We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melissa Mattie a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Melissa, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Whenever someone hears my story, I always get the same response. “How are you not in jail, hooked on drugs, or dead? Because people with your story, never make it.” Believe it or not, I am always happy to hear this response, because its a constant reminder of who I could have become if I had listened to everyone in my life telling me I will never amount to anything or ever go anywhere in life and how I took that as fuel for my fire and said, “watch me.” And watched me, they have.
The United Nations estimates 60 million children have been abandoned by their families. In the United States, more than 7,000 children are abandoned each year. Many of these children fall victim to a life of crime, selling drugs, addiction, and prostitution. I was one of these abandoned to foster care children who later in life fell into jail cells, mental institutions, selling drugs, addiction, suicide attempts, and even prostitution.
Statistically, I wasn’t ever supposed to make it out of that life, but you know what’s stronger than statistics- choice. And I chose different. Most importantly, God chose me. He is the reason for my strength and resilience and He is the one who pulled me from the very deepest darkest pits and gently sat me down in a safe place and changed who I was and where I was going from the inside out- to help me get where I am now and make me who I’ve become.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My life of abuse, abandonment, the foster system, homelessness, prostitution, drug and alcohol addictions and mental illness should have landed me in prison or an early grave .Instead, I live a life of freedom, peace and happiness today. My life is an astonishing poster of grace and testament to God’s power and love. I was simply put, a very lost soul who is now found. Having gone through the furnace in life and coming out unharmed by the fire, my biggest passion in life is to go and tell everyone of what God has done for me. Although life has made me into a strong and fearless woman today, my raw transparency, passion and emotion shine through every word I write, every song I sing and everything I do.
Because I have spent time in the darkness, I am able to have compassion for the hurting and I am determined to bring something back to this world that overtime has vanished into almost non-existence; hope and light. A long time ago, when I made it through the dark and traumatic experiences in my life and found healing, I thought to myself, “What about all the ones still living in darkness? Who is going to go back for them. Because I cannot just sit here and enjoy my life, while there are still so many out there that will never know what it means to live.” And so, I decided it was going to be me. I reach back into the darkness to show others the truth, the way, and the light. So that they too can find the healing and freedom I myself have found.
Today I am almost 9 years clean from drug use, I own a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom home for my children and I-the first home I’ve ever felt home at, when by the time I turned 18 years old- I had moved over 18 times in my life. I have an amazing career and I am also a published Author, releasing my first book titled, “Something Better: A Journey Through the Wilderness into the Promised Land”, in 2018 and it is available on Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com to purchase. I also have released my first album titled, “Something Beautiful”, in 2023 that is available to stream on all platforms.
I was a featured speaker in the Showcase of Christian Authors at the Civic Center of Salisbury, MD in 2019, Keynote Speaker at Faith Talks at the Fountains Center in Salisbury, MD, featured in the published book, “Bay to Ocean 2019: The Year’s Best Writing from the Eastern Shore Writers Association”, featured artist at Local Artists Under the Lights at the Freeman Stage in Selbyville, DE in 2023, I have spoken at Prison ministries, shelters, rehabs, multiple local Celebrate recovery groups, among many other things. I go wherever God sends me to share my powerful testimony to help bring hope to the hurting.
Currently, I am working on releasing a sequel to my first book and it will be called, “Something Beautiful: Finding the Promised Land Flowing Within Me.” I am also working on releasing another EP album to be released in 2024. For booking inquiries, please email writingandworship@gmail.com
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Resilience- no matter what happened to me, no matter how many times I wanted to quit- I found the strength inside of me to pick myself back up and try one more time. I remember looking in the mirror when I was younger and in my foster care days, with tears streaming down my face begging myself to just hold on, there’s got to be something better than this. I am so thankful I held on, because otherwise- I wouldn’t have finally found my something better.
Motivation and Determination- I didn’t want to be categorized into another statistic of what society thought of me and who I would become. The more people told me I’d never make it, the more motivated and determined I became to prove them wrong. Words can hurt your soul, but those words turned into my actions. They said, “You can’t.” And I said, “watch me.”
Compassionate and Humble- I always pray to God to never let me forget where I was and who I was. The reason for that is because I want to always remain humble and remember the days I used to pray for the life I live now. I remember the days I used to sleep homeless in my car in the middle of winter without a dime to put gas in the car to run the heat, and I was so cold. I would try and just cover up with clothes in my backseat to stay warm. Whenever I go to sleep, I remember this as I hold my blankets tight and realize that I am now safe and warm. I am never to “high and mighty” to make myself become low to reach the ones who were just like me.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I am always looking for open doors to share my story with others who may need to hear it and have ever or are currently experiencing the things in my life that I have. One of them I have been praying for, is a Residential Treatment Center. I spent most of my teenage years in one of these centers and I wish I knew then, what I know now. If you know of anyone or anywhere that can benefit from my story, book, and music- please reach out to me. I never wrote a book to become a famous Author, I never released an Album to become a signed contract superstar, I never became a motivational speaker to gain fame and attention- I do these things for one reason and one reason only- to do what God has asked and called me to do. Luke 8:39 “Go and tell everyone of what I have done for you, so that they too may believe.”
Contact Info:
- Website: MelissaMattie.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissamattiewritingandworship/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelissaMattieWritingandWorship
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbrhWNuttv5Z1b8GJTjFPIA
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-109027626
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@melissamattieofficial
Image Credits
Professional Images Credited to Braden Event Photography- bradeneventphotography.zenfolio.com
