“If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness…”
I will never forget on December 6th, 2024, I was in a situation that led me to think I was going to die, and I prayed in that moment to God to please not take my life from me. During that situation, I was unable to ask for help verbally because my body would not allow me, and it was a scary situation. When I woke up from that experience, I committed vehicle theft and left where I was, which led me to being incarcerated for a year in Monterey County, which I knew I needed.
During incarceration, I had completed all the necessary classes, such as parenting, domestic violence, and anger management. When I was done completing all of those classes, I knew I was done with my addiction. After serving my time, I was released at 7:00 pm and had no ride home, not one person to call. Just when I thought the devil was done with me, I had two tests thrown at me. The first one was after I was released with a few other women; one of them told me I could wait at her house for my ride, which was just a few blocks away. When I arrived, there were a lot of people and eventually the police showed up. I informed the police that I had just been released and was not looking for trouble and then left the situation and went to sit at a bus stop. The second test was when someone asked if I wanted a ride from that bus stop, and my thought was to go to the hospital because it's a safe environment, has phones, and a bathroom. During the ride, this person asked if I smoked, and when I told him no, he respected that, handed me $5, and I went on my way.
At this point, it's 4:00 in the morning, and the friend who was supposed to pick me up ignored my call 12 times and eventually shut the phone off. My hope at this point was calling Chaplain Gina, who mentioned a long time ago, not knowing if she’d remember who I was, that I could call her at any time and she would be there. I called at 5:37 am, and sure enough, she picked up and said not to worry and to expect a big white van to be there at 7:00 am to pick me up.
As of today, I am 1 year and 8 months sober, in my second semester in school, and was able to get my driver's license, I am raising my little girl and rebuilding my relationship with my son after 14 years of neglect. None of this would be possible without Chaplain Gina and the Merced County Jail Ministry.
John 8:12 –
“Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.’”
