KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Christians all over the world are celebrating Easter Sunday today. Resurrection symbolizes victory and hope for many.

For residents in recovery programs across the metro, it’s especially poignant. FOX4 attended the Sunrise Service at Shelter KC and spoke with residents there about the power of new beginnings.

As the Easter sun peaked over the horizon and light spilled across Kansas City this morning, voices lifted in song.

“Easter is an amazing day for me because it means hopelessness to hope and transformation,” one Shelter KC resident said. “Because that’s truly what God has done in my life, he’s transformed it.”

“For me, I look at it as—you know what—Jesus is going to bring me through his darkness that I’ve been living in for years and he’s going to raise me up,” another resident said.

The joy of this morning is in stark contrast to the abandonment, addiction, homelessness and even prostitution that once wrapped the chains of desperation and despair around the residents of Shelter KC.

“I was once hopeless. I once blamed everything on the traumas I dealt with. I was homeless, I was addicted. I was completely at my bottom and didn’t know where to go.”

“I once was broken, I once was raped by multiple men, I once was a drug addict and I dealt with alcohol, I once was a prostitute.”

But they walked through the Shelter KC doors, and the light began to dawn. Slowly and painfully, their heavy burdens began to ease.

“Now it’s like a whole new me. God has transformed everything and he’s given me so much hope.

“Now I have a great life. I do everything with God.”

It’s truly worth celebrating this Easter.

“We don’t have to do the things that we do now. You can be transformed, but you have to be willing.”

10 years ago, Shelter KC opened its women’s center. It’s a 20-bed, residential recovery center specifically designed for single, homeless women. Through a multi-step program designed to lead women into healing and independence, victory has come through for hundreds of former addicts.

“I absolutely love this place.”

“This is a good place, and I call this home.”

For many here, this morning is so much brighter than it was before because they were set free, and there’s no better time than Easter to celebrate a miraculous victory.

This year, the Shelter KC Women’s Center Celebrates its 10th anniversary. To find out more, you can click here.