A Burrito and a Way Back Home: One woman’s journey from addiction and homelessness to hope and healing

Ardis Green is a walking, smiling testimony to the power of a simple act of love. Sometimes, one small gesture can alter the course of a person’s life. In Ardis’s case, it was a cup of coffee and a breakfast burrito.

The Ardis who accepted that burrito is not the same Ardis you see today. In fact, you would never guess who she once was. When our team first heard about her, we were told there was a woman living without a tent on a hillside, sleeping on exposed tree roots—addicted to meth, dangerously thin, and with matted dreadlocks.

“I was an outcast in the camp,” Ardis recalled. “I was extremely bullied. I wasn’t liked. I felt really lonesome—very unloved and unwanted. I felt hopeless.”

When Michael Williamson, Paul Abbott, and friends showed up four years ago offering a burrito, something shifted. “For the first time in my life,” Ardis said, “I felt like someone cared about me. That was the start of bringing hope back into my life.”

Every person experiencing homelessness and addiction has a story of how they arrived there. And every person also has a God who loves them and has a purpose for their life.

Ardis experienced sexual abuse at a young age by a family member. Home was not safe. When a friend’s family recognized what was happening, they asked her mother for permission to take Ardis with them to Burney, California. There, she experienced an idyllic childhood on a farm and owned her own horse. Traumatic memories slowly gave way to good ones, including formative experiences at Vacation Bible School where she first encountered God. Looking back, Ardis believes God’s hand was always over her life, protecting her even when circumstances tried to steal her innocence.

She married young and had two children, raising them on their own farm. Then, one morning, everything collapsed. A knock at the door gave her five minutes to leave—she was being evicted. Her husband had been embezzling money with another woman, and the property was seized. Overnight, Ardis lost her home and her future.

Crushed by betrayal and despair, she turned to meth. For two years, she lived homeless and addicted. Yet even then, Paul and the team continued showing up—building relationship without demanding immediate change.

“Even when I was being bad—doing drugs and hanging out with other people who were using—I always had God,” Ardis said. “I always knew He was there, even when I wasn’t being a good Christian at all.”

Then, one hot July day in Redding, everything changed.

Ardis had made her way to the I-5 truck stop, planning to hitch a ride out of town. While waiting, she went to a nearby pond to cool her feet.

“All of a sudden, I saw bubbles,” she said. “I thought they were fish. Then I saw a shadow and looked down—and there was a little girl sitting at the bottom of the pond. She looked up at me and said, ‘Hi. Do you know Jesus?’”

Ardis said yes.

“She told me, ‘Jesus sent me to talk to you today.’ I was shocked. I asked, ‘What did He send you to talk to me about?’”

Then Ardis heard the voice of God—words that would change everything.

“I’ve given you such gifts, and you’ve wasted them—being addicted, hanging around bad people, and not following Me.”

The pond went quiet. The little girl disappeared. One thing was clear: it was time to change.

Ardis threw her purse full of drugs into a trash can and began walking back toward Redding. On the freeway on-ramp, a CHP officer pulled over and asked what she was doing.

“I told him Jesus just met me at the pond, that I threw all my drugs away, and that I would never disappoint Him again,” she said. “The officer just looked at me and said, ‘What’s your name?’ When I told him, he said, ‘Well, Ardis Green, I’m very proud of you.’”

Words matter. Seeds planted in love have the power to move a person toward hope, healing, and home.

Ardis went to Hill Country Care Center in downtown Redding and asked for help. A rehab facility in Humboldt County agreed to take her in—but only after seven days of sobriety. Refusing to return to the encampment, Ardis was allowed to camp in their parking lot while she waited. Her encounter with Jesus sustained her through the agony of detox and the constant temptation to return to drugs.

During recovery, doctors explained that years of meth use had caused lasting neurological effects.

“They told me my audio and visual hallucinations were from meth,” Ardis said. “You don’t realize one day you’re just a girl on a farm—and then drugs can mess you up for the rest of your life.” Today, she sees a mental health doctor monthly to manage those long-term impacts.

Through it all, Ardis has become a fierce advocate for recovery in our community and an inspiration to many. When asked what she would say to someone still addicted to meth, her answer was simple and direct: “Follow Jesus. Go to rehab. Get help. Meth will ruin your life.”

Ardis is now part of The Vineyard Church and Hope Recovery, rediscovering her God-given gifts within a supportive community. After a season in sober housing at Visions of the Cross, she now lives in her own apartment in Redding.

“Paul, Rodney, Cindy, Laura, and others are in my life,” she said. “They help me with whatever I need. When we’re together, we’re rolling with Jesus—and those friendships mean everything.”

The transformation we’ve witnessed in Ardis is why we do this work. Her story reminds us that lasting change often begins with presence, patience, and love freely given—without conditions. A burrito. A conversation. A willingness to see the person instead of the problem.

Ardis is living proof that hope is never wasted on anyone. And when love shows up faithfully, even in the smallest ways, it has the power to call a life back from the brink.

“This poor man called out, and the LORD heard him; He saved him from all his troubles.” —Psalm 34:6

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