Zoe and Alfie turn their lives around
This story comes from Hertfort, England, but it could very well be from any of the major towns or cities in Australia. Alfie and Zoe, from the county town of Hertfordshire in England were just like many teenage girls they knew. Outwardly happy and together, but inwardly consumed by chaos, loneliness and despair.
Alfie’s sweet demeanour was a good disguise for the rough life she lived. Barely in her teens, Alfie was already caught up in a fast lifestyle of alcohol, drugs and a string of destructive relationships.
She was rapidly becoming just another victim of binge drinking and risk taking that is swallowing up so many teenagers in today’s hedonistic society. It’s a culture in which drug abuse, broken homes and underage alcohol abuse are all too commonplace.
“Looking back I can see that my life was heading in a bumpy direction, but I was just so young that I don’t think I gave it a second thought,” admits Alfie. “I didn’t have much motivation to try anything better. I didn’t realise it then, but my heart really was crying out for an escape... for love.”
Fortunately for Alfie, a number of Young Life leaders came into contact with her, and saw through her bravado, realising she was on a downward self-destructive path.
“They would come into me and my friends’ environment and just talk to us, love us and hang out with us no matter where we had been or what we were doing,” she remembers. “I didn’t really understand why they would want to do this. I’d never experienced anything like this before, but it was certainly attractive.”
It wasn’t long before Alfie and a friend were invited to come to a ‘WyldLife’ camp for tweens and young teens run by Young Life in her hometown. She went, not knowing there would also be a Christian element to the adventure camp. Alfie learned a lot that week, including the forgiveness and love of Jesus Christ. “I didn’t hesitate,” she said. “I was so attracted to this love that I had to accept it.”
When Alfie came home from camp, she vowed to give up the booze and the partying and instead throw her energy and passion into finding out as much about Christ as she could. Soon after, she began attending a Young Life bible study and a local church.
“I still didn’t quite understand everything about Jesus, God, the Bible and everything else that follows, but this didn’t put me off. The love I was experiencing was so addictive that I kept coming. For once in my life I had purpose. I had somewhere I belonged.” But her “honeymoon period,” as she recalls it, began to fade. “Reality kicked in and I realised I still had the same problems prior to going to camp.”
As Alfie took steps forward, she stumbled backwards just as much. Yet, her Young Life leaders were there for her with every tumble, to help get her back on her feet.
She continued to go to Young Life and church, but was also sinking deeper into drug addiction, skipping school, becoming very depressed and feeling utterly lost. “I couldn’t even hold a conversation,” she admits.
Then one night after some deep contemplation at church, she decided to stop the slide and share her faith and commitment to a change for the better, with a younger friend she had met recently.
Zoe was stumbling down a similar rocky road of drinking, drugs and apathy as Alfie had. So she invited Zoe along to a Young Life camp at Rasaay, a picturesque island off the coast of Scotland, for a week that was destined to transform both of them.
The girls returned full of enthusiasm to turn their lives around for good. “We began to support and encourage each other in our own personal walk, rather than pulling each other down,” says Alfie.
The pair grew in their faith and booked themselves into the Christian-based ‘Future Hope’ drug counselling program. They also stood side by side at Zoe’s adult baptism, where about 150 of their non-Christian family and friends came along to watch.
Alfie and Zoe continue to reach out to support other young people who are crying out for understanding and acceptance. Alfie is serving at a church, volunteering for their children’s ministry, while Zoe is involved with Young Life as a leader in Hertford.
Zoe credits her positive turnaround to the care and involvement of Young Life, her church and Future Hope, along with her own commitment to Christianity. Like Alfie, she had wandered a long way off course before finding a powerful hope to hold on to.
Article Date: 27.05.2008
Author: Philip Jenkinson
Information Source: ‘Shining through’ author Aimee Kessick. Rewritten with permission from ‘Relationships’ Magazine.
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