PARDONED
As soon as Janet Valencia got out of juvenile detention when she was 12, her mother sent her to live with her father in California—hoping to distance her from friends with whom she had recently gotten caught trying to steal a car.
This could be a story where the influence of Janet’s father helped set her on a good path forward. But it isn’t.
Janet’s father abused her sexually and physically for the next year and a half. Although she told her mother, at first, her mother thought she was just saying that to come home again to Nebraska. No formal charges were ever brought against her father. Instead, Janet tried to follow her mother’s advice “to move past it,” as her mother had once attempted to do, after suffering her own abuse as a child.
Sweeping it under the rug did nothing to remove the trauma and shame Janet felt. It clung to her, growing like mold. At 14, she began to drink regularly and use heroin and cocaine to try to “get past” her trauma. When 18, she married and had her first daughter. Yet she couldn’t overcome her drug addictions. They became all-consuming...and expensive. To pay for them, Janet turned to crime.
This could be a story where the influence of Janet’s father helped set her on a good path forward. But it isn’t.
Janet’s father abused her sexually and physically for the next year and a half. Although she told her mother, at first, her mother thought she was just saying that to come home again to Nebraska. No formal charges were ever brought against her father. Instead, Janet tried to follow her mother’s advice “to move past it,” as her mother had once attempted to do, after suffering her own abuse as a child.
Sweeping it under the rug did nothing to remove the trauma and shame Janet felt. It clung to her, growing like mold. At 14, she began to drink regularly and use heroin and cocaine to try to “get past” her trauma. When 18, she married and had her first daughter. Yet she couldn’t overcome her drug addictions. They became all-consuming...and expensive. To pay for them, Janet turned to crime.
"I know what it is to feel as if there’s nowhere to turn. I don’t want my clients to feel that way. I don’t want anybody to feel that way ever."
Over the next ten years, she was in and out of federal and state prison for prostitution, drug possession, and auto theft, and she went through a divorce.
It was during one of her incarcerations that Janet learned about Jesus for the first time. Another inmate invited her to attend a Sunday service at the prison. Janet’s initial thought was, “Oh my gosh, so this is what it feels like...peace within, no matter where you’re at.” But her active pursuit of a relationship with God was still many years off. It would take experiencing some very close calls first.
After being released from prison in 2000, Janet returned to her old ways. One night, she woke up to hear someone say, “She’s coming to.” Opening her eyes, she found herself blinking up at a paramedic, who had just given her Narcan to neutralize the lethal dose of drugs in her system. “You were dead,” he said bluntly. “You were just lucky you weren’t brain dead.”
“Even in active addiction,” Janet said, “I can remember praying to God and him removing me from certain situations.” It was just that the “removing” sometimes came in the form of getting arrested or finding herself in the hospital, forced to detox. Her attempts to stay clean on her own didn’t work though. Eventually a dangerous infection from IV drug use set in that cost Janet a rib and part of a lung.
Yet even then, she went back into active addiction. She would disappear into the streets for days at a time. When her mother died, Janet did not find out until twelve days later. Grieving the loss of her mother, Janet spiraled, using drugs more and more to get through her days.
In 2006, while Janet was in jail for a probation violation, she kept thinking, What will my kids think if I die on the streets? What will happen to them? Mom’s gone. Who will take care of them? (By this time, she had three daughters.) Her lawyer told her to expect to be sent back to prison. With a sudden sense of urgency, she prayed for a way to overcome these addictions before they destroyed not only her, but also her children.
Standing in front of the judge, she promised, “I’m done. I’m done.”
“What’s different this time?” he asked, giving her a chance to speak.
Janet told him, “I’m just so tired of living like this. I want a different life. For me and my kids.
He nodded. “Okay then.”
The judge said “yes” to Janet when so many people had said “no” in her life. She wasn’t going to waste that “yes.” She attended vocational rehabilitation, learning how to work and how to keep a house. She got a job at Pizza Hut because her shift manager, Brian, said “yes,” to her, too. And then, others followed.
Over the next ten years, she was in and out of federal and state prison for prostitution, drug possession, and auto theft, and she went through a divorce.
It was during one of her incarcerations that Janet learned about Jesus for the first time. Another inmate invited her to attend a Sunday service at the prison. Janet’s initial thought was, “Oh my gosh, so this is what it feels like...peace within, no matter where you’re at.” But her active pursuit of a relationship with God was still many years off. It would take experiencing some very close calls first.
After being released from prison in 2000, Janet returned to her old ways. One night, she woke up to hear someone say, “She’s coming to.” Opening her eyes, she found herself blinking up at a paramedic, who had just given her Narcan to neutralize the lethal dose of drugs in her system. “You were dead,” he said bluntly. “You were just lucky you weren’t brain dead.”
“Even in active addiction,” Janet said, “I can remember praying to God and him removing me from certain situations.” It was just that the “removing” sometimes came in the form of getting arrested or finding herself in the hospital, forced to detox. Her attempts to stay clean on her own didn’t work though. Eventually a dangerous infection from IV drug use set in that cost Janet a rib and part of a lung.
