 I come from a Catholic background and a mother who was single as I was growing up. At the age of six, I was diagnosed with leukemia. I went through chemotherapy and from the results of that, kids from school used to make fun of me and laugh at me because I lost the cartilage in my nose. Then came the age of 12 and was just wanting acceptance from anybody to show me love and to be my friend. So then I met some bad friends at that time and started drinking. I started drinking with my sister-in-law and hanging around older boys. I actually lost my virginity at 12 to a 17-year-old. I dated him for a little bit. After that, I just became promiscuous and would try anything to fill the hole in me in the void. My stepdad that my mom had at the time started bringing in appropriate with me at this time. At 14, I started smoking pot. By 15, I was smoking crack and doing methamphetamines. That ripped my life apart. I got down to probably like maybe about a hundred pounds. My face was sunken from it. I ended up meeting my oldest, his father's dad, who's 20 years older than me. So I was 15. He was 35. I ended up taking off and running away from home at that time. My mom didn't care at that time. She was too involved with her husband or boyfriend at that time to even notice that I was gone until it was already too late. The drugs already had a hold of me. She actually came over to the house at like two o'clock in the morning drunk, trying to get me to leave, but by then I was already too addicted to the meth. I actually was so high that me and her ended up getting into a fight that I pulled a knife out on her. She ended up leaving there. And then from there, I ended up moving to Yakima with my oldest, his father. And then we took off to Alaska. And so I got pregnant at 16. Came back to the States because the cops found me in Alaska and I was a runaway. When I came back at 17, I moved back in with my mom. I tried to salvage whatever relationship we could, but there was just, it was already broken at that point. Still was smoking pot, still was drinking, still dabbling with coke, still dabbling with meth. I even did meth when I was pregnant and prayed to God that nothing would happen to my baby. Dropped out of high school, my junior year. I got a boyfriend, was with him for like three years, I always did with smoke pot all the time. By the time I turned 21 though, I didn't want to be in that relationship anymore. I wanted to go out. I wanted to go party and have fun. So I would come up here to Tri-Cities because I'm from a little town of Grandview. I was probably going out like six days a week. There was a party, I was at it. And then I met my youngest's dad and I thought that he was going to fix me. That didn't happen because our life was just surrounded by drugs. It came to the point where it was just an abusive relationship. I didn't even want to come home so many times because I was scared. I didn't know what mood he was beyond if he would be high on drugs. It would go from one minute he was going to stop doing the meth, but he didn't. And we would just fight. I have scars from him. I must have gotten probably like three or four no-context orders before. I actually finally got the courage to leave him because I was so scared. I didn't think anybody was ever going to love me. And I thought that I deserved it. I thought that I deserved the way that he treated me. I thought that that was love. And that's all that I was going to get. So I stayed. I stayed even after I knew to leave. I stayed even after people would beg me to leave him. I don't know why. I didn't know love. My boss almost fired me. He made me get a no-contact order just so I can keep my job. I was lost. I just wanted something to fill the emptiness inside. And I didn't have a clue what love was. I didn't get it from my mom. I didn't get it from my friends. I was trying to find it with drugs. I was trying to find it with being promiscuous. Men. Women. The meth got really, really bad with me and my ex. It was like messing with my mind. I was like seeing demons. And it scared me. I didn't know what to do so I turned to church. And I gave my life to Christ. I finally got the courage to leave my ex because he didn't want to stop using the drugs. And I did. But I couldn't let go of my past. I couldn't forgive myself. All of the things that I'd done. And I went back. I used meth again. I was still promiscuous. Alcohol got a hold of me really bad to the point to where I was buying half gallons at a time. I never understood how anybody ever wanted to commit suicide. And I remember just crying and just thinking and writing in my journal. I understand. I get it. I get how people feel like they want to take their life. I didn't know how to get out of that darkness that I was in. All I wanted was just so much to just love me and just to show me that it doesn't have to be like that. I tried to stop drinking. I got my third DUI. My third DUI. And I'm in jail praying to God to please just help me. But that's when there was a young lady that came to this church. She one time after work had yelled at my name and asked me for a ride. It was on a Wednesday. And she asked me if I wanted to go to church. And I was like yes actually I do. I was like I don't have a good home church. And so I came with her that Wednesday. And I came here to hunger generation. And as soon as I walked in here I felt the Holy Spirit. My life has turned around. I've been sober, clean and sober for over 100 days now. From everything. I also have been going to celebrate recovery for my addictions and for AA. And I get these coins every... One of them says like 24 hours. That's when I first went. Then one went to one month. And then one was two months of a couple. Three months. I no longer get tormented by the demons. I no longer am scared of the dark. 32 years old. I'm not scared of the dark anymore. My anxiety has gone way down. My blood pressure is even lower. The guilt is gone. The shame is gone. I know who I am in Christ. And now I've made all new godly friends. I've gone through parties here from this church that are awesome. That have more people at them than I ever had at any parties that have had drugs and alcohol at them. People that actually remember the conversations the next day. I get to show my kids what it's like to live a life without drugs and alcohol. They now get to see something that I didn't grow up seeing. That there is family that doesn't have to be drunk and high to have a good time. That you don't need to have stimulates besides the Holy Spirit to have a good time. And leading other women like me that are lost. That are looking for that man to fill that void. I was that girl looking for a man to validate me. And that's not validation. That's just the insecurity that the evil one prays on us. So when people look at me they can see Christ. Because I am now an ambassador for Christ. My name is Victoria Caballero and this is my testimony.