A family active in addiction and depression. That was my childhood. At the end of the day, we always came back to the tormented place we called home.
I ended up pregnant at 16 and married. We had partied a little but nothing I thought we couldn’t handle. Then I started experimenting with more serious things when the hospital sent me home with pain pills after having my daughter, Halie. And once I was hooked, there was no turning back.
I split with my child’s father, and it was getting more difficult for me to support my pain pill addiction, work and be a mom. By the age of 18, I was introduced to meth for the first time, and I thought it was definitely the drug for me. I started selling myself for drugs.
After about four years of daily use, my lifestyle became one of paranoia and isolation. I started using the needle, and that’s when something took over inside of me, and I couldn’t do anything without it. I had hurt everyone that I loved and the ones who loved me. I had practically thrown my daughter away, and the only thing I cared about was meth. I was also using Suboxone.
In 2014, I went to a detox center and was sober for eight months, but I felt more worthless than ever, and thoughts of suicide started to fill my head. I was in a dark place. It was like a dream where you’re screaming, but no one can hear you.
My dad came to leave with us after he got out of jail, and we used meth together. With the pressure building, I attempted to suicide in April 2016, then went to a behavioral health center but was sent home after a few days of detoxing.
With the help of a UNITE treatment voucher, my sister got me checked into Hope City, where I truly had an encounter with the Lord that forever changed my life. That gaping, hungry hole inside of me was finally filled. Jesus has completely mended the relationship with my beautiful 8-year-old daughter, who I now get to show Christ daily.
I have multiple certificates, including a certified nursing assistant, and I am working at Hope City. I am completing all my prerequisite classes at Somerset Community College with the goal of being accepted to nursing school in January.
I am so happy, so full of joy. I love my life.
I have seen more lives changed by God’s grace than I can count. I see my story as a triumph of God’s glory. Every day, I remind myself that He has set me apart to be a light in dark places, to know the words that sustain the weary, to offer hope and to reflect how to live life to the fullest.
The first photo is Christy after four years of addiction. The second one shows Christy, three years sober, with her daughter.
