We are celebrating a huge victory in our family and community this last month!
We have now a woman here for six years. When we first started our Iris base here she was sleeping in a rubbish dump (pictured) just outside of our village, on top of all the garbage with three of her kids. She was an alcoholic and had been for years. Her life was in pieces, and she couldn't keep herself together for even one day. Her three children with her were malnourished and sick. She had others who had gone to live with other people, and all of them ended up together with us in our family here at Iris. They were some of the first children to join our family.
During the past six years we've put her into rehabilitation programs three different times. We gave her a job, and covered her in prayer. She started to stop drinking. She started praying, and asking Jesus to help her. She struggled, and she relapsed. But bit by bit she started to gain the victory. She's had some tough times. We've sat with her when she's been drunk, and hallucinating and seeing snakes everywhere. We've been with her when she was passed out unconscious on the ground outside our gate. We've sat with her after she's been beaten, and had her head cut open, bleeding all over, while she's been crying in our arms like a little child begging for help. We were with her when she arrived at our house drunk, after having a miscarriage in her home, alone...
God did not give up on her. And He never took His eyes off of her. She never strayed from His gaze or His thoughts or His relentless pursuit. God does not quit stopping for the one.
Today, she's working, and she's amazing! She works so hard and she's so good at what she does. She hasn't drank alcohol for well over a year now. She has rebuilt her relationship with her kids and they love her and respect her. She knows that Jesus is real, and that He saved her. She's one of the biggest helpers, and such a gift to our Iris family.
Last month, we went to court with her and she now has legal parental responsibility back for two of her kids! They have left our center to go back to live with her! She's living in a great house, and the kids are so excited to be back with their mother!! We are SO proud of this woman and all that she's achieved with God's help and protection during the past six years. She's turned her life completely around and is living the life that God intended for her, where's she's valued, loved and is a blessing to her kids and to others.
We love our kids more than life itself, and believe that God has a destiny for each one in our family. But our heart is always for children to stay with their birth families whenever possible! None of our children have ever been able to return to their families safely and successfully before, so we are celebrating! We are so thankful!