Adopted, homeschooled, pastor’s kid … Those are some heavy labels to carry around for a child, not to mention a teenager struggling with growing up and finding their own identity. As soon as Hope (Janae) Biram had the chance, she rebelled against every one of those labels. She moved out at 18, and found herself in a string of violent relationships with an addiction to drugs.
“I started using to numb out all the pain, guilt, and shame that I was feeling as a result of the lifestyle I was living,” she says. “I didn’t know who I was, and I was searching in all the wrong places.”
“Hope” got arrested in Maryland in 2020 at 20 years old. She was trafficking drugs back and forth to Morgantown, where she lived. She didn’t tell anyone. She was released on a personal recognizance bond and walked to a hotel. It wasn’t until an abusive relationship landed her in the hospital a couple of times and she found herself carrying the identity of battered woman, drug dealer, and addict, that she decided she had enough.
“I called my dad and he offered me two choices, a battered women’s shelter or rehab. I chose rehab because I thought it would be easier,” she says with a chuckle. “I quickly realized long-term faith-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation would be one of the hardest things I would ever do in my life.”
Her father picked her up and dropped her off at Union Mission’s Women’s Addiction Recovery Program, where she found so much more than what she expected.
“I didn’t think anyone would like me. Instead I found support and a lot of love,” she says. “I also found my way back to God and a new identity.”
Sitting in a Bible study class, the teacher covered Ephesians 4:22-24: 22: “put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
“It really spoke to me differently, and I wanted to completely change who I was,” she says. “I realized that I chose my mess and I blamed God for not fixing everything. I changed my name to Janae because I wanted to leave all parts of “Hope” behind me. It was a marker of the old things passing away and new things coming, so to me “Hope” was all the dead things in my life, and Janae was the new man.”
Rehab taught Janae that God has a purpose for everything we go through in life, that there are reasons things don’t work out, and He gives us wisdom through our failures.
“There are no short cuts or quick fixes in recovery,” she says. “You have to be at a point where you want recovery more than anything else, and you’re willing to work for it.”
Janae graduated from the Union Mission’s year-long recovery program in August 2021, and was working at CAMC as a Certified Nursing Assistant. Her charges were expunged in May 2023, and she joined the staff of the Addiction Recovery Program as Recovery Services Coordinator in September 2023.
She says she still has no idea who she is, but at 24, she walks with the wisdom of one who was plucked from the ashes by God Himself. She knows she is loved and valued, and that she doesn’t have to live a life she has to escape from. She has seen that the Lord really does mean what he says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
As recovery services coordinator, she shares her wisdom and encouragement with clients coming into the programs as she does their intake interviews, helps them get all their vital documents, and walks with them as they get back on their feet.
“Janae’s positive attitude, humble spirit, and passion for recovery makes her a joy to work with,” says Recovery Director Denise Kennedy. “I love watching her bring out the best in our residents by believing in them and genuinely caring.”
“I wanted a job that combined my passion for recovery with actually helping people,” she says, “which is exactly what I have found working at the Union Mission. I love getting to know everyone and watching as they learn their worth and find their identity in Christ.”
“Being a witness to what God has done in her life has been an amazing experience for me,” Kennedy added. “I am truly grateful.”
