Building a Relationship with The Almighty
Before coming to Adult & Teen Challenge Ohio Valley, Sara had no interest in fostering a relationship with God. She even considered returning to prison instead of enrolling in ATCOV. But she came, developed a relationship with God and graduated in September 2024 from ATCOV’s year-long program.
Drug trafficking charges landed her in prison with a three-year sentence. After serving a year, she filed for judicial release, but the only way the court would grant it was if she entered ATCOV. “So that’s when I came,” Sara, 32, said.
But her decision to enroll wasn’t immediate. “Oh no, I was ready to go back to prison,” she said. She wasn’t able to see her children or her family while she was in prison though. She has a 14-year-old son and a daughter who’s 4.
“I knew by coming here, I would be able to see them and start getting home passes,” said Sara, who is from Norwalk, Ohio. That was the reason she came to Teen Challenge, but when she arrived, working on learning about God and fixing herself became priorities. Before that, she was mad at God. She blamed him for disappointments in her life and for the bad things that happened during her addiction.
Sara started drinking and taking pills when she was 13 and she expanded into heroin and methamphetamine in her early 20s. “My parents got a divorce and I just started partying,” she said.
After a year at ATCOV, she describes her life as amazing. ”My relationship with my family is really good,” she said. “I’m staying on as an intern.”
Sara wants to complete her Chemical Dependency Counselor Assistant after her internship and become a counselor in the recovery field. The staff at ATCOV helped her tremendously and her bond with God is strong, too.
“I would say that I trust God and I have more faith that He’s a good guy and not just that rascal, judgmental God that I pictured previously,” she said. That evolution came through a lot of praying, reading the Bible and talking to Him.
“I’m a lot more patient and a lot more peaceful with everything and a lot more grateful for everything,” Sara said.
