Meet jessica,

future homeowner

We asked her to share her story in her own words-

“My name is Jessica. I grew up in North Knoxville. I’m a mother of three. I have a twenty-year-old son, a fourteen-year-old daughter, and an almost seven-year-old daughter. I work for the McNabb Center, a nonprofit, and I have been in recovery for going on eight years on November 25.  I have lived in the Lincoln Park neighborhood for over four years. 

Nine years ago, I lost custody of my two oldest children in 2017 because of a relapse. My heart was broken, and I was lost without them. I knew I needed help, and I was defiant at every opportunity I was given for help. I couldn’t understand why I lost them. I provided all their needs and tried really hard to be a good mom. We went to church. They played sports and they had everything they needed.  I only used drugs when they were not around and, in my mind, I thought that was ok. I was wrong. I was raised wrong, and I had a wrong mindset. My children went into custody in June of 2017, and by July of 2017, I lost everything. I lost my job, my housing, and I totaled my car. I got into an abusive relationship that resulted in facial reconstructive surgery. I went down a deep hole of addiction staying with whoever would let me stay. I ended up almost being trafficked so that I could not testify in the case of the person that abused me. I was in and out of treatment and domestic violence shelters checking in with the homicide gang unit monthly. I was in so many unsafe situations. I wanted to give up.

 One day, I had a visit with my children. My son gave me a list of worship songs from church camp and asked me to listen to them. He wrote a prayer on a piece of paper for me. The paper said “I’m praying we can be a family again.” Then a week later on a phone call he asked me if I was doing drugs. I told him that I would explain all of it to him when he got older and to just worry about being twelve. Then he asked “Did you listen to those songs?” I hadn’t at that point, but I promised I would. Then I noticed the people I was with were acting differently and saying things about how much I would cost. I began to notice behaviors change. The people were really dangerous and women were missing. I put a post on Facebook saying goodbye to my children. Two women from the church I used to attend called the police and asked for a welfare check, and the police came to check on me. I told the officer I didn’t feel safe and that I had been using drugs. He assured me nothing would happen that night because he would be watching but said that I needed to make a decision about my life. That night I made that decision. I demanded to go to the hospital, and the guy I was staying with reluctantly took me. I walked into the hospital and I happened to know the girl at the front desk. She made me a no information patient and snuck me out the back. My friend picked me up, and I went to an abandoned apartment and got clean. I listened to those songs my son gave me, and I asked a friend to take me to church. At that service, I asked God to take the desire to use out of my heart and the taste out of my mouth and to replace it with Him. I was delivered that day, and my life has never been the same. I found out who I was and whose I was, and God told me I was a Mother. 

 I started going to Bible study and telling everyone about the goodness of God. Then four months later, I got pregnant with my youngest daughter while I was still homeless. I planned to give her to someone in the church and watch her grow up from the outside. But then I visited a church while I was pregnant with her, and a lady asked to pray for me. She knew I was pregnant, but she had no information about me at all. As she began to pray, she asked if she could touch my belly. I said yes, and she spoke these words over me: “The Lord said to keep her and that he has provided everything for her. Do you have other children?” she asked. I said “yes,” and she said “you’re going to get them back too”. How could she know my baby was a girl? How could she know I was trying to find a family for her? How could she know I had other children? I know how. God told her, and I believed it.

So begins the journey of getting my children back. When I went to apply for classes, I was too clean to qualify for the IOP classes. So instead they sent me to the McNabb Center to apply for the MOMS program. In that program, I met all the requirements for regaining custody. I ended up getting housing through KCDC, and they helped me apply for a job at the Center as well. I met a man at work who knew a landlord with a house for rent in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, and it was perfect for me and my children. I moved into the house in January 2021, and I was able to regain custody of my older children in March of 2022.

 I’ve been with the McNabb Center for five years. I have my Certified Peer Recovery Specialist certification and work as a Resource Specialist. I’ve cleaned up my credit, got into the home buying program through KCDC, took the home buying classes, and now I get to purchase my first home for me and my children in the same neighborhood. My oldest is in college studying to be a physical therapist. My oldest daughter is an honor student and an athlete in high school. My youngest daughter is a first grader and loves to play sports as well. We are living in God’s promises, and recovery is possible.  This opportunity to become a homeowner through Renaissance Creations has been such a blessing. The Lord told me it was going to equal eight. The address numerically equals eight, the price added up equals eight, my age this year added up equals eight, and I will have eight years in recovery when we move in. The number eight in Hebrew means new birth & new beginnings. This is our new beginning!”