Krystle grew up in a very violent and impoverished community. While both her parents were physically abusive, her dad was addicted to drugs and her mom struggled with mental illness. After her dad went to jail, she was left in her mom’s care, and she and her sisters were sold into sex trafficking until she was 19. At age 11 she began harming herself, struggled with an eating disorder, and began to feel like her life was too hard to live. After years of suicide attempts, multiple hospital stays, and addictions to medication, Krystle reluctantly met with a counselor who suggested she apply to Mercy.
The moment Krystle walked through the doors of Mercy, she felt love and acceptance, something she had never felt in her life before. What impacted her the most was how her counselors were able to listen to her and show her God’s love regardless of her past. She was able to see how God had been a father to her throughout her life when her earthly father was not around. At Mercy, she learned how to connect with people in a healthy way and discovered that she was a people person. Not only did she feel loved at Mercy, but her capacity to love other people grew. Since she graduated from Mercy, Krystle has interned at the Dream Center in St. Louis working with inner-city kids. Even though she told herself she would never live in a poor community again, she now knows that God is using her story to change other people’s stories.