Stripping Away the Lies -- Tibrea Dresko’s Story

Tibrea Dresko’s Story

When I was a child, all I wanted was to escape. My parents fought a lot, sometimes violently. I started taking drugs in middle school and flirted with bisexuality but pretended to be happy just to keep the peace. In high school, the biggest goal in my family was to see me make it past 16 without getting pregnant.

I couldn’t wait to get away from my parents and my small mountain town. My only goal was to earn enough money to escape - for good.

I told God, "I don't know if you're real or not, but I’m screwing up my life, and I need your help.

From Waitress to Stripper

I heard you could make good money waitressing. As I was searching, I saw a strip club my last boyfriend had mentioned, and curiosity took over. I went in only to sneak a peak but ended up getting hired as a waitress there. I was so ashamed but planned to leave as soon as one of the other places called me back.

I never got a call back, and after a while it didn't feel so bad waitressing there. Months later, I was tempted by a large amount of money to become a dancer. I struggled with it but reasoned it out and gave in. At first, I felt empowered and strong. For a while I had enough money to get my own apartment and a new car and even start college. I started waitressing at a regular restaurant but quickly realized that wasn't enough money to pay for the things I had bought. I quit college after that semester and went back to stripping. I quickly fell into the whole lifestyle: drinking, dancing, sleeping around, hard drugs.

I thought I had everything I wanted, but I began to lose my self-respect, and even the drugs and alcohol didn't let me ignore my deepening depression. I didn’t have anything to hope for or look forward to. Eventually, I couldn't even dance because of the drug abuse. Then I lost my apartment, and I started to sleep with people just to have somewhere to stay.

Learning What Hope Truly Is

One night, when I was driving around looking for somewhere to stay, I felt a strong urge to go to a river bank. In desperation I told God, "I don't know if you're real or not, but I’m screwing up my life and I need your help." When I left the river bank, I still wasn't sure He existed, but I knew something was different.

Within a few months, my cousin let me stay with her, and I got a job at a call center. But I was still dancing on the weekends. A co-worker at the call center invited me to hang out with some of the college age people from her church. That sounded easy enough, so I went. I had never met people like them before. I had always thought Christians were faking their joy, but when these people told me about Jesus, I wanted what they had.

I prayed to receive Christ that night. I went to church with them and cried at every service for four months! God was healing my wounds. I learned about hope and real confidence. I was learning that I was valued and loved. I quit the dancing job and never looked back. I had Jesus. I didn’t need any of that anymore.

Using my story

Then, out of the blue, I got an email from a genuinely nice guy, Alex, who knew me from my dancing days a couple years before. I emailed him back telling him of the changes Jesus had made in my life. We began to date, long distance, which helped us have a relationship focused on our minds instead of our bodies. And when I would come to visit him, we would go to NewSpring Church.

Eventually, I moved from North Carolina to Powdersville to live with my boyfriend, and it was during our "next step" of ownership class that my boyfriend realized he needed Jesus to save him, too! Within six months, we got married so that we could be obedient to God, become owners and get involved. Since then, we've joined a marrieds home group and begun to serve and tithe, and we've experienced so many blessings from God. 

I danced because I thought it would lead to freedom, but it only enslaved me. Jesus pulled me out of slavery and is showing me now the greater things He has for me.