About The Author

Hi, my name is Anreka. I was diagnosed with herpes in 2011. I wasn't raised in a Christian home and pretty much grew up without any spiritual guidance. I believed God existed, but my faith didn't go past that. I lived a life of selfishness, greed, lust, robbery, idolatry, gossip, drunkeness, impurity, immorality, unforgiveness, anger, and the list goes on. Life was about ME and I could care less about God. Then 2011 hit and I contracted herpes through the life I was living. I was in college at the time and that was the hardest year of my life. In addition to getting herpes, my GPA in college dropped to a 2.76 (I almost lost my scholarship), I got into some bad legal trouble, and for the first time in my life I just wanted to give up. Nothing mattered anymore. I hated my life. I hated ME. I no longer partied and drank to have fun, it became a coping mechanism to deal with the pain. I wanted to drink to numb how I felt and escape from my life in those night hours. The only problem with drinking and partying was it was a temporary numbing, I had no way of permanent relief.

I cried every night. Outside of the doctor who told me and the guy I contracted from, no one knew I had herpes. I felt utterly alone and believed God was punishing me. I turned to the internet and found no hope. I was left to suffer in silence. Fast forward to 2012, the Lord Jesus met me in my bedroom and shattered the lie satan told me. God WAS NOT punishing me, He LOVES me. He loved me before herpes, during, and after. The love I was searching for through relationships and people was in Christ the whole time. I accepted that love on January 2, 2012 and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. The following year in 2013 God healed me of herpes!

Herpes to Hope exists to add hope to the internet for those diagnosed with herpes or any other sexual illness deemed "incurable". Know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE, you are not the only one to suffer from this illness and God wants to go through this with you. He doesn't want you crying in your pillow every night like I did, but He wants you to cry at HIS FEET. Jesus Christ is the only source of TRUE, EVERLASTING hope in this life. Not only can Jesus heal your body, but he wants to heal your soul from sin and begin a relationship with you. I pray through these Hope Letters you will see that Christ IS hope and his hope goes beyond your health on earth and into an eternal state of love, peace, and rest.