At Fresno Mission’s graduation on October 2, Searcy Center graduate Missina Ziarko stood before family, friends and supporters and shared the story of how God carried her from her darkest days to the graduation stage.
“Even when I couldn’t see a way out, God was never finished with me.” — Missina Ziarko
For years, Missina’s life was marked by addiction, abusive relationships, incarceration and homelessness. A severe fentanyl addiction led to more overdoses than she could count, and she survived relationships with men who beat her, threatened her life and controlled her every move. At one point, she was sleeping under a bridge, barely surviving.
The deepest pain was losing her children. Trapped in domestic violence and addiction, she made the heartbreaking decision to sign over her rights to her twin daughters, and she later lost two more children to CPS. “One of the hardest parts of my journey was being away from my children,” she said. “As a mother, that pain is difficult to put into words.”
Then she was arrested and learned she was two months pregnant. While she sat in jail, she received the devastating news that her mother had passed away. “I was sitting in a jail cell already feeling like everything in my life was gone,” Missina said. But through the tears, something began to shift. She realized her mistakes were part of her story and they didn’t have to be the ending.
“God met me where I was”
Instead of prison, a judge released Missina to the Fresno Mission program. After giving birth to her son, she entered Rescue the Children, now known as the Searcy Center. She came in angry and confused, still wearing bracelets that represented the idols she prayed to. “God met me where I was,” she said. “I wasn’t ready to change, but deep down I knew I needed help.”
She made the decision to get sober and change the direction of her life. Recovery meant facing parts of herself she had always avoided, but she was not alone. Her case manager, Jennifer, and Chief Ministry Officer Priscilla Robbins were patient with her, and when she finally removed the bracelets, she began to understand the love God had been showing her all along.
At Searcy Center, Missina learned to be the mother she had always wanted to be. “The women around me helped me learn how to be a caring mother,” she said. She focused on rebuilding her relationship with her children and went back to court, where she received visitation with her twin daughters. Reconnecting after years apart wasn’t easy, but the staff walked her through it with God in the middle of it.
“I had to accept that I couldn’t go back and change the years I had missed. All I could do now was show up. So I showed up.”
Learning to trust again
After years of abuse, Missina had come to believe that every man would hurt her or use her. When Searcy Center became a co-ed program, God began teaching her how to trust again, and it started with Pablo Davalos, Fresno Mission’s Director of Programs.
“Pablo brought a light on me that I didn’t even know I was missing.”
Pablo and his wife became a steady presence in her life. “Him and his wife always guided me with love and reminded me that I was safe,” Missina said. “He was patient with me, and he helped me understand faith, love and God’s timing. That was the beginning of me learning to trust men again.”
From there, the brothers in Christ in the program showed her the love, support, patience and respect she had never known from men. “God used my brothers in Christ to show me that I could trust again,” she said. Through that healing, Missina found her identity in Christ. “I wasn’t identified by what had happened to me, or by the woman I used to be,” she said. “I was God’s daughter, and my identity was found in Him.”
A story of redemption
Today, Missina knows she is not the same woman she used to be. She still has hard days, and she is still learning and growing, but her story has a new ending.
“My story does not end with addiction, abuse, homelessness or incarceration. My story is about redemption.“
She closed her testimony with the verse behind this year’s graduation theme, Isaiah 43:18–19: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” To Missina, it means God gives us permission to move forward and become who He created us to be. “I am not defined by where I came from,” she said, “but where God has brought me and is continuing to take me.”
Be part of the next story
Missina’s transformation was made possible by donors and volunteers who make Searcy Center a place where women and men can heal, reunite with their families and discover who God created them to be.
Thank you for partnering with us to rescue, restore and empower lives in Fresno.
