“I’ve learned to love myself the way God loves me.”
Thanks to you, Kyrsten has been given a life-changing gift this Christmas.
“I am confident and loved.”
At just three years old, Cherice lost her father to a drug overdose… and in the years that followed, she suffered even more trauma.
“I lived in a violent home,” she remembers. “My mom’s boyfriends or husbands were physically abusive… and CPS was called frequently.”
In and out of foster homes – where the abuse only continued – Cherice never felt loved.
“There was a void, so I just started reaching out for anything.” By age 9, she’d started smoking and drinking to numb the pain of feeling unwanted.
When she fell in love and started a family at a young age, Cherice stopped using. “But my husband became verbally abusive,” she says. “I couldn’t measure up to the mom and wife he thought I should be… but I’d never learned how.”
Divorce sent Cherice spiraling, and for over 10 years, a series of toxic relationships had sunk her deeper into heartbreak and addiction. She struggled to raise her children as a single mom.
When she was connected with the Fresno Mission, it seemed like the answer to her prayers. “I asked the Lord to restore me back to that little girl I was with the hopes and dreams He put in me.”
At the Mission, Cherice found a safe place where she and her young daughters could stay and heal together from challenges they’ve faced. Today, Cherice is working toward her GED, has recently accepted a job, and is gaining confidence through our parenting and spiritual classes.
“Now I know that my identity is in Christ, and I cling to Him,” she says. “I know that I’m a good mom and that I’ll make the right choices for my family.”
Cherice is beyond grateful for this second chance in life – and says it’s thanks to the love you’ve shown for a neighbor like her. “Before I came to the Mission, I was broken and lost… But now, I’ve found the person God created me to be. I know I am loved.”
Cherice’s story appeared in the Summer 2021 edition of Lighthouse News.
Your support is giving Cherice a second chance
Finding true love in the arms of her Heavenly Father.
Mary is celebrating hope!
Kim would do anything to earn her mother’s love, but it always left her empty.
You changed Kim’s life
At just 17, Taj ran away from home and his family, determined to build his own life. “But life on my own was just insanity,” he says. “It was like building your house on sinking sand.”
Taj had often longed for stability. Growing up with a parent who drank a lot made life at home hard… To make life easier, Taj attempted to find belonging with his peers by drinking to fit in.
Over the years, he had a family of his own and managed to hold good jobs as a commercial driver – but he relied on substances to stay awake during the long hours he drove. “I had this false belief that I was functioning,” he says.
When Taj’s lifestyle finally led to trouble with the law and time in prison, it was the wake-up call he needed to change his life. “It was part of God’s plan to say, ‘Son, slow down,’” he says.
But upon his release, Taj had nowhere to go and was unsure of his next step… until he found the Fresno Mission. “I didn’t know it at the time, but Christ led me here.”
Beyond receiving a safe place to sleep, Taj accepted Christ while attending chapel at the Mission! And through the faith-based classes and guidance in our Men’s Academy program, he experienced God transforming his life.
Today, Taj has healed relationships with his family, he has a vehicle and place of his own, and he’s working as a coordinator at the Mission.
“God has cleared the way so I can do His ministry,” he says, “ministering to people on the street, talking to them and praying over them, and seeing them come here and better their life. That’s God moving right there.”
This Thanksgiving season – and all through the year – your kind generosity fills hearts with hope and gratitude… and transforms lives through God’s love! “Now I have Christ as my foundation… I see myself as a man of God.”
Taj’s story appeared in the Fall 2020 edition of Lighthouse News.
“Now I have Christ as my foundation.”
For years, pain and bitterness festered deep inside Linda’s heart as she struggled to understand why her dad wasn’t around. “He would talk to me for a bit and then fall off the face of the earth,” she says.
Later, Linda discovered her dad had a drug addiction. Sadly, it wasn’t the only time drugs would cause heartbreak in her life.
Without a father, Linda’s grandfather became her rock. When she discovered she was pregnant at just 16, Linda’s grandpa was one of the few people who stood by her as she decided to keep her baby. So it was devastating when, a year later, her grandpa passed away. “When I lost my grandpa, I lost my best friend…”
The loss sent Linda spiraling. To cope, she began numbing her pain with drugs… and over the years, found herself facing time for drug charges, at risk of losing her children and pregnant again. “I said, ‘OK, God… if you’re real, show me. I don’t know what to do,’ and I felt his presence.”
Soon after, Linda’s probation officer helped her come to the Fresno Mission, where her life began to change.
“Since coming to the Mission, I’m a new creation.”
Linda and her baby entered our Rescue the Children program, and through parenting classes and Christ-centered counseling, she’s gained tools to feel confident as a mother and guidance to process grief from her own childhood.
