My name is Michelle Hanscom, and I am a grateful believer in Jesus Christ. My Christian Life Coach journey has started with studying at the Christian Leaders Institute (Learn more about online Bible classes, Click Here). I live in a city within Northeast Massachusetts called Haverhill. Massachusetts is part of New England, which is considered the least churched region in the United States. On October 9, 2020, I married a God-fearing man willing to accept my two adult sons and two granddaughters as his own.
The Younger Me
Growing up in a single-parent home, I was the oldest of two siblings. Going to church was only to attend weddings, funerals, and Christmas Eve service for my family. During my mother’s childhood, she had an unpleasant experience with attending church. Her opinion regarding church and her children was that we would find our own way.
Looking back at my childhood, I can see God trying to get my attention. Weekly, a van would come to pick up children in the neighborhood to attend The Salvation Army’s Sunday service. Then, they invited me to their youth group called Sunbeams. Faithfully, I attended Sunday service and Sunbeams. After a few years, when my mother thought I was old enough to babysit, I was no longer allowed to go to these because I had to babysit.
Around 11 years old, sin started to rule my life. After running away from home, my problems became my number coping mechanism. Then I started hanging out with older friends, experimenting with sex, alcohol, and drugs. These added to the list of newly found coping mechanisms. These behaviors led me to become part of the Department of Children and Families and the Juvenile Court System. Consequently, it started the cycle of foster homes and residential treatment facilities. At 16, when I was in one of the residential treatment homes, I became pregnant. Once the Juvenile Court found out about it, they sent me back home to live with my mother and two siblings.
At 18 years old, I graduated high school. I attempted college multiple times but failed. At the age of 21, I was a single mother of two boys.
Chains of Bondage
During the next 10 years, unhealthy relationships and drugs became my master. Slowly my life spiraled out of control leading to multiple suicide attempts and inpatient psychiatric stays. As much as I wanted to be a good mother, my children suffered severe neglect. Financially, I depended on the government and men to take care of me. In 2003, my children were removed by the Department of Children and Families due to a drug overdose. It took me six years of hard work to bring them back home. At that point, I was drug-free. However, the alcohol soon became my master. My boys returned home but brought their newfound anger. Less than a year after my boys’ reunification, I was right back to where I was the day DCF removed my children.
December 2009, I experienced a drug-induced seizure while driving. I want to say that this was the last time I used drugs. It wasn’t. It was also not the last time I went into treatment. However, this was the incident that God used to get my attention. My life was shattered. Something needed to change.
Rescue Story
On New Year’s Day 2010, I started AA/NA with periods of sobriety. Staying off substances was a constant battle. No matter what I changed, I could not figure out what was missing. I did everything my sponsor suggested except going to church. How could I go to church? All the stuff I’d done. No one would want me there, especially God.
In June 2013, I finally surrendered after a two-week relapse and took that one suggestion. June 16, 2013, I attended my first church service since my youth. My memories of that day are foggy. However, one thing is clear, God removed the chain of drug addiction that day.
December 2013, I attended my first Celebrate Recovery meeting. God started exposing these unhealthy coping mechanisms I learned as a young girl. CR is where I found women who loved me unconditionally. They loved me when I couldn’t love myself.
These meetings are where I found freedom from my hurts, habits, and hang-ups. There I identified that Jesus was the missing piece of my life which I filled with other things. This is where I was able to forgive myself, God, and others. This is where I was able to make amends for my wrongs.
Infant in Christ
Women took me under their wing to teach me the basics and build a strong foundation in Christ. They taught me how to read the Bible and pray. They taught me what the trinity represented and what Christ did for me by dying on the cross. The biggest struggle I faced was identifying God as my father. My relationship with my father consisted of abandonment and rejection. How could I look at God that way? Slowly God revealed the difference between conditional and unconditional love. Also, the definition of sinful nature and that God does not want bad things to happen to me. That moment was life-changing.
In March 2017, after a broken relationship, I realized I was trying to find my identity and purpose in people, places, and things. Always taking what other people and society said I was. Lovingly, Jesus showed me that I was not a “drug addict,” “no good,” “whore”, “an embarrassment,” or “unlovable.” Jesus reminded me that I am a daughter of the King!! That I am enough!! That I am beautiful!! That He was bringing beauty from the ashes of my life.
Currently, I am a leader of Celebrate Recovery in Lawrence, Massachusetts. This allows me to sponsor other women and the opportunity to pay it forward.
Spiritual Dream
At age 38, I graduated from nursing school. I started working with substance abuse and psychiatric patients up until the end of 2020. God called me to lessen my hours to focus more on the plan He has for me. My dream is to mentor women the same way that the women in my life mentored me. Becoming a Christian Life Coach at my church is my ultimate goal. Just because we are Christian women does not mean we do not struggle with life.
My Christian Life Coach journey starts with the Christian Leaders Institute! The free Christian Life Coach classes and ministry training will equip me for my journey and my spiritual dream. Praise God for this study opportunity!
Learn more about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
Coming Out of the Wilderness
My name is David Botha, and I am taking Bible College classes free at the Christian Leaders Institute (Learn more about online Bible classes, Click Here). I currently live in Pretoria, South Africa. My wife Judy and I have two wonderful daughters who love the Lord as we do.
The Journey
In 1962, I was born into a middle-class family to parents who loved me and my brother and sister but who, out of necessity, lived very frugally. I became the first person in our family history to finish school at the boarding school I was sent to. I then went on to earn an Electronics Engineering degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 1986, which I funded from a bursary and personal loans.
