The Rosary was a lifeline for human trafficking survivor, now a resident at Anne’s Anchor maternity home
.jpg)
Elizabeth was too far gone to realize that her once-beautiful mind was disintegrating.
The drugs, the repeated trauma and the infections had claimed her sanity and nearly all of her intellect.
“I’ve always been very capable, very intelligent,” she noted. “Through all of my struggles and trials, I held onto this arrogant fallacy that I could go right back to being the smartest person in the room whenever I chose to.”
Yet, by this time, she was being trafficked by the man she was living with — the same man who had also gotten her addicted to narcotics.
“I got an infection,” she added. “A unique part of this particular infection is that you go crazy. You lose it. It became a daily struggle just to keep a sane thought in my head.”
The only thing that made any sense anymore was praying the Rosary — something she and her large Catholic family had done together every night while she was growing up.
And now, it was her lifeline.
“I had this infection for 4 or 5 years,” she noted. “I was in the last stage of it. I was able to stop using drugs, and I was still crazy — I can’t even express the depth of the insanity.
“I call that when I hit rock-bottom,” she said.
The red beads strung together with a crucifix brought her peace and several moments of lucidity that likely saved her life.
“I still don’t know how I made it out alive,” she said. “I’m convinced that that’s where God came in.”
Then and now
Elizabeth and her children are now flourishing.
They’ve been residents of Anne’s Anchor transformational maternity home since July.
Anne’s Anchor is a locally-funded interfaith nonprofit agency that provides a safe, welcoming community for pregnant women who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
It is named in honor of St. Anne, mother of the Blessed Mother and grandmother of Jesus.
The agency’s staff and board of directors are committed to helping the residents, as well as nonresident clients in the community, acquire the skills they need to become the best parents, providers and community members they can be.
Residential clients commit to spending a full year in the program but may end up living at the home for several years with their children, saving up money and acquiring valuable life skills.
The goal is to help young mothers learn how to do for their families what St. Anne helped Mary prepare to do as mother of the Savior.
Clients use the “My Ridiculously Amazing Life” curriculum developed by Jane Dalton, executive director of the Bridges program in Rolla.
That challenging and effective method for teaching essential life and parenting skills focuses on seven core competencies for achieving self-sufficiency.
Ideally, that means earning enough money to support herself and her children in their own home, while maintaining a strong relationship with Jesus.
Hard work and accountability play a large role in creating that kind of environment.
“The people here in this community are very genuine and they keep their promises,” said Elizabeth. “That makes it easier for me to do the same.”
She now maintains a 4.0 grade-point average at Moberly Area Community College while studying to be a history teacher. She has been able to maintain her sobriety for 14 months.
Her children are growing up in a loving, family environment.
“I’d say we’ve flourished since being here — meaning to grow in an abundant way,” she said. “I’m excited about my future and I feel like there are many victories to come.”
Valley of tears
Elizabeth was the 10th of 14 children born to her parents. They were homeschooled in safe suburban neighborhoods while learning and practicing their Catholic faith.
She called her childhood amazing.
“I can’t imagine growing up in any other kind of family,” she stated. “We learned a lot of things I think most people miss out on.”
They went to Mass together on Sundays and holydays. They prayed the Rosary every night as a family.
“For a few years, I went to daily Mass,” Elizabeth recalled. “I received the Sacraments. There was just this awareness that God is always present.”
Her oldest brother entered a high school seminary at age 15 and went on to become a priest.
Elizabeth attended in-person high school and graduated with a 4.0 GPA, receiving several scholarships for college.
But college meant losing her way.
“Boys were difficult,” she recalled. “I was really pretty and that was just too much. “It was a struggle on and off for many years.”
Before she realized it, she was being trafficked.
“For those who don’t know,” she explained, “the difference between prostitution and human trafficking is, in prostitution you sell yourself. Trafficking is when someone, who is usually violent and frightening, sells you.
“It is horrible and awful, and really sad, and I see now that only God could lead me through it,” she said.
Her mind and spirit were collapsing.
“In a very old and Biblical sense, I was wallowing in the depths of depravity and iniquity,” she stated. “It distorted my view to the point of being in a whole different universe.
