Meet Erika

As a young girl, I wondered how people wound up drinking, unemployed and homeless. I believed this was the way they chose to live, but after marriage and three children I started to understand. The horrors of childhood abuse began to run my life. I suffered with postpartum depression and struggled with disturbing thoughts from my violent past. I found myself unable to care for my baby and came home to find the locks changed. I lost everyone I loved and everything I worked for. I had nowhere to go. I lived in my car in the bitter cold.

As I tried to find hope again, I reached out to Jesus Christ. A friend invited me to NorthWind’s Family Fellowship, and I went, but I always picked an empty table; I felt more comfortable alone. No one judged me; instead they encouraged me as I learned about the love Jesus has for all of us. I am learning to share by speaking out and helping with clean-up. I’m not afraid anymore. The friends in the fellowship are now my family.

– Erika