One night in an orchard in Shafter, California, Gabe walked away from everything with no intention of coming back. His addiction had taken everything… but something stopped him. “I sat on the floor and realized I didn’t want to die. I just didn’t know how to live.” Around the same time, Eliana found herself in a desperate situation, alone in a way she had never felt before. “For the first time in my life… though I was alone in the physical realm, I did not feel alone.” Neither of them knew it yet, but God was drawing them both toward the same place… and toward each other.

Both Gabe and Eliana came to Teen Challenge. The first time through, Gabe’s heart wasn’t in it, and the addiction was worse than ever. After leaving and relapsing, he found himself back in that orchard, at the end of himself. When he returned to Teen Challenge a second time, his father placed a Bible in his hands and said, “This is it. It’s this or nothing.” Back at Teen Challenge, he said “yes” to the next thing, and the next thing. Eliana’s path was similar. After going back to the life she’d known and finding it empty, she returned with a different understanding: “God, you didn’t just bring me back to get me sober. You brought me back to give me a purpose.”

Today they’re married and serving side by side at Teen Challenge. Their shared story has become the foundation of their shared ministry. “You’re not pouring from a place of ‘This is what I learned from a book.’ You’re pouring from a place of ‘This is what God walked me through.’ Not only did it shape me, but it’s still shaping me.” Gabe now leads prevention and outreach, reaching young people before addiction takes hold. On the women’s campus, Eliana meets women from the streets, from toxic relationships, or from rock bottom, to speak the word of God over these girls.

Then came Levi, and everything deepened again. “It’s about my family… my son… carrying on the legacy that my dad started.” “Becoming a mom healed a lot of things in my heart… When you can’t fight, I’ll fight for you.” This is what generational grace looks like. It moves forward. “It’s possible. It doesn’t matter where you came from or what you did. You’re made new, and it’s possible.” Your support of Teen Challenge makes it possible for the next generation to carry the story of freedom and a new beginning forward.