“All things are possible through Christ,” said Jodi Keys. “Like, if I can fix this, anybody can. If I can become this new person, who is not angry, others can do this too. I’m not the same person I once was.”
For years, Jodi believed she could manage her recovery on her own terms. After maintaining 19 years of sobriety through traditional programs, her life unraveled following a move back to Pennsylvania. The painful breakdown of a decade-long marriage, coupled with her daughter growing up and moving away, left an overwhelming sense of loss. Unemployed and disconnected from her old hometown, Jodi struggled to find her purpose.
“I didn’t know who I was anymore,” Jodi recalled of that time in her life. “I wasn’t anyone’s wife. I wasn’t anyone’s mother who needed me to be a mommy and I couldn’t fill this hole. The hole was so deep and painful, and I just felt like everyone left me.”
Despite a friend’s persistent encouragement to join M28 Ministry, Jodi remained deeply resistant to faith and guarded against church. The heavy emotional weight eventually led to a relapse, plunging her into 11 months of active addiction.
The Hands of Grace
Even during her lowest moments, the community around M28 refused to give up on her. A compassionate admissions staff member continuously offered help without judgment, patiently waiting through canceled attempts until Jodi finally committed to a 35-day treatment program.
Upon returning home, crisis struck when her supportive friend, who would later become her fiancé, suffered sudden liver failure. While sitting by his hospital bed, Jodi met with Pastor Jim and Brenda from M28 for the very first time. Expecting rigid judgment, she found unconditional care, prayer, and community instead.
“I had been so damaged that I had turned my path totally on God. And I thought it was such a safe environment in M28. They always saw Christ in me even when I never saw Him in myself.”
Through this experience, Jodi surrendered her burdens and began regularly attending M28, finding a community that embraced her with open arms and offered a sense of family she had missed for years.
A New Creation
Today, nearly nine months sober, Jodi stands transformed. She recently celebrated her baptism, symbolizing a total break from her past patterns of anger and isolation. Alongside her fiancé, she remains actively involved in M28, mentoring, and transporting other women from facilities to church services.
Where past achievements, career roles, and personal relationships could never permanently fill her inner void, Jodi attributes her ongoing healing and peace entirely to her faith.
