Marisa knew she had to do something. Her boyfriend had become abusive and she had
to get away. Far, far away.

Even if it meant quitting her job, giving up her apartment and moving someplace where she didn’t know anybody, it was still better than the abuse that was crushing her spirit, and destroying her soul. But where could she go where she could feel safe? Where she could find healing? And perhaps most important, reconnect with the same loving God she had been told about as a child?

Turns out the answer to all three questions was the same: our Rescue Mission. Her first Sunday here, Marisa went to church service — and cried the entire time. That, it turns out, was her taking her first steps to a new life — a new life made possible by your generous gifts.

Now, God has become the center of her life.

“I’d always felt like a failure,” she recalls. “I had opportunities, but never took them; went to
college, but never finished. Now I realize I’m okay. It’s all in God’s timing. I just keep my
eyes on Him, and God gives me peace.”

One of the things she’s working on is being grateful for the little things she’s taken for granted in the past. Food. A bed. A hot shower. All the things the Rescue Mission can provide for her because of your generous gifts.

“I used to move from place to place and keep my stuff in boxes,” she explains. “Now I have my own room, a closet . . . it’s the coolest thing.”