Vision of Hope is grateful for our interns, and we see God’s hand in bringing each intern our way with their different gifts to help build up the body of Christ at Vision of Hope. They help keep this program running! We count on our interns to supervise the residents and help disciple them in the day to day activities that happen at Vision of Hope. Interns are the ones on the front lines, interacting with the residents, helping in crisis situations, and being there for the residents to help them apply what they are learning in counseling when they are struggling.
Vision of Hope is always looking for interns to join our team. If you are interested in joining our internship team, please contact Annie Martin, our Intern Coordinator, at amartin@faithlafayette.org.
Over the next several weeks, we want to introduce our readers to our new interns who joined the team in July. These interns are already making an impact on the lives of the residents as they serve with compassion and excellence.
Elia is a former resident and graduate of Vision of Hope, currently serving as an intern. Her favorite Bible verse is Psalm 18:30 because it speaks to how God’s way is true, and His timing is perfect. She is originally from Delaware, Newark.
Elia came in to VOH with severe relationship issues with guys and her parents. She was mainly focused on having satisfaction and ran her life based on her emotions. She came unwillingly to Vision of Hope, per the request of her parents. In fact, it was during the first week of her stay at VOH that she was ready to leave. However, her mom convinced her to hold it out for the week. Eventually a week turned into two weeks, and two weeks into three, and so on and so forth. Elia comments that having counseling every week and having the support of her mom encouraging her to stick it out really helped, even if the first three months were really hard.
After several weeks of counseling, she came to a realization. She states, “I knew I truly needed to be here.” Although Elia used to say that the main reason she wanted to go home was because she missed her family, she came to the realization that it was just her sin battle and unwillingness to face her sin. When she did face her sin, she realized that she was dealing with her emotions and relationships improperly. She states that VOH really put into perspective her idols—they helped her realize what she was living her life by and what she was running on, which wasn’t God. They helped her switch her focus and learn how to not run her life by the desire for satisfaction.
Throughout the program, Elia started to see a visible change in her life. The wishing to leave and unwillingness to face her sin turned into a love for VOH and a desire to stay in contact with them. It is because of this desire that Elia, after graduating the program, became a Vision of Hope Intern. Elia comments, “Even though I was still in Phase 1, VOH was already doing so much for me. By the time I got to Phase 3 I wanted to give back.”
Elia comments that one of the best things about Vision of Hope is the relationships and perspectives you will get nowhere else. She says, “There’s just a certain relationship that you get here—so many believers striving to fight sin in such a close proximity and trying to glorify the Lord. You are FIGHTING sin the whole time.”
Elia is staying faithful to the Lord to this day and is still a part time intern at VOH while working full time at Shine On University. She is in a godly relationship and has learned a lot from her time at Vision of Hope.
