Freda's Story: Death and Pain Filled Her Life From a Very Young Age, but God Found Her, Loved Her, and Renewed Her Life Greater Than She Ever Imagined Was Possible.

Freda had to grow up when she was just a kid, taking care of her siblings before she was even a teenager.  Freda had her first baby at age 15 and couldn't take care of her because she was too deep in the darkness of addiction.  She faced death after death of loved ones who died at such young ages, and not knowing how to deal with these deaths chose to dive deeper into drugs, thinking naively that they would numb her pain.  But God knew Freda from the time she was born, and he had a plan to renew her life all along.  You'll love the powerful testimony of renewal that Freda shares in this episode.

Transcript

Freda: 0:00

I lost both of my brothers. Yeah. I lost my brother, my younger brother, when he was 23 to addiction. I remember my brother, we used to work together. We hung out together. We was really close, I took care of my brother when I told you I had to grow up fast. My younger brother used to call me, mom, at times, because, I did a lot for my brothers and sisters, and it was traumatic for me, and he hung himself, and and that hurt me really bad but it still didn't change things, I just soaked up more pain, and I just wanted to feel numb all the time, I didn't know how to deal with my pain of loss, and I couldn't understand why that. God, I felt like why God, why aren't you putting me through all this? Why, like why I keep losing people?

Phil Shuler: 0:49

HellO, and welcome to Renew, Restore, Rejoice, the Safe House Ministries podcast, where we share stories of the power of God to change lives through Safe House Ministries. Safe House Ministries is based out of Columbus, Georgia, and we are a ministry that exists to love and serve people who have been affected by addiction, homelessness, and incarceration. I'm your host, Phil Shuler, the Director of Development for Safe House Ministries here in Columbus, Georgia. Safe House serves over 1, 100 people each month as they transition back into our community. Safe House provides an abundance of services including 213 beds for homeless individuals and families, case management for obtaining job skills and long term employment. Over 300 hot meals every day, free clothing, and so much more. One of the most incredible services that Safe House provides is our free 9 12 month intensive outpatient substance abuse program, which is state licensed, CARF accredited, and has no wait list. Almost 100 percent of individuals staying in our shelters who follow our three phase program become fully employed within a few months. And 68 percent of individuals who stay at least one night with us End up finding work and moving into their own home. Thank you for being with us today and listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoy this week's episode.

Phil: 2:01

Good morning. This morning on the podcast, I have Frida with me and Frida has a beautiful smile. You can't see it, but she really has a beautiful smile. She has a beautiful story as well. And one that has dealt with a lot of pain. But just seeing her smile this morning I know that the Lord has brought her through and given her just a new lease on life. And I'm excited to hear her story. So Frida, thank you for being here.

Freda: 2:27

Thank you for having me.

Phil: 2:28

So Frida, to jumpstart, I'm going to ask you my question I usually ask everybody. If there's one word that would best describe you, what do you think that word would be?

Freda: 2:39

I would say renewed.

Phil: 2:41

Renewed, yes. That is an excellent word. How do you mean?

Freda: 2:45

It is because, I lived the life that I've known for a long time, but now I'm living a new life and a new situation. Everything's new. So I just feel renewed spiritually, mentally.

Phil: 3:00

That's awesome. Freda, let's just jump in and share where you grew up and what growing up was like for you.

Freda: 3:07

Okay, so I'm from Floyd County in Rome, Georgia. I was born and raised there. I had a pretty good life. Growing up, my mom was a hard worker, and my dad, he worked all the time. I had to grow up fast though and take care of my, help take care of my brothers and sisters. It was five of us but I was the middle child, and I just took the role of taking care of everybody. Because my parents was addicted to drugs. See? So as

Phil: 3:38

a middle child, you were the one that kind of started taking care of everybody.

Freda: 3:41

I did at a young age, very young age. I was cooking and cleaning at the age of seven. Wow. Yeah. It was a good experience. I wouldn't take nothing back. I love my parents so much for the life that I had because there's nothing that I don't know how to do.

Phil (2): 3:56

I know. All right. All right. Yeah. That's good.

Freda: 3:59

So at 15 I had, Kids at a young age starting at 15. Yes. I had my daughter when I was 15 years old. And I ended up losing my kids because I went through a lot of pain. At 18 I lost my father.

