New Beginnings by Gen
My story of addictions begins in the womb. Born to a heroin addicted mother, I spent the first six months of my life in an incubator. Upon stabilization, this drug addicted baby was adopted by wonderful and loving Christian parents. The first eight months were very trying for them due to my constant crying.
Despite the love and acceptance from my parents, I constantly felt unwanted and unloved. When pressed about my happiest childhood memory, I couldn’t pinpoint one. I felt like there was something missing inside, so I began to look for something to fill that emptiness. At the early age of thirteen I started drinking, smoking cigarettes and pot, skipping school and sneaking out of my house late at night. Within four years I had managed to get myself kicked out of every high school in my city. I was drinking and smoking pot regularly by this time and I had begun to experiment with hard drugs. Two years later, when I was 19, my father passed away from cancer. I felt that I had lost the only person who understood me. I ran away in an attempt to deal with the pain and drowned my sorrows in booze, drugs and men.
Years later at 26, I married thinking I had found the love I was looking for. I didn’t know that love wasn’t supposed to hurt. It turned out to be a marriage full of control and abuse. In distress I sought love with another man. When I finally gathered the courage to leave my husband, I was pregnant with the other man’s child. The pregnancy resulted in an abortion. I discovered I had only retreated into more unhealthy relationships filled with sex, drugs and booze.
Eventually I lost everything I owned to crack cocaine. After over dosing twice, I went to treatment and got a few weeks clean. It didn’t last, and before long I was living on the streets and eating out of garbage cans as a result of my newfound addiction to crystal meth. I finally ended up back in detox where I heard about the Edmonton Dream Centre.
Here at the Dream Centre, I have a new beginning. The love of Jesus Christ is what I have been looking for my whole life. With over 8 months clean, I am now focusing on my future. I will continue my education and find a career that suits me. I am repairing relationships with my mother, my brother and his family. I can now list dozens of happy memories. This is all thanks to my Lord Jesus Christ through the Edmonton Dream Centre. I am excited about this new chapter in my life.
To view the PDF of this story, click here...
