Amy – 2014 Graduate

From a very young age, I struggled with rejection and never feeling like I belonged. I was bullied in school, which caused rejection and feelings of worthlessness to dig their roots deep into my heart. When I was seven, my brother died in car accident, and around that time I began to be abused for a number of years by someone I trusted. This brought a lot of shame and fear into my life. I didn’t know how to cope, so I began cutting myself, which turned into a four-year battle with self-harm. I also lost my aunt to cancer, and I felt like my life was spinning out of control. In an attempt to take back control, I began restricting my food and eventually throwing up everything I ate. I became very malnourished but no treatment center would take my insurance. A nurse at a trauma center I was in mentioned Mercy to me, and I decided to apply. However, I had to become physically stable before I was well enough to enter the program. I was admitted to the ICU where I nearly died, and that is where my journey to recovery began.

I decided to apply to Mercy because I knew it was my only chance and that I would die if I didn’t take that chance. When I arrived at the home, I was completely hopeless, broken and consumed by death. I didn’t trust anyone and wanted nothing to do with God, because I thought He was mad at me. I was angry at Him, because I thought everything that happened was His will, and I didn’t understand how a good God could allow bad things to happen.

A specific turning point for me was when I committed my life to Jesus and began to slowly trust God and people again. I realized I was able to find freedom as Ibegan to express what was inside of me. I learned that in order to receive healing, I had to first let go of what I was holding on to. One of the biggest things I had to do was learn to forgive people. At Mercy, God began to redeem and restore my life. He is also redeeming relationships within my family and restoring my health. I have learned a lot about how to live a healthy and balanced life that is not controlled by an eating disorder. I can now truly say that it is possible to live a healthy and happy life with Jesus!

This fall, I plan on attending college to become a psychiatric nurse. I want to help hurting people find hope, health, and life. My plans in the future include traveling and speaking all over the world and sharing about the mercy, grace and love of God.

To the donors who support Mercy, thank you so much for sponsoring me and making it possible for me to come here. I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done, but I can say this…you have saved a life.