Testimonies     In high school I acquired an addiction to painkillers.  After four years of ruining my life with drugs and running from the Lord, I realized my life was miserable, and nothing I could do could make my life meaningful.  I came to Teen Challenge/ 180 Ministries to find healing for my life and to pursue a relationship with the Lord.  Since being at 180, I’ve re-dedicated my life to the Lord and have found a meaning for my once meaningless life -- to live out every day on fire for the Lord and fulfill his will. - Michael Tracy   "August 16, 2001, I was honored to be the first student at New Hope House, Teen Challenge.  I was sixteen years old and I was an absolute mess. Both of my parents were in jail, and I had dropped out of school and started working at a motel cleaning rooms . . . Immediately after arriving at New Hope House, God started healing my broken, mangled heart." When she arrived at NHH, Angel tested at 4th grade reading and at 6th grade math levels, though she should have been a high school sophomore. “Through the education I received at NHH, I learned how to study, how to learn. I learned endurance.”    In the summer of 2004 Angel graduated from high school and immediately inquired about college classes in nursing.  Today she is a registered nurse, wife and mother, living in Sacramento, California. Looking back, Angel said, “I always knew that God is able to work miracles, but before coming to New Hope House, I had lost hope that He was going to work miracles in MY life. Little did I know that My Mighty, Amazing God was planning a beautiful future for me and all I had to do was take the steps.” - Angel Trammel   I heard about House of Promise (Teen Challenge) from a friend of my sister.  She told me it was a place that offered treatment for my addiction.  By this time I had already been through numerous outpatient and inpatient treatments—none of them had worked for me.  I called and the person on the other end of the line sounded like an angel. She said something that made my head spin.  She said that I could be delivered and set free from addiction.  I was thinking to myself, “Is this lady for real?  I had always been told that once an addict always an addict, but everything she said made me feel like I still had a chance to be a good mom and have my daughter back.  She gave me hope that wasn’t there before. - Laura Clark Growing up, I became devoted to theatre and loved playing lacrosse, but soon after 6th grade started I started hanging out with kids a lot older than me and got involved in the wrong crowd. By 7th grade my grades had dropped, I was being suspended often and using drugs regularly. I was completely apathetic about my family and by 8th grade, my depression was out of control. I had been taken advantage of by one of my closest friends and didn’t understand what was happening in my life. . . A suicide attempt landed me in the hospital - all before my 14th birthday. My mom saw my life and what I was doing to myself and decided it was time to find a safe place for me to find a new way of happiness. I walked through the doors of New Hope House broken and in need of repair. Slowly I started to see changes in and around me that I could not write off as coincidence. I saw God working around me and I couldn't say no any longer. After 5 months at New Hope House I let God take the reigns in my life and I haven't looked back since. Now after one year in Teen Challenge, I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. I think, feel, act, and even look like a different person. He has been the cornerstone in my transformation. Without Him, I don't know where I would be, but I'm sure it wouldn't be good. God has saved my life and has given me self worth and, most importantly, love. - Ariel Adair © 2011 Teen Challenge International