The jobs that a beginner can volunteer for include setting up the meetings and helping clean the rooms after the meeting. For the beginner it can be a humbling experience to begin learning the true lesson of anonymity which is to do something without taking credit or bragging about what was done.

The meetings that I volunteered for were overseen by this man that was so calm and peaceful that I knew I wanted whatever he had. Finally one night I asked how he had gotten whatever he had. It was hard for him to define “it”. But he recommended a little pamphlet about serenity. The booklet taught me two major lessons.

The first lesson was the story of the man in the desert with the whirling dervishes. Someone came up to the man and asked him what he did about the whirling dervishes and he said that he just let them whirl. What a concept! I was beginning to be introduced to detachment and letting it go and change what you can and let the rest go.

The second lesson I learned from the booklet was an illustration that contained an explanation of serenity as picturing a swan beautifully gliding on the surface of the water. But under the water, the swan was paddling furiously in order to go forward. With my thinking at the time, I thought that this seemed dishonest. Such was the power of my brain to distort everything I experienced.

From An Al-Anon Filter: “Anticipating Trouble”:

“Staying in the moment means that I must completely, willingly, with gratitude, give up all of the mental tortures with which I occupied so much of my time. Anticipating trouble took up a great deal of my waking hours. I could work out huge long interconnected horrifying possibilities, and create much misery for myself doing it. I’d imagine a terrible outcome, and then feel depressed about it.”

From Sober Nuggets: “affirmation”:

“I know that for me, I must find peace and serenity (especially in the face of difficulties and challenges/opportunities).  I didn’t come to A.A. to be miserable, I came because I already was miserable.  If I were still miserable, I’d more than likely find myself drinking and drugging again.  It has been years (thank God) since I’ve come to meetings in order to avoid drinking or drugging.  Now I come to meetings to maintain some sense of balance and serenity in my life.”

“Today, I ask God for guidance in all I do, try to see His Grace in my life and then live it out.  I’ll ask again later and probably again after that because I am a “slow learner and a fast forgetter.”  Today I know God is with me, through the Holy Spirit, through the people I encounter and in the Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.  I merely need to remain open to His will, willing to do it and honest about myself and my motives.”

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tell people that the Lord found me because at this point of my life I certainly wasn’t looking for him. As a young girl I was incredibly hurt by my mother. My spirit had been broken, battered, and emotionally abused. I acted out and was well on my way to self destruction when one day I attended church with a friend from school. I never would have imagined what the Lord was preparing me for.

I had never seen anything like what I saw that day. There were people at the alter on their knees with tears in their eyes. I found out later that no one had died and in fact there was no real reason for this radical flow of emotion.

I had enjoyed myself so much that I continued to go with her on a regular basis. I began to spend time with the youth group and made friends of my own. At this time in particular I was there for the boys and the friends that I had made with no serious interest in what was being taught in the youth group. None the less, I continued attending the youth services (for the boys) for about 2 more years when one day the Lord would reveal himself to me in a powerful way.

I was 15 years old and in high school by now when on this particular day I had been witnessing to a boy in my ceramics class. I was on my way to becoming a better christian. I had finished my assignment and asked the teacher if there was anything else I could do. He instructed me to help the teachers assistant in cleaning the clay machine. Teachers assistant was busy at the moment and showed me what exactly he needed me to do. I began cleaning the clay off of the sides of the machine and placing the excess near the entrance of the inside of the machine. I pulled my hand back and the blade had taken hold of my thumb and very slowly began to take the rest of my hand into the machine. At this very moment I knew that I was in danger. I spoke the words “JESUS HELP ME” and then proceeded to yell for help. I never cried, I was instructed to stay calm and focus and I did do just that. I began to pray as I arrived at the hospital. Scared and confused, all I could do was pray. I began to cry as the doctors spoke of surgery and asked his Holy Spirit to hold my hand.

As I was taken in and prepped for surgery I was wheeled out by the waiting room where my entire youth group and family members had been waiting for word. Instantly I began to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and a calmness had come over me.

