Jessica York

John 15:16 “You did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you …”

This Bible verse could not be any more true when it comes to how Jesus found me on a Friday
night at the Good Neighbor homeless shelter. I had just been released from Paulding County Jail.
Trey York (who has since become my husband and our associate pastor) and another man from
Cartersville Outreach had come to the shelter that night for their weekly Bible study. I had no
intention of having an encounter with Jesus that night. I expected more of a pick me up – that’s
all I’d ever known Bible studies to be. Honestly, in my past, I thought I knew God. Yet addiction
(meth, accompanied by alcohol and marijuana) was slowly killing me. It had devoured 7 years of
my life. I had let my children down in so many ways and I felt like a complete failure of a mother.
When the men began to speak in that room that night, I can remember feeling a deep
awareness of how lost I was and how little I knew Jesus. I always thought I was saved. I did bad
things, but bad things happened to me. It wasn’t that I did not believe in God… But at that point,
I knew I was on the path straight to hell. It wasn’t until that night when I felt the presence of God,
I knew there was more to life. Who was this Jesus they knew? I wanted to know Him. These men
had been set free from everything I was dealing with. God brought me to that place to be set
free. I cried out to Jesus at that moment and He heard me. When I surrendered to Him,
everything changed. The very next morning I wasn’t able to cuss. I was amazed. I literally felt as if
someone had taken my brain out and put a new one in. I was a new person. (2 Corinthians 5:17
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed away; behold new things
have come.”) I knew I wasn’t perfect, but I wasn’t going back. I HAD to know Jesus. I was delivered
from addiction and this was only the beginning. I knew it wasn’t just about church or trying to do
right. I knew He was alive and my life would never be the same. I can remember the first time I
walked into Cartersville Outreach Ministry and felt such an overwhelming peace. When the
worship music started, I just cried and cried! I became undone before the Lord and He did such
a work in me!  Through our pastor, David Bojczuk, the hand of God literally began to restore me
and break the chains of bondage in my life. (1 John 3:8 “The Son of God appeared for this
purpose; to destroy the works of the devil.”)

Looking back on my old self is like looking at a different person. Because of my addictions and
rebellion against God, I lost everything; custody of my kids, my license, most of my possessions
and all sense of what was moral. I had overdosed, almost been beaten to death, and was
sexually abused. I had been arrested so many times I lost count. I had been to mental hospitals
and rehabs. Mental health had given me 6-7 diagnoses and said that without mental health
medication I was like a scuba diver at the bottom of the ocean with no gear on… Those were the
words of mental health doctors. I give all the glory to God because here I stand almost 4 and half
years later FREE. I am now a wife to an amazing man of God who is the associate pastor at our
ministry. The Lord put us together and that is a whole testimony in itself! We have 4 beautiful
children who are being taught about Jesus and have experienced the power of God. I am a stay-at-home mom, which has always been the desire of my heart (Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the
Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”) 

The Lord has given me a gift to sing and I have been worship leader at the ministry for 4 years
now! Singing praises to the King of kings is a joy and honor in itself! I was able to go back to the
place Jesus found me at the Good Neighbor homeless shelter and do a Bible study with my
husband. Now I go there with some of the women from Cartersville Outreach Ministry. I have an
amazing church family who I thank Jesus for everyday. I have seen many people restored and
touched by the power of God over these past years. God moves, not just in the jail and shelter,
but wherever we go when we are willing to speak on His behalf. If He can do it for me, He can do
it for you. Don’t try to understand it all or figure out how it will happen. Only believe that He is
able to change everything. Surrender it ALL to Jesus today.