02/07/2026
ALISHA WALLACE- A STORY OF REDEMPTION, RESTORATION, AND SECOND CHANCES
My life didn’t start in a place of security- it started in brokenness.
When I was six years old, my dad left. After that, he was in and out of my life. My mom became involved with another man and alcohol, and many times it felt like she chose them over me and my sister. From a young age, I knew what it felt like to be forgotten… to come second… to grow up without the safety every child deserves.
At eight years old, my innocence was stolen from me. That trauma changed me forever and forced me to grow up far too fast. Growing up in the hood, I learned how to survive- not how to heal. I carried pain I didn’t have words for and spent my life searching for love, safety, and acceptance in places that could never truly give it to me.
At seventeen, I got pregnant and dropped out of school. I kept chasing love, hoping som**hing would fill the emptiness inside me. Later, I met the father of my first three children, and for a while, life seemed to turn around. I earned my GED, became a CNA, and made it halfway through LPN school. I worked in hospice care and finally felt like everything was going to be okay.
Then one day, I came home from work and found that he had taken his own life.
That moment shattered me.
At that time, I didn’t know God. I didn’t know how to turn to Him- so instead, I turned to he**in.
For three years, addiction controlled my life. In a very short time, I lost everything- my children, my family, my job, my home, my car, my real friends, my self-respect, and my identity. I became angry, bitter, and completely broken. I didn’t even recognize the person I had become.
Eventually, I moved to St. Louis to live with my dad. He helped me get sober and introduced me to God. I stayed clean for nearly four years and began rebuilding my life. But I made a critical mistake- I thought I had done it on my own. I didn’t take my relationship with God seriously. I believed I was strong enough without Him.
I wasn’t.
Without God, it was only a matter of time before I relapsed- and once again, I lost everything.
Later, I met the father of my younger two children. We were both deep in addiction- him to m**h, me to he**in. Our relationship was toxic and abusive. We had two children together, and because we couldn’t get it right, we lost them to DCFS and eventually signed over our parental rights. Two months later, he died from a heart attack.
That’s when I gave up completely.
I stopped caring about anything except getting high. I became homeless- living in a tent in downtown St. Louis, sleeping under bridges, selling my body just to survive and feed my addiction. Every time I used, I secretly prayed it would be my last… that I would overdose… because I felt trapped in a cycle I couldn’t escape.
Then I was arrested on serious charges.
And for the first time in years… I felt relief.
I was exhausted. I was lost. I knew I wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon, and for the first time, I would be forced to get sober.
Looking back now, I can say it with all my heart: Thank God for that arrest.
I served nearly two years in prison. And prison is where I stopped running. It’s where I built a real, intimate relationship with God. It’s where my life truly changed. God didn’t just save me from addiction- He saved me from myself.
After my release, I came to Recycling Grace Women's Center . Through that program, my faith grew even deeper. For the first time, I had a real, godly support system- people who love me, pray for me, encourage me, and push me to become the woman God created me to be. I know now that I didn’t choose them… God chose them for me.
When I graduate from Recycling Grace on March 25, it will mean more than completing a program. It will represent a new chapter… a new beginning… a life that God Himself has rebuilt from the ground up.
Another huge part of that new life is my job at Revive Resale through The Psalm One Foundation.
They gave me a second chance when many others wouldn’t. They believed in me. They trusted me. They saw my potential instead of my past. The environment is uplifting, supportive, and full of grace. I don’t take that opportunity lightly. I see my job as another way God is restoring what was broken- placing me in spaces where I am valued, supported, and encouraged to keep growing.
For most of my life, everything was dark.
I was lost.
I was broken.
I was blind.
But now…
There is light.
There is hope.
There is healing.
There is purpose.
All I know is this: I once was blind… but now I see.
