“Knowing that I am a child of God now – it’s a beautiful thing. I already had that identity. I just didn’t know it.”
Robert grew up surrounded by the beauty of the St. Mary’s River, fishing and camping with his family. His stepfather was a steady influence, but when his parents separated, Robert’s life slowly unraveled. “My stepdad was the backbone of my schooling,” he says. “After he left, I just didn’t care anymore.”
After his parents divorced, Robert dropped out of school and started working at age 14. The destructive and toxic pull of the streets began shaping his decisions. Over time, the desire to feel valued led him down a dangerous path.
“I started selling drugs because it made me feel that people needed me,” Robert says. “It gave me a purpose. Eventually, though, I wasn’t just selling. I was using, too.”
For years, Robert cycled in and out of jail, caught in a pattern he couldn’t break. But even in the darkest places, God was planting seeds.
“I had a praying grandmother. She’d tell me, ‘You’re going to lose everything if you keep going like this.’ And every time I landed behind bars, I ended up among a group of people doing Bible studies.”
Despite the chaos of his life, something deeper was stirring. He began feeling a longing he couldn’t explain. “I didn’t even realize that reading the Bible was filling that void,” Robert says. “Every time I opened it, I felt a little better.”
In 2023, just four months after his latest release from incarceration, Robert found himself back where he started – unemployed and selling drugs to stay afloat. One night, reality took hold. He sat on the floor with his head in his hands and said, “I’m done. I know there’s more to life than this.”
That’s when his life began to change.
Robert was rearrested on a previous charge, and once again found himself in jail, surrounded by men seeking God and studying His Word. This time, he asked for help. He was offered three options: prison, a treatment facility or a bed at the faith-based City Rescue Mission. Robert chose the Mission. “When they said ‘faith-based,’ I knew that was what I needed.”
Robert arrived at our doors with nothing but the clothes on his back. But what he found was far more than his physical necessities. He found a community… and a calling.
“The people here loved on me from the very beginning,” he says. “They gave me encouragement and the support I needed to pursue God.”
Robert joined the Mission’s LifeBuilders program – which consists of Christ-centered counseling, life-skills development, work readiness and more. He began to heal from the anger and pain that had ruled his life. He found purpose in maintenance work and community service. And he even became a Downtown Ambassador for the city of Jacksonville.
Spiritually, his transformation has been even greater.
“Now, I talk to God about everything. I ask Him before I make decisions. I wait. I listen. I know He’s in control, and that brings me peace.”
Today, Robert is living a life rooted in faith and filled with gratitude. He serves with a local church and volunteers for food distributions. He looks forward to the many ways he can be a positive example of what God’s grace can do.The comforts we often take for granted, like clean sheets, a warm blanket and wholesome food made Vanessa feel safe – and valued for perhaps the very first time. Although she’d stayed in shelters before, Vanessa could tell our holistic approach to life transformation was different.
