From Broken to Blessed: Stories and Lessons from My Journey

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I was forced to turn my first trick at age fifteen. Here’s what happened: One day I was walking down the street crying. A man pulled up next to me in his car and asked me why I was crying. He said it was too dangerous for me to be on the streets by myself and wanted to take me out to lunch. I didn’t feel afraid or anything. There were no warning signs. I felt okay. So, I got in the car, and we went to eat.

After that this man would take me out to the movies. He bought me clothes. He took me to bars. He introduced me as his girlfriend and started telling me no one would ever hurt me again. He said that he didn’t know what was wrong with my mom and my dad for allowing these things to happen to me. He said had he been around it wouldn’t have happened. And he gained my trust.

One day, after the bar closed, we went to one of his friend’s house like we normally do. But this time, when I came to, his friend was on top of me having sex with me. I’m looking for this person who said he loved me, and no one would ever hurt me again. He looked at me like the devil himself and told me I better get his money. When the act was over, he grabbed me by my hair and threw me in a car.

He threatened that if I ran away, if I told the police or anyone else, he would kill my mom, brother, sister, and son. “They” would cut my body up and bury me all over the state of Michigan.

I was trafficked for twenty years. I was forced to turn tricks in my hometown and across the country. I became addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine, lost two of my children to foster care, and had a police record as long as my arm. My pain was unbearable.

One day I drank all the alcohol I had, took all the pills, and did all the drugs I could find. I wanted to die. I remember my heart slowing down, and with my last breath I screamed, “If there’s a God in heaven, help me!” Suddenly I felt a strong hug, the kind I had never received as a child! I knew it had to be God. I then threw up everything in my stomach, called my mom, and went home with her to start getting clean.

My thought: Find someone you trust to talk to. It’s important to talk about the issues going on in your life instead of keeping your feelings inside. Search for that person — a teacher, church worker, social worker, or a parent of a friend — and share what’s really going on. If you are an adult caring for a child or teen, be that person for them and help them find a second person as well through your church, school, or a nonprofit agency.

Once I made that final decision to stop being trafficked (I’d tried several times before but always returned to it), I never looked back. I went to rehab, and I stopped drinking and using drugs.

It was tough, but I worked on my issues. I learned that if I didn’t work on them, they would work on me! Over time, I saw myself not just as someone who was trafficked, but as a survivor who could help others like me.

My thought: Call a person you trust when you’re in trouble. You might be hungry, scared, have no place to stay, or feel unsafe. What makes you feel like you’re in danger may be different from what happened to me, but it’s important to call that person you trust when you need to. If you can’t get hold of them, try the places that provide help.

My thought: Cities have hotlines and agencies that will not turn you away. There are advocates for runaways as well. Ask about those places to get the help you need.*

I know what trafficked women (and men) go through because I’ve lived it — the worst of it.

Now, I help women escape!

Once a woman contacts me and is ready to flee from her trafficker, I gather information on the trafficker, scout out where she works, create an exit route, and decide on a safe place to take her. When she calls, I’m ready. I pick her up, making sure we are not followed. I take her to meet other women who have been through this and can keep her safe. I help her get medical care, detox, and connections with trauma-informed care workers and therapists. It’s very important to keep her safe because her trafficker wants her back — or wants her dead.

My thought: Have an exit strategy. Make the call to the person who will help you, get a few things ready to take with you, and follow their instructions exactly so you have a safe exit from your old life into your new one.

I’ve been out of the life for twenty-five years. All the changes were not easy, but by God’s grace, I’m still here. I once thought I was nothing and nobody, but God took that nobody and made her somebody.

I got a pardon from Governor Gretchen Wittmer, and my police record is gone. Governor Wittmer told me she’s so proud of me. I’m now a member of the Michigan Human Trafficking Commission.

All this life change, transformation, tells me that there is no limit to what God can do.

I’m not going to let anyone limit me. My trafficker did — for a time. Other people in society judged me and held me back. But no more. When I help a woman to safety and freedom, I ask her, “What did you want to do with your life when you were a little girl?” One woman told me she wanted a beauty salon and now she owns one. I’m very proud of her.

Sometimes doors close, but that doesn’t stop me. God turned my pain into a passion to help others find their way from darkness to light. God can do the same for you.

My thought: Keep your focus on God. God told me personally that I must focus on God and God alone, no matter what else is going on. Don’t let anybody tell what you can’t be and what you can’t do. Listen to God.

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