Katie was raised in a pastor’s home by loving parents who did everything they could to help her succeed. Growing up, she never had problems with drugs or alcohol.

But she always struggled with low self-confidence. She often thought she was never good enough, that her parents only told her she was pretty because she was their daughter, not because they meant it. Looking back, she realizes that these thoughts were not her own but the enemy whispering in her ear.

But Katie discovered in her 20s that if she drank alcohol, she would feel better about herself. “I could talk to people and be fun,” she says. “I became a functioning alcoholic and for a time was able to hide it from everybody, but you can only hide it so long and eventually it started affecting my jobs and my family.”

When her parents discovered that she was struggling with addiction, they encouraged her to seek help at Teen Challenge.

“When I first got to Teen Challenge, I used to think that my story was so dramatic because of everything that happened to me–abusive boyfriends and things like that–but after being here for a while, I’ve discovered that the real story is not about what happened to me but about what God did to change me inside.”

Katie now sees herself in a different light–as the woman God created her to be. She has graduated from Teen Challenge, after which she worked in the Teen Challenge Ministry Institute for several months before deciding to attend the one-year Bible school.

At the Ministry Institute, Katie has immersed herself in her studies and has found herself drawn to ministry on skid row and to women walking the streets on the weekends. Through the Ministry Institute, Katie has discovered the ministries that tug at her heart. Now she is planning to graduate from the Ministry Institute this Fall and move forward into the ministries that God has placed on her heart. Katie will tell you that Teen Challenge changed her life.