Their Stories
Lisa Arrested for Selling Drugs
She didn't know it at the time, but Lisa began to turn her life around the night she sold drugs to an undercover police officer in Idaho County.
Guilt and Self-hatred
After surviving a childhood with alcoholic parents, she divorced three times, lost custody of her two children and suffered physical abuse, a nervous breakdown and a seven-year addiction to methamphetamine. Lisa was buried under an avalanche of guilt and self-hatred.
"I took all of those failures and problems upon myself," she remembered. "Although I wanted to kill myself, I knew it was wrong." Instead, she opted for the "slow suicide" of drug addiction, retaliating against her unfaithful third husband by spending the family income on drugs.
"I believed all the bad things that had been said about me and then earned them with outrageous, self-destructive behavior," she said. It all came down to an end with her arrest and conviction.
God's Love Reached Lisa in Prison
Lisa began reading Romans to protect herself from the anger and evil in prison. "I was an empty shell. I was homeless and broken physically, financially and mentally. I had a lot of time to reflect," she said. God's love kept coming back to her mind. When she learned of Chrysalis from a fellow inmate, she requested an interview with Marsha.
Accepted into Chrysalis
After spending 18 months in jail she was released and began the Chrysalis program. Although Lisa had no idea what to expect at Chrysalis, once there she felt something unfamiliar but pleasant. For the first time in her life, she was unafraid.
"Every woman who has walked through those doors has lived a life of fear," Lisa said of her experience entering Chrysalis. "It is the most awesome feeling to be somewhere where you are not afraid."
Grounded in the Lord
Two years later, Lisa is free. Now 40, she is no longer addicted to drugs or unhealthy relationships and is working in a family business with her 19-year old son. With her "feet grounded firmly" in the Lord, Lisa has learned boundaries, healthy social skills, biblical conflict resolution and how to say no without guilt. But most importantly, she has learned to love herself.
"One of the things that amazed me about the house was how it was funded by private donations," Lisa said. To know that some stranger cared enough about me to provide financial support made it possible for me to care for myself.