It’s Never Too Late

My name is Destiny Jones, and it’s hard to know where to even begin. There has been so much brokenness in my past that it would take hours to even put it all down on paper! Growing up, my home life was filled with physical abuse, dysfunction, divorce, and pain. I pretty much lived in the counselor’s office at school trying to deal with the issues of my family, but I realized that focusing on my school work was a good distraction from my home life. I was a “straight A” student who was completely empty inside. When I was 18, I found myself in a relationship that looked all too familiar from what I had seen growing up….a toxic, abusive, controlling, and completely unhealthy relationship.

That’s when I started going to Milestone. I would get up and drive 40 minutes on Sunday mornings, by myself. The thing is, I was in a bad place. I didn’t think I had any right to pray and ask God for anything because of the person I had become. I believed being with my boyfriend was just what I deserved. I was drinking heavily all the time, was a mean and bitter person, and I didn’t care about anyone but myself. Every service I went to at Milestone, I would just sit there and cry. I had no idea what to do or where to turn, so I prayed and surrendered my life to Jesus in one of the services. I knew something big had changed in me, but I needed A LOT of work! There was so much to undo.

In December of 2017 I hit rock bottom when my boyfriend and I broke up, and I overdosed on Xanax. Two days later I woke up in the ICU. An ambulance had rushed me to the ER where doctors kept me alive. I was in the hospital for 14 days. My whole family came to see me and they showered me with love and support and tears. I read the Bible that Milestone had given me when I prayed to receive Christ. I felt like I could finally see clearly what I needed to do, what God wanted me to do. I decided I was going to devote my life to Christ and make Him my top priority. It was the best decision I’ve ever made.

Since then, I have started the Growth Track, joined a small group, registered for Freedom and Serve Day, and on March 4th I got water baptized!! All 13 of my family members came to the service. The changes in me have been remarkable. I’m happy all the time, I’m 100% sober, I’m reading my Bible and learning more and more about God’s plan for me.

I’m working on paying off all of my debt and my goal is that by the fall of this year I will have it all paid and will have finished reading the entire Bible (which is an amazing book by the way, I highly recommend reading it!). I’m influencing the people closest to me to find God, and I’m telling the young people I work with how much Jesus loves them. The Lord has given me strength I never thought I could have. When friends come to me with their problems, I text them scriptures and encourage them to pray. All of the stress, worry, anxiety, depression, guilt, shame, and anger that had been weighing on my heart has all been lifted because of Jesus Christ.

I feel like a completely new, beautiful person…
and 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells me I AM.

I hope that by sharing my story there will be someone who either feels pressured by society, or is in a toxic relationship they can’t seem to get out of, or is in a state of overwhelming depression that is filling their mind with suicidal thoughts who might read this and find hope and understanding that: You Are Not Alone.

If you feel like you can’t, trust that GOD CAN.
It’s NEVER too late.

If you feel like you have gone too far off course and have sinned too many times to believe that Jesus could ever love or forgive you, then read Luke 15. I’ve got news for you, Jesus doesn’t give up on you and He doesn’t stop waiting for you to come home. When you realize that you CAN’T get through this life on your own and can’t seem to find happiness or satisfaction with the way you have been doing things, know that He is waiting with His arms wide open to hold you and love you forever and ever.