Rebecca was only a year old when her parents divorced. But she maintained a loving relationship with both of them — especially her father, whom she adored. In fact, after she graduated from high school, she moved to North Carolina to live with him.

“The problem was,” Rebecca recalled, “my dad was going through a real rough time and going through a lot of depression. I just felt like it was a bad time to be there, so I moved back to Racine.”

She quickly found two great jobs, working as a shift manager for Burger King and also at a warehouse. The income enabled her to sign a lease for a beautiful new apartment. But two months after she returned to Wisconsin, she got the word: Her father committed suicide.

“I really blamed myself,” she said. “He was all alone. I thought that, maybe, if I’d stayed, he wouldn’t have done it. I felt so bad, I had to take time off work. I didn’t feel like doing anything. Then, I fell behind in my rent and I got evicted. I hopped around from house to house, living with family. But when my son, Zeus, was born in March, I knew I had to make some changes.”

That’s when she came to Joy House, our shelter for women with children. “I liked that this is a Christian shelter,” she says. “I need that biblical foundation to build something better for my son and me. They’re giving me the life-tools I need to live better and stay focused on the life God has for me.”

This Christmas, thanks to you, as Rebecca continues to rebuild her life, she will celebrate more than the birth of a child — she will celebrate the One who made her new life possible.