His Testimony
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Posted: January 7, 2023 His Testimony Shared By: Lisa Laughnan Mark 10:27, New International Version “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.’” |
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I Was An Addict... but God – Part One
I struggled with substance abuse for twenty-two years. I started drinking and using illegal drugs at a very young age. I was in grade school when I took my first drink, thirteen when I smoked my first cigarette and by the age of fifteen, I was smoking marijuana, using LCD and cocaine.
Let me give you all a little backstory about me and why I justified living a life of chaos.
When I was six years old my biological father murdered my aunt, who was my mom’s sister. He was sentenced to prison and sat ten years before he was released. He was not in my life growing up.
My mom remarried and we moved from Wyoming to Wisconsin. At the age of fourteen, my mom and my step-dad separated. They were talking about filing for a divorce. He invited me to come stay with him one night and I declined. I said I would see him the next day. I did, but I found him deceased under his car. The jack was tipped over and the rotor came down on his neck.
The two father figures I had in life, I lost at a very young age and I was traumatized. These two events caused me to seek out drugs and alcohol to numb my emotions and deal with the pain I felt.
I started going to rave parties and house parties every week and ended up dropping out of school when I was seventeen. I got pregnant when I was eighteen, from a guy I had been dating in high school and ended up giving the child up for adoption two months after he was born in March of 1999.
I spent most of my life as a teen on probation. I had my second offense OWI before the age of twenty-one. I was always in trouble for domestic abuse, battery and theft. I lived my life jumping from party house to party house and I was always able to find a way to supply my drug habits. Many times, it was through sex or theft.
By the time I was twenty-seven, I had my fourth offense OWI. I spent five months in jail and I was sentenced to more probation. I quickly became addicted to opiates after I was released from my jail sentence.
I continued using opiates, cocaine and various other drugs and alcohol until 2011 when I was introduced to heroin and benzodiazepines. I started mixing the two with large quantities of alcohol and my life spiraled out of control faster than it ever had in the past.
I would wake up every day trying to find my next fix. I had no job and I hadn’t worked in over seven years, so I had to figure out how I was going to support my drug use. I was able to lie and convince my family and the guy I had been dating for many years to give me money more often than not, but I also stole computers and various other items from stores, robbed houses and even had sex with men to obtain drugs or money.
Please come back next week to read I Was An Addict... but God – Part Two
If you have a story about what God has done in your life and would like to share it please email us at: histestimony@thefruitfulwomen.org
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