From Prisoner to Purpose: Katie's Faith-Based Recovery Journey

I can't help but cry when this happens there's times that these kiddos you can just imagine K kids they're running around they're some days it's crazy right that they'll go to the chapel all by their s they'll turn on the worship music and turn out the lights and these babies will just be in there praising the Lord and so that just always does it for me nothing will ever be better cuz they're they're watching their moms walk through this and they're watching the Lord do things for their mom and they're like it is solidifying these children's Fates and it is completely breaking those generational curses that have just been repetitive for Generations in their families and it's now it's we're getting to watch it come to an end you think of the power of that you said the generational curse is being broken but like the parents are being set free from the addiction and in the same moment the holy spirit's working and healing these kids of this trauma right because to behavioral issues that start to come up in children when their parents have walked through all this that stuff is difficult to deal with at times but when you have both in this environment that is Holy Spirit centered Jesus focused and like teared up in the very beginning I couldn't even hold it back that's how amazing your story is what an inspiration you are there so many women what hope you give wow I'm sorry Justin please take away dude I'm I'm spe so I'm Katie I am the director for the adult and Teen Challenge Pacific Northwest Alaska women and children center and I've been with Teen Challenge close to three years now that's how old this Center is I went through addiction myself going on almost 10 years free I was I'm originally from Tennessee and so when I was in addiction I have two older children that I had lost and like most people houses cars Jobs family I just turned into a very dark broken person and I landed in prison and I was sentenced to serve 100% of 10 years and so while there was some ladies who would come in once or twice a month and they would do Bible studies and they used to ask me to come and I would tell them I don't have time for that and one day she'd say well Townson you got 10 years right and So eventually I went and at first it was a treat because they'll bring you like candy bars or something but the we were studying the Book of James and so we were learning about prayer and the power in it and I was struggling like this isn't going to do anything for me I've lost everything and so the lady she said right you've lost everything so if you try this and it doesn't work what's it going to hurt so the first time that I prayed I hadn't seen my children in two years I didn't know where they was I went to prison and I knew nothing of what happened so I cried out to the Lord and I'm like Lord if you're real I would just like to know where my kids are and so the very next day I was served with child support papers but that also had their address and so I found out that they were here in Alaska where their grandpar parents and so a couple other things like that happened big like I would ask something and like the next day I would get an answer and so he really started to draw me in and he gave me the first time he gave me a verse it was out of Isaiah and it says I will restore you to your lands and I will return your sons from the north and my two children they were boys and so that just spoke volumes to me and so I knew that he was telling me one day I would have them and so I just surrendered I was content with everything around me he was completely changing me I was this mean broken ugly hateful person and he had completely started to just soften my heart and it got to where it was almost impossible to upset me and then one day I get told to pack my stuff and I was so upset because I thought they were transfering me to another facility and so I'm in the intake and I'm just giving them crap and they're like what's wrong with you dude and I'm like well y'all had promised that you were going to keep me here cuz this facility was close to where my family was and they're like we're not moving you facilities you're getting out and I'm like what because this is seven and a half months into this 10e sentence and so I get in there and I meet my parole officer and she's like listen I don't even know why I took your file out today but she took it out she started reading some stuff and she found a loophole and I was like oh that's Jesus for sure right and so I get out and I continue I'm trying to seek him I know he's telling me things but some stuff just wasn't working out I have three different probations Court calls child support all these things that I am responsible for but I can't find a job and I was almost to the point to where I felt like I'm gonna have to sell drugs again or I'm going to end up in jail for not paying these things and a lady on Facebook that I had never met sent me a message and she's like hey do you want to go to a Bible study with me and I'm like absolutely I knew that was the Lord trying to do something so I go with her and we break out into some groups and there's another lady there and we get to talk in and I share my heart with her and I'm pretty emotional and she tells me about this program in Tennessee called Life Changers it's a year long it's free it's almost identical to teen the people who started it came out of Teen Challenge so it's it's literally identical and so I'm like well I don't have money she's like it's free I like I don't have a ride she's like I'll take you right she had an answer to everything so I called on they accepted me she's taken me it's about an hour