Ella had been asking her mom for several years if they could go to a church, but her mom, Kirstin, was not religious at all and was not interested in having God in her life.  About 10 years ago Kirstin hated herself and her life, even to the point of attempting suicide by taking a bottle of tylenol.  She was in the hospital and put on a liver transplant list.  She was not high on the list and death was a possibility.  But, she was released 3 days later with no long term damage. However, the close call did not stop her from continuing on in the way she was going.

Later she had a bad back issue where she couldn’t walk or stand up straight for two years. During this time she started drinking heavily and taking pain pills.  Not having insurance she didn’t have many options, but found a doctor who was willing to help her and write it off.  She was fixed again, but still didn’t stop her destructive lifestyle.

Then one day, Superbowl 49, an incident happened that could have ended very badly and that was enough to scare her into changing her lifestyle.  She quit drinking, quit smoking, started exercising and lost 80 pounds.  After several months of sobriety Ella again asked if they could go to a church and this time Kirstin didn’t hesitate.  She said yes. SCF was the first church they tried from several on their list.  Once they came they knew that this was the place where they should be. “Looking back I think God was involved in my life but I just didn’t know it. Being sober was great, but since last December when we started coming here I’m a completely different person than I was . . . and now there’s me.  It’s just a happy feeling all the time.”