11hrs of reconstructive surgery and an almost certain report from the doctor that my hand would have to be amputated by the following week was of no worry to me as I knew that I was no longer alone. What I asked of his Holy Spirit he had granted. I did not just believe this to be true but I KNEW IT! Matter of factly.

The Doctors believed I would never be able to recover and they had convinced my mother that I would rely on my left hand for nearly everything for my entire life. I told my mother that she did not know the power of the Holy Spirit and recovered over 85% in two years. I believe today that he picked me. I still don’t know why but I am grateful that he did because I am no longer allowed to not believe.

When I got up and walked outside, everything was different—trees, cars, the street—I saw everything with new eyes. It took me much searching to find out what had happened to me. In a book by William James entitled The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), I found that I had had a radical conversion.

Did I answer a calling? I don’t know what happened to me except I knew that God had given me that compassion and love that I felt that day. I know that someone with an experience is never at the mercy of someone with an argument.

From that day until today, I have tried to accept the guidance that God gives me and it has been the most amazing journey. I don’t believe that God does more for me now than He did before that day. The difference is that I now can see the daily miracles.  “Once I was blind and now I see.”

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January, 2012  will be the beginning of my 35th year of experiencing being captured by the God of my understanding. The first year, I didn’t have any labels for it. If you are a mystic, you generally have to be told by someone else that you are a mystic and find out for yourself what that means. It was only after I read William James’s book, The Varieties of Religious Experience that I had a label of “radical conversion”. Soon after this, someone asked me if I knew what mysticism was and I was able to add another label. I am a Christian but have gained much insight from studying all religions and incorporating other practices into my spiritual experiences.

Mystics are found in all faiths and/or religions. Beginning the mystic journey, each pilgrim has an individual journey yet all will have some common ground with other mystics. For my 35th-year journey, I have let go of most of my earthly ties to family and friends. I felt an extreme urgency to experience and study my inner experience. So, although God’s gift is free, it isn’t cheap. I have lived without most of my family for most of the 35 year experience. I have never made a lot of money or taken the time to climb the ladder. I have driven cheap cars and owned very little materially. But I did what I wanted to do–follow the God of my understanding as best I could. My reward has been Heaven on earth–the peace, love, joy, contentment, fun is amazing. And I look forward to life’s greatest adventure–giving up this bodily burden.

Some of the spiritual techniques that my help for your spiritual journey are:

(1) centering prepares us for the Presence of God;

(2) deep breathing helps us to quiet our mind because we can only think one thought at a time–when we are counting our breaths in and out, our mind is focused on one thought relieving our anxiety;

(3) meditation and prayer;

(4) mindfulness.

According to Carl McColman, who writes The Website of Unknowing, a soul friend is a friend who provides others with coaching, support and guidance as they progress along the path toward fulfilling their spiritual and mystical potential.

“Of Mystics and Activists”  by Peter J. Leithart

‘The Challenge of Understanding Mysticism” by Richard D. Engle

“Understanding Mysticism” by Matthew Bingley

Mysticism: General Information

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I had been suffering with very bad depression for 20 years and I am in a relationship with my partner for 17 years, her name is Tina who I love dearly. Tina went on holiday with her mum for 2 weeks in Spain and when she came back home she told me she had a weird thing happen to her, and I said what was it and she said I heard you call my name and I asked her to tell me what it sounded like and she said it was deep toned. Then told Tina that I did call out her name like she described and said it out vocally and in my head, I started to tell Tina why I called out her name and this why: I was on my own for two weeks and had some personal issues going on with family which was very upsetting for me and found myself very alone and isolated, empty, and very low; it was the lowest point that ever felt in my life and I have had plenty lows in my life. I needed Tina to be with me and I sat on the edge of the bed with my hand cupped on the side of my face and I called out her name and said it again in my head.

