Shelley Freeman, 2024 Graduate

Depression. It’s an illness that many tend to write off as a non-threatening circumstantial occurrence that happens in someone else’s life. Today, we will share the impact depression has had on an individual whose only hope in life was through her son, who desperately wanted to see his mother rescued.

Shelley Freeman felt that her life was over. Drinking her pain away and avoiding those she loved was a daily necessity to survival. In her mind she was a failure and didn’t see much point in living. On the outside, many could see that Shelley had an addiction problem but in reality, she was struggling from a deep depression and drinking was the means she chose to dull the pain. Depression is a mental illness that traps approximately 280 million Americans every year. Aaron, her son, pleaded for his mother to seek LSI as a resource, but she was no match for Satan who fought harder to keep her in addiction until one day Shelley was admitted into a mental health treatment program for depression.

After leaving the treatment center she wasn’t drinking but she left feeling empty. When in the treatment program they are not necessarily looking for the cause but for the band-aid. They look for the medicine that will keep you feeling happy but inside nothing is being repaired. Once completing the treatment program Shelley joined the LSI program so she could gather strength to be the mother, grandmother, sister and daughter she deeply desired to be. The structure of the program surprised her in that she realized that she really had to work at it to be a successful graduate. But the impact that the program had on her was far deeper than just structure and accountability. What she found in the LSI program was not some magical fix, though that may have been what it appeared to be. No, she found Jesus.

Jesus performed a miracle in Shelley so powerful everyone she loved saw it. She found love for herself, something she had never known; she found comfort in a church home that she had not experienced in many years. She found joy that enabled her to move beyond her past and forgiveness that she never knew she could have for herself. Now all of those positive things that she had once felt were impossible are now a daily occurrence for her. She has restored relationships and found so much peace in the person she is now. She is serving in her church and serving at LSI. The Lady that Shelley has become is such a beautiful person. We feel so much joy when she walks in the room. Thank God for her testimony and the life she now lives. A clean vessel, we can see Jesus display His message through her walk with Him.