She’s grateful for the structure of our program, like faith-based classes and work therapy, where she even leads devotions for other women! “It’s very good to feel trusted again… God is molding me into the Linda he made me to be.”
Today, Linda looks forward to having a home of her own with her children, and she plans to go back to school to become a drug counselor to help others like her.
Because you gave from your heart to help Linda, her life has been changed by your goodness and God’s love forever! “Now I am a worthy woman of God. I’m a good mother… Your past does not define you. There is hope.”
Linda’s story appeared in the Summer 2020 edition of Lighthouse News.
“God is molding me into the Linda he made me to be.”
“As I look back at the whole story, all glory goes to God.”
“I wasn’t prepared to be homeless,” Ricky says. “You never think it will happen to you.”
When Ricky started going to church again, the mother of his children didn’t want to. “Our spirits were pulling in different directions… and before you know it, there I was with the kids.”
For the next ten years as a single father, Ricky devoted himself to caring for them. They got by on $500 a month… until one day, they were evicted.
The children moved to their mother’s, but Ricky became homeless. “It didn’t really hit me until the first night I was outside,” he says. “I was on a bench, and everybody was in their houses, with their families.”
For a little over a year, Ricky struggled on the streets. “It’s a whole different way of living when you’re homeless. You can’t cook. It’s difficult to stay clean… and there are really bad people out there at nighttime.”
As temperatures dropped, he knew he needed to escape the dangerous cold.
“I was asking God to lead me, and I ended up walking to the Mission.”
As he arrived at our doors, Ricky says, “The staff saw I needed help immediately… and my nightmare was over.”
The next day, he joined our Men’s Academy long-term program, and the loving community he found here provided the support he needed to move forward. “You meet a lot of guys that love God, just like you,” he says. “We encourage each other.”
Today, Ricky has graduated our program and works as Community Care staff, supporting guests arriving at the Mission. “I’m in a position to open the door for anybody that wants to change.”
He’s even reconnected with his children’s mother! “We’ve had conversations about redemption… It brought tears to my eyes.”
You may never meet Ricky, but he’s eternally grateful to YOU for your support – today, his heart is filled with new hope for the future. “The Mission has really changed my life. It’s been a total blessing for me.”
Ricky’s story appeared in the Easter 2020 edition of Lighthouse News. 
Meet Ricky. He can’t thank YOU enough!
“Now I know He is always there for me. God is my everything.”
“It was a really stressful life growing up,” Kimberly recalls. “Not knowing if I was going to eat that day, not having my mother there…”
Because her mother struggled with addiction, Kimberly ended up in foster care and group homes. “I would run away… but I was just running from reality, from all the hurt and destruction in my life,” she says.
To numb the pain of her mother’s abandonment, at just 15, Kimberly tried drugs for the first time. “I felt like I wasn’t worth anything because she just gave up on me.” Over the years, Kimberly battled addiction. Becoming a mom herself, she was able to remain clean for five years.
But the stress of an unhealthy living environment caused her to relapse. Heartbroken, she watched her sons being taken to live with their dad. “I had nothing to live for… I was just very destructive.”
Desperate for change, Kimberly came to the Mission for help. “I didn’t know what this place would offer, but it’s probably the best choice I’ve made in a long time.”
“I thank God for a new life.”
After a week in our community, Kimberly experienced God transforming her heart. “I gave my life to Christ and it was the most freeing experience,” she says. “I’d never read a Bible before. Now I go to my Lord for everything.”
Through our recovery program, and the loving care of our staff, Kimberly has been healing spiritually and emotionally, and finding freedom from the pain of her past. “I just feel that love and joy within me that I’ve never had.”
Today, Kimberly is reconnecting with her children, and she looks forward to going to college and beginning a career where she can help others.
Kimberly’s story appeared in the Holiday 2019 edition of Lighthouse News.
Because of you… “My story has a new beginning!”
“It’s nothing I’ve done on my own. It’s all been God.”
Night after night, Joseph lay in bed with his young body bruised and aching, his heart hurting, from the physical and emotional abuse he suffered.
His mom struggling with addiction, and his dad out of the picture, Joseph was sent to live elsewhere. “I was shifted from place to place, and there was a lot of abuse where I’d go.”
Having no one else to turn to, “I would pray to Jesus… talk to Him about the situation,” he says. “I would cry… No one was there to help rescue me.”
As a teen, Joseph tried to numb his pain and started experimenting with drugs. Over the years, addiction made it difficult for him to hold jobs… and separated him from his own son. “I isolated myself because of my shame and guilt.”
