As a believer, I look back on a past of relentless struggles with chemical dependency.

I grew up and married Robert, and we had our daughter, Nancy. Years later after Robert got out of the army, we separated and our marriage failed because of drugs and alcohol. In between our separation I bore a son, Glendale, Two years after our divorce was final, Tammenika was born. Mind you, during these pregnancies I took pills, smoked marijuana, and drank alcohol. The final killer was crack cocaine and Cisco wine. I smoked and drank with my niece who years later was found in our backyard decomposed beyond recognition. During these times, which were the last stages of my addiction, I felt dead. I finally admitted that I had no willpower to quit on my own, and I chose to accept Jesus into my life. Now I’m over 20 years clean with the help of New Harvest Christian Fellowship Women’s Home, Celebrate Recovery classes, and last but not least, The Trinity House.

I came to The Trinity House because my employer was treating me unfairly and cut my hours at work. I was barely making ends meet and with a reduction in hours I was about to find myself homeless. But there was no going back for me! I was accepted into The Trinity House in June, 2007 and enrolled and completed a job readiness program.

The Bible says in Romans 7:15-25 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want do I do not do, but what I hate I do. “16 And if I do what I do not what to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not what to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right the with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me form this body of death? 25Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Thanks to God and The Trinity House, I continue to be free from the bondage of drugs, and I have the courage to walk in victory.