Hello! My name is Amanda Dahlke, and I am a grateful believer in Jesus Christ who has been redeemed from addiction, trauma, shame, and hopelessness. I spent over a decade homeless on the streets of North Carolina, trapped in addiction and a life that had become completely unmanageable. I experienced things I never thought I would survive—trafficking, sexual assault, incarceration, and the devastation that comes with addiction. My mother lost her life to addiction, and I found myself walking a path I never imagined for myself. There were countless moments when I should not have survived, but God continued to give me breath. Even when I couldn’t see Him, He was there.

When I was completely broken and desperate, Jesus met me in the middle of my darkness. He began placing people in my life who loved me when I didn’t know how to love myself, and eventually I walked through the doors of the Hoving Home. I came in broken, wounded, and at the end of my rope, but I was welcomed with the love of Jesus. Through the Hoving Home, God began teaching me who I am in Christ, healing places in my heart I thought would always be broken, and showing me that my past did not have to determine my future. God began restoring my family, my identity, and my purpose.

Today, I am a wife, a mother, a woman in recovery, and a servant of Jesus Christ. God has called me back into the very communities He delivered me from. I currently serve as the Outreach Coordinator for the Hoving Home in North Carolina, where I have the privilege of meeting women right where they are—women struggling with addiction, homelessness, trauma, and hopelessness—and connecting them with hope, resources, recovery, and the love of Jesus. I get to share my story with women who may still be standing in the same darkness I once knew and remind them that there is a way out.

I once believed my past disqualified me from being used by God. Now I understand that God can take the places that once broke us and use them to help reach someone else. I know what it feels like to be forgotten, desperate, and wondering if anyone sees you. But Jesus sees you. He saw me on the streets of North Carolina, and He never gave up on me. Today, I get to go back into those same places and tell other women that their story isn’t over. Addiction doesn’t get the final word. Trauma doesn’t get the final word. Homelessness doesn’t get the final word. Jesus does. I am living proof that He still rescues, restores, and redeems.

I had been in my program for about 6 months when I told a girl I was ready to leave. She asked me where I was going to go and I told her I didn’t know, but that I was a runner and it was what I had done my entire life. She looked at me in that moment and told me that I used to be a runner. Just because I used to be a runner doesn’t mean I have to run again. I can choose to sit still and allow God to heal me or I can choose to run. I no longer have to identify as a runner because Christ has given me a new identity. I chose to stay that day, and every other day I had left in my program. And because I chose to stay, I became even more confident in my identity with Christ.

Hot Dogs!!

Christine Caine- Undaunted: Daring to do what God calls you to