I don’t know if it was the next day or the day after that I woke up, I felt really good, I felt happy and very contented, I realized that my depression had gone completely and still has, my family and friends have noticed a big change in me and they see a gleam in my eyes and my face sparkles and asked had I won the lottery because they have never seen me so happy. And that is that part of my amazing story.

I asked Tina if she would like to go to Glasgow, Scotland to see some family and friends, so we went and my friend invited us to a country and western night, the event was held in the grounds of the local chapel in a community hall and started to record some of the line dancing when I saw little white objects flying past on video screen and I immediately knew what they were and I don’t know how I knew that I just did, I started to get very emotional and found myself drawn to a row of empty seats and tables in a corner of the hall and had my camera focused on the wall where the empty tables and chairs were. I stood there for ten minutes and thought to myself “I wonder what these people are thinking what is this guy filming a wall for” but I knew what I was doing and got orbs that seemed to come from that area and when I moved from there to record the rest of the event I got more orbs coming into view and I got emotional again.

So that was that little part of the story. The next part is we went back home to my sister’s house (that is where we were staying when went to Glasgow) and I said to Tina “I wonder if we will get anything happening here” and to our surprise and to my delight we got lots of orbs flashes and different colors when it was all happening we felt so happy it was all very comforting and all this continued every day we were there, and sometimes more frequent and sometimes less and on one particular day, it was what I can only describe as snowing orbs, the orbs were coming in the morning, afternoon and in the evening I have not told my sister what was happening because she does not believe in anything like that and I did want to scare her, so she is and still is unaware of the things that happened.

Here is the last part of my wonderful story, we went back home and our home is 16 moss walk Corby north ants England and I said to Tina I wonder if they have followed us home and again to our surprise and delight it is happening again every day and we get some amazing colored orbs and it makes us feel so happy inside. There was one time when we thought they have left us because we did not get anything for three nights and I felt really sad because I thought they had gone but the next day it was like they put on a little show for us and all this is still happening right now and I don’t want it to ever stop and what’s amazing about all this is I have all the pics and video of everything that I have told you about, if you would like me to send you some pics please let me know, I believe this is all happening to me for a reason but I am not sure what it is maybe you will be able to help me.

Kind regards Alan & Tina

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This all happened about 1998. My brother and I were living together in my parents house. They had passed away in 1992 and 1996. There is a difference in our ages. I was 43 at the time and he was 19. He was out with his friends doing drugs as I had when I was his age. I went to bed knowing he was young and stupid. I was laying there and started feeling so scared.

I started shaking and felt that he was in trouble. I believed in God at times but always felt that things just didn’t add up, with Adam and all. I was on the ground crying and preying for God to take me. I had this overwhelming feeling my brother was dying. As I cried and was out of control, the feeling subsided. I was taken into the most peaceful feeling I have ever seen. Everything was okay. I also had this incredible knowledge that everything I knew before was so lame because I could not understand God’s ways. I realized we could be from Adam and Eve, but we do not have the ability to see.

He showed me that if my brother died it would be okay. He did arrive home the next day. I have only met a couple of people that understood how profound this experience is. My other brother does not believe it is real, that it is in my imagination. I know that when this happened, there is no longer any question in my mind. God is real and I am so glad to have seen and be able to tell this experience.

I guess what convinced me the most as I said before was that we could all be from two people but we could not understand. And then realize it and see how profound it is. Thanks for listening. I hope this has meaning for others as it did me. Dale

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I have gone through the most horrific childhood and adulthoods one can imagine. I was abused by my stepfather, psychologically and physically for 24 years. I have been bullied all the way through school up until the third year of University, with a break of the bullying in High school. I have had virtually all anxiety disorders in the book, severe OCD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), GAD and Social Phobia. My life wasn’t worth living.