away from the town that I lived in and I was really crying on my way there and I'm like God I was pretty positive that you told me you were going to give my kids back but I don't know how going to this yearlong program here in Tennessee is going to get me closer and so I get there and I'm answering all their intake questions and they ask do I have kids I'm like yeah I don't have them they're like well where are they I'm like well they actually live in Alaska with their grandparents and they just stared at me and they said we have a facility in Alaska and I said really my kids are in Wasilla and they said well that's where our facility is at so I what looked like I was getting farther away was the Lord preparing so I've never again questioned him from that moment and so I just I surrendered fully everything he asked I did whether I understood or what I just did they kept me in Tennessee for half of my program they sent me to Alaska for the last half of it I completed worked for the them for several years before I made the change to Teen Challenge but in those several years I received my boys back I remarried I have a new little girl and then the Lord I just always knew he wanted me to do something with women and children because I had walked through that battle and so when the Teen Challenge women's program was opening here and I found out it was for children I just knew that's what I was supposed to do so I came on board as their teacher and I was the teacher for six months before the opportunity arose for me to become their director and that's what I've been doing since and so we have 15 ladies three interns 10 kiddos living on Camp the Lord is really blessing this he's he's doing something huge here especially in these Villages about 90% of my population are Alaskan natives coming out of the villages like teared up in the very beginning I couldn't even hold it back that's how amazing your story is what an inspiration you are there's so many women what hope you give wow I'm sorry Justin please take away dude you get out of this program or you get out of prison right by the grace of God and you get out of this program and you're you're working with Teen Challenge like what inspired you to like continue to hold on to hope so fresh in your faith right like how did you like this talk about this lady a little bit if you don't mind yeah no for sure she seems like the really big pillar of your transition from prison and like the reality yeah actually so her name is Jennifer longm somehow just knew I was struggling and it ended up that her son and I were some we were friends and so that's how she was we were even on our Facebooks with each other but we had never met we had never spoken and so the Bible class that she was doing they had challenged everyone to bring someone new and she said that she had prayed and that the Lord just put my name in front of her and so she just knew that she was supposed to invite me and she knew that she didn't know what but she knew something big was going to come out of it I love to dissect almost that like messy journey of the Lord drawing us right because I know you talk about these Milestones along the way where he kept revealing himself and kept showing himself to you like a little bit at a time right but what about like in between those moments like the wrestling match with Jacob and God on the mountain like where he's trying to figure this thing out like what was that part like for you if you can remember back to those moments in between God revealing himself before you fully surrendered yeah for sure it was hard I had made such a mess and had been such a horrendously horrific person that there was just no way in my mind that I was worthy of getting saved and so it was hard especially in the early time the time that I was in jail but once I went into that program and the moment that it happened that I found out that they had that facility in Alaska really I just I knew right and part of that James study that we had done in prison she had talked about like your faith never letting it waver no matter what it looks like and she really instilled that in me and so in those moments that I would get down thinking that I it I just didn't know how it was going to work I would just lean into that I'd be like because you're all I have so far you're the only one that is still there he's the only one attempting to make me feel like I'm loved or that I'm worth anything and so I would really just lean in and it was a lot of hard work like I had to really work at it I had to stay drowned in his word and just hang on to every promise yeah it's that encouragement right for those who maybe never had that like Epiphany moment Rob you've talked about this before like that really hardcore like transitional moment where it's like I'm lost now I'm found what I'm saying and in the reality of like the journey to Faith for most people being just that it's a journey there's a tension along the way that we walk through right it's the Lord revealing himself a piece at a time and really it is preparing our heart to be ready to surrender right because I really following Jesus rather than just putting the hand up on Sunday right and saying I'm I'm I'm here fix my mess today but it's that journey of the Lord PR prepping our heart and it's just it's beautiful to see how faithful he is through all that it's so amazing yeah because it's it's it still amazes me when we think about how God knows each and every single one of us uniquely and how he's designed us because he knew exactly what you needed to come to right there was no mistake in what he did and how he did what he did everything was perfectly designed for you and I think many of us fail