Phil: 4:14

Wow. So losing your kids, you mean DFCS came and

Freda: 4:17

yeah. I left my son with his father. Because he had a dad. My daughter I was the parent, the mom and dad of her. She didn't have her father around. At the age of seven years old, she lost her father.

Phil: 4:29

Your daughter did?

Freda: 4:30

Yeah, he shot himself in the head.

Phil: 4:32

Wow, so you, so between 15 and 18 you had two kids?

Freda: 4:36

I have, no, I had my daughter and I didn't have my son till I was about 23.

Phil: 4:43

Okay, so you had your daughter at 15? Yes. Okay.

Freda: 4:47

I took care of her until she was about four, after my father had passed in front of me, he died When you were 18? When I was 18. I was a power attorney over my father I took care of him, I let him die at home. Was

Phil: 5:02

He was ill for a while?

Freda: 5:04

For about four years and he lost his life so that was very traumatic for me to see him take his last breath in front of me. That was very hard at 18 years old. Yeah.

Phil: 5:15

And then were you, were other siblings in the house with you or was,

Freda: 5:18

My brother came down to be with us, but then he went to the army, so he wasn't there long. Okay.

Phil: 5:23

Did you have younger siblings that were there?

Freda: 5:25

He was in the air force, not the army. Okay. No, I was just the only, only one. You were the only one at home at that time? Yeah, I was the only one.

Phil: 5:32

Okay. Everybody else had gone away outta the house?

Freda: 5:34

Yeah they were my stepbrother and stepsister.

Phil: 5:36

Okay.

Freda: 5:37

So I came and when I ran away I came to live with my father, and I had a great time with my dad for the last couple years. He was alive. Yeah. We were best friends but he let me live my life independently,

Phil: 5:50

so you had been with your mom for a little while and then you at some point as a teenager, you went to live with your dad. Yes.

Freda: 5:55

Okay. Yes. Yeah.

Phil: 5:58

And he let you live your life and then he passed away when you were 18.

Freda: 6:01

Yes. He passed away when I was 18. So that

Phil: 6:04

must've been so hard. You were like, what did you do at that point?

Freda: 6:08

I just, I just I lost him. I lost myself, because my dad was everything to me at that point, I was a daddy's little girl, and I was very close to my dad, and it was hard for me to deal with, so I, that's when I started self medicating myself because I was going through a lot of pain.

Phil: 6:24

Okay, like started using drugs at that point?

Freda: 6:26

Yeah, and I met this other guy after my father died, and He ended up having a massive heart attack in the shower.

Phil: 6:36

Wow, how long so you were 18, your father died. Then sometime near after that you met another fella and you guys were

Freda: 6:42

We were a couple.

Phil: 6:43

Okay.

Freda: 6:44

And and my daughter was young and, it was her really first dad that she got used to, and it was hard on us because it was Christmas time and uh, And I was coming home after work and I found out that he died in the shower of a natural death

Phil: 7:03

at 23 years old. He was 23 years old?

Freda: 7:05

Yeah, and had died of a natural death because he had this disease where you age inside older than you do on your real age. Wow. It's like a rare disease. That he didn't know he had.

Phil: 7:21

Wow.

Freda: 7:21

Yeah. So I went through that, and I just wanted to be numb a lot, at that point because I'd done lost my father and I lost him.

Phil: 7:30

And your daughter was, how old was she at that point?

Freda: 7:33

She was about four. Wow. Okay. And then that's when defects came. And took her.

Phil: 7:38

Okay. Cause you were just off in drugs.

Freda: 7:42

I lost him, so I didn't know where I was going. I, I didn't have a lot of support. So I was here and there. Yeah, but

Phil: 7:49

bouncing around wherever you like trying to live on living on the street Living with a friend just whatever you can do with

Freda: 7:54

my aunt living with it. Whoever And so they took her and so it got really quiet for some reason. Is this still working? Yeah, it is. Okay let me see and then so I met another fellow And I had a son. I ended up having a son with him and we split up. We were together for about four years and so I left my son with him,

Phil: 8:17

because you didn't feel like you were able to be a mom. You're just Still,

Freda: 8:21

I was just, I didn't know how to have responsible Be responsible. Yeah. Or what to do. I was young. I was a very young child. Yeah. 15, 17, 18, 20. I just, yeah. I didn't know what was going on or what to do. So I lost both my kids. And then later on when my daughter was about seven she lost her dad, he shot herself in the head.

