{"parish":{"localizations":[{"locale":"es","slug":"assumption-grotto-es"}],"seo":{"metaTitle":"Assumption Grotto","metaDescription":"Eucharistic testimonies from Assumption Grotto Church in Detroit, MI","metaImage":{"url":"https://res.cloudinary.com/furrow/image/upload/v1654882069/i-am-here/220607_IAH_CVR_FB_CRD_01_58dbc6076b.png","alt":"220607_IAH-CVR_FB-CRD-01.png","width":1200,"height":630},"metaSocial":[{"socialNetwork":"Facebook","title":"Assumption Grotto","description":"Eucharistic testimonies from Assumption Grotto Church","image":{"url":"https://res.cloudinary.com/furrow/image/upload/v1654882069/i-am-here/220607_IAH_CVR_FB_CRD_01_58dbc6076b.png","alt":"220607_IAH-CVR_FB-CRD-01.png","width":1200,"height":630}},{"socialNetwork":"Twitter","title":"Assumption Grotto","description":"Eucharistic testimonies from Assumption Grotto Church","image":{"url":"https://res.cloudinary.com/furrow/image/upload/v1654882069/i-am-here/220607_IAH_CVR_FB_CRD_01_58dbc6076b.png","alt":"220607_IAH-CVR_FB-CRD-01.png","width":1200,"height":630}}],"keywords":null,"metaRobots":null},"name":"Assumption Grotto ","location":{"city":"Detroit","state":"MI"},"diocese":{"name":"Archdiocese of Detroit","slug":"archdiocese-of-detroit"},"cover":null,"stories":[{"title":"“I started to get the help I needed to heal the trauma” ","author":{"name":"Valerie Powell","age":null},"slug":"valerie-powell","featured":true,"cover":{"url":"https://res.cloudinary.com/furrow/image/upload/v1668113387/i-am-here/IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210.jpg","provider":"cloudinary","width":2808,"formats":{"large":{"ext":".jpg","url":"https://res.cloudinary.com/furrow/image/upload/v1668113389/i-am-here/large_IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210.jpg","hash":"large_IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210","mime":"image/jpeg","name":"large_IAMHERE-Powell-7.jpg","path":null,"size":83.15,"width":1000,"height":712,"provider_metadata":{"public_id":"i-am-here/large_IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210","resource_type":"image"}},"small":{"ext":".jpg","url":"https://res.cloudinary.com/furrow/image/upload/v1668113390/i-am-here/small_IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210.jpg","hash":"small_IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210","mime":"image/jpeg","name":"small_IAMHERE-Powell-7.jpg","path":null,"size":24.94,"width":500,"height":356,"provider_metadata":{"public_id":"i-am-here/small_IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210","resource_type":"image"}},"medium":{"ext":".jpg","url":"https://res.cloudinary.com/furrow/image/upload/v1668113389/i-am-here/medium_IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210.jpg","hash":"medium_IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210","mime":"image/jpeg","name":"medium_IAMHERE-Powell-7.jpg","path":null,"size":49.86,"width":750,"height":534,"provider_metadata":{"public_id":"i-am-here/medium_IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210","resource_type":"image"}},"thumbnail":{"ext":".jpg","url":"https://res.cloudinary.com/furrow/image/upload/v1668113388/i-am-here/thumbnail_IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210.jpg","hash":"thumbnail_IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210","mime":"image/jpeg","name":"thumbnail_IAMHERE-Powell-7.jpg","path":null,"size":6.85,"width":219,"height":156,"provider_metadata":{"public_id":"i-am-here/thumbnail_IAMHERE_Powell_7_5dee82f210","resource_type":"image"}}},"alternativeText":"IAMHERE-Powell-7.jpg"},"excerpt":"

I speak to and receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament every day. He has totally transformed my life from one of trauma, pain, and distrust to one of love and service! I finally feel loved, like I have worth as a human being, like a whole person! Now I’m able to help others who have suffered from painful trauma in their lives.

I was abused as a child and never told anyone. It made me distrustful, and I always felt like I needed to be in control. When you need to be in control and you can't be, it causes a breakdown. Trying to take control of my life, I eventually got involved in drugs and occult practices.

I came back to the faith because I heard this call—it was more like I hit rock bottom. When you hit rock bottom, you go back to the beginning and for me that was the Catholic Church. When I was a child, we were sent to catechism, but my family really didn't go to Mass or anything. And because my belief system wasn't really in place, I left the Church right after I was confirmed and started doing things that were contrary to the Catholic Church. I was already doing drugs in seventh grade, if you can imagine that! And so, when things got really bad, I just faded away, left, and tried to take control of my life.

The first time I came back to the faith was because I had a really bad occult experience, but I ended up leaving the Church again after a period of time. But I kept getting more depressed, and I was struggling. I began to come back the second time during the beginning of COVID, when I was at my worst. I didn't trust anybody, especially men. I didn't trust men at all.

I had been taught that Jesus was present in that tabernacle, so I went back to the Catholic Church again. I just started talking to Him. I said to Him, ‘If you’re really there, I'm doing really bad here. You need to help me. If you are really there, you need to help me because I can't do this anymore.’

I realized that I could keep talking to Him that way. Unbelievably, I felt consoled by this exchange. I kept coming back and talking to Him every day, and He led me to be able to receive Him in the Church.

I started to get the help I needed to heal the trauma, and with His help, I was able to give up drugs and the occult life. Coming to the Church was a hard thing! But, you know, when Jesus is trying to save you, He works really hard to try to save you.

Now I can’t imagine not receiving Him every day! I have never felt the love, peace, and joy like that which I share with Him! My heart is bursting with love and joy now, and I just want to share it with everybody.

There's so much—a whole story of Jesus just waiting for me to realize that He was there! I mean, He was always there; I just never went to Him because I had to have control of everything. And every day, I still have to go to Him and give Him everything, and try not to control things, because He takes better care of me than I could ever take care of myself or my family.

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