SUSAN
& HER FAMILY My name is Susan
and I am 44 years old. I have two children, James, 11 and
Katrina, 18. I came from a good home and my parents are both
respected members of this community. I graduated at 16 from an
all-girls, private, Catholic high school.
I began drinking at 14, but
did not realize I was an alcoholic until much later. My life has
consisted of poor choices and lack of responsibility. My final
bottom was getting drunk one day and taking prescription pills.
This led to a broken arm and waking up in the hospital as I was
going in to surgery. I almost died and I needed help. God was
not in my life. I had tried recovery programs before, gone to
meetings, to prison and to jail, but nothing worked. I needed a
life recovery program, not just a drug and alcohol treatment
program. I had heard
about Genesis Acres from people who lived at my apartment
complex and finally was able to get in after about a year. I was
not prepared for what I was getting myself in to. Coming in to
the program I had a dependence on prescription drugs, I had been
sober for a year, but was not in recovery. I suffered from
post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, grief,
trauma, and agoraphobia. I lived in pain both mentally and
physically. I had no hope of my life ever getting better, but
was willing to try anything at this point.
My son came in here angry with extreme behavior
problems. He was violent and abusive and nothing worked with
him. His dad died and he had so much anger that was unresolved.
I really thought our lives would be like this forever, but maybe
this program could offer some kind of hope.
The change in both of us was
nothing less than miraculous! We have become Christians and have
found God in our lives. I am now able to get up in the morning
and get my son off to school. I am consistent with him and he
listens to me and behaves. It was not an overnight change, but
we have been here over a year and the change is sticking and
working. James and I have friends now, we have support. We are
not alone anymore. He and I know we are loved and accepted and
that we are not bad people, not complete failures.
My relationship with my daughter was strained to
say the least, in fact with my whole family. They were ashamed
of me and had given up on me. My daughter now comes so see me
every week. She goes to church and celebrate recovery with me.
She stays with me every weekend. My parents call me just to say
hi and tell me that they love me. I have respect again.
I am so grateful to have had
this opportunity. I have no desire now to use drugs or alcohol.
I do not want to go out and mess up my life again. I want to be
a good mom, who is sober and doesn’t sleep all the time because
she took her pills again. I want my children to know me like
this. Now my life is
completely different. I don’t live in fear and anxiety all the
time and I don’t need to block the world out. I want to be a
part of the world, a productive member of society. I want to do
the right thing and not break all the rules. It took me a long
time to get here and now I am even going back to school. This
program is the best thing that has happened to me in my life and
I will be eternally grateful for the miracles that have happened
to me and my family.
Here is
program member Glenn Ramos.
Glenn is just one
of the many men OUGM has had the privilege of seeing work
through their addictions and other life controlling issues to
emerge restored in their relationships with the Lord and
families. We are so grateful to be a part of God's plan in these
men's lives.
Meet Dave
Churches.
Dave came to the Mission all the way from
Dearborn, Michigan. Men come to OUGM for all kinds of
reasons. We try to meet them where they are and trust God to
know exactly what they need. Thank you to all who support God's
work through the Mission.
