Courtnie's Life is a Testimony that the Word of Truth found in the Bible will set you free. She had a rough start and then as a teenager turned to drugs and men trying to find solace, but this path only turned into greater darkness. It was in prison when someone unexpectedly gave her a Life Recovery Bible that everything changed.
Courtnie's Life is a Testimony that the Word of Truth found in the Bible will set you free. She had a rough start and then as a teenager turned to drugs and men trying to find solace, but this path only turned into greater darkness. It was in prison when someone unexpectedly gave her a Life Recovery Bible that everything changed.
well while in Russell County is Where I opened my heart to God And I spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's all in Russell County Jail. Didn't get to see my family it was nothing like missing that family time and it was the year that my mom had passed away, I got into three fights into the jail the day I got in there. I had eight seizures back to back, and I kept getting put in lockdown. I had wanted the Life Recovery Bible. I don't know if you know what that is.
Phil:I've heard of it, yeah.
Courtnie:I wanted one. All of a sudden, One came with my name on it.
Phil:What?
Courtnie:And someone had ordered it for me.
Phil:Wow.
Courtnie:And it was one of the ladies that was in the jail with me, and I was so grateful to that. I sat down when I was in lockdown and read Habakkuk What is it, Ruth? Ruth is my favorite story. Such a
Phil:good story. Such a good book. It
Courtnie:is. I read all the smaller stories, but I read Revelations first.
Phil:Wow, you jumped into the heavy stuff. I
Courtnie:did. Wow. But it did scare me. And that's when everything in my life changed.
Phil Shuler:HellO, and welcome to Renew, Restore, Rejoice, the Safe House Ministries podcast, where we share stories of the power of God to change lives through Safe House Ministries. Safe House Ministries is based out of Columbus, Georgia, and we are a ministry that exists to love and serve people who have been affected by addiction, homelessness, and incarceration. I'm your host, Phil Shuler, the Director of Development for Safe House Ministries here in Columbus, Georgia. Safe House serves over 1, 100 people each month as they transition back into our community. Safe House provides an abundance of services including 213 beds for homeless individuals and families, case management for obtaining job skills and long term employment. Over 300 hot meals every day, free clothing, and so much more. One of the most incredible services that Safe House provides is our free 9 12 month intensive outpatient substance abuse program, which is state licensed, CARF accredited, and has no wait list. Almost 100 percent of individuals staying in our shelters who follow our three phase program become fully employed within a few months. And 68 percent of individuals who stay at least one night with us End up finding work and moving into their own home. Thank you for being with us today and listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoy this week's episode.
Phil:Good morning this morning on the podcast. I've got Courtney and Courtney. Thank you for being here this morning. I'm glad to have you.
Courtnie:Thank you for having me.
Phil:If you had to come up with one word that would best describe you. What do you think that one word would be?
Courtnie:Funny.
Phil:Funny? teLl me why you say that.
Courtnie:I have my own different type of Funny, but I think I'm really funny and other people think I'm funny. Yeah, just in a whole outside shell thing.
Phil:Yeah.
Courtnie:You get what I mean?
Phil:Funny is in humor and you know how to make people laugh?
Courtnie:Something like that. Yeah. mAybe it's just my own humor and I make myself laugh.
Phil:That's probably good either way. Awesome. Funny. That's good. Courtney, thanks for being here. Thanks for being willing to share your story. I've enjoyed just chatting with you as we were just waiting to get everything rolling for the podcast. And if you would just maybe start out by telling us where you're born, where you grew up and just maybe what home life was like in the early years.
Courtnie:Alright so I'm from Smith Station, Alabama. And I grew up in a neighborhood called Green Acres. It's behind Terry's Groceries in Alabama. Yeah. If anybody knows where that is. I don't remember what road it's on though. I stayed on the property with my dad. My grandparents had their little trailer. Home life was pretty good, or at least I thought it was. From what I can remember. But there's parts of my life that I just I don't remember, or I've just blocked out so bad. But the parts that I do remember were good. my Dad was an alcoholic. My mom was a drug addict. My dad became a pill head, and
Phil:What does that mean when you say pill head? He became addicted to pills?
Courtnie:Yes. Yes. They were both just, they were both alcoholics and addicts. I didn't know it until a further age in life.
Phil:Yeah. You were a little, you didn't really understand what all that meant and what it was.
Courtnie:Yeah. They hid it well, or at least for me, I was the shelter child out of my brother and sister and my brother and sister knew everything. But I was so sheltered like I guess I didn't see it or just didn't want to see it.
