Collapsing into the Arms of a Loving God, Christy's Story Part 2.

In this conclusion of Christy's story, she shares how her life becomes utterly and entirely unhinged.  Tragedy strikes and her self-destructive behavior goes into overdrive and nearly kills her.  But when she collapses at the point of death, Jesus catches her in his arms and carries her on a path of beautiful redemption and restoration.

Transcript

Christy: 0:00

But after moving out of the bar out of the job, you know and I did, I knew that it, you know, that was not good for me and my family. It came to a point where I was like, this, I gotta stop. And I stopped. And moved back into working in an office administration type is what I did normally.

Phil: 0:17

Yeah, and you were married to the police officer at this time?

Christy: 0:20

Right after that. We started dating and we got married. Okay. And I moved me and my children to Augusta, Georgia. Okay. My daughter was 16 and going into 11th grade. And my son was 11. And so, I married him and moved to Augusta. While we were dating and he'd come to visit me, we would go out drinking in Vidalia. You know, he partook in my lifestyle. When we moved to Augusta and I got there as his wife and he was He was a police officer, been a police officer there for many years and didn't patrol anymore. He taught the gang resistance education and drugs in the schools. And then he was the explorer, like he was, was over the explorers and then there's another step up. I can't recall what they call him, but he was a big role model for kids in the, in the So he,

Phil: 1:13

did he not drink at all?

Christy: 1:15

It completely came to a stop.

Phil: 1:16

Wow. And

Christy: 1:17

I was so bored I was so bored with my life. At first I was happy and okay and we got it, we were in church, which was bounced in and out of church with me and my children too throughout life. And like our relation, he was so good to me and my children.

Phil: 1:32

So what happened then?

Christy: 1:33

I devastated him and divorced him and, you know, probably devastated my children too. my daughter. I, I was, we were married a year

Phil: 1:42

wow.

Christy: 1:43

My sister adopted a baby at the same time at my divorce and taught me. And as I was getting divorced, instead of going back to my hometown, we moved to Macon, Georgia.

Phil: 1:52

So you, you just, you got bored and you, you weren't, you wanted to drink again, you wanted to have a party again. And

Christy: 1:58

I did start drinking again. And he was very unhappy with it. I started drinking at home at that time.'cause we, he didn't go anywhere. We didn't go anywhere drinking. He wasn't going to drink in public. He was very, you know so I was, I just told him that I wasn't happy, and I wasn't, and I was robbing him of what, you know, he deserved as a husband, and for my wife, I was.

Phil: 2:24

So you left him and moved to Macon? I did. Okay. Was that traumatic for your kids? Was that?

Christy: 2:33

They had, they didn't want to go back home to Vidalia after living in a bigger city. They were like, oh no, we never want to go back to Vidalia. And so they were game for Macon, right? We moved to Macon and single mom again. And, just got a job. My daughter, you know, is in 12th grade at this time, senior in high school doing things, you know, her own things. My son is 7th, yeah, like 7th grade. And like I said, he goes home in the summertime to his dad, right? And my daughter starts working the door at a club downtown while she's in high school. And on the weekends, she worked at like a shoe store, Fitlocker or something during the week. And on the weekends, she took IDs and stuff at this club, you know, real modern hip club, you know? So I start going to the club where my daughter works at the door, right? Now I start drinking with my daughter she's not even a big drinker. She's not, she's not an alcoholic and But so basically I'm drinking and she's looking out for her mom and those kind of things rock on for a little while. I start dating someone else. He's a nurse. He's a drinker and I mean, we just were drinkers just drinking socially, heavily socially, but it was very a affected me in my life very much so because I was drink to blackout. And I was hungover a lot, but the hangovers were worth all the fun that I was having because we had a blast. I mean, we would go to Savannah, Georgia and stay the weekend. I mean, we were How'd you

