Amber came from a broken home. Out on her own at just 14 years old, she “hit the ground running.” She never had much support, and even after her mother stopped using drugs, the relationship was still troubled.
“It was just me and God,” Amber remembers today. “Without Him, I couldn’t have made it through all of this.”
Amber had an image of the family she wanted, but her childhood sweetheart turned out to be a nightmare. “I was thinking that if I loved him enough and stayed around enough, he would take care of the kids, and we would be this wonderful family,” she says. “But that didn’t happen.”
“He would steal from me. He would fight me. He was a junkie on and off throughout the years. One minute he’d be clean, and the next minute he wasn’t. It was a lost cause, so I packed up the children, and I left.”
Amber began by fleeing from another state to stay with her sister here in Elkhart. Once she found out about Faith Mission, she and her family came here and eventually moved into our Graber House.
Thanks to your support, she and her family have experienced peace and stability. “My children and I have our own space. We can make our own meals. I don’t have to worry about my utilities being cut off or making ends meet. Coming to
Graber House at Faith Mission was a second chance for me to get time to myself and stop and think.”
“Graber House is a joy,” she says. “My kids love it. Everybody works together as a community, one mother to another. You have time to think. You have time to put things together.”
Amber has also benefited spiritually. “People here are moved by God, and you can tell,” she says. “I found a great church. I feel like I’m getting closer to God. He’s teaching me because He knows I’m ready to listen. I’m learning about Jesus and how we should be in His image.”
And with her job at a local tax preparation firm, Amber and her children are now ready to be out on their own again.
“The Mission advocates for you. They have a lot of resources. If they don’t have the answers, they’ll find them. They reach out to the community to help you get where you need to be. They stand up for you and fight for you. They do give it their all. I’m grateful for that.”