Dana E. Warner
A Proud Graduate!!
My name is Dana Elizabeth Warner. I graduated from Youth Challenge Women's Home in February 2008.
My life as a child was pretty normal. I grew up in a great neighborhood, both of my parents were teachers, my sisters and I went to church regularly. Once I moved to junior high school, things changed. I picked up smoking cigarettes, and it was not long before I was smoking pot and drinking. I stopped going to church and I didn't hang around anyone who did not "party". I sought out my friends and acquaintences based on those "good times" principals. What was once "just a weekend thing to be cool to fit it" turned into an almost daily activity. By the time I was 18 and had graduated high school I thought I was grown and ready to be on my own. Trying to support myself and deal with a full blown cocaine addiction was devastating. I ended up making a lot of choices that a nonaddict wouldn't ever have to face. Living as an addict, my eyes and heart were closed to what life could, and should be like. I worked to get high, I lived to get high. One day I took a look at myself and thought, who am I? What am I doing? My children were now old enough to see that mommy wasn't doing all the "right" things. I knew I needed help. I was tired and ashamed, but living like that for 20 plus years I knew I couldn't do it on my own.
At Youth Challenge I learned to let go. I learned to let go of all those years of living for myself and my next high, and I learned to live for God. My eyes and heart were opened to receive the love that Jesus Christ has for me, and I accepted it. This was what I needed. A place where I could be safe during this discovery and really see that God had a plan for my life, and that I mattered.
Today, I can't get enough of living for God. I now work for Youth Challenge at the thrift Store on Warwick Boulevard, attend Bethel Bible College to strengthen my walk in ministry, and am involved in many different Christian-based activities, like the Celebrate Recovery program offered at Liberty Baptist on Monday nights.
Life is beautiful. If Youth Challenge was not available to give me the time, education, and acceptance I was to stubborn to accept on my own, I wouldn't have this testimony to share. Today, I am a new creation, and I want others to see and know and feel what unconditional love is like. God is the answer, He has made me whole.
I encourage anyone who is struggling with a life controlling addiction to seek help, and Youth Challenge is an awesome place to start!
be blessed!
Dana Elizabeth Warner 
secondtime7@hotmail.com