Phil:Yeah
Courtnie:I mean my parents were good to me. They loved me My sister pretty much tells me that she raised me as my brother too, but I don't remember those times. I Don't really remember the bad things that happened I remember a lot of the good. And it was a good childhood. Up until I was about 15. And I went and spent the night off with my friend. I went home to nothing. No food, no power, no father, no family, no nothing.
Phil:Like an empty house? An empty house. Overnight. One night you went and stayed with a friend and then came back the next day and everybody was gone?
Courtnie:Yes. And I tried to get in touch with my dad, his phone was off, I wound up calling my mom, and of course my mom always came and got me Me and my mom didn't have the best relationship, but if something happened, she was always there. She came and got me, she was mad at my dad she was mad I had always chose to live with my dad because
Phil:So you're, so at that point your parents were split. Yes. And you had been just staying with your dad when you went overnight with a friend and came back and he was gone. Yeah. Okay, so your mom was in a different place. Yes,
Courtnie:my mom stayed in Georgia.
Phil:Okay.
Courtnie:My dad just disappears sometimes. Oh wow. I always thought my mom did, my mom hated me because she was never there for real when I was a kid. But little did I know, my grandmother took us from her, my mom, and gave us to our dad. Which is something my grandma's also done to me, and I went and stayed with my mom, everything was good, me and her always bickered, me and my stepdad just We just didn't get along at all. We were always fist fighting, arguing. You
Phil:and your stepdad? Yeah.
Courtnie:And then I wound up pregnant. I was still staying with my mom and stepdad
Phil:how old were you then?
Courtnie:I was nine. I got pregnant at eighteen and had her at nineteen. Okay. A little bit after that is when I actually got on drugs.
Phil:So you hadn't done any drugs until that point? I
Courtnie:smoked weed. Yeah? That was about it as a kid. And then after I had my daughter, something just flipped inside my head. I was still taking care of her. But she was with her dad most of the time. And
Phil:Does he have a stable home? Or was he?
Courtnie:Somewhat yeah, I mean I haven't seen my daughter in eight years almost seven seven years
Phil:So he has full custody of her
Courtnie:we had joint, but he took her and ran Because after a while I did become an addict and I understand why I did it His wife doesn't like me he is I was his first child mother, how do you her first You His first kid's mother. And she wanted to be that, and I get, I became an addict, and everything flipped but I've tried to be part of her life here recently, and he's refused, they told her I was dead, and I'm just nobody anymore.
Phil:What's her name?
Courtnie:Her name's Charity.
Phil:That's a great name. You're welcome. Wow, Charity.
Courtnie:Yeah.
Phil:It's a beautiful name.
Courtnie:Thank you.
Phil:So you had her at 19. And then that's when things really started going off the rails for you?
Courtnie:About six months after I had her, yeah. I was with this guy named Pat and the first Patrick that I dated. And me and him broke up. And I was on that thing of, oh, I'm gonna get him back. And He was on drugs. So I figured that was the way to get him back. Do some meth.
Phil:You were going to get him back by doing meth? Yeah. How did that, how would that?
Courtnie:I wasn't thinking logically.
Phil:Yeah.
Courtnie:And I wound up getting addicted out of that point.
Phil:Oh.
Courtnie:And it's two years go by, I'm still doing it. I'm still seeing my daughter and everything at this point. And it got real bad in the end. He didn't want to let me see her anymore, and I was getting more upset, doing more drugs. I never did them around her, or when I had her, but I was doing drugs. And he could tell. Once he completely stopped letting me see her, I started, I went straight to a needle. I didn't snort, I didn't smoke, I went straight to the vein. And For five years straight, that's all I did.
Phil:Wow.
Courtnie:I smoked spice.
Phil:What is spice? I don't know what that is.
Courtnie:It's synthetic marijuana. K 12, K 2, as most people would know it, I think. Okay. it's basically potpourri with chemicals.
Phil:Oh, wow.
Courtnie:Yeah. bUt those were my two things and my life just, after I started shooting up, my life spiraled down so bad.
Phil:What was that time period like? What did it look like? Where were you living? Or what what were you into?
Courtnie:Between my grandmas. That's when I met my new dude, Pat. And, to be real, that's when the prostitution started. And. Everything just like I thought I loved him. I thought he loved me He beat me until I did something for him to go get money Wow, and I did that for a year And then I finally got the courage to leave him And what Two years ago I went to jail like I just I got caught I was running from drc My mom no. The fact before that, my mom died in 2021 on July 16th, the day after my daughter's birthday, and that's when I really spiraled.
Phil:So were you still with the Patrick that was beating you at that time? No. Okay. This is
Courtnie:like a year later.