Thereafter, I was compelled to do 2 years of military training. During this time, I received the book “God’s Smuggler” by Brother Andrew. It profoundly affected me and ultimately resulted, with the work of the Holy Spirit, in me yielding my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Our Walk with God
Together, Judy and I committed our lives to Jesus in a city called Pietermaritzburg while visiting her sister. We returned to Durban, where we joined the Durban Christian Centre in 1987. There we fellowshipped until we moved to Pietermaritzburg and joined the Maritzburg Christian Church in 1991. In 1997, we moved to Pretoria, where we joined the Hatfield Christian Church and have been members there ever since.
During our walk, I have had several leadership positions, from assisting and later running home groups and being area shepherds caring for home groups and their members for various districts where we have lived.
My Wilderness Struggle
The wilderness experience for me was that I am a competent and self-sufficient person. I have always been able to do things in my strength. This fact really got in the way of me maturing as a Christian and being obedient to God’s call. God has been dealing with me. I had to fail several times before understanding experientially that God’s way is so superior!
Over the last year or so, God has laid on my heart that I really needed to prioritize Him more. The Holy Spirit has done an incredible work in me so far. However, there is still a long way to go, and I am practically working out my salvation with fear and trembling, day-by-day.
Bible College Classes Free at CLI
My dream is to walk, every moment, in the Spirit. I know that our God is a God of the living and that He cares for everything we do and everything we are. Now in the latter part of my life, I dream that God will redeem the years I lost playing the prodigal. To this, I have started to study at the Christian Leaders Institute to equip myself better. While juggling a CEO position of a fair-sized company and doing extensive business travel, I am simultaneously mentoring a few younger people so that they can reach their potential in God.
I am not entirely sure where God is leading me. However, with His strength, I will continue to go where He sends!
Learn more about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
Ministry Calling Story
My name is Sylvia Salvato, and I am thankful for free Christian-based education at the Christian Leaders Institute (Learn more about online Bible classes, Click Here). I have lived in Austin, Texas, in the USA for 31 years. I feel blessed to live in a country where people are free to express themselves openly and honestly. We can pursue spiritual dreams in ways that do not have to conform to the status quo. In fact, it is the foundation of this country. Our founding fathers left places that persecuted them for their religious beliefs. I realize that this is a gift not available globally, and I am grateful.
My Youth
I grew up in a dysfunctional home environment, where abuse, neglect, dishonesty, and disrespect were acceptable ways of interaction. The concept of God and Jesus were not topics of discussion. My father, a chronic alcoholic with mental struggles due to undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder, voiced that religion had been forced down his throat. My mother was really depressed and adopted a victim orientation. The only thing I remember her saying about church was that she sang in the choir as a girl. I didn’t know other people who introduced me to these ideas either. We were isolated, too embarrassed to have others over. I functioned in survival mode, with an underlying anger and a belief that God did not exist.
Salvation Journey
Because of my upbringing, I cultivated coping skills. These engendered a sensitivity to my environment and heightened awareness of events that occurred around me. I also learned to read people well and not to believe everything that I heard. I learned to make my own way and listen to my inner voice to guide me. It was how I came to know God. I know that divine intervention has occurred many times in my life. I paid attention to those experiences where harm could have or should have come my way but didn’t. There were too many coincidences, twists of fate, and blessings that could only be explained as God’s divine intervention through Jesus and guardian angels.
An avid reader, I read books by authors such as Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins. I learned about Jesus in these books. Further, I also learned how to be saved for eternal life in the kingdom of God. I needed to acknowledge that Jesus died on the cross to absolve our sins and pray for Him to come into my heart and accept Him as my Savior. Therefore, I did this and incorporated prayer into my life daily.
My Schooling and Work
I excelled in school, so I attained three degrees at the University. God pointed me in certain directions to learn why I had to undergo certain experiences to help others effectively. I earned two undergraduate degrees. First, a bachelor’s in psychology to learn about how the brain works, clinical pathologies, and the behaviors that arise because of problematic thinking. These topics are what I first sought to understand.
I also earned a bachelor’s in social work, and it led me to my first job as a Child Protective Services Investigator. This very difficult, and many times, dangerous job taught me a lot. Some parents were self-focused and caught up in their own distress. Children were caught in the maelstrom through no fault of their own. I did my part to help as many as I could.
Then, I went back to school to obtain a master’s degree in social work. I did an internship at the Veteran’s Administration. There I learned to facilitate drug and alcohol treatment groups for veterans. This experience helped me better understand our military members’ plight and, in turn, gave me compassion for my own father. His struggle really had nothing to do with me, although it felt so personal. In my career path, I held Director level roles in psychiatric care and long-term care. All these opportunities have helped me understand, heal and offer ways to change my perspective and help those in need.
My Spiritual Dream
My spiritual dream is to know who I am in Christ to help me fulfill my life purpose. I do not yet fully know the breadth of this, but I know that I can serve God by serving others in whatever endeavor I choose to focus my time on. I want to expand my knowledge and experience and find joy in it. Working with others can be a daunting experience, but the reward is that I grow and learn more about myself and my purpose with every encounter.
I am winding down my career life, with less than ten years until retirement. I have been thinking about the next chapter in my life book. Whatever it turns out to be, I want to engage in activities that are spiritual in nature. Now is the best time to lay the foundation. Therefore, I want to seek a Christian-based education.
Christian-Based Education Free at CLI
I thought about becoming ordained to officiate weddings. I realize that I can go online and pay a fee to be ordained. However, to do so without meaning behind it seems to run contrary to the whole reason. Then found the Christian Leaders Institute and saw that classes were free! What a gift this is. I felt like God was, once again, leading me to a path of purpose.
These free classes will allow me to get Christian-based education and open doors to possibilities that I have not yet fully contemplated. I resonate with your idea that money should not get in the way of achieving a spiritual dream. I truly appreciate what you are offering and pledge to give back as I can so that others may also have the benefits offered by your institute.
Learn more about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.