I am testament to a life transformed
I am testament to a life transformed
Chantal with her children Isabella and Alexander.
My name is Chantal, and I’m 34 years old. I was born in the Netherlands and moved to Australia when I was 14. I have two wonderful children – Isabella, 10, and Alexander, 6.
The move across the globe was very challenging, and I grew up in a family with no religious background. I was friends with a Christian girl, so I started going with her to Bible study and Christian youth camps. I also started going to The Salvation Army Youth Group at the Shed in Cranbourne (Melbourne), and it was here that I experienced some incredible moments where God showed me that he was there for me.
When I was about 16, I was kicked out of home, and I ended up living with the family of a girl named Hannah. I started attending church every Sunday and learned much more about what it meant to be a Christian. Unfortunately, I was still quite troubled and rebellious, so I didn’t live there for too long, and I got myself mixed in with the wrong kinds of people.
By the time I was 18, I was getting into trouble with the police and had a strong drug addiction. It was at this time that I met the father of my kids. For the next 10 years, I lived through a terrible situation of domestic violence fuelled by drug use. It broke me. At the end of this relationship, I felt physically and emotionally scarred as a mere shell of a human being.
Just after I turned 30, I ended up in jail with the potential of a very long time in prison and the possibility of deportation back to the Netherlands. This was the lowest point of my life.
I might have made mistakes and deserved to be in jail to pay my dues, but I knew that at my core, I was a good person with a heart of gold and a lot to offer the world. I had just spent too many years hiding my true self and using drugs and alcohol to do it.
Reconnection to God
It was in prison that I reconnected with my Lord and Saviour. Every Tuesday night, they would hold a Bible study group, and I remember us talking about the parable of the lost sheep and how Jesus taught his disciples that God rejoices when a sinner who has lost their way returns to him. I [heard] these words and [felt] a huge sense of relief. There was hope –God hadn’t given up on me, and if he hasn’t, then I shouldn’t.
Little by little, I started to change. I asked God to show me what I needed to do to get my life back on track. I prayed [believing that] only God knew what I needed, so if I were to get the opportunity to get bail and go to rehab, that would happen. The day came when I went to court, and against all odds, the judge gave me the opportunity to go to Windana Residential Rehab, which was a minimum 12-month program. I couldn’t believe it!
On the way down from the courtroom, the guard turned to me and said, “Do you believe in God?” ‘Yes!’ I replied to her, and she told me, “I asked that because I do, and what I saw in there was incredible. I truly saw God at work in that courtroom.”
All those times I prayed, I was unsure about whether God was hearing my prayers ... this moment confirmed to me without the shadow of a doubt that God had his hands on my life.
Over the next two years, I worked hard on my recovery. With the help of Windana and the START community program at The Salvation Army, I slowly found myself again, and in June of 2021, my children came home to live with me permanently. Upon leaving rehab and moving into my own home, I started to connect more with my community at the Berwick Salvation Army and even joined the worship band.
Eventually, an opportunity came up to apply for a Job there as an AOD (Alcohol and Other Drugs community support worker, and I got the job!
Coming from where I was to now being able to use my life experience to help other people get their lives back, it was more than I could have ever asked for.
Being part of this amazing community at The Salvation Army helps me see that as a Christian, I have a real purpose: to help people. I think a lot of good is done at START, and seeing people’s lives transformed is nothing short of a miracle – and I am a testament to that.