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Twenty
years ago I began a life that was to be filled with drugs. Drugs, anywhere from
smoking marijuana to hitting up heroin and morphine. My new life started because
I was searching for a
real love and peace. I was hungry for a love that surpassed friendship. I
wanted a love that was willing to
die for me
and others if that was what was
necessary.
I longed for a peace of mind that knew no worry.
I started traveling with my older brother,
Mike, in Colorado (I was from Indiana) and living from day to day. Each
morning I worked at a "Manpower" job where I was paid at the end of the day for
the work I did. Seven of us lived in a three-room apartment in a very poor
section of Denver. We sold our blood to buy gas and from there we went to Texas
and Florida.
I found that people were
the same there as they were at home...too busy, too tied-up with themselves, no
love to give.
When I began shooting drugs (morphine, heroin, dilaudid, demerol, and many
others) I was sure these people were my "real" friends and that I
would find the love I was searching for. I had found a peace that lasted
temporarily but always wore off like the drugs I did.
Then, the things I was
running from were greater than before!
For the next year and a half I lived from fix to fix. The mornings were spent
looking for drugs to buy so we could get loaded at night. I was living with a
man who was a drug dealer so most of the time we had what I needed. I soon
realized that what was giving me "peace" had now taken possession of me. I no
longer did drugs to get high. Now I did drugs to keep from being sick.
The one thing I had never wanted to happen and always feared had come upon
me: I was addicted to the drugs that used to get me high.
I was at a place where I did more and more to get high and became more and more
dependent. My
artificial peace left after
I was arrested for trafficking narcotics and was taken to jail. I became
paranoid. I was always afraid of being busted and going to jail.
The last three months, I tried time and time again to quit. I was tired of
being dependent on someone or something else.
I wanted to be myself.
I found that, not only could I not
quit without becoming very sick and irritable, but
those around me didn't want me to
quit.
They wanted me to continue dealing and doing drugs with them.
The thing I once thought was the answer to my searching left me in bed with my
muscles in knots and my whole body shaking. I could not find rest without drugs.
I tried to quit on my own several times but others laughed and said,
"Sure you'll quit; once a
junkie...always a junkie!"
Then my older brother, the one I used to travel and do drugs with, visited me
several times to tell me about a "man" called Jesus. He said
Jesus had the peace I was
looking for
and had filled him (my brother)
with the love I wanted.
Even then I didn't realize what would bring me to search out this Jesus.
I had bought some heroin from a friend in Wisconsin which was pure with no
additives to weaken it. My boyfriend and I did the amount that should have been
a regular fix but turned out to almost be my death. As soon as the heroin hit my
bloodstream, I immediately fell to the floor. The next thing I remember, I was
in a bathtub of ice cold water with a cold shower spraying in my face.
My boyfriend had injected a mixture of saltwater into my veins several times
trying to revive me, but with no success.
Later, I did come to, but
it was not a syringe of saltwater
that revived me.
I believe to this day it was the
prayers of my mom. For three years she had prayed faithfully,
"God, don't let my little girl die
in a drug overdose somewhere."
God heard her prayer.
When I came to, I was told that for the last time he was going to shoot
saltwater into my veins and if that didn't work, he and some of my "friends"
were going to take me to the Ohio River and dump me because they were afraid of
the penalty if I died.
After this I was sure I had again found the wrong thing to follow. I found my
brother and asked him to tell me more about this Jesus. He told me all the
things I searched for...HE HAD THEM!
That night I went to a small church and on my knees, not even knowing
how to pray, I said,
"Jesus, if you are really real and if you can take this drug addiction from me
so that I won't want to do drugs anymore and I won't be sick anymore, I'll know
you are a God (supernatural) because no one can do this for me."
Within an instant
after I got up, I knew there had been a change in me.
From that time on until now, twenty-five years later, I have never had a
withdrawal and have NEVER wanted drugs again.
Today, while my "friends" (who I thought loved me) are in jail (some in prison
for 30 years), some dead (killed by police, committed suicide, overdosed), and
some still doing drugs, I have found a love that supersedes anything I have ever
experienced. Even in my times of disappointments,
I have a peace in my heart that is
unlike anything I ever experienced before.
God has filled me with a love for people that desires to see the sick healed,
the blind eyes opened, the deaf ears unstopped, the captives set at liberty, and
the broken hearts bound up again.
The prophet Isaiah said, "He was wounded for our transgression, He was bruised
for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His
stripes we are healed."
"Thank You,
Jesus!"
Now I want to help
you meet this same Jesus, the healer of all your diseases, the peace of
your every storm, the friend in your loneliest hour. One songwriter
said, "He is the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star. He's the
fairest of ten-thousand to my soul."
"Please won't you pray with me right now?" Ask Jesus to come into your heart and
forgive you of your sins. Jesus said,
"Behold, I stand at the door and
knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will
sup with him and he with me."
If you or a loved
one would like me to agree in prayer with you for a deliverance from drug
addiction, please email me at
Trammellministry@aol.com
or write:
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