“God delivered me from alcohol in 1985!” exclaims Connie. “I was 35 years old.”
Since then, Connie has faithfully given her life to the Lord and allowed Him to use her wherever and whenever He wanted.
“My daughter Kelly has worked at the Nashville Rescue Mission for many years,” says Connie. “I’m so proud of her. She grew up with both a mother and father who were alcoholics. She became a social worker and has helped so many people, including me.”
God Leads, I Follow
In the early 1990s, when the Nashville Rescue Mission’s life-recovery program was still evolving, Kelly would frequently call on her mother to help out with leading a Bible study with the women.
“With God’s help, I believe anyone can have victory.”
“When I first started volunteering at the Mission, I had no idea what I was doing,” says Connie. “I just trusted God to lead me and I followed. I would bring Billy Graham’s decision magazine and just read articles out of it to the women. Over time, I started sharing my own experiences with addiction to alcohol and my recovery with the ladies.”
Connie’s Bible study has now turned into a weekly class called “Get Real”—aptly named by one of the ladies who has taken her class.
Nothing but the Truth
“I speak honestly with the women in the class,” says Connie. “I’m not afraid to tell them the truth, in love of course. God has given me the ability to share, so that’s what I do. I’m not using the decision magazine anymore; now we go straight to the source—the Bible. I also encourage the ladies to memorize scripture. I pray each of them has a thirst for His word, as it will sustain them.”
“Anyone can be used by God if they are willing.”
Connie has a lot to share considering her own addiction to alcohol and subsequent recovery. She also lost her daughter Christy last year in a tragic accident. Christy was only 37 and had graduated from the Mission’s life-recovery program ten years ago.
God’s Blessings
“Despite the pain and tragedy I’ve experienced in my life, God has been so good to me,” says Connie. “I’m so blessed and so grateful to have the opportunity to pour love and truth into these ladies’ lives. In return, I am greatly rewarded by the experience.”
When Connie isn’t teaching her class at the Nashville Rescue Mission, she’s dabbling in real estate, serving as a caregiver for a 90-year-old woman from her church or enjoying time with her daughter Kelly, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Faithful friends of the Nashville Rescue Mission, like Connie, give of their time and talents to make a difference in the lives of those who are hurting. If you’d like to be used by God in some capacity at the Mission, please call our Volunteer Hotline at (615) 312-1544 or sign up online.