to realize that's how God works right like even down to the candy bar right you probably have the exact candy bar that you wanted when you went to Bible study not saying that you did but like I just think I think that way like it's just it's funny how God works right cuz you resisted you wented nothing to do with it and then like bam all of these things just begin to like line itself up and as Justin said there was tension along the way which was normal but the seeds that were planted in prison prepped you for those moments and you said something so profound that a lot of people don't realize is you said that you had to saturate yourself or immerse yourself in the word of God to get through right and so we think that we can get through these moments in life on our own and in our own strength but we were like just talking about this a little bit earlier offline but when it comes to the wisdom and the counsel from others or just guidance from people it's like who do we go to first like where's our help what is our God what is as David said he is the lamp unto our feet the light unto our path and so if we look to God's word for the assurance and the hope of our faith we're able to get through these moments in life that are very challenging like yours right and so what an amazing story to see you be redeemed delivered and now you're utilizing the very thing that was taken from you and helping other women restore their families and reconcile their relationships with their children and I'm a firm believer that what God allows us to go through ends up being the gift in which he bursts in us to be our gifting of as Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 he's given us the ministry of reconciliation and so you are now reconciling mothers and daughters and sons and whomever back into the father's arms and allowing them to see who they truly are through his eyes and so wow yeah and that's my purpose like we I am not here to try and get these ladies sober there's lots of ways to get sober I'm here to get them set free and to have them recognize how much they're loved because if the Lord loved me like I was he's going to love everyone and I just want them to see that and that is what he had put in my heart and when I say I was hateful I can't stress enough like how hateful and mean of a person I was and so it it always makes me gigle to think that the Lord really took that and changed it so complete to where I hated everyone that now my heart breaks for them to just I just want them to see what he sees so what was the journey like for you once you moved to Alaska and you started to work on that path of reconciliation with your kids right because that was that an easy process or did you have to do some fighting and not of fighting but work to get them back I don't maybe it was a fight I don't know it yeah it was a lot of hard work so actually the Mother-in-law and father-in-law that had them the program had called them prior to sending me just to talk to them and see how they felt and their exact words was don't waste your money to send her up here because she'll never see these kids again and so I was here for about six months literally two minutes away from their house before I was even able to talk to them on the phone for the first time and then I was here for about a year and a half before I got to see them in person and it's the whole process overall was about three years from me getting to Alaska to getting normal Regular contact with them and then a whole other year they've legally only been mine for two years yeah so how did you work through that being so close and yet feeling so far away the cliche statement right but that really is what it must have felt like what was there a go-to verse how did you work through that how did the Lord help in that moment yeah one of the verses that I held on to and I still do is all things work together for the good of those who love God and I was also very lucky so the director of my program who is also still my biggest mentor and my spiritual mother she is I've never seen anyone quite in tune with the Lord as she is like she's just one of those people and so I was lucky to have her because she was just constantly being able to tell me what the bigger picture could look like because I couldn't see it and trying to help me realize hey this you're not even just here to get these kids like there's a purpose and there's a reason for this time he needs to do something in you during this time when it's just you to prepare you to be able to be this person and be the mother at the same time can I ask you a question if the Lord never restored your children do you think you'd still be in the position that you are today I would like to say yeah that would be a hard one there was a point when I thought that it was just going to be that because it there was no we way getting made and and at that point I was still content with him and what he was doing so I would like to think that I would I might not be as on fire for it as I am honestly no I like that but I would hope so because like I said the contentment really became in prison and at that point I had accepted hey I'm not going anywhere for 10 years and I had become content knowing that he had me and that some point he something was GNA work out somewhere right no I think that's it's so good I love yeah it is dude it's this is a crazy this one's probably just as good if not better in Asus and that's a bold statement coming from my mouth is Asis is probably my favorite story I actually I probably can't even compare it's two different stories still love A's story but anyways yeah this is that amazing and I think the thing is that because does Christ ever