Cara – 2015 Graduate

I grew up in a wonderful Christian home with the love and support of both my parents. I played volleyball and basketball growing up. Entering high school I didn’t have many friends and was shy. I really wanted to be noticed, so I started acting promiscuous to get attention from guys and began lying to my parents. Around the same time I quit playing basketball, and my relationship with my dad took a hit because he knew I had great potential. When I was 16, I was raped and lost my virginity. After that I stopped caring about my body, and I fell into a deep depression. My promiscuous behavior and lying stopped when I met a guy, and a year later we got engaged. When the relationship became unhealthy, my fiancé broke off our engagement. The lies I believed and my depression came back in full force. After numerous abusive relationships my parents approached me about the way my life was going.

One night in desperation my mom looked online and came upon Mercy. I quickly applied and was later accepted. When I first arrived at Mercy, I was very quiet and refused to open myself up to anyone, including God. I just went along and did the assignments, refusing to go deep and put myself out there.

After about two months of being at Mercy, I wanted to leave and quit. I opened my heart up to God during a quiet time when He very clearly told me that He had not made me to be a quitter. In that moment I decided to stay and finish what I started for the first time in my life. From that moment on, I really began hearing God more and started opening myself up to not only staff, but residents as well.

While at Mercy, God changed me from the inside out. He has given me confidence in who I am. He helped me open up and think in a new way. I have learned I am worth loving, I am trustworthy, and the only approval I need is from God alone. God has given me a healthy relationship with my family and friends. I now know who God is and how amazing His love is.

After graduating from Mercy I plan on attending school to get my massage therapy license and work part-time. I will be living with my parents and attending our home church. In the future I plan on marrying a wonderful, Christian man and having a ton of babies.

I can’t tell you how grateful I am to Mercy! Mercy has helped me find God and myself. The staff is so amazing and was a huge support during my time in the program. I am the woman God created me to be, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of Mercy. I can’t thank Mercy donors enough!!