Phil: 4:14

get the money for all that? Like doing stuff like that. I,

Christy: 4:17

I always made good money. I was in administration work and I always had a really good job. Even if I quit one, I got another really good job and I quit many. And alcohol usually was, I mean, like I would get up some mornings or I would be drinking and I was, had a lot of problems with sexual, being sexually harassed on jobs. So, I would get drunk, that was my solution to get away from it, take it away from my, you know, out of my thoughts, out of my mind, out of sight and I can recall being drunk, coming in drunk, thinking about it, not wanting to get up and go to work the next morning. I already knew I was going to be hungover, I already knew what I was facing going to work. I sent a mass email to one job, to the entire HR. While I was drunk and quit my job. Wow so Wow. Moving along a little more and into the story. That rocked on and I was dating the nurse and we moved. My grandmother got really sick and had a major surgery so we moved to my hometown we Charles and I were not, we were not living together in Macon but when I moved to Vidalia our decision was we were going to move in together because we didn't want to end our relationship. At this time we were engaged and but he was, he was not well. He was extreme alcoholic and serious mental health problems that I wasn't aware of at the time. And we moved to Vidalia. And he took a job at the, as a head nurse in the hospital in my hometown. He was like the head nurse over the cardi. The cardiology, you know, the cardiac, he was, he's very intelligent really, really good nurse, and he, so he took a really big job at the hospital in my hometown. And but he was so unhappy. And he had quit taking medicine while he was dating me because he was very happy. And I wasn't aware of this. That he was ever even on medication. So he quit taking medicine. Well, alcohol, him quitting taking his medicine. And just my whole mindset, we, we started arguing. And bills started not he took care of all of our bills. Like paying our light bills and things. And I took care of like our rent, groceries, and things like that. Our lights got cut off. I mean, things started happening in our, in our home, in our relationship. Well, he had started gambling online and not paying our bills. Anyways, our relationship ended very quickly. And, you know, and I have nothing bad to say about Charles, especially with knowing what I didn't know then and what I know today, because Charles is also not with us in this world today due to his mental health. You know, he, he took his own life about three years after our relationship. And he came to me, like two weeks before he took his life, he came back to Vidalia and found me where I was working and asked me to have dinner with him and I was already dating someone else and told him that I couldn't. And about three weeks later, a friend called me and told me that it was in the newspaper. Wow. Yeah. So I'll never, I did learn something from that is that I will, I'll never, I'll never do that again. Tell someone he wanted to talk to me. He told me that he wanted to talk to me about something that was really important and I was in a bad relationship and heavily drinking. It was affecting my health at this time. Okay. Wow. How so? I had my, my thyroid went into overactive thyroidism and I was very, very, very sick. My daughter got very sick and she wound up in the hospital, in and out of the hospital for eight months. And while, during that time, I abruptly quit drinking, right? Because I was at the hospital with her. And really what was happening is I was going through, I know today what happened. Then I thought my thyroid just messed up. But today I know that I went through withdrawals and that my body, I was dying. But I, I didn't. Wow. It just messed, burned my thyroid out. So. Wow. Then it was affecting my health. So this, we're back in Vidalia, 2014, my daughter's sick, 2015, my thyroid's taken out. I'm in this relationship it's a bad relationship, I'm drinking. My son's like 18, my daughter is 18, 19, 21, 2, 3, 24 ish. And life is really bad you know, it's not good. And I get out of the bad relationship. We we, my daughter, my, my son moves out to his grandparent, his grandmother's house on his daddy's side. My daughter moves out of the home as well, and I'm staying in between. This is not right then, but at getting close to 2018, this is what's going on. And my, I'm staying with, I'm moving with a friend of mine. It's a guy, but it's not a relationship like that. We're really good friends. He was in a wheelchair due to an accident when we were young. The drinking heavily had been drinking heavily and just stopped for like 11 months. And it was a really rough time in our life. My daughter was sick, and my whole life was just broken. Yeah. And then but at the time, we're trying to get, I'm trying to get our life back together. And my son is at this time at his granddaddy's house. not as grandmas anymore. His granddaddy's on his daddy's side, step granddaddy, but it's right down the road from where I live. And so we're seeing each other all the time. And I'm trying to get a house for us to move into. I'm even looking at homes and that I'm just a complete mess. And I'm there at my friend's house and it's May 6th. I'd already lost some loved ones. My grandmother. My granddaddy January, my granddaddy, I met grandmother the year before on Valentine's Day on her birthday. My granddaddy the following year January and then my, I'm at my friend's house on May 6th, my granddaddy's birthday following after his death and I get a phone call and my son, a 85 year old man pulled up. He was twenty one

Phil: 10:33

did he die in that accident?

background: 10:34

He did.