become enough right and that's one of the reasons why I asked the question right like if he doesn't restore this if he doesn't restore anything at all does he truly become that which we believed him to be Lord of our hearts right and savior of our souls and so that's a very challenging thing so go going back to what Justin asked you initially when it comes to like you making that transition fighting to get your children was there that doubt in your mind I know you said like you like became content with it but was there that doubt in your mind that you probably would live your life just not having custody of your children but living this this distance from them or of course there was moments of Doubt when that would come in because like I said it's hard when you can't see the whole picture and those moments hurt they did and then especially if another story would come along someone else would come along going through the same thing and it would be happening for them so it gave you that hope yeah well it would give you the hope but sometimes it would also make it worse and I'm like man why did it happen so quick for them and for me it's not but like I said it's so that the program that I went through they really are cross-centered just like Teen Challenge and so there's a lot of time in prayer and worship and like I said my mentor she really taught me how to go to battle and so that's what I would just have to do in those moments yeah now how old are your children they are 14 and 12 now and then the newest baby is two she just turned two so I want to hear a little bit about your journey like now like doing this work of like reconciling with Mother women and children like you my wife and I ran a women's home for a while and here in Virginia and it was always a dream of hers to do the women and children we do foster care you we've the two-year-old we're getting ready to adopt her and but this thing of like bringing the families in together and the difference and dynamic and this may be more of a Teen Challenge staff deep question than anything else but it's just intriguing to hear that these women and children centers are popping up all over the country now and starting to hear that possibility to have that hope of maybe restoration before it gets to the point that the custody battle has to take place right and how has God like I'm sure there's a million ways but if you had to call out on like how has God used you in that those scenarios with the people that you're serving now well because I've walked through it so I'm able to encourage those ladies and then also our mind on like hey it's not overnight but he has placed me and the paths of a couple people like Children Services Workers and things like that to where we just developed this this relationship and they know what the environment is here and so anytime that they have there's one worker that I bet she calls me once a week with a mom like hey do you have room because they are so confident about the atmosphere here that some of the women don't have their kids but once they get in our door they let them to do the trial run yeah I have one girl here now who she came last November and at that point she had a two-month-old that the children services had completely taken custody of and then she had a three and a five year-old that she hadn't seen in over a year she now have all three kids living here so she had no children and the Lord has give her back all three of hers I think that was a Unison like Rob we did wow in unison right there pretty it's not intentional but but yeah so do you have a favorite if you had to pick a favorite story of some of the ladies that you've worked with on at the women and children is there any like just standout story that yeah one of those incredible Ministry moments oh goodness there's there's tons of them one that doesn't necessarily include the kiddo I have a gal who she came in Orthodox Jew right so believes God in Old Testament but they don't they don't think that Jesus was the Messiah and so and she was so stuck up that when she got here she she was like what if I go through this program and I still don't believe and I'd be like buddy we don't have to focus on a year down the road let's focus on today right and so it was it had been such a blessing to be around someone who got the Revelation one day of wow that was my Messiah right because for the most part people coming in they already they have some belief usually when they which is usually why they pick the faith-based program right and so there's is more of just getting back under the blood not coming to him and to me that was just so special to watch her journey and see her get that revelation of that was my Messiah and start to fall in love with him because I don't know it was just something different watching that story unfold was just like watching a baby walk or talk for the first time so she's near and dear to me then one with the kiddos I can't help but cry when this happens there's times that these kiddos you can just imagine K kids they're running around they're some days it's crazy right that they'll go to the chapel all by their s they'll turn on the worship music and turn out the lights and these babies will just be in there praising the Lord and so that just always does it for me nothing will ever be better because they're they're watching their moms walk through this and they're watching the Lord do things for their mom and they're like it is solidifying these children's Fates and it is completely breaking those generational curses that have just been repetitive for Generations in their families and it's now it's we're getting to watch it come to an end that's so good and the funny thing