Phil: 8:45

Wow.

Freda: 8:46

she was with my family. They had adopted her. Her aunt adopted her. So I did get to see her every once in a while through here, through here and there. Till she was, around 12 years old.

Phil: 8:59

Was she, did she have a relationship with her dad?

Freda: 9:02

No.

Phil: 9:03

But then he just killed himself when she was seven years old? Yeah. Oh, wow.

Freda: 9:07

So, she never knew her dad. Never knew him, really. Okay. So I was like a parent, mom and dad of her both, and and when she was 12, I didn't she got really rebellious because she wanted to live with me, and it was like, oh, no, you gotta, You have to step out of her life because either we're going to put her in defects or something because she's not doing what we're telling her how to do, and stuff. So I had to step back and I kept living my life and I was by myself. You know

Phil: 9:36

you had dealt with a lot of death So yeah, we're just you were just self medicating in darkness bouncing around wherever you could live

Freda: 9:44

Yeah, just you know living, you know with boyfriends here and there, and then later on in my lifetime I went through a lot of that and I always knew that God was real because of the death I experienced, it's like God, God was showing me that it was a real thing, that he was there, but I really never had a personal relationship with God.

Phil (2): 10:07

Yeah.

Freda: 10:07

But I knew the facts of it. I knew that he was real. And and so when, later on in my life, I lost both of my brothers. Yeah. I lost my brother, my younger brother, when he was 23 to addiction. I remember my brother, we used to work together. We hung out together. We was really close, I took care of my brother when I told you I had to grow up fast. My younger brother used to call me, mom, at times, because, I did a lot for my brothers and sisters, and it was traumatic for me, and he hung himself, and and that hurt me really bad but it still didn't change things, I just soaked up more pain, and I just wanted to feel numb all the time, I didn't know how to deal with my pain of loss, and I couldn't understand why that. God, I felt like why God, why aren't you putting me through all this? Why, like why I keep losing people?

Phil: 11:01

Can't imagine how hard that was. That really is a lot to deal with.

Freda: 11:06

Yeah you know. And then I lost my other brother to addiction as well. He OD'd.

Phil: 11:12

This was an older brother?

Freda: 11:14

Yes, and he was very special to me because he lived with me for a long time. He had a lot of mental problems, so he was like a child at some point. And when my mom couldn't take it anymore, I took over. And he lived with me, and I made sure that he was okay for a long time. And then When I had When I had left and got sober for two years because I was trying to get clean then and Because my daughter came back in my life. I Got sober for two years and they had to put him in an open door home and when they did He used drugs there and OD somebody gave him fentanyl and so he died of her fentanyl and that's when I My life changed because I was like, okay, I Know you're real God And I'm tired of living in self pity. I'm tired of Self medicating myself. So what can I do? What can I do to get real, and so I researched this program when I And I asked to come to do the 12 steps because I knew that I needed some real digging and some real healing.

Phil: 12:25

Yeah. So you researched some programs and you found Tomorrow's Hope, the Safe House Ministries program. You did some research. Yes. And you reached out.

Freda: 12:32

Yeah. Absolutely. And the name caught me because it was like tomorrow's hope to have hope for tomorrow another day be renewed there's a future ahead and I was like, okay, this is gonna give me some hope And I never wanted to do this 12 step program because I'm gonna be honest I used to go in them rooms and I see them people talk in the a groups and all that and I was like this is just makes me want to use more, or something But or I thought it was just, like a cold or something but when I got here tomorrow's hope helped me be able to to deal with a lot of my pain. They put me in a program where I talked to Mr. McCoy. Yeah. Mr. McCoy helped me so much through my grief. To be able to process it, to feel like it's okay to hurt. And that's what I needed to know that it was okay to feel my feelings and how to process through it. And he's a godly man and it helped me have a relationship with God because I started talking to God and when I could deal with my pain and I got it out of me, that's when I started figuring out who I was. And through all the life of the pain that I had endured, I, I grew to be this person that I didn't want to be, and I pray for God to help me with that, to help me change the way I thought, change the way that I did things, And to take self responsibility in life. And once I started doing that, it changed me all the way around. Once I got honest with myself, it helped me so much. And then Miss Kim, she was a great counselor. She helped me so much to identify, my women things that I was dealing with. What kind of woman I was. My self esteem, she helped me with that. She helped me with my boundaries what I can accept and what I can't accept and what it's okay to express it, and I never knew how to do that. Never knew how to stand up for myself. And I've learned that through this program and that helped me so much to be, to become a different woman, and

Phil: 14:42

that's awesome.

