My name is Ivory. When I was 18 months old my drug addicted mother poured boiling hot grease on me and it burned over 90 percent of my body.

Assigned a ward of the state, I was disfigured, abandoned and rejected. Bouncing around from home to home I was finally adopted at age 7 only to be recycled back into the system following some traumatic events at age 14. I aged out of foster care at 21.

I searched for the love I so desperately craved in all the wrong places.

My drug and alcohol addiction escalated soon after my first daughter was born. My relationships were toxic and abusive. My life in and out of psych wards and prison was chaotic, filling me with guilt and shame.

I lost custody of my first daughter. I had nothing left.

In the hospital recovering from a suicide attempt, I found out I was 3 months pregnant. I did not want to repeat the same cycle. I was shattered. I didn’t want my life to continue this way. I told myself I was not going to be like my mom. I didn’t want to end up in prison or dead. I didn’t want my daughter to end up in foster care like I did.

Before coming to the Mission I felt inadequate and incapable of life, love and most importantly of being a mother.

Royal, my daughter, was 4 months old by the time I came to the Mission. I didn’t know anything about loving Jesus or depending on Him.

As I started to develop a relationship with God He showed His love for me by providing a group of sisters that showered Royal and me with love and compassion.

They taught me skills like how to care for myself and my daughter, how to keep an apartment, how to grocery shop and be positively active in society. I have always lived with somebody or lived on the streets. Now I have the confidence to be on my own.

With sisters to support me and programs in place to guide me I no longer feel alone. For the first time I knew I was capable. I knew I was loved. I knew Jesus had called me.

Isaiah 43:1 says, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine.”

I am learning to love Jesus and to fully depend on him. I have learned to not look to people for their acceptance but to run to God instead. The Mission has brought all that together for me.

I now know I can be the mom God has created me to be.

Through continued programming I have learned better eating habits like portion control mixed with exercise. I have lost 115 pounds!

I am about to start an internship to mentor other women like myself.

I continue to study the bible, lean in closer to God and invest in the relationships Jesus has given me at the Mission.

Your support has given me hope! I am being transformed and that change does not just affect me, but my daughter and the generations to come. Thank you!