After being incarcerated for two months, I was accepted into the HOPE program which is roughly a three month program. I graduated from HOPE. This means that I had regular attendance, had no behavioral reports, and studied, absorbed, and memorized a good bit of the program’s curriculum. At the end of the program, there was a test. If you passed the test, you would receive a certificate. This certificate could be shared with your prosecutor and judge. This is what I was able to do, and so then began the agreement to let me out of jail. I tried with all my might to see if they would let me go to the program that I had found (or God had led them to find me) while living on the streets in the peak of my addiction. That program was called Living in Liberty. The whole time I was in jail, the women of that program wrote to me, prayed for me, and even visited me.
But I didn’t get off so easily as to be released to the streets, to the program I wanted or home (I mean I didn’t have one anyway). I was being released to a rehab program called Cove Forge. While I was afraid to leave the HOPE program and my supporters, they all assured me the Spirit would be with me guiding me along this next step of my journey. They had helped to teach me the tools. God had seen my fervor for Him and for a new life, and so I trusted…. I trusted that this next step, although scary, was going to be the next step to the rest of my life and relationship with Him.