Freda: 14:43

Yeah. And and I'm going to say, Mr. J helped me with independency. He helped me so much to be able to feel responsible, and that helped me a lot too in my work phase because To process being able to work and get back out there and figure out your own decisions And all this but you also have support behind you. It's a great feeling. Yeah, and uh miss christie helped me as well. Like she called me on my crap, you know If I started going sideways, she helped me so much, okay frida No, we ain't doing this. Yeah. And so she was pretty cool. But my sponsor, I have the greatest sponsor and I love The fact this program helps you have someone that has been through something that's came through it And they can experience things with you to show you how they made it through it, you know give you suggestions It's not Like they're telling you what to do But you but doing self inventory Helped me so much the fourth step helped me so much to because a lot of times I they would tell me things and I didn't like it But I knew it was working when I didn't like it.

Phil: 15:57

Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And you're like this is uncomfortable. Yes.

Freda: 16:02

And so I would pout and I would go against it. And I bet I would go sit back and I would think about it. I'm like, Okay. Remember that I put myself here. Remember that I asked for this help. Remember that change is uncomfortable, but this is what I need. And, and God just worked so much in my life since I've been here. It's just amazing. The confidence that I have now I'm graduating in nine days.

Phil: 16:29

Wow. That's so exciting.

Freda: 16:31

Yes. And the program helped me I was going to go back home, and I was going to live with my parents and then I thought, no I want to be independent. I'm gonna, I'm gonna stay here, and they, my sponsor wanted me to stay, and I was like no, all the way to the end, and then I changed my mind, and and my parents was all for it. My kids were all for it, even though I'm two and a half hours away from home. Yeah. They're just, it's time, my mom said it's time for you to have wings and fly, baby. You're a free spirit person. Your name is Frida. That's why I named you free. Yeah. Frida. Yeah. It's duh, be free. This is what you are and I want you to be free. You have such a big heart. You love so many people. You got so much love to give. Grow so you can give it. And that's exactly what I've done. I try to lead devotion at the Grace House. I counsel people when they need it. I console them. I pray for them. I tell them things like my kids coming back in my life after 20 years of being gone.

Phil: 17:42

Wow. That's amazing.

Freda: 17:44

It's a miracle.

Phil: 17:45

How old are your kids?

Freda: 17:46

My daughter, she's 27. My son is 24.

Phil: 17:51

Okay.

Freda: 17:52

And they loved me to death. Even all them years I wasn't there, they loved me. They loved me. And all they wanted was my love and for me to be okay mentally. Yeah,

Phil: 18:02

but they're so excited for you now.

Freda: 18:05

Yeah. I talked to my daughter before I came in here and she was just giving me so much, you got this mom, you got this mom,

Phil: 18:12

yeah. Wow. What a blessing. Praise the Lord.

Freda: 18:15

Yes. God has worked so much in my life. You just don't know. That's amazing. All the things that I've been through that he's pulled me out of, I'm nervous with my new start, but I know that I'm strong through all the things that I have made it through. I'm so strong, because I was shown for reality of life. And death is the reality of life.

Phil: 18:39

Yeah.

Freda: 18:39

We live to die. We're gonna die.

Phil: 18:41

We are. Yeah. The our experience in life is clear and the word of God is clear. It is appointed unto every one of us to die. But it's not

Freda: 18:48

permanent, though. And that's what I had to learn. It's not permanent. It's just a passing through. Yeah.

Phil: 18:53

Because through Jesus, we can have spiritual life. Yeah. And after our physical body dies we for those of us who trust in Jesus, we get to go to heaven. Amen. Yeah.

Freda: 19:04

Yeah. You're so right. God's great. Yeah. And the

Phil: 19:06

eternal is so much greater. I'm gonna,

Freda: 19:07

I'm gonna tell you something else. It gave me a lot of strength. Is Stephen, the counselor, Stephen, I love him so much because he was sitting with me one day and I said, how does it feel to be sick and know that you're not going to live long? How do you deal with that? And he said, I'm so okay. I'm happy, For him to have confidence like that It made me think about it. It made me think about it because I was thinking You never know Your last day, right? You never know But why can't you be okay where you are right now? with god And that's where I want to be today You know Regardless of what happens in my life, regardless of how many times I fall, I just don't, I never want to let go of the connection that I have with Him.

