Juanae Baker tried to commit suicide five years ago.

The attempt came after years of drug use and a destructive relationship.

“I just didn’t see the point,” the 28-year-old said. “It just seemed like it was too hard to get out of that hurt. I wanted to end my life and tried to, but it didn’t work. It wasn’t clear why right away, but now I see that I survived for a reason.”

It was at that point, that God stepped in.

“What that suicide attempt eventually gave me was a purpose greater than myself,” she said.

“If it was just about me I could have died that night, but seeing that I didn’t I knew I had to make each day count and share these experiences with the intention of giving hope to someone else.”

Ms Baker started a faith-based blog in January, A Little Girl Grows Up.

Details of many low points in her life are in it; she also shares how God helped her through them.

“Around March I started to really use it as a means to share hope that whatever you’re going through now isn’t the end of your story,” the mother-of-three said.

“That’s my main thing that I want to share with people — what you’re going through is only one part of your story.”

The more she wrote, the more comfortable she was in sharing personal details, Ms Baker said.

It helped that the feedback she got was incredibly supportive.

“With a blog you don’t know who exactly is reading or who will see your stuff,” she said. “But so far I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I’ve had readers from as far away as South Africa and Switzerland, but the bulk are from Bermuda. Some people on the Island who know me have reached out to like me on Facebook or message me.

“I’ve had a few messages from people who say my words encouraged them and that’s what it’s about for me.

“If one person is inspired to continue on in life’s journey then my experience wouldn’t have been in vain. In the future I hope to develop some type of mentoring programme for young girls to maybe prevent them or assist them in making better choices than I did.”

Ms Baker grew up in a Christian household, but rebelled as a teenager. At 18, she was in a relationship with a cocaine addict. It wasn’t long before she started to experiment.

“I was young, naive and just trusted him,” she said. “That’s how I got involved and it spiralled out of control quickly.

“I used, on and off, for a couple of years; for one year I was probably using every day. I realised it had become a problem because I was losing everything I loved, most importantly myself.

“My story wasn’t that I was homeless or on the streets. I was living with my parents and still going to school. I even got my bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Newbold College in the UK. While I was in school I was using in the summer or at Christmas vacation when I was with my ex.

“At first I thought it was okay. I thought, ‘I can use it and it doesn’t affect my life’, but once I moved back to Bermuda in 2009 and had finished school I had a lot more idle time. I created a situation where I pushed my friends away and didn’t have a good relationship with them anymore. I was also at a place where I felt stuck in that life. I was really caught up in a lot of antisocial behaviours.”

Her life started to change four years ago after her son, Skyler Crockwell, was born.

“That was the major turning point for me as I knew I would be responsible for someone’s else’s life,” she said. “It really was the catalyst to get my life together.

“There were still a lot of challenges ahead for me. I was facing a possible prison sentence for conspiracy to commit theft, but by God’s grace I was given a suspended sentence.”

Her family church, Restoration Ministries, played a part in her transformation, but mostly it was through meditation, self-reflection and prayer that she learnt to trust and rely on God.

“It’s a process,” she said. “Even though that process started for me at 23, it got a lot stronger when I turned 27. I still had other challenges to go through. It wasn’t drugs anymore, but there were a lot of personal challenges that forced me to rely on a higher power to make it through them.”

Ms Baker also has 21-month-old twin boys, Micah and Michal Baker.

She said the biggest benefit of her faith is that she’s no longer alone.

“When things are difficult I know He’s not going to leave me,” she said.

“He is going to carry me through that and that’s so comforting.

“No matter what your situation in life there are going to be challenges and sometimes you can feel very alone. I used to feel very alone. And the best part of my relationship with God is knowing that He’s always there and He has a multitude of strengths that He’s just waiting to give to me when I ask and when I’m ready for it.”

Read her blog here: alittlegirlgrowsup.com/