I’d like to introduce you to someone who is very special. Ashley came to the Light House one year ago. I remember the days before she came, talking to her on the phone multiple times. She was crying, anxious and terrified.

“What will be different about this time?” she asked me, obviously worried. She had been to countless programs and rehabs, all resulting in short-term sobriety. Every time, she was lured back into addiction, dysfunction and, ultimately, a suicide attempt.

I could hear in her voice that she wanted so badly to heal, to restore her family, to be free from the addictions that had a grip on her like a vice.

“Our program is different,” I told her. “We are different.”

Ashley came to the Light House bone thin, shaking, and defeated. I’ll never forget on that first day when she came out of her bedroom sobbing because she had looked in the mirror for the first time in many months. She didn’t recognize the woman staring back at her. She was lost. But I knew, God was seeking her.

Ashley’s path was not easy. It was messy. It was tiring. It was complicated. But with time, love and faith, the light in Ashley began to flicker and right before our eyes it was a blazing fire!