Phil: 10:35

Wow. Twenty one

Christy: 10:37

may 6, 2018. And now my son was my mini me. He looked just like me. And he he never believed the scene of the accident. And I know we're running short of time, so, my story's a long story, and so

Phil: 10:54

I can't imagine what that must have felt like.

Christy: 10:57

It was

Phil: 10:59

Just devastating. Mm hmm. Did it send you into a tailspin? Just

Christy: 11:05

It took walking, living nightmare. It was bad and I've missed so much between 2014 to 2018 because I know we're running short of time but my daughter had just had my grandson and he was eight months old and at the same time that this happened with her brother, her relationship of four years with her son's father and just out of nowhere a girl calls and says that she's been seeing my, my grandson's father as well.

Phil: 11:36

Wow.

Christy: 11:38

So, my daughter had moved to Macon with my sister. And BJ, the dad of my grandson, was supposed to move there too. But, you know, all of that just, all of that was happening at the same time of this phone call from one of our dear friends and so my daughter, my sister, you know, rushes my daughter there without knowing that her brother is gone. They come up on the accident. My daughter says today that she knew that was her brother there and they come to me. I have none of this. My daughter doesn't remember. I don't remember. I immediately blacked out. But the first thing I asked was to be taken to the store to buy alcohol and I picked up drinking and I never put it down. Wow. And, by the, so, it was so bad. It was so bad. And you know, there was just, at that time that was, you know, that was my solution. With alcohol it had become my solution. Especially the, the years leading up to that from my daughter getting sick because she still battles and fights today for her health with long term damages. And so, I just never stopped. Me and my daughter moved back in together and and we moved to Macon because we couldn't take, being there in Vidalia, it was on the way to her best friend's house where the accident happened right in front of Duncan's high school where he graduated from and you know, just, it was everywhere we went. Yeah. He was, it was there and so we ran from it, you know, we didn't, we didn't seek god, we didn't seek help. We didn't turn to our family. We ran from it and we got an apartment right in the same apartment complex that she and I and Duncan lived in while we were making. And we isolated. I didn't leave the house for the first five months. I didn't, Jasmine only left to do absolutely what was necessary. And I got insurance money. From the gentleman, you know, his insurance paid as insurance money. And my daughter would go get me cigarettes and alcohol. And when the earlier, you know, she's just said, you know, it's still like. Five o'clock ish. I would start drinking drink till wee hours in the morning until I would pass out. Yeah Get up drink coffee. Go out to the patio drink coffees make cigarettes Not eat start drinking about five o'clock. It's just a cycle and then when I started drinking earlier and earlier and earlier I started, I started having to go to the store because she wasn't going to go. I wasn't going to even ask her to go for me at 10 o'clock in the morning. Until it was 24 7, I was drinking. Met, got in a relationship with someone I knew. There was drugs there. When I say relationship, I went to his house or he came to mine. This was back in my hometown there was drugs all, all around that whole him, his sister, everybody. I started using math at 44 years old. Wow. And I just turned 50 November 28th of this past year. Wow. Yeah.

Phil: 14:51

So, heavy drinking, now you're getting addicted to math did it get worse?

Christy: 14:57

Very bad. I lost everything material wise, you know, which today is small, you know, compared to Yeah. You know, nothing hurt me. Nothing. There was nothing that hurt me because I was already suffering such, you know, the Worst thing that you could imagine would be burying your child.

Phil: 15:19

Yeah. Yeah,

Christy: 15:21

there was no nothing Not the relationship that you know, I was in that became very abusive You know losing Everything, my family shutting the door, my daughter not even wanting to talk to me, nothing, none of that, I mean it hurt, but nothing compared to, and I would say that, I would say that I'm already hurting as much as I could possibly hurt, so it doesn't matter if y'all hurt me, right? Yeah, and I mean, to move forward a little bit, feel to the end and get to The lot. By the end of, by 2021, getting close to the end of 2021, I was drinking deep grief, drinking, abused seeking everything, but, but God and I. So, I had nowhere to go. I would go back to this relationship with nowhere to go. And I finally decided that homeless was better than the relationship. And I became homeless. Well, I lived in my car until my car was stolen. And then I became homeless. Real homeless. Real sleeping on the sidewalks in my hometown where I grew up and worked and knew everybody. And sleeping on sidewalks, going days. I, I know I went eight days without food. And I had my puppy dog with me the whole time. A little Yorkie that my daughter had bought me when I lost my grandma. So, I was just a mess. And I was very, very sick. And I was walking to death. And my daughter was also walking to death because she was trying To do everything in her power to take care of her baby. She already had health problems, and she had buried her brother, and she knew she was gonna bury her mama.

