{"id":5070,"date":"2023-10-16T20:44:13","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T03:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deedandtruth.org\/?p=5070"},"modified":"2023-10-17T21:32:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T04:32:21","slug":"the-shadow-of-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deedandtruth.org\/blog\/the-shadow-of-death\/","title":{"rendered":"The Shadow of Death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cI thought he was going to kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up to that time, Silvia had been in a relationship with a young man who had never shown signs of violence.\u00a0In fact, she thought they had a good, loving relationship.\u00a0Until that dreadful day when she felt like she had encountered the shadow of death.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her boyfriend came over to the house to see Silvia and her three children.\u00a0He was agitated and without provocation he became hostile and aggressive.\u00a0She always knew he had experienced the shadow of death himself.\u00a0Earlier in his life he had been in a terrible accident and all of his friends in the vehicle died, except him.\u00a0He didn\u2019t understand why he was the only survivor and had verbalized how he felt guilty that he survived and they didn\u2019t.\u00a0Something must have triggered that dormant trauma and he lost all control of his emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that moment, he attacked her and attempted to kill her.\u00a0Silvia struggled to break free and fled for her life with her children.\u00a0She got out of town and hid in a hotel for the next month hoping and praying he wouldn\u2019t find them.\u00a0Every time she heard a loud noise her mind told her that it was gunfire and he was coming to kill her.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone told her about a shelter and program for domestic abuse victims and she was accepted by the Door of Hope in Pasadena.\u00a0Not long afterward she heard the news that her boyfriend had actually taken his own life right after she escaped.\u00a0She had been living in fear all that time.\u00a0Finally, she felt safe and began the hard journey of overcoming her own trauma and doing the necessary work to move forward in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silvia took advantage of everything the Door of Hope offered.\u00a0She got trauma therapy, took classes in finances, nutrition, life skills, and sought out career counseling.\u00a0While at the Door of Hope she also took advantage of the time to get her GED and then began taking college classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silvia wants to continue her education to become a probation officer and assist children who need special care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God has been there all along and has not only protected her from harm but is providing a future.\u00a0After having finished all the classes, and having saved a significant nest egg, Silvia successfully transitioned out of the Door of Hope last week.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Deed & Truth H2H volunteers showed up Saturday and turned her empty house into a home.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are so proud of the fact that much of the volunteer team either graduated from the Union Rescue Mission Christian Life Discipleship Program or are currently in it.\u00a0The guys worked hard and did a fantastic job carrying furniture, cleaning bathrooms, building bed frames, and hanging wall art.\u00a0They were happy to help Silvia and her children move into their first home.\u00a0They could relate to being homeless themselves and this service project proved to be therapeutic for them and also instilled hope for their own transitions.\u00a0The graduates saw this as an opportunity to give back out of gratitude to God, and others, for helping them when they were experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Silvia returned to her fully-furnished apartment she was blown away.\u00a0Be sure to watch the video.\u00a0\u00a0It will\u00a0warm your heart.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, we want to give a big SHOUT OUT to all of you who have donated finances and\/or furnishings to help us turn Silvia\u2019s house into a home. God is empowering your partnership with Deed and Truth to impact people’s lives, like Silvia and her children, in life-changing ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n