Phil:Okay. So you were, that sounds like a really rough situation. He was beating you and making you just I guess turn tricks or do whatever and just manipulating you and
Courtnie:Exactly. How did
Phil:you get out of that? Like, how did you come to a place where mentally you're like, you got away from that?
Courtnie:Honestly, I don't remember. I just know one day it's flipped and I was like, go. And I never went back. Wow. I still use drugs. Put away from him.
Phil:Okay,
Courtnie:and I'm staying in motels Staying with friends. My family didn't really have much to do with me my sister. I stole from her and But she's the one person, besides my mom at this point, that was always there for me. If I needed something, I could call her.
Phil:Your sister.
Courtnie:Yeah. Yeah. Even to this day, especially now that I've gotten sober, and I'm staying this way. I get to spend time with my nieces, my nephews. I actually have a family. I have something to move on to. And
Phil:Your sister's here in Columbus? Phoenix City. Yeah. Okay.
Courtnie:She's not far. I'm actually gonna go see her later on today. Awesome. But, that, it gives me a reason to want to move forward. Because when my nephew sees me, he's like t.! T.! And it just makes my heart full. I don't get to see my kids. But, they fill a void for me. They make me feel like I have somebody. I know I have them, but. They just make me feel special. Yeah. If
Phil:I do know what you mean. Yeah.
Courtnie:And those are my babies.
Phil:That's awesome. Yeah. You had gotten away from Patrick, but you're still doing drugs. Yeah. Then what kind of continued happening from there?
Courtnie:About a year later, after staying in the hotels, I started doing shrooms, I was on ice, spice, and shrooms all at one time, having just a jolly old good time, or at least I thought it was. I've looked back at videos and pictures and I look like a crazy person. But my mom died July 16th, 2021. And I was already running from DRC, me and her were in there together and we just ran together. She died. I ran for six months, and I was at a hotel in Phoenix City, and I went to go take some drugs to somebody at a different hotel down the road. wE wound up getting pulled over. I wound up having drugs on me. I tried to shove them. I did that, but come to find out, Russell County's got a whole x ray machine where you slide through and they can see if you got anything in you or on you. So I gave them up so I didn't get crossing the guard lines that point in time From the three counties that I went to I went from Russell County to Muskogee County to Klaxton Permission Detention Center well while in Russell County is Where I opened my heart to God And I spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's all in Russell County Jail. Didn't get to see my family I mean I had money on my books. My grandma kept money on the phone so I could talk to her. My sister did the same thing. My dad did the same thing. And it was good getting to talk to them, but it was nothing like missing that family time and it was the year that my mom had passed away, I got into three fights into the jail the day I got in there. I had eight seizures back to back, and I kept getting put in lockdown. They gave me a Bible. Oh no, that's not what happened. I had wanted the Life Recovery Bible. I don't know if you know what that is.
Phil:I've heard of it, yeah.
Courtnie:I wanted one. All of a sudden, One came with my name on it.
Phil:What?
Courtnie:And someone had ordered it for me.
Phil:Wow.
Courtnie:And it was one of the ladies that was in the jail with me, and I was so grateful to that. I sat down when I was in lockdown and read Habakkuk What is it, Ruth? Ruth is my favorite story. Such a
Phil:good story. Such a good book. It
Courtnie:is. I read all the smaller stories, but I read Revelations first.
Phil:Wow, you jumped into the heavy stuff. I
Courtnie:did. Wow. But it did scare me. And that's when everything in my life changed. And then I went to Muscogee County I hate Muscogee County Jail. It scares me. Because at any point in time I could die. Anybody can.
Phil:Wow. It's a tough place. It's a rough place. It's
Courtnie:rough. It'll make you double think your life. Wow. But I wasn't there for long. I wasn't scared this time though. I knew I was just passing through at this point. But while I was in Russell County, I got put in drug court over there. I went to Muscogee County, let Alabama know. And then I went to Claxton, PDC. When I got out of there, I feel like I was a different person. I didn't want, The needle, I didn't want the spice. I didn't want any of that anymore. I just wanted something to fill the void that I'm trying to fill with drugs and it just makes a bigger void. And I've realized that after I had stayed for so long, like I started drinking a little bit and then I quit. And then I got out. And I got put in Muscogee County Adult Drug Court. And I just graduated it two weeks ago today.
Phil:That's awesome.
Courtnie:It's an 18 month program, but I was in it for 20 months. It was another thing that helped me. My faith, it's not where it should be. But, I guess you would say it's where it needs to be right this second. I know it can get further, and I know it will. I'm trying to think of the word. I know it's there. Yeah. And I know I have God behind my back.
