Gabbi’s story:

“When I first entered Mercy Ministries on the 25th September 2006, I was a broken and hurting girl; suffering from depression, bulimia and low self-esteem. 

I’d grown up in a Christian home yet I grew up scared of making mistakes and felt like I could never live up to expectation.  My boundaries had also been violated at a young age and it had left me feeling exposed and taken advantage of.

I felt worthless, ashamed, unloved, rejected, and lonely and soon I became depressed and started to self-harm in order to relieve the pain I felt inside; I hated myself and blamed myself for whatever went wrong.

After several suicide attempts, I knew something had to change.

It was at Mercy Ministries that my healing process began; I had always thought I had a relationship with God but I began to understand that I never knew who God really was and therefore I didn’t know who I really was.

One step at a time I learned to let go of what had defined me, and what I’d believed about myself for years and replace it with the Truth of God’s Word.  I gave up old coping mechanisms and turned to God.  It was a long and slow process of learning, accepting, believing and discovering-it wasn’t all easy, it hurt, but I had to choose to keep going and pushing through, which I was able to do with the love and support of all the staff.

I’ve realised that life and death is in what we choose, the every day choices we make and we need to put our confidence in God and know that He is our assurance.

I am a walking miracle- a story that has had a new ‘once upon a time’ and now that I am what he intended me to be- healed, whole, a royal daughter of the King, I know that this story will have a ‘happily ever after’.”

 A father’s perspective:

“I thank God for what He has done in my daughter Gabbi’s life.  When she didn’t have any hope, nowhere to turn, it was the hope of going to Mercy Ministries that kept her going.  We couldn’t do anything for her as parents, her friends couldn’t help, even the hospital couldn’t help but the staff at MMUK showed her the love of God and it has transformed her life around. 

God can turn a mess into a message and as a father I know my daughter can now bring a message of hope to other young women like her. Only His love can heal the deepest wounds and melt even the hardest hearts and I see God’s love in Gabbi’s life.

I thank God for Mercy Ministries and I thank God for the people who support this wonderful work.  Thank you.”