“I became chronically homeless and my mental health began to decline…”
Wendell was just 3 years old when his mother moved the family in with her abusive boyfriend. “He was a predator and I was a victim of his abuse,” Wendell says. “My mother left him when I was 12, but the damage was already done.”
He seemed fine for a while, serving honorably in the Navy, marrying and providing well for his family. But, little by little, Wendell’s unprocessed pain came to the surface, triggering self-destructive behavior. He sabotaged his relationships and began drifting from place to place. “Something inside kept telling me, ‘It’s time to move on,’” he says. “I became chronically homeless and my mental health started to decline.”
Eventually, Wendell was diagnosed with PTSD and sought treatment, but he always fell back into self-sabotage and homelessness. “I’d do all right for a while, then drive into an emotional ditch and pray a foxhole prayer, ‘Oh, God, if you just help me this time…’”
He wanted to break the pattern. He wanted the life God intended for him, so he decided to enter our Transitional Housing Program.
Through Christian guidance and life skill classes, Wendell has found healing for his childhood trauma and learned to seek God’s will in all things. “I’m more aware of my thoughts and emotions and I don’t do things on a whim,” he says. “Now I make a plan, and through prayer, I make sure it lines up with God’s purpose for my life.”
Wendell is looking forward to finding a job, getting his own place and eventually starting a ministry for the homeless, helping them find the hope in Christ that he found here at the Mission.
“Now I have a sense of purpose and direction.”
Wendell is excited to celebrate the restored hope he has been given this Christmas – and wants YOU to know just how grateful he is. “The Mission saved me and gave me a chance to have a real life.”
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