Phil: 20:00

Yeah. It's a beautiful thing when we come to the place where we turn away from our sin and craziness and turn to Jesus and yield our life to Him, that He comes in and takes over. It's just, it's as simple as surrendering and then he it's indescribable, the miracle that happens.

Freda: 20:20

I'll tell you what helps me is, when you try to not have control, when you stop having control of your own life and you start, okay it's God's will for me. And then all the stress and all the worry and all the anxiousness leaves you because You put it on him because you really believe it and when you do that it Everything just goes so much smoother so today when things are going on for me, I'm okay with it You know, I don't live by my emotions anymore. Emotions used to make me fall because I didn't know how to deal with emotions. And I didn't know how to deal with pain. But I'm learning through all the things that I've been through how to deal with it. And that's through Him. Yeah. I know that every purpose that I have been through in my life, everything that I've done, everything that I've went through is the purpose to bring me to this person that I am today. And I wouldn't take nothing back for it. I'm grateful for all the loss that I've had because I wouldn't be such a grateful person and a spiritual person that I am.

Phil: 21:34

Yeah, it's your story is a wonderful illustration of a couple of different verses. One Jesus said, cast your cares upon me for, my, my yoke is easy. My burden is light. Take your burdens, give them to me. Yes. And then the apostle Peter also said, and first Peter casting all your care upon him for he careth for you and like that your story illustrates what that looks like. Just giving your burdens. And stresses and anxieties and everything to him. And then he comes in and carries you through and gives you a piece and does what you never could have expected.

Freda: 22:14

It's crazy how death almost took me out, but it also is the same thing that brought me back in. It was like, okay, these things are going to happen to you, so you know that I'm real. And then when you go through all this pain, you're going to have to depend on me to take you through it. And once you do that, you're going to have this personal relationship with me, and that's exactly what happened to me. And that's amazing to me that it started bad and it ended up good. You know what I'm saying?

Phil (2): 22:48

Yeah.

Freda: 22:48

And I just want to tell my mom, I love her very much. And I'm her last child. And I will live a happy life for her, and me, and my kids, and my new grandbaby.

Phil: 23:01

How old is your new grandbaby?

Freda: 23:02

He's six months old.

Phil: 23:04

Wow, what's his name?

Freda: 23:06

Bruno. And he's so pretty. And I haven't got to hold him yet and I can't wait when I graduate I plan on going to see him for christmas and I video call him every day, right? And when I get on the video with him, he smiles so big. He knows me. He tries gives me sugar And he'll say na And he's ain't but six months old. I can't believe he's saying my name. He said na and Yeah, it's amazing how smart he is. He's standing up. He didn't even crawl. He's just standing up on his feet, Yeah, he reminds me of my brother started walking when he was eight months old

Phil: 23:41

Wow

Freda: 23:42

My brother was a genius. My brother was very smart, but he was crazy too yeah. On the borderline crazy and smart, yeah.

Phil: 23:50

Wow. It's it's beautiful how the Lord really has renewed your life. It really is.

Freda: 23:56

Yeah. Spiritually inside, like it's not just material things. It's not just,

Phil: 24:01

it's a new birth inside. Yeah. That's why it happens when we trust Christ and turn to the Lord and realize that. I can't save myself. Only God can save me from my sins and my darkness and my distress and just yielding to him. It's one. It's wonderful. And he truly does want to give us life more abundant, renewed and just wonderful. So Frida, a couple of questions for you what are some of the key lessons that you feel like? Are just really important that you've learned in your journey.

Freda: 24:38

Okay, I would say to own up to your own own up to your bull crap. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Definitely be honest with yourself. I would also say that it doesn't hurt. To let someone else guide you, that you don't have to be in control all the time. To feel like you know everything. That helped me out a lot.

Phil (2): 25:00

Yeah.

Freda: 25:01

To be humble. I had to be humble. Through, through a lot of things that I've been through. I had to be humble. And that's a life lesson. Yeah. To be humble.

Phil: 25:10

It is.

