Heidi "Chapter 2 - Amazing Grace"

Photography by Randy Bacon

After that horrible day, two months later I walked into the doors of Teen Challenge on July 17, 2011. It was the hardest, most painful day of my life. It also was the most freeing and safest I had felt in a very long time. My parents drove me from Springfield, Missouri to Minneapolis, Minnesota; a ten hour drive. I had nothing left but two garbage bags and a broken heart. After we had filled out all the paperwork, I got into the van with one of the staff members at the house where I would be living for the next 13 months while my parents followed in their car behind.

When we all arrived at the house I would be calling home, we went into the basement with my two garbage bags of belongings down into the laundry room and said goodbye. My parents prayed, kissed me goodbye and my dad said to me “I choose not to believe what is standing in front of me, but to believe the promise God has for your life.”

I never had the chance to tell my boys goodbye. I wasn’t allowed to speak with them for eight months, and being 10 hours away, seeing them was impossible. My own parents were fighting the war back home to save any ties to their grandchildren that they could. They believe in the power of God and His grace. After time, the weapons were laid down and peace began to form. I was able to find forgiveness not only for my ex-husband but also within myself. In April of 2012, Teen Challenge recognized the pain I was in by not seeing my children and found a way for me to go home for four days to spend time with my boys and work on rebuilding that relationship. My father said that when I walked in the door, my boys were like little puppies trying to climb as high as they could to get to their mama.

I graduated Minnesota Teen Challenge in July 2012. Brock, Brady and I were able to celebrate a brand new Mother’s Day in May 2013 all because of God’s amazing grace. The road has not been easy, but it has been worth every crooked bend, stormy wave, and fierce element just to know that my boys see me as beautiful and love me just exactly for who I am.