I remember a day in 1968. An evangelist had come to our town. His name was Richard Hogue. He was preaching a revival at out church, but it was being held at out school's gymnasium. It was a night that would change my life forever. That night I became a child of God. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I believed he was the Son of God, and that he died on the cross for me and my sins. It was his precious blood that washed me and made me whole. It has been a long time since that wide-eyed fourteen year old walked down that aisle. I turned my back on God, and instead of following the one that loved me, I followed the one who wanted only to cause me misery and shame. To walk away from God is the worst that one can do. My life took a nose dive. Although I know I never lost my salvation, I know my Father weeped each time I hurt him.

Now begins the hard part. I never have been good at talking about myself or feelings, just ask my husband. I started with what most kids in the 70's did.... cigarettes and beer. It seemed harmless enough, just a typical young adult. Well, it didn't take long until that progressed into drugs. I was always to scared to try any of the "hard" stuff. Years went by and my life went no where. I married someone who, although was saved, was also a drug user, what I didn't know then was he was also prone to drug addiction. We had two children, and we actually thought (in our drug induced stuper, I guess) that our kids didn't know what we were doing! What fools we were!! Just because we never did it in front of them, we thought we were being good parents. What a crock!!! I have my mother-in-law to thank because she always came by and took the kids to church. Definately a saving grace, both our children are saved and don't do drugs. Time passed seemingly uneventfully until 1994. By this time I was beginning to realize I was a user, not an addict. We had both about given up on our drug use, but then the roof caved in when my husband smoked some cocaine. Not realizing at the time, I was blinded to what was happening. I thought I would lose my mind during that time. It's hard to go to work and wonder what would be missing from the house. But the hardest part were the broken promises. The "I'll never do it again" 's. The only thing I had to hold on to was the rememberance that God will not put more on you than you can bare. It was only through God's love and strength that I made it through that ordeal.

It has been almost 6 years now since then, and our lives are as different as night and day. The drugs are competely gone, I've even quit the cigarettes.