Freda: 25:11

Yes. And not to blame others. You don't go through life blaming others. It's your choices that you make that makes the difference. People are going to hurt you people are going to die people are going to disappoint you. You're going to, men are going to break your heart, but it's the choices that you make that makes the difference. And I would say don't make any fast choices, sit back, pray to God about it. Think about it. What you need to do, and don't react fast. Don't react on emotions and feelings. React on experiences. And what you think God, how God would want you to do.

Phil: 25:50

Yeah. That's, those are some powerful lessons. The, God gives us so much in the Bible, the wisdom and the understanding and we can learn so much to help us make the right decisions, but all of those things you have shared are powerful. They're powerful lessons.

Freda: 26:09

Yeah. You have to surrender, in life you have to surrender. Yeah.

Phil: 26:12

Yeah,

Freda: 26:13

definitely have to surrender. I know I had to surrender.

Phil: 26:17

Yeah, the book of James described that Exactly. When it talks about that, we need to humble ourselves before the Lord and he will lift us up. Yeah. It's, it is a kind of an oxymoron or a paradox to think, that the way up is to first go down. We must bow ourselves down and then he lifts us up.

Freda: 26:34

Exactly. And that's how exactly how God's plan was for me, through all these hurts and deaths and the people I've lost in my life, I went down. Amen. But I had to go down just to see him to go up and he brought me up through it and It's beautiful how I don't know how he renewed me.

Phil: 26:55

It is beautiful. It really is

Freda: 26:58

So anybody that has lost Someone it's okay to feel pain But you have to face it. You have to know where you are in your grief process and identify and use God, pray to him to help you with your pain and comfort. And once you start processing those feelings, it helps because once you face it, not I'm just going to numb it today and not feel it. You can't, it never goes away, and to this day I still cry. Like I'm crying now, like talking about it, that pain never goes away. But what can't? What happens is that acceptance, once you get to the top of the ladder of grief, when you hit the acceptance of it, then that's when you get to move on. The pain never goes away, but you can accept it.

Phil: 27:48

Yeah. Yeah. So you're coming up on your, the end of your time at Grace House and the Women's Shelter for Safe House. Yeah. And in the Tomorrow's Hope program, you're about to go to the moving on ceremony. I am. What does the next chapter look like for you?

Freda: 28:02

I'm going to work with other women. Definitely. Yeah. So you want to give back and help others. Yeah. I'm going to get me some small C's. And I don't know, I just I know that I'm just gonna ask God each and every day for His will in my life and not my own.

Phil: 28:18

That's awesome.

Freda: 28:19

And just let Him let my garden grow. I took care of the garden at the Grace House too. Yeah, man, and I loved it. I planted those flowers and I put a lot into it. And I felt like every time them flowers and vegetables would grow, I was growing too. And I'll get out there with my music and praise God while I was doing it, talk to the flowers. It was a very spiritual thing. So hobbies helped me a lot, through my through, through things too, because I have to figure out healthy things that I enjoy in life that brings me spiritually meant to first, I can have some me time, and it's very important to have me time. I like to draw. Yeah? Yeah I draw, I can draw portraits. I can draw you by looking at you.

Phil: 29:06

Wow! Do you ever Did you take any of the Home is Where the Art is classes at the Safe House on Thursday mornings? No,

Freda: 29:12

I didn't know nothing about it, but I have went I'm going to GED school. I'm going to Columbus Tech, I'm going to Columbus Tech and Awesome. I'm going to career I'm going to find me a great career. I know that's a future thing for me. Yeah. I have some goals, that I'm going to work on. And yeah,

Phil: 29:28

I'm excited for you.

Freda: 29:29

Thank you. Yeah.

Phil: 29:31

Is there any other last any story or lesson or anything else that you want to add?

Freda: 29:37

Love hard. Love hard. Love hard. But love yourself hard.

Phil: 29:43

How do you, what do you mean when you say that?

Freda: 29:45

Love hard?

Phil: 29:45

Yeah. Yeah.

Freda: 29:46

Because forever. I wanted to love someone else hard, but I figured out how to love myself hard. That's what I'm talking about.

Phil (2): 29:55

Yeah.

Freda: 29:56

Because when you feel like you've lost a lot in your life, you want to love someone so hard. But I had this program helped me figure out how to love myself and I do today.

