- [Narrator] Ever since she can remember,

Kendra Sikes longed forthe warmth of real love.

But growing up, cyclesof poverty and abuse

made her tender heart grow cold.

- My father was very abusive to my mother.

He suffered with crack addiction.

And my mother was also an alcoholic.

So, there was a lot offighting, a lot of arguing.

Watching my mother beslapped, or being choked,

that was mentally drainingfor me, so I felt like

I was failed as a little girl,

because that was my first experience

of knowing how a man wassupposed to treat a woman.

- [Narrator] At 14 yearsold, Kendra thought a baby

would bring her the love she lacked.

- I wanted that love, andI felt like the only way

I was gonna be able to get that

is if I had something of my own.

So that is when I started going around,

giving my body to different guys.

I got pregnant at 15 years old.

And then I had my child.

And then I realized that therewas still this void missing.

- [Narrator] So for the next three years,

she sought to fill the voidthe only way she knew how.

- I found myself in relationship with guys

that I saw, just like my father.

Abusive, they wanted to get high.

And, I honestly just didn't value myself.

All I knew was just goout, have fun, live life,

and just go get what you're looking for.

- [Narrator] Around 18, Kendra met Ken.

They had both dropped out of high school,

and over the years, the couplehad three children together.

But Kendra says thoseyears were tumultuous.

They were daily getting high off cocaine,

and Ken was increasingly violent

and physically abusive toward Kendra.

- Somebody who didn'tknow how to treat a man,

and then somebody who didn'tknow how to treat a woman,

you get together, and you have a big mess.

We were two broken people, andwe made a broken situation.

- [Narrator] For Kendra,life became unbearable.

- I remember, I just felt so hopeless.

And, I felt like the onlyway of escape was suicide.

I remember hearing thingslike, you should just go ahead

and just take your life.

This is all you have to hope for.

And I remember just taking knives,

and I would just cut my wrist.

And, I just felt like itwas some sense of relief.

But once I was donecutting, I was still here

in this reality, and I felt like nothing

was gonna get any better.

I knew there was a God,there was somebody out there

that did answer prayers, so I knew of Him,

but I didn't know Him, I didn't have

that close relationship with Jesus.

- [Narrator] At 23, Kendrawas alerted to the fact

that Ken was also physicallyabusing their children.

- I felt like that I failed as a mom.

Because I knew that mychildren were being abused.

And I felt like there's nothing I can do.

Because, I felt so weak at the moment,

I felt like I wasn't a good mom.

Because I just had thesebabies, because I felt like

I was trying to fill a void.

And I wasn't giving themwhat they were needing,

the same thing that I was looking for.

I wasn't giving to my children.

And I remember goingto get high that night,

just trying to fill the void of pain.

I used cocaine from nine a.m. all the way

until like six o'clock that morning.

- [Narrator] Kendra overdosed.

Afraid of dying, sheprayed for a second chance.

- And I felt, it's like, I felt my spirit

was literally leaving my body.

And my knees began to buckle,and I remember falling

down on the ground, and Ijust called out to Jesus.

Because I knew

that that was my only hope.

And I called out, Jesus.

Three times, I called His name.

I felt immediate strength in my body.

I was starting to breathe again.

It was something thatshifted inside of me.

I began to feel a love thatI had never felt before.

I felt that somebody has to love me,

to give me a second chance at life.

And that moment I realizedthat everything that I had

been searching for, everyvoid that I had been trying

to fill, was supposed to befilled through Jesus Christ.

- [Narrator] Kendra hasbeen sober since that day.

She began attending church regularly,

and reading the Bible.

Through God's love, she beganto see her life transform.

- He saved me, He gave mea second chance at life.

So I want to live for Him.

The only thing that I cravedwas to get to know Jesus.

Because if He loved meenough to save my life,

and give me another chance,I didn't want anything else.

I began to view myselfas a woman of value,

a woman of virtue.

I began to view myselfas who God said I was.

- [Narrator] Eventually,Ken's heart changed too.

- But I rememberbeginning to pray for him.

And God would wake me up atthree o'clock in the morning.

And He would tell me, doyou not think that I could

do the same thing tohim that I did for you?

And my prayers for him began to change.

There was a forgivenessthat took in place.

I began to pray thathe would be delivered.

I began to pray that he would be set free.

- [Narrator] Ken surrenderedhis life to Jesus,

and their family began to heal and grow.

Today, the couple is happily married.

Kendra says she found thelove she was looking for,

and so much more.

- We're what it means to be reconciled.

We're what it means to berenewed and be redeemed.

Now I know how to be a mother.

We all go to church together.

And it's just one big ball of happiness.

Your past does not determine your future.

If you're in a dark place,God can give you life.

If you're broken, He can make you whole.

He changed everything for me.

He can redeem you, he can set you free.

And He can change your path.