From Grief to Grace

I grew up with a single Mom. My Dad left for the first time when I was 2. After that, he would come and go until I was about 5. He started using drugs then selling, eventually his addiction consumed him so much that he became homeless. My brother was 2 years older than me and we were the only kids in our youth group from a dysfunctional family. When my brother Kyle was in the 6th grade, he started getting in trouble and hanging out with kids associated with gangs. He was sent to a boot camp by a judge after getting arrested and when he came back, the parents at the Church we attended wouldn’t let their kids hang around him so he never came back. Our lives were always unpredictable. I would receive phone calls from men in prison threatening me because my Dad owed them money. I never remember not living in fear.  Most girls in my situation have a story of abuse and completely destroyed virtue all so someone could get a high. There were many times when it was possible for me to be taken advantage of… BUT GOD! My brother saved me one time when 2 men were negotiating my worth with my Dad. God truly had his hand on my life even when I was too young to understand it! When I was 17, my brother overdosed on crystal meth and they were unable to revive him. Two years later, my Dad was murdered in Atlanta for $200. I didn’t feel like I was good enough to have anything in life….. BUT GOD! Now, I am a Pastors Wife with 2 beautiful children. That is a life that not one person in my life growing up thought I could have! I was the daughter of a selfish alcoholic drug dealer. Everyone in my family was addicted to one substances or another! God kept me and now I am a picture of His grace and mercy.

Denisha Patterson