Shay’s Story: “I’m Just So Excited to Know What God Can Do”

Shay’s story began with loss at a very young age.

She was born in Louisiana and raised in Mississippi. When she was just seven years old, her father died in front of her.

The trauma of that moment stayed with her.

Years later, at 23, Shay was sexually assaulted. She was admitted to a mental health facility, and the relationships she found herself in were often abusive.

There was a lot of pain she didn’t know what to do with.

Eventually, cocaine entered the picture.

“It just got worse and worse, my addiction.”

For a long time, Shay didn’t know how to change the direction her life was going.

Then she found herself in jail.

And from that place, she started praying.

When Life Kept Getting Harder

Addiction was only one part of Shay’s story.

Before the drugs, there had already been loss, trauma and unhealthy relationships.

Her father’s death happened when she was still a child. The assault she experienced as a young woman added another painful chapter. The relationships that followed brought more hurt instead of safety.

Then cocaine became part of her life.

What might have offered temporary escape only created more problems.

Shay could see that her addiction was getting worse.

But knowing something needs to change and knowing how to change it are two very different things.

“I didn’t know how to change it until I came here.”

Before she arrived at Charis House, though, Shay would first find herself somewhere she never wanted to be.

Jail.

Praying From a Jail Cell

While incarcerated, Shay began asking God for help.

“I started praying to God that he get me out this situation.”

She promised Him she wouldn’t go back to drugs.

And while she was still in jail, Shay filled out an application to Charis House.

That application became the beginning of a very different chapter.

“I came to Charis House. I did an application while I was in jail.”

She arrived carrying a past filled with things she couldn’t change.

But she was also arriving with an opportunity to begin making different choices about what came next.

One Year Sober

Since coming to Charis House, Shay says her life has been moving in a new direction.

“Ever since I’ve been in Charis House, I’ve been doing good. I’ve been sober.”

At the time she shared her testimony, she had reached one year of sobriety.

That year represented more than simply the absence of cocaine.

It represented days of choosing something different.

Days of learning.

Days of turning toward God instead of returning to the patterns that had controlled her life.

And now Shay is beginning to think about what comes next.

“I’m just trying to focus on God more and looking for a job so I can better my life.”

Those may sound like ordinary goals.

But after years marked by trauma, addiction and instability, being able to look toward the future matters.

A Future and a Hope

There is a passage of Scripture that has become meaningful to Shay.

Jeremiah 29:11 says:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

For someone whose past has held so much pain, those last words carry weight:

A future and a hope.

Shay cannot change what happened when she was seven.

She cannot undo what was done to her at 23.

She cannot go backward and erase every unhealthy relationship or every decision she made while struggling with addiction.

But her past does not mean God is finished with her.

Today, instead of only looking backward at everything that has happened, Shay can begin wondering what God might do next.

“I’m Just So Excited”

Recovery does not erase the difficult parts of someone’s story.

It doesn’t pretend trauma never happened or make every consequence disappear.

But it can create space for something new.

At Charis House, women have an opportunity to step away from the life they were living and begin rebuilding with structure, accountability, Christian community and a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

For Shay, that means continuing to focus on God.

It means maintaining her sobriety.

It means looking for work and building a more stable life.

And it means having something she may not always have been able to see clearly:

A future.

“I’m just so excited to know what God can do for me.”

There is hope in those words.

Not because Shay knows exactly what every part of her future will look like.

She doesn’t have to.

She knows the God she wants at the center of it.

Your Past Doesn’t Get to Write the Rest of Your Story

Maybe your life has chapters you wish you could erase.

Maybe you’ve carried pain since childhood.

Maybe someone hurt you deeply.

Maybe addiction became the way you learned to cope with things you didn’t know how to face.

And maybe right now, imagining a different life feels difficult.

Shay’s story is a reminder that where you have been does not have to decide where you go next.

One year sober, she is focusing on God, looking for work and beginning to build a different kind of life.

She doesn’t know every detail of what comes next.

But for the first time in a long time, she is excited to find out.

Your past does not have to determine your future. If you’re ready to begin rebuilding your life with Christ at the center, learn more about Charis House and take the next step toward applying.