is that I can attest to this as a father just the other day my kids they were watching me and they began to like wipe my tears and they're like Daddy why are you crying and my oldest son told my youngest daughter he's not crying tears of sadness or tears of joy it's okay that Daddy's just praying and talking to God and so I put on worship again this morning and then used to see my little daughters like lifting their hands up like I just happen to open my eyes lifting their hands up and swaying and just singing the song back I was just like wow like you don't even realize what children are picking up and so to see them having to go through that process that's probably the best feeling to work with a facility that has the children with the mother or the dad or wherever because man it's it's crucial for their development right like it's truly like raising a child on the way that they should go so that they never depart from it and so like the kids are even have you ever seen any children like give their lives to the Lord like to yeah we've had one of our kiddos get baptized in the Holy Ghost it's it's there's been so many amazing things that amazing you think for the power of that you said the generational curse is being broken but like the parents are being set free from the addiction and in the same moment the holy spirit's working and healing these kids of this trauma right because the behavioral issues that start to come up in children when their parents have walked through all this that stuff is difficult to deal with at times but when you have both in this environment that is Holy Spirit centered Jesus focused and that healing is pouring out like that is it's just phenomenal like it and can you speak to that whole generational curse thing right and like can you speak a little bit more into that topic I don't know that I have a specific question but I think you've probably got a little bit more to say on that yeah so anywhere but especially here in Alaska the Villages they struggle there's a lot of Darkness and when I say Generations I'm like 10 15 generations of these families will have just been alcoholics like it is running rampant and so they know no other way because they've they've never seen it that's all they know and so they come here and they see a difference and they start surrendering to the Lord and things are breaking off and that's what by that like it's stopping to where it's been stuck in this cycle for a hundred years or more that's all it is they have a kid the kids raise their self because the parents are always drunk and so then the kids grow up and that's all they ever saw was that Mom and Dad drink and Auntie and Uncle drink and so now they're drinking and then you have all these Generations where kids have also been taken out of families by children's services and so it is just this huge NeverEnding mess for them and so they come here and this is a it's a different world some of these kids like they've never seen something like running water like this is legit a different world than living in The Villages and so they come here and they at first they all just think it's crazy because it's it's so different and they're around all these people but then they realize it's love and they see that something is changing in mom there's no denying that and they and for the ones that were removed Mom comes here and then they get to come with her and it's it's just undeniable and so we just have them in this atmosphere of worship and they're getting to go to churches and they're learning and so like they're realizing like hey this is something like God is something and he has already changed my life even at five six seven eight nine years old he's already just completely took the darkness away for them and you're stopping it in it's tracks cuz Mom's getting out in challenge alone having to learn how to parent by herself myself most of the time dealing with a kid that's facing a bunch of trauma and so there's Outburst there's frustration there's stress I don't know how to parent and I'm watching behaviors wondering what's wrong with me not realizing a lot of people just don't realize like those responses that is trauma showing up it's not they're not bad kids they're bad things have happened and so you think about a mom coming out facing all of that alone and then it being a recipe for relapse and then the cycle just perpetuates and the power of what you guys are doing by intervening where you are with the oh my gosh it's it's crazy I've heard about the women and children's but I've never had a conversation with anybody before and like it's just it's mindblowing so let me ask you then this right like how has this transition been for you and your children right were your children raised in a believing home through your yes they are believers and so there was some church and then of course when they did get to start well prior to me losing them when they were very little we went to church but so they had a little bit of it when they were real little but yes so then when we started doing visits and stuff my visits always were Wednesdays and Sundays at first so of course that was church and they the same as these kids they really got to see that I was different I was so different from the way I looked and talked and acted and so they just seen that yeah something's real and then my oldest who's 14 he gave his heart to the Lord at probably 10 or 11 and he has been on fire for him ever since one of my proudest moments a couple years ago in youth group the youth pastor sent me a picture and it's it's dark you can just see Shadows there's barely a lot Illuminating but it's it's my son praying over someone and so that like that right