Phil:So from that time that you got that Life Recovery Bible, you just started diving in, reading the word, and letting it sink into your heart, into your mind, and you've just continued doing that.
Courtnie:Yep. And I actually still have that Bible. It's actually in my car right now. And then that leads me to where I am today. I work at True Spring Trade School. It's also, I don't know if you know what that is, True Spring. I work for the construction part of their trade school. But I'm also a house manager at the Craig's house. I actually started living there because of Drug Court.
Phil:At the Women's Shelter? Yes. So while you were in Drug Court, you needed a place to live, and so you came to live at the Safe House Women's Shelter.
Courtnie:Yep. And, about a month in, my boss was like, how would you feel about doing something like this? And the weird thing is it's like something It's something I've already talked about doing before. Yeah, because I may not be in the best spot in my recovery But no one's ever in their best. Some people are in their best spot, but no one's perfect in their recovery, right? and It's something that I want to do. I Want to help people whether I messed up or not. I still know how to help someone get through something And I want to keep doing that. And it, and what I did made me realize I can't do that. Because I have so many people that look up to me, and it hurt, I hurt myself by doing what I did. And, I have people out there tell me that I inspire them to move forward. The speech I gave at drug court inspired them and that's what I want. I want to be able to help somebody. I want to be able to make someone want this.
Phil:Yeah.
Courtnie:Because it is a good place to be. Being sober and in recovery is I don't even know how to explain it. It's like an outer body experience for me sometimes. And Like I said in my drug court speech, it's like You have to want, really want it to want it. No one can want it for you but yourself. But you're going to have to fight for it it's not an easy battle to fight. It's not. But it's worth it. It's so worth it.
Phil:Wow. Wow. That's awesome. So you're still at the Grace House, right? I am. You live in shelter for safe house. AnD you've completed drug courts. You said you're working at Truth Springs? I do. I'm a
Courtnie:construction worker.
Phil:Awesome
Courtnie:I do.
Phil:Yeah, you can push it a little closer that's awesome, yeah. Are you going to church anywhere?
Courtnie:I go to the Fort.
Phil:Great place to go.
Courtnie:That is my favorite church.
Phil:How long have you been going there?
Courtnie:Over a year. Wow. Yeah.
Phil:That's awesome. Pastor Matt's awesome, and there's so many good people over there. They have two pastors now. Chuck now, he's a, yeah. Yeah. Yeah two locations, too, right?
Courtnie:Yeah, they have the Eastern Heights, which is the one I go to, and the one on the north side.
Phil:Okay.
Courtnie:I've never been to that one, though. Might have to try it.
Phil:As you think about your journey any, Particular anecdotes or stories or times that stand out that you think you want to add that, that are just would give us a good picture of my life or the lessons you learned, the story that kind of illustrates maybe
Courtnie:most of my lessons learned or when I lost my kids and when my mom died, honestly. Those two Taught me so much. I mean I stayed in my addiction after my kids and I stayed in it six months after my mom passed, but Now that I think back on it like and I look back My mom's been with me this whole time It's been two years 24 yeah This year will be three years since she passed away and I feel like I She is the reason she pu I feel like she pushes me.
Phil:Yeah.
Courtnie:On the if I feel I feel like she's here with me right now. It's I look back on those times and it makes me realize that I don't have to do none of what I did. That I have people that I can talk to. I just, I haven't. And that's my own problem. But, with God and your family and the people that you have behind your back, you can do anything. Anything, the sky is the limit.
Phil:Wow, So when you were starting to read the Bible in jail, and just really opening up your heart to the Lord, Did he bring someone into your life that can help you to understand what the Bible says to even about Jesus and how he died for us. And like just to walk you through how to actually receive Christ into your heart
Courtnie:there was this one lady named Wendy. She was like, cause in Rust County, the bunks are like this. They stand beside each other. She was right next to me. And. She helped me through all that. She helped me to understand a lot of it I think there was, and there was this girl named Jessica. She was in there too. She was like, she was all about it. Like I'm talking about, she was all about it. And she would like what Wendy didn't know what I didn't know. We could go to her and we could ask her anything. She'd pull her Bible out at the dime. And just get into it with us. We do Bible studies and it was really nice.
Phil:That is awesome.
Courtnie:It's bad that it takes most of us to go to jail to find that. But, the fact is we do find it. No matter where we find it.
Phil:Yeah. We we are all Every single one of us is lost until we find Jesus, like in, or He finds us, really. Yeah. He's the one that pursues us. He's the one that died for us. He's the one that loved us before we ever even cared about Him. And He's the one that has a plan for our lives.
