Homes for Families Mom Graduates High School

DEBBIE CASTILLO WALKED AWAY from high school as a teenager with no thoughts of looking back.

Homes for Families (HFF) has been both a comfort and a challenge for Debbie as she’s struggled to become a healthy adult. It took several attempts, but she was able to persevere with the strength she found in her relationship with Jesus Christ and the encouragement of her extended HFF family.

She has learned through the HFF program, that God did not create her to be a quitter and on May 24, 2019, Debbie walked the stage at Goliad High School and received her diploma. As she reflects over the recent past, she is astonished by the changes within her heart. She remembers asking God, “How come I didn’t believe that good things are for me too? He said because you didn’t know what was good, acceptable, pleasing to God (see Philippians 4:8) and now you do.”

Debbie’s children inspire her to pursue a better future. “When my kids were taken away by CPS years ago, I knew deep down inside there’s got to be a better and different way than this,” Debbie admits. She recognizes that life will always have conflicts, but the thought does not deter her. She can now identify herself as her own biggest skeptic, but she has learned that God has always known who He created her to be. “I truly believe from the depths of my soul He doesn’t leave us as He finds us and that motivated me to keep coming back to finish what He has started in me (Philippians 1:6),” Debbie confidently claims.

On graduation night, the entire HFF family cheered as Debbie received her diploma and moved her tassel, but the voices that rang loudest in her ears were her proud children. Circumstances have changed for the better since that fateful day when she thought she had lost them forever. “It has been a long road for them,” she acknowledges. “Proverbs 31:28 says, ‘Her children arise and call her blessed.’ and I stand on those words.”

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