My OCD was mainly of the themes POCD, fear of being a pedophile, and Harm-O, fear of killing or harming others and myself. This went on for seven years. I was close to killing myself once just to end the misery and anguish I was going through. I have never harmed and never would harm an animal, child or adult. All I went through was in my mind, and I was battling my mind daily to become free of the OCD. It got to such a point that I was terrified of kids, anything associated to kids, the colour blue, pink, kids voices, prams, toys, even things not associated with kids, trucks, any sound, suitcases on the ground which my peripheral vision saw as kids sitting on the ground, anything that my mind would see as a threat. The POCD had turned into a conditioned fear, where my brain would associate anything to do with kids and even not, trees with two branches, adults at a distance etc, as something to fear, and either run away from or go into full fight or flight response, have a panic attack, blush, feel dizzy, sweat, have trouble breathing etc.

I hated my life and didn’t feel it was worth living. All days were days of complete fear. I was never afraid of hurting others, but I was afraid of being seen as a pedophile, due to my anxiousness and fear around kids. Who in society who doesn’t know that one can suffer from POCD would believe me if I said I was terrified of kids.

I went through all kinds of therapy to overcome my anxieties, hypnotherapy, CBT, Exposure Response Prevention, Psychotherapy. Nothing took away my fear. Some of the therapies had some effect but it was only to a moderate level. My fears also grew when I was forced to live in a neighborhood full of kids and teenagers.

I started believing that all people in Stockholm, Sweden where I lived saw me as a pedophile. I was so afraid of this that I thought they would kill me due to their ignorance and society’s prejudice against mental illness. I was convinced that people began to fear me so much, (I showed my fear and anxiety very visibly) that they contacted the police. I began to see people react to me in anger, hatred, disgust, fear, calling names like sick bastard, pedo, perv. I had done nothing at all apart from been extremely anxious and fearful, but people interpreted my fear of kids as pedophilia.

At one point in Stockholm on a day out with my parents and sister, I counted up to 23 civilian clothed police officers, who were trying to find evidence to arrest me. I could see it in the way they behaved, how they stared, the ear microphones they had in their ears. Everything about them stood out.

My computer was hacked professionally and I have found a lot of evidence pointing back to the Swedish Police.

To save my father from more anxiety regarding my life that had come to a complete stand still and had been for the last seven years I agreed to go to hospital.

Once I got admitted, I noticed something was very wrong from the start. The hospital staff were extremely nasty to me the second I got in. After five minutes of doctor consultation I was sectioned and locked up for 18 days. I could see very clearly how the staff were probing with talking about kids to see my reaction. They refused me food if I didn’t leave my room, they refused me food if I didn’t speak Swedish. I’m half Swedish half English. One nurse was extremely hostile to the point of me feeling that he would want to kill me.

I came out of my room once to charge my mobile phone, and overheard the same nurse who seemed to hate me to the point of wanting to kill me, ‘saying… throwing stones at windows’.

Later that night I heard someone throwing stones at the windows, starting at a window far down the corridor away from mine, and coming closer all the time. I was terrified that it was someone who wanted to shoot me due to thinking I was a dangerous pedophile.

I believed some of the hospital staff were undercover police officers. I have always been able to tell if people were lying and some of the staff members were lying their faces off.

The first night I had come into the hospital they forcefully injected me with a strong anti psychotic which gave me severe cramps for over four hours. I was cramping all over my body and my mouth was clamped shut so I had to breathe through my nose. I forced a pencil through my mouth so I could breathe somewhat through my mouth. This drug could have killed me had they not reluctantly given me a muscle relaxant.

The doctor and the nurses came in and checked on me occasionally, but when they came in they just stared viscously and once my father had come to visit me later that evening, my father asked if they could not show any compassion. One of the nurses said ‘Oh I don’t know anything about that!’. She looked at me extremely coldly while saying this.

They wanted to ban my mother from talking to me on the phone. Every way they could push me they did it.

