- Drugs
- Faith
submitted by Susanne Johnson
I grew up in an extremely Christian background, went to church most my life, and when I was 10 years old I had the first public call that God had a plan for my life. By time I was 15 I had been called publicly four times: one of the guys that called me out at a church was a visiting evangelist that said God would use me in a unique way for my generation.
My family moved to Colorado when I was 17. Well, after I turned 18 I moved out to experience the world for the first time. I drank my first beer, had a cigarette and liked them both so I started buying them. Then I smoked pot for the first time and next thing you know I was smoking meth. And I got hooked.
I moved to a bigger city where drugs were easier to find and then the next three years is a blur in my memory. At 19, I had a try anything attitude and I tried it all. At the rate I was using I would have ended up dead.
The thing that made me decide to quit happened when I went with my roommate, who was also my dealer, to this lady’s house to sell her a bag, and after we sold it to her we matched her bowl for bowl until she was out and started to leave. Well, she wanted another one of course. So we sold another one and matched her bowl for bowl until she was out again. We started to leave again and she wanted another bag but didn’t have any money so she wanted to give us her son’s PlayStation and his TV. We said “no, cash only” and left. It wasn’t two months later I heard she lost her kids and was in jail. It made me sick knowing the part I played in that. I decided I was done with that life. There was a bunch of other drama, but that was the key moment that busted up my mind.
That was about 10 years ago. The next five years of my life, I spent pretty much stoned all the time. I drank a lot, I partied a lot. I pretty much just wasted five years of my life. I worked while high all the time and that caused me to lose my job operating heavy equipment. My jeep blew its engine and my roommates decided they didn’t want to renew the lease.
So I was sitting one day with no car, no job, and no house when my mom called me. I know now they had been praying for me and God told her to call me. She asked a simple question. “How are you?” And I broke I said, “Not good mom.” She asked, “Why don’t you move home?” And I did.
The last 5 years have been about getting my life back on track. I have a wonderful relationship with my Creator and an awesome relationship with my family that I once alienated. And now I’m accepting the call into the ministry that’s been placed on my life.