“Seeing God or feeling his presence was nearly impossible for me,” she said.
Elizabeth had always pictured God as being very warm and loving.
“But there did come a time when he had to show me, ‘Look at everything I gave to you, and you’re squandering it, and I have the power to take it away from you,’” she said.
Pray for us sinners
People who were out of money would steal things and try to barter with Elizabeth’s owner for drugs. One person traded in a red rosary.
“He must have thought it was pretty or maybe valuable, so he kept it,” Elizabeth recalled.
She offered him $10 for it.
“I felt bad buying it from him, but I knew I needed it,” she said. “So it was like, ‘I will not buy drugs from you, but I will buy that.’”
She took it home to the place where she was living and being sold.
“I kneeled down in the kitchen and started praying,” she said. “I didn’t know where else to turn. And that’s where the spiritual experience began.”
She prayed it once. Then again. And again.
“I know I was still nuts when I started praying it, but something happened,” she said. “The Holy Spirit took over.”
A moment of lucidity allowed her to call and ask a friend to take her to the police department to report what was being done to her.
It was getting cold and she had nowhere else to go, but she was determined to leave after he threatened her life again.
“I think that’s the one thing up until now that I’ve been most sure of: I had to leave, and it was going to be okay,’” she said.
She lived in a vacant house for a few weeks.
Then, she went to an outpatient appointment at an elaborate Catholic ministry that provides treatment and housing for women with substance-use disorders.
The initial evaluation included a drug test and a pregnancy test.
“The woman said, ‘Do you know you’re pregnant?’” Elizabeth recalled. “I said, ‘No.’”
Upon finding out about the baby, who was Elizabeth’s second child, she checked into the inpatient program.
Her brother, the priest, was stationed at a nearby church. She often went there for Mass and to visit him.
She got treatment for her infection and started to recover.
“I didn’t really appreciate how slow my mind had gotten until God started giving it back to me,” she said.
She later moved to a Catholic maternity home and started taking college classes. The home was in a rough neighborhood, and Elizabeth wanted someplace safer for her and her children.
Her sister gave her the phone number for Anne’s Anchor in Bowling Green.
“I called, and we went through kind of a lengthy interview to see if I’m a good fit here,” Elizabeth recalled.
She moved to Anne’s Anchor in July of this year, becoming an active member of St. Clement Parish in St. Clement and having her baby daughter, Constantine, baptized.
Thine eyes of mercy
Elizabeth said buying a rosary from a drug dealer helped her realize that God is everywhere.
“Until then, I had this feeling that because I was surrounded by so much sin, God surely couldn’t find me there,” she stated.
“But seeing that crucifix and that rosary in that place, from that person, drove the point home for me that Jesus really did conquer sin, and I didn’t need to live that way anymore,” she said.
Her parents and siblings are happy to see her rebuilding her life and becoming stronger in her faith than she’s ever been.
“They said that this was what they’ve been praying for for a really long time,” she said.
Georgia Hearn, Anne’s Anchor’s Executive Director, said the home is a better place because Elizabeth lives there.
“She’s inspiring,” said Mrs. Hearn, a member of St. Clement Parish. “She is the best mom to Constantine. It’s been amazing to see her story unfold and see her be able to become the mom that God always knew she could be.”
Elizabeth is overcoming the kind of challenges most people never have to endure.
“And she has done it so gracefully,” said Mrs. Hearn. “It’s a true blessing to see all of this unfold.”
Elizabeth is deeply grounded in her faith and eager to help the other mothers and children.
“Anne’s Anchor started because we wanted to help mothers like Elizabeth,” said Mrs. Hearn, “moms who might have gone down the wrong path in one way or another but are truly trying and want something better for themselves and for their children.”
Nothing the women do there is easy, but the program is designed to help them seize successful parenthood.
“And Elizabeth just takes it and runs with it, every opportunity she’s given,” said Mrs. Hearn.
“My identity is so thoroughly enmeshed in my Catholic faith and my family,” said Elizabeth. “I want my children to know God and to be examples of God’s love in the world.”