They gave me high doses of antipsychotics, the same dose for schizophrenia and psychosis. If anything I suffered from severe OCD and PTSD. They also gave me high doses of antidepressants. These drugs without food will cause an extreme adrenergic response. Fear and anxiety. The only reason I could see the staff doing this to me was to push me over the edge. If they believed me to be a dangerous pedophile I believed they wanted to try and bring that behaviour out. There was a woman in her early twenties there, who was also supposedly a patient. She spoke in a very childish voice and was always looking towards me, speaking of secondary school and kids. In my mind she was an undercover police officer who was trying to bring out the pedophilic behaviour that wasn’t there because I am not a pedophile.

All of these experiences with the hospital staff were making me as fearful as I could ever be in life. I huddled up in one corner in my room and crouched every time I needed to exit my room or go to my bathroom. I was afraid of being shot through the window.

After 18 days I was released after my father came and visited me. They had refused me food again. My father drove me straight down to my mother in the south of Sweden. When I was released I was extremely fearful and in a complete state of fight or flight, and clung to my father while he walked me out to the car. Once I got in the car, I sat on the floor with my head on the seat and said ‘Drive, don’t look at me or speak to me, just drive’. I was afraid of being shot through the car door.

All these experiences in life led up to a breaking point where spiritually I died and was reborn.

At my mum’s I was still extremely fearful and fearing that people would come to kill me due to thinking I was a dangerous pedophile.

After about one week at my mum’s I started meditating. I meditated for eight hours a day. I started having visual hallucinations, seeing the four armed God Shiva on the kitchen wall, a chest, a throne with a white skull on the right hand side of it. The same throne with a man on top of it, and two men standing below and looking up at the man on the throne.

When I took showers I was often unable to take a normal shower. I started spinning round in the shower clockwise and then anti-clockwise. I started drawing symbols on the shower walls. I walked out the front door 4.30 in the morning once, dressed and wearing my flip flops. I didn’t care about locking the door. I walked to my old school which I had very fond memories of and ran around the school’s football field in my flip flops. I didn’t get tired. I then walked up the steps of the playground ship, climbed up the climbing wall and jumped down. Walked on top of monkey bars and jumped down, then I walked down the village, blessed an ant on the sidewalk and continued my walk through the village. I greeted all people sleeping in their houses and walked back towards my house. I took a green apple from a tree, took a bite and threw it on the ground. I then got back into bed and slept another two hours.

I started sleeping only four or five hours of sleep, feeling energized after that. I didn’t need much food nor the need to go the loo more than two or three times a day.

At this time my mum was very fearful for me due to my experience in hospital and wanted to take me to the UK.

We got to the UK where we stayed with a cousin of mine and her two kids. I started doing Kung Fu outside and drew the infinity symbol in concrete with my two fingers until they started bleeding. This to me was not of any harm.

I became unable to feel any pain. I tried to take out an oven tray once at 225′C and did not feel anything other than a slight stinging sensation and tickle. I got no blisters from doing it.

I began to not feel heat or cold the same way. I could stand in a really hot or cold shower and not flinch.

I began drawing lots of pictures at a high level of skill with japanese themes, and writing japanese characters to every drawing. I began talking in different languages, ancient japanese, Ming and Qin Dynasty chinese. Perhaps current arabic and german. I spoke arabic once to a guy who replied in arabic, and spoke German to my father who is fluent in German and recognized it as fluent German. I started writing about astrophysics, neurochemistry, medicine, mechanics, electronics, religion, history, anything that came out of my brain.

I stopped thinking, everything was silent in my mind, never an internal dialogue.

I started doing Kung Fu at an advanced level for a beginner. I started doing Tai Chi power moves on people, very similar to acupressure, healing by putting pressure on the different energy joints in the body. I healed two people from intense pain in their arms and legs. I nearly completely healed a person from severe Dyscalculia and the inability to tell time. I healed a person with a chest infection and drew out the infection from him.

I became completely fearless towards anything and was unable to feel any negative emotions, apart from anger which I would feel outside my head, I would never be overwhelmed with anger. A composed anger.