Phil: 17:07

Wow. And she was in Macon still?

Christy: 17:10

No yes, she was in Macon. Mm hmm. Still in Macon.

Phil: 17:14

Okay. Wow

Christy: 17:15

and I had really tried over and over many times to get sober and be okay, but I just could not do it. I couldn't do it. And the very night that that things started to change for me, I was very hopeless and helpless. And in my hometown, on a sidewalk at a, at a convenience store across from the hospital in my hometown I had drugs on me. And I had all of my bags with me and my puppy dog, and I was so sick, like, I was sick, and, I mean I had this large amount of drugs on me, in my bags. I wasn't even using them because I was so crazy out of my mind, you know, at this point it didn't take anything, it didn't take alcohol or drugs for me to be, not feel or not, I mean I was You were just messed up. I was just a mess. And I was calling and begging my family to help me and nobody would come and I didn't, I knew I had these drugs in my bag and I was just carrying them around with me everywhere and I went into to this bank. I used to work for the bank.

background: 18:18

Mm

Christy: 18:18

hmm. I had my own office in the bank that I walked into and And it was really bad. I went into their bathroom. There were people in there working, like I can, like, just see it, like. And there were people in there working. And the president of the bank, his daughter, I recall seeing her. And she had lost her son to suicide. And he was like 15 or 16 a couple, a couple years after my son. And it wasn't not long, you know, maybe like a year before that day. And I went into that bathroom and I had my puppy dog and I just had to use the bathroom and I felt like I was having a stroke is what I felt like my, I was dragging my right side of my body was and I was in a lot of pain. I'd been abused very bad. I felt like my back had been broken at some point I was attacked by like five people. And so I was in really bad shape. Part of being homeless like

Phil: 19:11

the world of just living on the streets and just being taken advantage of and.

Christy: 19:15

Yeah.

Phil: 19:16

Wow.

Christy: 19:17

Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, I had. It was a short lived life out there on that side of alcoholism when you had drugs into it. Yeah, I didn't know even know how to live that life, and I was in such deep grief that my mind was already

Phil: 19:33

So you're just blacked out and just I can't even imagine.

Christy: 19:38

Yeah

Phil: 19:39

Just and so you did you collapse in the bathroom?

Christy: 19:42

I did

Phil: 19:43

And someone found you, I guess?

Christy: 19:44

They, I locked the door and, well, I just, like, collapsed in there and kind of came, like, probably, I don't know how long, but when I woke up, I was up against the door and had it locked and the police were trying to get in the door. And they got in, of course. Yeah. And I had, like, you know, I didn't flush the drugs or anything. I had all of this stuff in my bag. And it's

background: 20:08

off to jail?

Christy: 20:09

No they took me to the hospital.

background: 20:12

Okay.

Christy: 20:13

Yep. They took me to the hospital. And, you know, it was not a pleasant moment. I mean, I went crazy in there. You know, they had to just about straightjacket me to get me in the car. I was, like, just a mad, crazy woman. And it was bad and I got to the hospital and I was just so, I mean, I felt like I was dying. Like, that's why I went to that bank, because I thought I was dying. I mean, I couldn't I still have some like, my right leg, right side of my body is not normal. But I, I still have, like, I can tell that something's wrong, but at that point I was literally, like, dragging my right foot. Yeah. So I thought I was dying.

Phil: 20:56

So you, you're in the hospital. I guess they would, you start to detox because you can't get anything in the hospital.

