When Life - Turning Addiction into Testimony

I don't think anyone wants to grow up and become an addict. 

I grew up in a happy home. Well cared for and loved. After high school I went to college. And that’s where it began.   

I could never fit in. The first high made all that better. At first it was just weekends. Then I needed to fit in at work. And for some reason, any substance besides the normal chemistry in my brain made me a socialite. I had friends everywhere.  I could talk to anyone with confidence. 

Until I got addicted. Then I was a slave to the drug. 

Everything went downhill after that. Depression and anxiety began to rule my life. I had no happiness unless I was high. 

Eighteen or so years went by. During those years I lost and hurt so many people.  I hated myself. In 2017 I finally hit rock bottom.

I literally ran out of that lifestyle at 2 a.m. I thought I had been hurt beyond repair.  Addiction brought me rape, taken my trust and stripped me of everyone and everything. I found myself on the floor of a hotel room all alone. I cried out to God. I knew I had no one else. 

A staff member from The Lovelady Center came and got me the next morning. I was so scared when I walked in. It was huge. Women and children were everywhere. I didn’t talk to anyone much at all for a couple months. Then, I began to thank Jesus for everything my hands touched. I thanked him for the safe ground I walked on. I thanked him for the clarity he was bringing to my mind. I thanked him for the tea and water. I just thanked him for everything. Days passed. I soon found myself surrounded by women who knew my pain. Women who also never dreamed of being an addict as a child. Women who were healing with me.  I got a job in the school there. I began to love the kids too. Staff members began to pour into me as I poured out to God.

A few months later restoration began with my family. God began to fill me up. I started praying for others and my world began to change. Love changes everything. 

I graduated The Lovelady Center with Jesus Christ as my Savior on November 16, 2018. I've been given a hope and a future. I'm sober today and happier than I have ever been. God has restored my family. I have built my life on new foundation, trust and character.

I have restoration with my family! I have a job and a driver's license. And those small things I took for granted are huge to me now! My church family at Love's Crossing Church of God stands by me through every trial. God is allowing me to pour into the broken. My prayer and my heart will always be for the broken. Because for so long I was so broken and never knew I was so loved.

When life brought me addiction, God birthed a testimony.

I just returned from Poza Rica, Mexico on a mission trip that changed my life. I went to help in an orphanage and love on children. It turns out they helped me just as much. Missionary work is the most heart healing venture I have yet to experience with God. So much deliverance and healing took place. Friendships and bonds were formed from all over this country! I will go again if God allows!

Now, I am able to share my testimony and speak about how addiction affected my life and how God has brought me out of it. Change is possible! My life is not my own anymore. I am dedicated and determined to love people the way God loved me when I was at rock bottom. Addicts don't choose to be addicts. And addiction is no respecter of persons.

Submitted by: Alana Bevis

I couldn't be more proud to help my friend Alana share her story.

What you may or may not know is that Alana and I spent many years as great friends during our middle and high school years, but then like so many other friendships we lost touch after school. She went her way and I went my own. I didn't have social media except for a small stint on MySpace and often wondered what became of her and so many other peers I lost contact with.

I used to spend the weekend at her house making homemade nachos in the microwave and playing Super Mario Brothers I tagged along with her on her father's business trip to Tennessee and remember being properly introduced to Lynyrd Skynyrd. We swam, literally swam, in mud puddles chest deep as they dug a big pond in her yard. I have so many memories!

I am so incredibly proud of you and how far you have come. I know God has such big plans for you. You were created on purpose with a purpose.

Love and lemons,