- [Victoria] Everythingthat happened in that world.

I wasn't in control of it.

- [Narrator] A little girls made up world,

one where everything was perfect.

- It was always about me.

People loving on me, peopletaking good care of me.

- [Narrator] For VictoriaBatiste it was to escape a world

where her parents were often drunk or high

and, at times, violent,especially her father

who used the Bible to justifyhis harsh brand of punishment.

- A few times of himslamming me on the ground

and choking me.

Thine arm offends me, cut it off.

Like he basically, he was saying

that I'll just cut youoff and leave you behind.

- [Narrator] Then therewas the verbal abuse,

the constant reminders of howshe was never good enough.

- I hated myself,

I felt like maybe somethingwas wrong with me.

- [Narrator] When Victoria was five,

other voices entered her life.

Voices only she could hear.

(electricity buzzing)

- They started to tell me that I'm special

and that I'm not like other people

and I can never be accepted.

- [Narrator] In the coming years,

Victoria began exploring the supernatural,

a search that led her

to the study and practice of witchcraft.

All the while there were the voices,

encouraging her, leading the way.

- I felt like they understood me.

The witchcraft becamemore to me than just play

because I knew that stuff was real.

Deeper and deeper I would go into it.

I would astral projection,

that's where you projectyour soul out of your body

and you travel in the spirit realm.

That's where I felt like I had power.

- [Narrator] Even then itdidn't give her the power

to escape the ongoing chaos at home.

So, when she was a teenager,she set witchcraft aside

for another form of escape, opioids.

- It was like it altered something in me,

like I was happy.

Like the pain, the heaviness,

the emotions that I felt whenI woke up every day as a kid,

I didn't feel them anymore.

This is something that helped me cope

with what was really goingon on the inside of my head.

- [Narrator] Victoria cameto depend on those drugs

throughout high school.

For a while they were enough,

until one night, after aheated argument with their mom,

a 17 year old Victoriaheard a familiar voice.

- If you just give your life to the Devil

then everything will be okay.

And I was just like, okay.

- [Narrator] The next thing Victoria knew

she had her hands aroundher mother's neck.

- I almost choked mymom to death at night.

Couldn't tell you why Istopped choking my mom,

I just know I did.

- [Narrator] Somethinghad changed in Victoria.

As her life began to spiral further

she had several miscarriages,bounced from place to place,

and the voices that once offered comfort

now tormented her constantly.

- They just became aggressive.

They would torment me inthe middle of the night,

I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe,

I couldn't see anything.

It was like I was being choked to death.

And my heart at that time was just,

I mean it was just broken.

There was nothing butdeath on the inside of me.

- [Narrator] The onlybright spot in that time

was when Victoria, now 18,

received a Bible from a family friend.

She agreed to read it every day.

However, it wasn't until a year later

that the truth of God'sword began to sink in.

She was crashing in the hotelwhere her dad was staying

and couldn't sleep.

- My dad wakes up andhe's like, what's wrong?

All these thoughts swirlingthrough my head of the Bible

and I was like, I gotta dosomething different, man.

I don't want to be like this

and I don't want mykid growing up in this.

The last words that my dad told me

before he kicked me outof the hotel room was,

Jesus can't save nobody.

And I was at a point in my life

where I just didn't believe that no more.

- [Narrator] On thestreets with nowhere to go

Victoria again heard a voice,

a different voice thatsaid, go to the church.

- My shoes broke, I literallyjust broke down in tears

and I was just like, Devil,giving up is not an option.

I'm not doing this anymore.

In that moment

I felt like that's when Idestroyed my contract with him.

- [Narrator] When shereached the church doorsteps,

Vitoria fell to her knees and cried.

Several church members,arriving for the service,

asked if she was okay?

- I said, no, I'm 19 years old,

I'm three and a half months pregnant,

I don't have nowhere to go.

This lady walks up to me and she goes,

honey, do you need meto take you somewhere?

And in that moment, that'swhen I started to recognize

that that was God'svoice and I surrendered.

That was it.

Like I was okay, God, this isit, you want me to serve you,

you want me to give my life to you?

Here I am.

- [Narrator] Those that stopped

helped Victoria into the church

where she gave her life to Christ.

Her opioid addiction,the demonic influences

and lies she believedabout God and herself

began to shatter.

- I started to realizethat he was a loving God

and he was a father andhe was there all along.

I'm ready to do whatever you want me to do

because what I did beforewas not working. (laughs)

- [Narrator] The church senther to a women's shelter

before she eventuallylanded at a retreat in Texas

for victims of domestic abuse.

There, her faith grew

and she gave birth to herhealthy son, Nehemiah.

She's now studying social work

and living a full lifewith Christ at the center.

- I don't have to escape anything.

When I have an issue, I run to God

and I say, Lord, what do we need to do?

I am saved. I am healed.

I didn't care about nothing else

but what the Lord wanted to do.

It changed my life forever.