Christy: 21:02

Well, from the moment they got me to the hospital and I was that bad off already, like they came in, I was going crazy. Like, they had me in the little, the mental detoxing area side. And I was just going crazy and they had people come in and holding me down. And I recall this one nurse sitting there and she's going, she's crying. And I'm looking at her crying. And begging her to help me, because I'm thinking that everybody there is going to hurt me, right? Yeah. Because you get that mentality. And she's looking at me crying, and she's talking, looking straight at me, but she's talking to all the other doctors and nurses around, and she's like, I, I hate when y'all bring, bring, bring these, bring them in here like this. I hate, this is, like, it was breaking her heart to see me. Yeah. Yeah, and she gave me a shot. And I just knew that I was done, and I recall laying on that bed, and I was crying, and I started talking to God. And I asked Him to save me. I asked Him to save me, and for nothing else in this world, just to see Jasmine and Hendrix. You know, Hendrix is going on like a three at this time, or is three. Headed to four. And then all, you know, that deep, deep, you know, at that point, I had already missed all, all of his life, the first few years of his life, and left my daughter grieving alone for the loss of her best friend, her brother. And I went to sleep. But in my mind, you know, I thought I was gonna, that I was never gonna wake up again. I really thought

background: 22:40

that

Christy: 22:40

I wouldn't wake up. And I did, I woke up. And when I woke up and when they released me from the hospital, still no one was there to get me. But I walked all over Vidalia, Georgia in a paper white suit from the hospital. Wow. With nothing under it. On the phone begging my family for help. And I walked all the way to a church across from my mom's house. And I did miss things. My mom passed away two years after my son on my son's birthday. I really, like, everything that happened, you know, I just got worse and worse and worse because my solution was alcohol and drugs. And and then I walked to a church across from my mom's house, and my mom had worked for that pastor previously. And his son was there. Nobody else. He just happened to be there doing something. And he was there and they helped me get to a hotel. My family, my cousin brought me clothes. I got a bath. My brother came and took me to Macon, Georgia, to Dublin, Georgia. My sister and my daughter picked me up from Macon, Georgia. And I went to the hospital and I went to detox.

Phil: 23:41

Okay. Awesome. Was it uphill from there?

Christy: 23:47

It was uphill. That's awesome.

Phil: 23:49

So you got clean. Things started getting better. Good relationship with your daughter, getting to know Hendrix now. Mm hmm. How did you get from there to Columbus?

Christy: 24:00

I went to detox at River's Edge in Macon, Georgia, and there was a nurse that had graduated from the House of Tom six years before then. Oh. She's like, I have the perfect place for you. Okay. And I went to Columbus, Georgia. I came to Columbus, Georgia, to the House of Tom. Okay. And I spent 16 months with the House of Tom. Wow. And that's where I started going to meetings. You know, and getting therapy and medicine and and, you know, I worked the 12 steps with a sponsor that has a sponsor. I like how people say that I have a sponsor that has a sponsor. And so and I started seeking a better relationship with God and I started seeking God. And I like to say. Today, and I know from experience, and I am a walking living testimony that what you seek is what you will find and what you will see. Yeah. And today, in everything, I see God. Wow. Mm hmm. So how did you get connected to

Phil: 25:02

Safe House Ministries?

Christy: 25:04

So we were, you know, it's mandatory. We went to seven meetings seven days a week we were at a meeting. I was in the House of Tom for 16 months and which I needed all of those days. So, we I started going to A. A. and N. A. and C. A. and various meetings. And I needed you know, all of those. And safe house we started going to meetings at the safe house. Okay. Mm hmm. And I just remember going to the meetings at the safe house. And when I would go to the meetings at the safe house, I would just It was a little different than going to AA at at St. Mark or, like, I can't remember what church it is, but my home group is an AA group, so but I remember going to the safe house and thinking and just feeling the strong presence of God and like just so much gratitude in there from the people that were there. You know, there was just so much and I love to go when the only thing I didn't like about going to the safe houses We had to walk all the way from our house to there because there was no bus. Yeah There was no bus that would at the time that we had to go. Yeah, and We walked to the meeting and I Had to have I could barely walk I had to have immediate back surgery after graduating from the house of Tom, but And I didn't walk. Today, I look back and see one set of footprints. And I just remember, like, every time we would have to get a walk, I would just be like, God, please just carry me there. And the safe house was one of those places that God carried me to. Because that was our longest walk, was from our apartment to the safe house. And I would go there to the meetings, and so and, and other meetings. But I just remember being at the safe house and just, there's just strong presence of God there. And just so, like I said, so much gratitude. And, and I loved it. I loved going to the meetings there. That's awesome.

Phil: 27:02

So what was the next step then? You're, you, from I guess leaving the house of time and like, what? What was the next step?

