The doctor at the new hospital I was transferred to took me off Haldol shots and placed me on a different medication in the form of a pill. Suddenly, I felt like my old self again, like I did before I stared drinking. I attended Christian church services on Sunday and I started attending Catholic Mass on Mondays. They thought that I was Catholic and I always took Communion. I started carrying the Gideons Bible with me everywhere I went so that I could read some Psalm if I had to wait somewhere with nothing to do. I started reading the Bible and read through the whole Bible in about a year. The nurses let me have a green highlighter, which was against the rules, and then I could highlight Jesus’ words. The staff started asking me questions about the Bible and I would research and give them an answer. At night I would pray that God would give me pure dreams and remove all thoughts of lust from me during my sleep and during the day. I wanted to be free from sin and totally dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ after all those years of being away from my faith.
One day a girl was discharged from the room that I was in and she left me a copy of the book “God’s Will for Your Life” by Gloria Copeland. I had heard of her husband, Kenneth Copeland, because of their jail ministry. Kenneth had sent me two Bibles while I was in jail, one for me and one for a friend. I loved Gloria’s book and she recommended reading the 4 Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as well as the book of Acts 3 times in 30 days to really saturate myself with Jesus Christ, His mission, and His church. I did it and I rededicated my life to Jesus Christ during that time, in earnest. Gradually, Jesus became the most important thing in my life and I started praying to Him for everything every day.
I finally was released from the hospital after a 3 year ordeal of jail and hospitals and I moved in with my elderly Mother. She needed someone to help her and I was lonely, so it was a perfect match. Mother attended the local Southern Baptist Church, so I went with her and I joined the elderly ladies Sunday School group, so that I could accompany Mother. I stared doing the visitation to take taped sermons to an elderly shut-in once a week. Now I am the Treasurer for that class and I have been ordained as a Minister through a liberal church in California. I am a devout Christian and the greatest joy of my life is my morning prayer and devotional time with God. I have started to take classes online to prepare for a Conservative Baptist Seminary. I will pursue my Master’s degree while I minister to those that I can. My service to my Mother and her 3 dogs fills some of my ministry duties; they all need to be blessed and loved.
As I read the Bible each day, it becomes more apparent to me that the 12 steps of A.A. are incorporated in the Bible. I have been sober without a drink for 16 years through thick and thin, and I have returned to A.A. to sponsor Newcomers into sobriety and to show that the program really does work, if you work it. I have taken a new sponsor with 28 years of sobriety, so she can bring me back down to earth if I get to flying too high in my head. I also attend Overcomers Recovery Support meetings at my church, which I dearly love and highly recommend. Their website is http://www.recoverysupport.org I feel called to minister to those addicted to alcohol, drugs or sex, among other life-controlling problems, so I am going to go through the 12 Steps of A.A.in this book and talk about the Bible verses that relate to each step in my own experience.