Niki Fontaine grew up knowing and loving God, but that all changed when she went through a traumatic childhood experience. After that she nearly ruined her life with substance abuse and alcohol, but God had other plans for her. Now she has a testimony of deliverance she wants to share with the world.
Turning to the destructive path
Niki’s life turned upside down when she was just 9 years old and a family member began molesting her. Ever since that time she carried around a lot of emotional pain. She went from having a pure child-like faith to hurt and resentment towards God. She still believed in Him, but she couldn’t understand why He would allow such a thing to happen to a child.
She didn’t know how to tell her parents about the abuse, so she turned to self-harm to ease her internal struggles. When she got into high school things got even worse for her. She started drinking and partying to escape the emotional torment, and not long after found herself hooked on Oxycontin. To her, as long as she had it, nothing else mattered, but then her boyfriend introduced her to heroin.
At this point, Niki noticed the person she had become. She would look in the mirror, and would feel so disgusted with herself. She was already feeling so lost and hopeless.
In 2013, while high on heroin, she got into what should have been a fatal car accident. She was spared from the head-on collision, but while healing in the hospital she called her drug dealer. When she couldn’t pay he demanded sexual favors. Still, with a hardened heart, she refused to pray and ask God for help.
The turning point
When Niki got home from the hospital, she suddenly became homeless after a family member kicked her out following a violent argument. Realizing again how broken she was, she turned to drugs again and did anything to get them. Then one day she was arrested on an old warrant. She acted tough when they cuffed her but once she was inside her cell, she just broke down on her knees and started asking God to help her.
“Something was different about this time,” Niki said. “When I was on my knees, that burden of hatred and disgust to self and all that, it kind of lightened…I just had faith again for the first time in so long.”
Since that day she surrendered to God and went to rehab after getting out of jail. There, she was able to stay clean and sober. Things were slowly starting to change in her life as she allowed God to deliver and heal her from her pain. She began praying daily and all the pain she felt turned into love, joy, and peace. Today, Niki is letting God use her by running a sober house where she helps addicts find hope and life again.