Christy: 27:10

Right, the next step was I graduated from the House of Tom, January. I, I came through the doors of the House of Tom, October the 26th of 2021 and graduated January 9th of 2023. Had immediate back surgery March the 3rd. And that was like a year healing time. But I, so my surgeon would only let me door dash at that time. I couldn't do anything else, so I door dashed for like a year.

Phil: 27:37

Yeah.

Christy: 27:38

And and got enrolled in school and started school at Troy University. So the year that I went before, transferred over and put me almost a year in. Awesome. So in my third year now for social work. But after door dashing, I went to work back in an office. And doing administration work and I was like, this is just not what I want to be doing. And there were some things going on in the office that I was, you know, not happy to go to work every day. And so I was started looking for another job and some things took place at the job that I was at that, um, and my daughter and I had combined houses. I'm sorry, I'm going a little, dancing around everything. I lived on my own for a year and a half. We combined houses. They moved here. Okay, so

Phil: 28:25

Jasmine and Hendrix are here now? Yes. Awesome.

Christy: 28:28

Yeah. And so, when we combined houses, and I was dealing with what I was at work, my daughter was like, Mama, you already have some interviews. You already have some applications in. Just, just go. Just come on. You don't have to, you don't deserve that, and you don't have to do that today. So I walked away from the job, and I had some interviews coming up, and I When I walked away from the job, I was like, I can, there's, I can do something while I'm waiting for another job. I had some money and savings and I said, I took my daughter to work one morning, and I was like, you know what? I was drawn just to stop at the safe house. Yeah. I was. I like, I wasn't even dressed or anything and I walked in, Cassandra's another friend that I know works there at the front, the desk as you come in and check in and then Stephanie was sitting over to the back corner at the desk and I was talking to Cassandra and Stephanie was like, started talking to me and I walk over there and I was like, we were just talking and she, I told her, you know, that I. I was looking for a job, but that, if they didn't have a job, that I wanted to volunteer.

Phil: 29:40

Awesome.

Christy: 29:40

And if that was all they had for me to do, then I was willing to do it. And I was ready to start giving back what I'd been given and a couple of days went by, or a few days went by, and Jamie Lee and I started talking through emails and she asked me if I wanted to come volunteer, and I went up on it. Like a Wednesday, I've started volunteering there at the safe house and I started with sitting up there with Cassandra and spent the day there. I loved it. I was just so happy to be in there volunteering and I learned so much more about the safe house that I didn't know about and what they give to this community. And then the next, that evening, someone calls me for a job to start the next day. At Troy University. Wow. So, I called Josh and I was like, as much as I loved volunteering today. And I was going, that's what I was going to just keep doing every day, you know, until I found employment. And it just happened that I did that evening, and I started working at Troy University part time the next day.

background: 30:42

Okay.

Christy: 30:43

Josh was like, oh, well, we really enjoy having you and, you know, best wishes. And so I go to work at Troy University part time, and I'm in school full time, so I'm thinking, this is going to be perfect. I'm just going to student loans. I have some savings. I have a part time job. I'm going to focus on school and getting through and taking more classes is what I'm thinking in my mind and about a week goes by and Jamie Lee calls me. And she's talking to me. She's like, I know that you already have a job. She said, but I just, God just said, well call her anyway. And she offers me a position at with Safe House Ministries at the women's shelter, the Grace House.

Phil: 31:23

As a case manager? As a

Christy: 31:24

case manager.

Phil: 31:25

Which is where you are now. I know.

Christy: 31:27

That's awesome. But exactly where I prayed to be.

Phil: 31:30

And you love it.

Christy: 31:31

I love it. I love it so much. I mean, I really, truly love it.

Phil: 31:36

How much clean time do you have now?

Christy: 31:38

Three years, September 10th of 24 is three years.

Phil: 31:42

Wow, what a blessing, praise the Lord. How long have you been a case manager at Safe House?

Christy: 31:46

January the 21st was three months.

Phil: 31:48

Awesome. And you are there working with people, helping them to get back on their feet, dealing with the, their struggles, just to, to find the victory that you found.

Christy: 31:59

Right.

Phil: 32:00

It's awesome. And I can see the joy in your face. It just it's a, it's a wonderful thing. That's awesome. Christy, what, what are What are the key lessons that you feel like you learned from your journey that you'd like to share with others?

