My name is Melissa. I'm 40 yrs. old and from Lindenhurst, NY. I'm grateful to God for allowing me this opportunity to share my story. I lived a very rebellious, self-destructive lifestyle from the early age of 9. With no discipline or positive role models, I picked up alcohol and became immediately dependant on its "feel-good" qualities.

By the age of 15, it was clear to all those around me that I had a drinking problem. It grew to the point where there wasn't enough alcohol to fill the voids of loneliness and lack of love I was feeling. I quit school and begn to use and sell cocaine on a daily basis. By the time I realized I was out of control and couldn't get a grip on my life, I was 26 yrs. old and pregnant.

I know now that the Lord had His hand on my life then because for 8 months of that pregnancy I did not use or drink and had a healthy baby boy. But the enemy was not through with me yet. Two months after my son Eric was born, my father died. I believed God had let me down by taking away the one person in my life I cared about. This gave me the excuse to go out on a very long 12 year run toward certain death.

In the summer of 2000, the Lord reached down and touched my life once again. I found myself drawn into a church, accepting Christ, and receiving love I had never known before. I battled with my addictions and anger issues for 2 yrs. It wasn't until I turned my will over to God and decided to take the "I" out of my "can do" attitude and live according to God's ways and no longer according to mine.

The night I entered Teen Challenge and walked through the doors of the Ladies' Home, I was instantly delivered from the desire to use drugs. I am forever grateful for such a place as Teen Challenge where I was taught God's principles and how to apply them to my life on a daily basis. But once again the enemy would try to take my life-I was diagnosed with Chronic Hepatitis C and the doctors gave me only a 7% chance of recovery with years of treatment. Through prayer and fasting and trusting that our Lord is faithful, I was healed! There is no trace of Hep C in my blood any longer! God can remove any mountain if we believe Him (Mark 11:22-24)!

The Lord reveals His love to me over and over again in too many ways to name. He has blessed me with a wonderful man of God who became my husband after I graduated the program, and He is restoring my relationship with my son. Every day is given to me by the Lord Jesus Christ, and because He died I can live!