Yet even then, she went back into active addiction. She would disappear into the streets for days at a time. When her mother died, Janet did not find out until twelve days later. Grieving the loss of her mother, Janet spiraled, using drugs more and more to get through her days.
In 2006, while Janet was in jail for a probation violation, she kept thinking, What will my kids think if I die on the streets? What will happen to them? Mom’s gone. Who will take care of them? (By this time, she had three daughters.) Her lawyer told her to expect to be sent back to prison. With a sudden sense of urgency, she prayed for a way to overcome these addictions before they destroyed not only her, but also her children.
Standing in front of the judge, she promised, “I’m done. I’m done.”
“What’s different this time?” he asked, giving her a chance to speak.
Janet told him, “I’m just so tired of living like this. I want a different life. For me and my kids.
He nodded. “Okay then.”
The judge said “yes” to Janet when so many people had said “no” in her life. She wasn’t going to waste that “yes.” She attended vocational rehabilitation, learning how to work and how to keep a house. She got a job at Pizza Hut because her shift manager, Brian, said “yes,” to her, too. And then, others followed.
When a friend told her about Celebrate Recovery at the North Charleston Dream Center, she decided to give it a try. The open-armed support she found there, surprised her. She attended all the meetings, and as soon as she finished the eight required books that were part of the course, she started them over. She also began going to church regularly.
Janet went back to school and earned her GED. She eventually regained custody of her three daughters. (Though it took 13 years due to her drug history, she did not give up.) And in 2012, Janet received an official pardon, her record literally stamped: PARDONED. She was forgiven. What she’d done in the past could no longer be held against her.
Pardoned. Forgiven. “I felt cleansed by God,” Janet said. “I felt new...free.” Janet realized that Jesus had expunged her record, pardoning her past. Never again would it be held against her.
Janet went on to get her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and is now a clinical counselor. “I chose to work with people with addictions,” she said, “because I was there, where my clients are. I know what it is to feel as if there’s nowhere to turn. I don’t want my clients to feel that way. I don’t want anybody to feel that way ever. I would never tell someone to 'just get over it.' Then, they wouldn’t get the help they need. Like I didn’t for so long. I want people to know it’s possible. There’s life after drugs.”
Janet thanks God every day for the people in her life. “I have a great support structure at work and at church,” she said. “My sister, Diana, and my best friends, Kelly and Susan. Both Seacoast campuses I’ve attended—Summerville and North Charleston— they never made me feel judged as I struggled to overcome my addictions. They really mean it, to come as you are. I went through a lot of darkness, but now I can show people what God can do.” While volunteering at Seacoast Summerville’s warming shelter in the winter of 2023, Janet recognized one of the men experiencing homelessness. She’d known him from her time on the streets. “Do you remember me?” she’d asked.
He didn’t at first. “That was you? You look so different.”
“Yes. It can happen for you, too.”
Janet told him that he had a purpose. That no matter what happened in his life, he was resilient. He could start over and have a good life. God had plans for him.
“He has plans for us all.”
Janet went back to school and earned her GED. She eventually regained custody of her three daughters. (Though it took 13 years due to her drug history, she did not give up.) And in 2012, Janet received an official pardon, her record literally stamped: PARDONED. She was forgiven. What she’d done in the past could no longer be held against her.
Pardoned. Forgiven. “I felt cleansed by God,” Janet said. “I felt new...free.” Janet realized that Jesus had expunged her record, pardoning her past. Never again would it be held against her.
Janet went on to get her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and is now a clinical counselor. “I chose to work with people with addictions,” she said, “because I was there, where my clients are. I know what it is to feel as if there’s nowhere to turn. I don’t want my clients to feel that way. I don’t want anybody to feel that way ever. I would never tell someone to 'just get over it.' Then, they wouldn’t get the help they need. Like I didn’t for so long. I want people to know it’s possible. There’s life after drugs.”
Janet thanks God every day for the people in her life. “I have a great support structure at work and at church,” she said. “My sister, Diana, and my best friends, Kelly and Susan. Both Seacoast campuses I’ve attended—Summerville and North Charleston— they never made me feel judged as I struggled to overcome my addictions. They really mean it, to come as you are. I went through a lot of darkness, but now I can show people what God can do.” While volunteering at Seacoast Summerville’s warming shelter in the winter of 2023, Janet recognized one of the men experiencing homelessness. She’d known him from her time on the streets. “Do you remember me?” she’d asked.
He didn’t at first. “That was you? You look so different.”
“Yes. It can happen for you, too.”
Janet told him that he had a purpose. That no matter what happened in his life, he was resilient. He could start over and have a good life. God had plans for him.
“He has plans for us all.”
For more information about how you can overcome addiction or support loved ones through addiction, visit seacoast.org/recovery.