there I'm like so the Lord really changed so much and I was he was able to give me so much to take back away from the enemy and that I was lucky that those years that they went through what they went through didn't stop them from coming to the Lord and just being a tool for him yeah cuz I can agree with that like right from being separated from my parents when I was a kid and not really having any relationship with him until later in life my mother not my dad but still that impacted me a lot so to hear that your children are having this this connection this bond this relationship with you now and then being on fire for the Lord is amazing that's so awesome amazing yeah it's it's it's definitely overwhelms my heart because I don't deserve any of it but it's it's amazing to get to walk through and now there's their moments I don't want it to sound like it's a story book of course there's moments especially in the beginning when it when they'd get mad or something or the first time i' had to tell them no it'd be like well you did this and so they're definitely where those moments and there still are but the good outweigh the bad does your husband get to serve with you he does not serve here so he he was serving when we met he worked for the same Ministry the Life Changers when we met and so when I was a part of it was just a women Center here in Alaska but we met and started dating and when we got to the point that we wanted to get married they actually opened a men Center in Alaska so that he had a reason to move here and so we had a little bit of time serving together but when we decided to leave that just Visions had changed and it's just not what we felt like we should do so he has not to this point gotten back into Ministry for me it was almost a straight jump from one to the other there was just a few month Gap until this door opened but he loves the Lord and I do believe that one day he'll be back serving in Ministry somehow it happens amen Jehovah sneaky he just he sneaks right up on you Jehovah sneak yeah I'm telling you he's he's trying to do it with me and my wife you're going Virginia soon help us and that's just the reality California Virginia I Katie I walked away from Team Virginia I Katie I walked away from Teen Challenge four years ago so my wife and I ran sbtc in Virginia U we helped start it from day one did it for 13 years had a women's home Rob was on staff with us and four years ago I left and went to work at Chick-fil-A stayed in love with Jesus just needed a break from Teen Challenge and I've been back at SVTC about six weeks now and I'm pastoring a church as well but that's why I say Jehovah sneaky because this was not in the cards right now but here we are and the men it's just discipleship Dave walkerson's model just trying to stay as yeah getting caught back up and everything and just trying to help these men love Jesus it's really what it's all about so I think once he has made given you a heart for that I think it's hard to get away from it forever you said there's you've had a a portion of time away from it but I don't think yeah I think once he that's what he softens your heart to at some level I think we're going to be a part of it forever yeah that's what Rob and I started this podcast last year neither of us were in rehab Ministry and we just could not talk about this stuff like and so how can people find your Center and connect with you guys yeah so you can go to tcpn w.com and there's a drop down to get the list of centers because we're the whole Pacific Northwest and so we have centers in Idaho Montana Washington Oregon and here so they can just take a look and yeah they all the contact info is there they can get in contact with me that way if they want to just get involved somehow yeah fantastic sweet Rob did you have any parting questions no I guess one thing that I would ask is what would you say to your younger you or what would you say to the audience those that are listening that are either going through something or have children that they're hoping they maybe gotten saved and they don't have that reconciliation with their children yet like how would you instill hope and encouragement to them yeah so God's promise is God's promise right and so it doesn't matter what we do or where we go he's given us these promises and so at some point in life they have to come to fruition there's no other option I tell my 12-year-old this sometimes he went through a stage where he was like well I don't believe that and I tell him well the Lord told me if I train up my child and the way he should go when he's old he won't depart from it so I have a promis that at some point in your life you're going to live this way and so that's I would just hold on to that he's everything he's promised you is going to happen there's going to be days that yes you it doesn't look like it you don't know how that's going to happen but you can't give in those moments those are the moments that you need to lean in deeper H grab a hold of him tighter because in the end just like the word says all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose and that's all of us that's every person so there's there's just no other option but for his promises to come that's awesome that's so good I love it well that's great well Katie thank you so much and man three time zones coming together to make this interview happen and the Lord is good and for those watching I'm going to drop the link for the Teen Challenge Pacific Northwest down in the description so you guys can go check them out and connect you if there's a need there and also if yall can like subscribe leave a comment and share and help us spread the message of Hope over addiction Jesus