After years of addiction and an abusive relationship, Jackie O’Rourke found a new direction through recovery, Bible study, and a church family. On Sept. 19, 2026, she was baptized at the Hurst Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Beginning at age 15, O’Rourke spent 15 years with an abusive partner, with whom she had three children. Her partner introduced her to drugs, which eventually led to O’Rourke losing custody of her children. Filled with shame, guilt, and feelings of failure, she tried to drown those feelings with alcohol until she wondered whether life was worth continuing.

Although she wanted to change, she spent two years unsuccessfully trying to break the cycle of drugs, alcohol, and shame. She became involved with a new boyfriend, with whom she began selling drugs. In November 2025, police raided their storage unit and confiscated enough drugs that she could have received a life sentence. However, O’Rourke received no jail time because the raid was conducted without a warrant.

In late January, her boyfriend, who was sober at the time, asked whether she believed Jesus Christ was her Savior and had died on the cross for her sins. She hesitantly answered, “Yes.”

“Then allow Him to get you sober,” he told her.

That night, O’Rourke decided to enter a rehabilitation program. When she arrived, she asked for a Bible and began reading it, though she found it difficult to understand.

After returning home, O’Rourke experienced anxiety and fear of relapse and wanted to return to the program. As she cried, her boyfriend encouraged her to read Psalm 91 aloud. When she read that God would command His angels to guard her in all her ways, something changed inside her.

Her boyfriend then told her about the Amazing Facts video The Bride, the Beast, and Babylon. After watching it, she began watching as many Amazing Facts programs as she could and doing the ministry’s mail-in Bible studies.

When she learned about the Sabbath, O’Rourke initially decided that she was a Christian but not a Seventh-day Adventist.

“That’s fine, but you should still try to find a Sabbath-keeping church,” her boyfriend told her.

After seeing a billboard that read, “Sunday worship is the mark of the beast,” she called the number listed for more information. A church in Indiana referred her to a church in Cleburne, Tex. That church was too far away, so she searched online for a “Sabbath-keeping church” and found the Hurst church.

O’Rourke first attended on April 11, 2026. The following week, she responded to an altar call and began baptismal classes. Over the next several months, as she studied and responded to the Holy Spirit, changes became increasingly apparent in her speech, attitude, dress, and lifestyle, leading to her baptism in September.

“God has completely changed my life,” O’Rourke says. “He shows me every day that He calms the storm with just His words, that I am never alone, that He gave me victory over drugs and alcohol and co-dependency, and that He will fight every battle for me. I can see how God takes what the enemy means for evil and turns it into good!”

O’Rourke continues to grow in her relationship with Jesus as an active member of the Hurst church.