Phil: 30:10

Wow sounds like it helped you really get to the place of loving God too.

Freda: 30:14

Yes, it did. Just for, people at the grace house they, the women just look at me like a leadership and I know that and it feels good. It feels good to be able to show my growth, because I'm not the, like Mr. McCoy says, I am not the same person that walked through that door.

Phil (2): 30:35

Yeah,

Freda: 30:36

I'm not. I am a different person and I have tomorrow's hope to thank for that and I think, and I thank the Grace House because they kept me on my toes with the responsibilities I had to do during the time of searching for myself. I figured out how to to time management myself, and just hold myself accountable and I'm good now. I feel strong. I'm ready for it.

Phil: 31:04

That's awesome.

Freda: 31:05

I'm ready to move on.

Phil: 31:06

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Amen. Yeah. That's really exciting. I'm excited for you. Thank you. Yeah. For what God has planned in His will for you to do now.

Freda: 31:17

Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited.

Phil: 31:19

He's going to use you to help a lot of other people.

Freda: 31:21

Amen. Yeah. I feel that. One day I'm going to be telling people stuff just to help them, yeah.

Phil: 31:27

Oh, you've said a lot of good things that are going to help a lot of people today. Yeah. Those. Those lessons that you shared, they're powerful. They are so powerful.

Freda: 31:37

Yeah. Thank you so much for having me here. I was so nervous and I hope I did a good job. You did a great job. Yeah. And I'm so emotional right now. Thank you for

Phil: 31:48

sharing your story. Thank you. And just sharing what the Lord has done and what he's taught you and how he has renewed you. Yes. And Sharon, just the blessing of sharing your story. What Safe House Ministries has meant in that process. Yeah,

Freda: 32:02

man, this program is great. I would offer it to anybody. If they really want it, you have to really want it though. You can't come here and not want it. You can't come here and act out in the same person ways, yeah, you really got to do them steps. You got to work with your steps You got to really start and them steps is what saved me and my character defects is different And I'm still working on them until this day. I'm not perfect. You never will be perfect You never will be but you'll be better

Phil: 32:32

you know

Freda: 32:33

each and every day you strive to be better And it takes that but you have to really Be responsible for yourself as far as accepting it, accepting who you was and where you want to be at. Yeah. And you got to change it. You got to put some action to it and you don't put no action to it. You're just going to still continue in your old ways. Yeah. So that's how it goes.

Phil: 32:54

That's good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You keep bringing more good stuff.

Freda: 32:59

Anything else

Phil: 32:59

you want to add before we close?

Freda: 33:00

That's it.

Phil: 33:01

All right.

Freda: 33:02

I just want to thank God. Thank you God for renewing me, Lord. And I just pray that you use me as a vessel for other people in life and Lord continue to guide me and your will in my life and not my own in Jesus name. I pray. Amen.

Phil: 33:18

Amen. Father, thank you for Frida. Thank you for. The life that you have given her. Thank you for what you have brought her through. Thank you for loving her. For loving her. So deeply and so greatly and so powerfully. Thank you for the plan that you have for her life, that you've always had for her life. Lord bless her, guide her, direct her, help her to be the best mom and Nana for her new little grand baby. Just guide her path. Use her to be a blessing and a help and an encouragement to so many others, Lord. So many others who might be in darkness and in despair, dealing with death. Use her story and use her life and use her words and her example to point others to you. Lord, because there is no salvation in any other name except for Jesus and there is no redemption from anywhere except for you, Lord. So just use her, guide her, bless Frida so abundantly. And I pray that you would do even greater things than we can imagine, than she can imagine in the future of her life. I pray in Jesus name.

Phil (2): 34:31

Amen. Thank you.

Phil Shuler: 34:34

We look forward to being with you again next week as we share another testimony about the power and the goodness of God to change lives through Safe House Ministries. if you are someone listening to this podcast that loves to hear these stories of the great things that God is doing in changing people's lives for the better, and if you would like to be a part of that work, please reach out to us You can reach us at 2101 Hamilton Road, Columbus, Georgia, 31,904. You can call us at seven oh six three two two. 3 7, 7 3, or you can email us at info@safehouse-ministries.com.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-2: 35:12

Thank you so much for being with us this week for the renew restore and rejoice podcast of safe house ministries, we pray that God will bless you this week. And we look forward to having you back with us again next week for a new episode.