Joseph’s life continued to spiral downward, and he found himself in trouble with the law. At his lowest point, he cried out to Jesus for rescue, just as he did as a little boy. Miraculously, the charges were dropped, and he was given the opportunity to come to Fresno Rescue Mission.
Though he’d tried before to follow Christ, “I didn’t let those walls be knocked down,” Joseph says. “The transformation happened here.” He joined The Academy, the Mission’s long-term recovery program that helps men struggling with homelessness and addiction restore their lives.
Through classes, counseling, daily chapel and Bible study, Joseph has also experienced God healing the wounds of his past and renewing his relationship with his son. “My son says now, ‘Dad, I’m proud of you.’ It’s so awesome, the relationship we’ve picked back up.”
“God got a hold of me. He’d been tapping on my shoulder. He’d had His hand on me this whole time.”
Today, Joseph is on staff at the Mission, a driver for our food services team, and is staying at our transitional housing while looking for a place he can call home with his son.
Because of your generosity, Joseph’s heart has been filled with thanksgiving… and God’s love! “I thank all The Academy staff for their support. I know it’s God working through them to help change our lives.”
Joseph’s story appeared in the Fall 2019 edition of Lighthouse News.
Joseph Wants to Thank You
None of us have had a perfect earthly father. But through Jesus we have been adopted, and our Father is perfect. Romans 8:15 says, “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Like so many children of alcoholic parents, his father’s obsession with drinking left a deep void in Gilbert’s heart. His parents’ divorce at age 10 was the start of a downward spiral that seemed to negatively affect every aspect of his life. Four years later he and his older brother moved in with their father. Now ages 14 and 16, they discovered that living there meant no rules or boundaries. He recalls “I could stay out all night if I wanted to.” Seeking for anyone he could cling to, Gilbert soon started to look up to some of the guys in their neighborhood. He recalls “One of them, who was a few years older than me, was doing cocaine. When he offered me my first hit, I thought it was cool. Eventually I got my older brother started as well, which is something I really regret.” His life had no direction or purpose.
By the time he hit his late teens, he was no stranger to regular drug use or jail time. In the midst of the chaos, Gilbert recalls that at age twenty, two major events occurred in his life.
First, his son was born. That same year as he was learning the value a son could have on his life, he was introduced to another son that would eventually change everything for him as well. Jesus. While doing jail time, he started to attend church services with some others he knew there. It was there that he accepted Jesus into his heart, but He did not become a real part of his life until almost 20 years later. Gilbert shares today, “I spent the next 18 years running from Him. You are never really the same after He comes into your life.” But God was not done with Gilbert yet. “God was always with me, urging me along. ‘Come on, son. You’re better than this.’” His life continued to be defined by positive seasons of jobs and staying clean, only to be followed by another drug relapse and jail time.
Gilbert’s face beams each time he speaks of his son. “When I was 27, I came back from another jail stint and realized that my son was used to me not being around all the time. He knew I was going to go back to jail. And I didn’t like that at all.” In 2016, Gilbert had a high-paying job, a house, and several cars. “I celebrated my success by getting wrapped up again in drugs. When I relapsed, I didn’t relapse with little. I relapsed with a lot.” Through all of this, he gained the resources needed to purchase large amounts of drugs, soon becoming a regular dealer and eventually was arrested. His son was now a teenager and was becoming more and more aware of the consequences of his father’s choices, on both of them.
“God was always with me, urging me along. ‘Come on, son. You’re better than this.'”
Over the next two years, God would gently lead him on a path that led to the doors of the Fresno Rescue Mission. In 2018, while doing another stint in jail, Gilbert recalls feeling worthless, with no hope or purpose. He was facing incredible disappointment in himself because he had missed his son’s high school graduation. It was then that Gilbert finally stopped running and fully surrendered his whole life to Jesus. “I always considered myself a strong-willed person. But I’ve learned to surrender my will. In the program (at Fresno Rescue Mission), I’ve done nothing but embrace everything we do here: the counseling, chapel, the classes. God was always with me, urging me along. And through my life getting better, I can help someone else. Especially my son.” Continuing his involvement with the Fresno Rescue Mission through working at Lanna Coffee in downtown Fresno, he is growing consistently and discovering his life-purpose through God. As a result, he is slowly healing his relationship with his son, discovering what it means to be the father God intended.
Gilbert constantly shares that his story can be summed up by Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
It’s because of the prayers, hard work, and donations of so many involved with the Fresno Rescue Mission that fathers like Gilbert get the chance to change the course of their lives and the generations that follow. Together we are making a difference.
Gilbert’s story appeared in the June 2019 edition of Lighthouse News.
A Father’s Story of God’s Persistence