Richard and Summer’s marriage was headed for divorce court.

Whether it was the fact that they met when they were both drug addicts, living on the street . . . or they weren’t prepared when baby Ava came along … or that they refused to let God into their lives . . . this was one relationship that seemed beyond repair.

“We fought constantly,” Summer admits. “Sometimes we were holding the baby in our arms while we were pushing and shoving each other.”

Richard and Summer knew they needed God to heal their marriage. They just didn’t know where to begin — until they were directed to Orange County Rescue Mission.

Richard credits the patient guidance of one of the Rescue Mission’s case managers with turning his life around.

“My counselor was really good at showing me the biblical perspective of marriage,” Richard recalls. “He told me how I needed to be a man, how I needed to follow the Lord and take responsibility for the things I was doing wrong.”

Richard took his counselor’s advice. He got a job, has gone back to school to become an electrician and now realizes he is blessed to have a wife who loves him unconditionally. He continues, “Looking back, I don’t even think about the person I used to be. I’m a new person through God.”

And because he is, Summer has fallen in love with her husband all over again. “Now I get really excited when my husband comes home from work. That’s our time to be a family.”

Summer credits God, and the Rescue Mission, for breaking the bondage they carried with them from doing drugs — just like their parents had done. “That’s why we needed the Mission,” she says. “They got us to sober up, got our minds clean and got our focus back on what we needed to do to be successful. “This place didn’t just save our marriage . . . it saved our lives!” she says.