“I knew God, but I was angry at him…”
Susana is so grateful. You have given her new life!
“God’s Word started to soften my heart…”
This Easter, Luis celebrates the hope of new life, thanks to YOU!
“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!”