A message from Chaplain Brandon

“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” – Shawshank Redemption

The first night I met Allison (name changed to protect privacy)  she had just been strangled by a john to the point of passing out. She was terrified and needed a safe place to just be. She found it on the Lord’s Gym bus with a group of loving believers.

Over the next few months, we developed a strong friendship and used every opportunity to impart hope that God loved her and had a better life.

Allison grew up with an addicted mother, she spent many years in and out of foster care but always wanting to be back with her mom. As a teen she ran away from her foster home to be with her mom and remained. Not long after, she found herself addicted to heroin and started to prostitute to supply drugs for her and her mom.

Her life was full of broken dreams and constant terror; so wrapping her mind around the possibility of something different then what she had experienced was extremely tough to grasp but we didn’t give up.

About three years ago she came to me ready for detox, she had hope that things could change and she took the first step.

Allison has been clean for three years and what I am most proud of her for is never giving up in the midst of the struggle. For Allison the last three years have been extremely challenging but the hope she holds on to has imparted courage to move toward the promises of God.