Over twenty years ago, a friend of mine tried to speak to me through a movie, but I couldn’t hear him. He took me to go see “When a Man Loves a Woman.” I assumed it was because this friend loved me. The movie was about a woman with a drinking problem. After the movie, we went to the liquor store to buy me a bottle of Tequila. I had no idea what he was trying to say, until years later.

You see, during that time, I was still dancing, selling my body, drinking, and using drugs. I was deaf to anything being amiss with me. This wasn’t the only time this friend attempted to point me in the right direction. Actually, I’m not sure what would’ve happened to Kyle and Katie, had this friend not helped me so much, so after I sobered up, I thought of him and looked for him to say, “Thank you.”

On August 24th of 2005, I lived my first day without a drink and haven’t had one since. When I’d gone through the steps, I remembered this man and remembered the movie, and all of a sudden, everything clicked: he had been trying to help me see the road I was on and where it was taking me, and after all these years, I finally get to say, “Thank you” and know that he’ll get to see it.

“My Friend,
Do you even know what you’ve done for me? I KNOW that you’ve prayed hundreds of prayers for me. My life lived out loud through the heart of Jesus is fruit from those prayers. I’m so glad to have met you, to have walked part of life beside you. I’m forever grateful for your presence in my life.
Thank you so very much for loving me through!”

You may never know the impact you have on someone’s life. That’s why it’s so important to live right all the time for all to see the glory of God through you, for all to hear the love of God through you, and for all to witness the power of God through you. Could you imagine if we ALL lived our lives in a purposeful way, releasing the Kingdom everywhere we went? It’d look a lot like heaven. Sounds good to me!

People who think that God is Sovereign in a way that only things happen at His command are wrong. It’s not that I was created to be drunk ex amount of years, and then, God plucked me out because that was His timing. No, I don’t believe that at all.

I believe God gave me many chances to choose between life and death, but I always chose death: it seemed more fun…all I was worth. Over and over, He gave me a chance to step out of that lifestyle, and over and over, I ignored His voice. No, He gave control of the world over to us, when He handed us the keys, so let’s close down hell and release heaven, everywhere we go today, tomorrow, the next…

I’m so glad to be sober in a way that thoughts of alcohol, drugs, sex never cross my mind to enter my heart. Jesus has made me free, and I never have to step in that prison again!