It has now gone two months since my spiritual rebirth. I have been in hospital again in the UK as I was not believed about my abilities and the psychiatrists said I had hypomania, mania or psychosis. I held that I did not suffer from any of those things and that such a label did not explain the multitude of things I was able to do.

I am now out of hospital and titrating down on the anti psychotic drug which they forced me to take, and am starting to feel again the complete harmony I felt before I was on the drugs. At the moment my sensitivity to pain, sugar, heat and cold are not the same as before the drugs.

I used to be highly sensitive towards most foods, and those sensitivities have now disappeared. I am a reborn man with a will to help as many as I can. It is difficult for me to be believed regarding my theories, some of which I have posted on my blog www.dharmaga.com, but I believe with time I will gain credibility in all that I am doing.

What I have gone through in terms of my spiritual experience is a complete rebirth. My soul died after all the trauma I had gone through in life and a new one was inserted into my body along with reincarnations of previous and future lives. Time is always the present if one sees time as bending. Past time and future time are in that sense always present.

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After having a deep conversation about Christianity with my boyfriend I found myself alone downstairs doing work because I had a deadline today and had a lot of work to do. But I was quite upset because he was asking me these questions and I feel like I’ve missed out on something everyone should be able to learn and decide about because I didn’t know about sinning, I feel like I’ve got no chance of being righteous I have sinned so much already… I recently had a couple of piercings too and now this has happened. I kind of feel like they are burdens for my sins.

About 20 past 3 I turned everything off and went to go upstairs. As soon as everything went pitch black I suddenly felt freezing cold. I felt a tremendous pressure around me and inside me. I was so shocked, I stood there for about 10 minutes just too scared to move, but then I just thought get to my room and turn on a light. It was so horrible I felt like a million things were staring at me and following me up the stairs. I ran into my room and threw the door to shut it and it stopped, leaving a tiny gap which my cat ran through all big and angry looking. So I just sat on my bed for about 20 minutes feeling the pressure. It was kind of like the darkness was crushing me, so I prayed.

I’ve never really been taught about Christianity but it felt like the right thing to do, and suddenly I felt warm like I’d just got out a bath the pressure went and I suddenly could not keep my eyes open.

I need to know what happened to me, and can you please tell me when you began to believe? Or is everyone unsure to some extent? All I know is I want to believe and I have asked for signs but I have nothing.

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I will be using excerpts from several sites. Today’s site I have read for years as it is a place for those of us who have had spiritual experiences to be able to read about each other’s experience.

Spiritual Experiences & Spiritualityis your source for spiritual, religious and mystical experiences, the study of spirituality, religion, enlightenment and teachers.

We are interested in stories from readers like you, if you have experienced any kind of inner awakening, personal development, growth or if you had a life transforming realization, an experience of transcendence, an inspiring story or if you have a gift on matters of spirituality, please submit it! If you want to have your own profile page, please sign up, it’s free!

It is also a powerful community for sharing with others.

Today’s selection is “The Darkness Was Crushing Me”:

“After having a deep conversation about Christianity with my boyfriend I found myself alone downstairs doing work because I had a deadline today and had a lot of work to do. But I was quite upset because he was asking me these questions and I feel like I’ve missed out on something everyone should be able to learn and decide about because I didn’t know about sinning, I feel like I’ve got no chance of being righteous I have sinned so much already… I recently had a couple of piercings too and now this has happened. I kind of feel like they are burdens for my sins.”

“About 20 past 3 I turned everything off and went to go upstairs. As soon as everything went pitch black I suddenly felt freezing cold. I felt a tremendous pressure around me and inside me. I was so shocked, I stood there for about 10 minutes just too scared to move, but then I just thought get to my room and turn on a light. It was so horrible I felt like a million things were staring at me and following me up the stairs. I ran into my room and threw the door to shut it and it stopped, leaving a tiny gap which my cat ran through all big and angry looking. So I just sat on my bed for about 20 minutes feeling the pressure. It was kind of like the darkness was crushing me, so I prayed.”

