically getting raped.” Then Jung discovered she was pregnant. Desperate to get away, she used drugs and intentionally got herself arrested — and escape.
Jung knew her life had to change. As often happens, she went back to her abuser after he made promises to change. But the abuse just got worse. Jung now had two children and was expecting her third. She got into a domestic violence shelter, but there were no good long-term solutions. “I didn’t meet any requirements of a mother/child facility,” she explains. “They would only accept two or less kids, or the waiting list was too long, or I couldn’t meet the work requirement.”
It seemed like Jung was hitting one dead end after another. Then one of her counselors suggested Orange County Rescue Mission.
Not only were Jung and all her kids accepted, but it seemed to Jung like God had specifically led her to the safe refuge of the Mission. “When I walked in, everyone here was different,” she says. “They treat you like you’re their family. They want the best for you. They make you feel like you’re wanted.”
Over time, Jung began to reclaim her life as a woman, mom and beloved child of God. Looking back now, Jung is grateful for God’s protection. “As long as I’ve been doing drugs, I didn’t lose myself. God has kept me whole. If God didn’t protect me, I wouldn’t be able to be here. I’m able to think. I’m able to take classes. I’m able to serve. I’m able to make a better future for my kids, to make better choices.”
YOU helped Jung break the cycle of drugs and violence and start a new life. Thank you for helping transform broken lives, like Jung’s. Your partnership is a blessing.
