Ernestine
Oxford, NJ
2025
Tired of Being Tired
Ernestine spent years trapped in addiction.
She would get clean, return to using, and start all over again. She tried recovery programs, but nothing seemed to last. Eventually, addiction took nearly everything.
She lost her home and found herself sleeping in a hallway. One morning, a police officer woke her as she lay there with nowhere left to go.
“I was tired of being tired,” Ernestine remembers.
Her sister refused to give up on her. A family friend who had graduated from Hoving Home encouraged Ernestine to come, but she wasn’t ready. She went back out one last time.
Two days later, she called her sister.
This time, she was ready.
The Piece That Was Missing
When Ernestine arrived at Hoving Home, she knew about God, but she soon realized she didn’t truly know Him.
Through Bible study, prayer, counseling, and living in a Christ-centered community, she discovered what had been missing during every previous attempt at recovery.
“The piece that was missing was the spiritual,” she says.
For the first time, Ernestine wasn’t simply trying to stop using drugs. She was allowing Jesus to change her heart.
When Grief Came
Not long into the program, Ernestine experienced one of the greatest losses of her life when her son passed away.
The pain was overwhelming.
Before Hoving Home, she believes she would have returned to addiction.
Instead, she ran to Jesus.
Surrounded by women who loved her and pointed her toward Christ, Ernestine discovered that even in her deepest grief, God was faithful.
She wasn’t walking through it alone.
Healed by Grace
While at Hoving Home, Ernestine also faced a frightening medical diagnosis.
After becoming seriously ill, doctors discovered a mass in her throat and diagnosed her with throat cancer.
Months later, when doctors prepared to perform a biopsy, they could no longer find the mass.
“God healed me,” Ernestine says.
Through illness, loss, and recovery, Ernestine continued growing in her faith. Even when her visual impairment made schoolwork difficult, the Hoving Home staff came alongside her with large-print materials, tutoring, and encouragement until she completed the program.
“I did not want to go back to where I came from.”
Where Grace Has Led
Today, Ernestine’s life reflects God’s restoring grace.
She faithfully serves in her church, helps feed those experiencing homelessness, mentors women beginning their recovery journey, and continues growing in God’s Word each day.
The Lord has also restored relationships within her family. After years apart, she was reunited with her children, grandchildren, and mother, who now tell her how proud they are of the woman she has become.
When people come to her for advice, Ernestine points them to the same place she found hope.
Jesus.
Looking back, she smiles as she says,
“I’m not needing for anything. I’m not wanting for anything because my Father God is providing everything I need.”
Your story isn’t over.
Ernestine’s journey reminds us that no one is beyond God’s reach. When we surrender our lives to Jesus, He meets us in our brokenness, walks with us through our deepest pain, and faithfully restores what once seemed lost.
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