“I’ve never really been taught about Christianity but it felt like the right thing to do, and suddenly I felt warm like I’d just got out a bath the pressure went and I suddenly could not keep my eyes open.”

“I need to know what happened to me, and can you please tell me when you began to believe? Or is everyone unsure to some extent? All I know is I want to believe and I have asked for signs but I have nothing.”

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From Heroes in Recovery: “Heroes’ Manifesto”:

“Here’s to the hopeful. The overcomers. The life changers. The optimists who would choose a happy beginning over a happy ending any day of the week. They know their dings, dents, bruises and bumps are the things triumphant stories are made of. They hope. They push. They feel. They heal. They acknowledge the past, but focus on the power and possibility of right here, right now. They believe choices we make today are the foundation for a healthy, happy tomorrow – and it’s never too late to life the life you want.”

“We are a community for the hopeful. We believe bringing people together is the best way to help others help themselves. By extending love instead of passing judgment, we can share stories and help others understand that today can be the first day of their lives – Day One.”

Inspiring Stories of Heroes in Recovery:

1.  Anthony P. Lee:

Hello, my name is Anthony, and my story is not that different than the next person’s. I named it “Seven Years Clean & Climbing,” because seven years ago was the last time I got high or used drugs. In 2005, a devastating force of nature by the name of Hurricane Katrina changed my life forever.

I was a victim of crack cocaine for a very long time, it wasn’t until Hurricane Katrina that I realized I was in denial. This monster, took control of my life and I didn’t even know it– or I didn’t want to know it because I was in so much
pain. I found myself in California after I was displaced from New Orleans, no family, no money or job. I was all alone or so I thought.

Little did I know that “GOD” was seeing me through the hardest time in my life. I lived in a homeless shelter for almost five years after I got out here to California. My home was Martha’s Kitchen & Village. There I rebuilt my relationship
back with “Jesus” and he showed me the way back to “GOD.”

There’s more to my story, we can get into that at another time; I just wanted to let those of you who are out there lost that there is a solution; you don’t have to be afraid. You’re not alone; all you have to do is ask. As GOD as my
witness it will be okay.

2.  Jennifer Street:

Pretty much I had lost everything I had worked for my whole life. I was a single parent, went to college, got a degree and worked 23 years in the medical field. During that time, the company I worked for sent me to rehab twice. I just kept on drinking. I lost my job because I went to work drinking and from there I lost my youngest daughter and then I lost my house, and then pretty much after all that I just gave up. I didn’t feel like I was worth anything, so
if I was awake I was drinking.

After I lost my job I had several good jobs, but I would lose them for calling in “sick.” But each time something
happened I’d say, “This is it. I’m not doing this again.” I’m 42 years old and ended up in the ER with alcohol toxicity, and it pretty much took me 10 days to detox, but I wasn’t really surprised because I’ve been drinking for 20 years off and on.

From detox I went to a short-term rehab and stayed 30 days there, and while I was there I decided that if I went back to where I came from, the next time I might not be so lucky. I may be dead. Plus I talked to my girls – I have two daughters ages 14 and 24 – I talked to them and I need to be there for them. I had lost so much of that time already. That was my turning point: I had lost so much already– my friends, my job, my self-esteem.

And just knowing that my girls still loved me, I knew I had to fight. 

That’s when I decided to go to long-term rehab. And that’s how I ended up at The Next Door.

I’ve been there four months and I can’t tell you how much better I feel. I’ve done a complete turnaround. They give you hope. Everybody there, they’ve turned my whole life around. Now I see a future with my family, and they found me a
job and it’s completely different than what I was doing before. Now I work for a catering company and I love it. I get up every morning and I’m thankful for where I’m at. I’m grateful.

The one thing that they have taught me is that without hope, my future is only as good as my past, and they’ve given me hope and the courage to stand. Altogether I’ve been through about seven rehabs but this is the first time that I actually wanted to change for me. The other times it was to keep my job or my house — material things — this time it’s for me.

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