Courtnie:He has a plan and I have a purpose.
Phil:Yeah. Yeah.
Courtnie:I learned that in my first eight weeks of trade school.
Phil:Yeah?
Courtnie:Yeah. The True Spring, Pastor Robin and them actually had shirts made for all the kids. And the teacher says, he has a plan and I have a purpose. I want one.
Phil:I love that. I love that you are giving back so much. Working with True Spring, working as a housing manager at Grace House, just really investing your life into helping others.
Courtnie:That's what I want, because I didn't, my family was there for me, but I didn't too much have too many people back then that wanted me to do better. Besides my sister and my dad, nobody wanted me to do better. Not for real. They didn't care what I did. They didn't care what happened to me. I mean they cared but Not like they should have I want someone As they say in the rooms I'll love you until you love yourself Or will love you till you love yourself. I want to be the person that loves you until you can love yourself Because until I went to jail besides my sister and my dad I really didn't have anybody to love me until I loved myself And that was a long road by myself, because I pushed my family away, because I didn't want them to see me like that. So I didn't really have anybody to love me. And I don't want to be that person for somebody, even if it's just one person I'll love you until you can love yourself, and I'll still love you after.
Phil:That's good. Yeah, that's really good. So would you As you're reflecting on things, are there any specific little nuggets of wisdom that you feel like would be helpful to pull out and maybe share?
Courtnie:If you feel like you need to call somebody, call them. Don't hesitate like I did. Call somebody. That is the biggest nugget I could give anybody. If you feel like you need to talk to somebody, you call whoever you feel like you need to talk to. Whether they answer or not, you keep calling somebody else. I didn't do that. I quit talking to people. And now it's my biggest nugget. I'm gonna call. I'm gonna keep in contact Gonna push for it and I'm gonna get what I have to get off of my chest off of my chest Cuz someone out there will listen.
Phil:Yeah, cuz now I have
Courtnie:people in my life that will love me until I love myself
Phil:Yeah,
Courtnie:and even when I still love me, they'll love me even if I mess up they're still there
Phil:That's good,
Courtnie:it's amazing how far I've come and I'm The people that I have in my life now are so much better than what I used to keep. They have I'm not gonna say the word indie, but I see what my friends have and I want it. Because they have, I have a boyfriend and he's really amazing. He's amazing. I've never been with someone like him and I just, I want to settle down for once in my life like my friends have. And I want to have what they have and I want to be happy
Phil:that's good. And you know the way to do it. The word gives us the way. Patterning our lives, our possibility of marriage or whatever it might be. Just following the plan that God has laid out. That's good.
Courtnie:This is the way
Phil:yeah. Yeah.
Courtnie:I'm a big Yoda fan.
Phil:I am too. Yeah, that's awesome. I love it. Any last little words you want to share
Courtnie:not that I can think of, but thank you for having me. Thank you for being here. I really enjoyed this.
Phil:Mind if I close us in a word of prayer? Sure. Dear father, thank you for Courtney. Thank you for your love for your son, for your plan and your purpose for our lives. that you love us. No matter what, Lord, you loved us when we cared nothing for you. You loved us when we were in bondage and darkness and running from you. You loved us then and you love us now. Bless Courtney. I'm going to guide her in the path that you want her to take, Lord. Give her wisdom and continue to help her to grow, to anchor herself in your word, Lord. It just brings joy to my heart to hear how she talks about you and how she talks about just that time when someone gave her that life recovery Bible and what it meant to her and how she just dove into it. And then the friends that she had there that they. You could talk about your word and study it together. That is amazing. Thank you for that, Lord. Thank you for leading her to truth Springs and leading her to the Fort church. Thank you for the work that she's doing right now at grace house investing in others, loving others until they love themselves and even then continuing on to love them after bless her life, guide her life. Protect her from traps, protect her from the enemy, and use her to further your cause and your kingdom, and to help as many people as you would lead her way, I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Courtnie:Amen.
Phil Shuler:We look forward to being with you again next week as we share another testimony about the power and the goodness of God to change lives through Safe House Ministries. if you are someone listening to this podcast that loves to hear these stories of the great things that God is doing in changing people's lives for the better, and if you would like to be a part of that work, please reach out to us You can reach us at 2101 Hamilton Road, Columbus, Georgia, 31,904. You can call us at seven oh six three two two. 3 7, 7 3, or you can email us at info@safehouse-ministries.com.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-2:Thank you so much for being with us this week for the renew restore and rejoice podcast of safe house ministries, we pray that God will bless you this week. And we look forward to having you back with us again next week for a new episode.