Recently, I saw a young woman referred
to me for an opinion on her hepatitis C infection.
In the latter part of 2013 she made an unwise decision and
started using intravenous drugs. She
also made a more unwise decision and shared needles. She is fortunate that the only virus she
contracted was hepatitis C, now curable.
I do not know the details of her life then which led her to lean over the
edge of a cliff. It would seem to most spectators that her new lifestyle would
portend an inexorable slide into an abyss.
Young addicts, for example, often cannot fund their addictions, and
resort to criminal activities to generate necessary revenue. Employment status and personal relationships
become jeopardized. The tapestry of a
person’s life can rapidly unravel.
But, none of this happened.
About two years after the first shared needle pierced her vein, she quit
and she’s been clean since. It was nearly a year later that she first saw me in
the office accompanied by her young, spirited son. I asked her how she molted and emerged from a
grim and dangerous world of self-destruction.
“Who helped her?” I inquired. “No one,” she said. She had thrown the devil off her back
herself, and had dispatched him to a place so distant that he would never find
her again.
Devil, Be Gone!
Consider how extraordinary this life-preserving act
was. Only someone who has overcome a
true addiction can understand the magnitude of this act. That she succeeded alone only magnifies the
accomplishment. I admired her grit and devotion, but I couldn’t feel it on a
visceral level since I have never suffered from an addiction.
She told me that she her two young kids gave her the
motivation she needed to put her needles aside.
She owes them a great debt. They
gave her a gift that she can never repay.
But, I have a sense that she will spend the rest of her life giving back
to them.
Well done to this courageous mom....if the "devil be gone"....then I am assuming she has asked God to come in....Amen....
ReplyDeleteI know first hand ...my son had this disease of addiction, his bright life went down to the pits of addiction hell for two years. He was 22 when he began his sober and clean life of freedom. God has the victory over my son's life, and does my son's active participation in working the "12 steps" of the Big Book, with a sponsor, a continue fellowship with AA fellows, and a surrendering of admitting he was powerless over the drugs has led him to become more powerful of his life. He enrolled into college, finished his BA and has a Masters in Addiction counseling, and his first book . No one with this disease can do it alone...impossible...AA is the only way...and not just AA but working , surrendering, finding and trusting God to heal and change one from the inside out. I have personally witnessed many young men and women beat this horrid disease this way, and go on to live happy healthy very productive lives.
Deborah
Thx, Deb, for sharing your inspiring story...
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