There was a time in my life when darkness seemed to define me. As a young girl, I was molested — and instead of safety, I found myself running away from home and riding the trains of New York, searching for freedom but finding danger. I met someone I thought was a friend, but he was actually a predator. He groomed me, conditioned me, and soon I became like a puppet on a string. I was trafficked — controlled and abused — and I lost my sense of worth, identity, and hope. But even in that pit of brokenness, God had not forgotten me.

Fast forward a few years… I became a mother at a young age. Life was far from easy, and when the woman who raised me grew sick, I felt a strong desire to reconnect with my birth family in South Carolina. My grandmother helped me make the move, and I arrived here with nothing more than a small purse and a tiny bookbag of clothes. On May 1st, my aunt and uncle picked me up from the bus station. They graciously let me sleep on their couch, and for a time, I stayed with my birth mother, Sophia, and later with my grandmother. I eventually found a job here in Sumter, SC, and got my first place. Soon after, I began caring for a local family and cleaning for them — work that brought me peace and purpose.

When the gentleman I cared for passed away, I remained close with his family, and I still am to this day. His daughter even works in family court now. Something in me knew I didn’t want to work for anyone else. I wanted to build something — not just for myself, but to make my family proud, and to finally be proud of me. I started going to church, grounding myself in faith, and I decided to step out and start cleaning homes and businesses on my own.

I never imagined that what started as a way to pay bills and survive would grow into a business that impacts lives. I still remember the joy I felt seeing people’s faces when they walked into a clean, fresh-smelling home or business.

That joy became my fuel.

And even though I never planned for my cleaning company to grow, God had bigger plans. As Jeremiah 29:11 says: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

Today, Mel’s Cleaning Service is more than a business. It’s a testimony. It’s proof that God can take what was meant to destroy you and use it to elevate you.

It’s a reminder that no matter how broken your past is, God can still write a beautiful story with your life.

There are chapters of my story I haven’t shared here — pieces that are still being healed — but this I know: God has brought me out of a place of darkness and into His glorious light. He’s turned my pain into purpose, my trauma into testimony, and my story into a vessel of hope.