Tamara* ran for her life after it became clear that people in her community—including trusted family members—decided she needed to be silenced. One way or another.

After many close calls, outright deceptions, and assaults—physical and emotional—Tamara is finally at a place in life where she feels safe . . . Nashville Rescue Mission.

But sometimes, even as she sleeps, part of her is on the lookout for shadowy figures from the past who value money over the law, over family, and over the lives of creatures God created to live in the wild.

In some areas of the United States, poaching is a lucrative side venture despite being highly illegal. It was Tamara’s love of nature and wildlife that accidentally brought her into the world of poachers in the rural community where she lived.

She saw teams of secret nighttime hunters with high-powered guns and hoped her presence in the woods at night would be a deterrent, bringing protection to wildlife.

Instead, Tamara saw the red dots of the guns’ lasers on her own body, as if the poachers were daring her to challenge them!

Next, subtle and overt campaigns were launched against Tamara until she could find no safe harbor in town, even among family members. “I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know where to turn,” Tamara says, remembering the darkest days of her life.

Finally, she fled and found herself penniless and friendless at a truck stop in the middle of the night. But she felt God’s loving presence and understood she needed to get to Nashville.

The truck stop security guard made sure Tamara had something to eat and promised her a ride to the bus station at closing time. Caring strangers passed money and words of encouragement to her, and by the time she arrived at the bus station, she had exactly enough money for a ticket to Nashville!

Tamara knew it was God at work in her life that secured her bus ticket, so she trusted in Him when she was directed to Nashville Rescue Mission. And the days since she walked through the Mission doors have been so healing for her—especially after joining our Life Recovery Program.

“I first thought it was a rehab type of program, and I didn’t have a drug problem. In fact, it really is a life recovery program and that’s why God sent me here,” Tamara says with tears of joy in her eyes. “I didn’t know about this place; I didn’t know about the program, but God did.”

These days, Tamara is at work each day at a job she truly loves—helping other women who are at the Mission hoping to rebuild their lives and find a fresh start, too.

“I love coming to work. I’m surrounded by women and sisters and it’s just beautiful,” she says with a smile. “The Enemy took away my family, but God gave me a huge family here at the Mission.”

In addition to her thanks for God and His provision, Tamara is deeply thankful to everyone who chooses to support Nashville Rescue Mission. She says, “God is using your funding to provide a safe place for someone to get their life back on track. This is why God sent me here.”

On behalf of neighbors like Tamara, thank you for your prayers and financial support now and all summer long!

*Name changed for privacy