My name is Rachel Hermosillo. I am from Los Angeles, California. With a prison ministry chaplain call from God, I am studying the Bible and ministry at the Christian Leaders Institute (Learn more about online Bible classes, Click Here).
My Childhood and My Addiction
I was raised with a single mom and a brother. She was a drug addict and mentally unstable. We were taken away from her as very young children and went from one bad foster home to another. I suffered sexual, physical, and demonic abuse. The last foster home was a “pastor” and his wife, who were satanic worshippers. I knew very little of God, but something told me this was not Him.
As an adult, I had a very unhealed heart because of my past and the fact that I did not have a relationship with the Lord. I sought love in all the wrong places and ended up using drugs to dull the pain of my past. In my 25 years of drug addiction, I tried to commit suicide many times.
Saved by Grace
The Lord revealed who He was to me as I cried out to Him on February 8, 2016. Homeless, addicted, and broken, my life shattered completely, God brought me to the Walter Hoving Home. There I found recovery and a relationship with Jesus that changed me forever. I finished a year discipleship program, finished the Emerging Leaders Program through Teen Challenge Institute, and became staff.
Prison Ministry Chaplain Call and Study at CLI
I am now 5 years into my recovery and Jesus is healing my heart. My calling is to be in prison ministry and to speak into the lives of those in addiction. Because of some bad choices made in my addiction, I found myself deep into debt. I saw no way to further my ministry education until I found out about the Christian Leaders Institute. Once again, God made a way for me!!
I hope to practice ministry in being a bi-vocational Chaplain with a focus on prison ministry and addiction. The two verses I stand on are:
Jeremiah 29:11
“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
