Angela was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. After her parents separated when she was just an infant, she and her sister were split between sets of grandparents while their parents “would come in and out…whenever they felt like it.” Though her grandmother loved her and did her best, Angela remembers, “I always had problems with being accepted.”
As a teenager, she began searching for love in the wrong places. “I became addicted at 15 years old. My mom gave them to me. I just wanted her love.”
Even through addiction, faith was always part of Angela’s life. “I’ve always been a believer,” she explains, having been baptized Catholic. She went to church as a child, completed her first communion, and continued praying through the ups and downs of adulthood, which came fast.
Angela became a young mother of three and later, a grandmother and great-grandmother. “I was trying to be the best mom that I could be… I have seven grandkids and I just became a great grandma.” But addiction followed her for decades. “I tried to get clean on my own, but it just wasn’t happening.”
After difficulties holding onto jobs and an accident that required surgery, Angela tried a detox program and sober living—but found herself relapsing again. She knew she needed something different. “I just kinda used, but I still felt guilty. I had that guilty conscious. I couldn’t…but I wanted to stop. I was thinking, the only way I could stop is just to move away because I don’t have the support system [at home].”
Her journey eventually brought her to California. After a difficult living situation fell apart, a friend told her about Coachella Valley Rescue Mission. Angela called The Annex and was told, “Well, I got a bunk for you and just get over here by two.” She arrived that afternoon relieved.
“I have my photo of the first day that I came to The Annex, and I’m smiling. I’m smiling because I didn’t have to put up with worrying that I got a safe place to live.” Even when COVID delayed her entry into the program, CVRM placed her in a motel for 10 days and brought her meals daily. “They took care of me. It felt wonderful.” She knew it was all a part of God’s plan.
Today, Angela says her experience in the New Life Program has given her safety, structure, and spiritual growth. “We’re all brothers and sisters. I love the chapel. The security, the safeness, and I’m in the house of faith.” She attends church every Sunday, works closely with her caseworker, and continues building her faith. “We’re all brothers and sisters. That’s the way I look at it…They made me have my faith back to trust the Lord.”
One of her greatest answered prayers has been restoration in her family. After months without contact, her son called to tell her he had been sober and was living in a rescue mission in Phoenix. “He had been clean since November. He’s in a rescue mission in Phoenix and he got baptized.” Angela smiles when she shares that she was baptized too.
When she leaves the Mission, Angela wants to be a light to others. After her baptism, someone told her, “Oh, angel. You’re a messenger of God.” She says, “So that’s exactly what I wanna be, is a messenger of God.”
Angela takes life “one day at a time,” trusting God with what comes next. “God provides for me a breakfast, lunch, and supper, clothing. I’m safe here.” She wants people to continue to support the mission and CVRM, “because they do so much for the individuals that come in—help them get off the streets, help them be stable out in the community.”
When asked if she had any final words, Angela didn’t hesitate: “God is great. God is great.”
To read our 2025 Summer issue of A New Dawn, click here.