Christy: 32:14

You know, when you ask that question, my mind just goes back all the way to 13, you know, where I can see where I started making choices for myself and turn into solutions that, you know, were not a solution even all the way back to the age 13, if someone 13 was listening and hearing my story. And all the way up to age 50 to where I am, or, you know, older than me. You know, I, I can tell them and you that there is a solution there is a solution. And that that solution is, jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord.

Phil: 32:52

Amen. It's not alcohol.

Christy: 32:54

It's definitely not alcohol. It's not drugs. No.

Phil: 32:57

Not companionship with boys or someone else.

Christy: 33:01

I don't even have a relationship today with anyone else other than, you know, God. And I have many relationships with people, but I don't have a significant other relationship today. You know, I pray, I pray about those things, but, and and I have been asked out, and, but I just I'm not, you know, that's, it's so crazy to me that that's not important for me today. But

Phil: 33:27

when you have that deep relationship with God, it's You're okay.

Christy: 33:33

I'm okay. Yeah,

Phil: 33:34

that's good. That, I would say that is the most important lesson we could all learn and know and accept. Any other practical tips or advice that you might offer?

Christy: 33:45

I, I would going back to just finishing those the answer to the question you asked me is that, you know, I, I just strongly advise and for no matter what age you are, to reach out and talk to someone. I, I didn't. I really held a lot of things in. I just I held a lot of things in and I, I never would open up and talk to anybody. Even when there was opportunity for me to do so, I didn't. And there are people out there that will listen. And there are people out there that will love you until you learn how to love yourself.

Phil: 34:22

That's good advice. That's true.

Christy: 34:24

And those, those people, you know, are people that that I can say for myself and that those people are people that when I say I see God in all things, I see God in those people

Phil: 34:38

awesome. Any other last words you want to add?

Christy: 34:41

I don't think so. I don't think so. I, I'm very grateful, and I'm, and thank you for letting me, you know, share my testimony with you today.

Phil: 34:50

Yeah, thank you for being here. I

Christy: 34:52

I rambled all over the place at certain points because I am a talker and I take a long time in, in doing things. I put, like, I'm an over thinker, and one, just one quick thing. This term in class I'm taking abnormal psychology. And so, our professor was like, if there is one thing that you can change about yourself from last term to this term what would it be? And mine was quit overthinking things. Because I, like, taking too long, I put too much time into One moment, or one thing, and like,

Phil: 35:28

That's good, that's also good advice.

Christy: 35:30

I take, I draw, you know, I just stretch things out really long. Yeah, that's okay.

Phil: 35:36

being here with you, and just seeing you, makes me really think, I need to, I need to add video to this podcast, because Everybody listening to the podcast, they won't be able to see, like right now, as I see you, your smile, your face, your, just your presence. I, I see the peace of Jesus. I see the love of Jesus. I see the joy of Jesus. It's just. It's so evident, and it's such a wonderful, and amazing, and incredible thing to see. I'm gonna start crying again. No, I mean, it's just, it's awesome. I mean, it really is awesome. I know we, we share truth, and we talk about Jesus, and we say He's, He is the answer, and He loves you, and He will, He will bring you out of the darkness into the light. But I see that. I see it in you, and on you, and it's awesome. It really is awesome.

Christy: 36:32

Thank you. And I, you know, when I say thank you, I just, in my mind and heart, I'm like, thank you, Jesus, because I pray. I pray even before, you know, pulling into here, I was like, God, just let them see you. That's awesome. Just let them see and hear you.

Phil: 36:46

That's awesome. You mind if I close us in a word of prayer?

Christy: 36:48

No, not at all.

Phil: 36:50

Father, thank you for your grace. Thank you for Christi. Thank you for taking care of her, Lord. Thank you for hearing her prayer when she laid in that hospital bed and saving her from that, just, death and destruction and mess that she was in. Thank you that you love her. Thank you for the blessings in her life. Thank you so much for Jesus. I pray you'd bless Christi and her path forward in that you would use her to be such a help and a blessing to so many others. Thank you that she is here at Safe House Ministries and just working with so many others to help them get back on their feet, get out of the darkness and get into the light. Bless her daughter Jasmine and her grandson Hendricks. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

background: 37:34

Amen.

Phil Shuler: 37:35

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: 38:13

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.