Lauren Doyle-Davis (2001)

“I started drinking around the age of 11 or 12 to cover up feelings of insecurity from a troubled childhood. I drank all through high school but nobody ever knew. I was good at sneaking and hiding and since I kept my grades up, there was no need for suspicion.

When I went away to college, however, it was a whole different story. Being away from home for the first time, I went crazy. I felt like I didn’t have to hide anymore so I tried every drug there was. I ended up getting hooked on speed and flunked out of school during my first year. I had to take a year off but later returned and succeeded in earning my bachelor’s degree in radiological technology.

After college, I took a job in Colorado and began seeing a man with whom I later had a son. Shortly after my son was born, his father took him away and threatened my life. Scared and feeling powerless, I ran back to my home in New York. I began using drugs again. Eventually I got my son back and started cleaning up.

At the age of 30, I met a man who seemed like he would be a suitable husband. He worked, attended church, and didn’t do drugs. He appeared to love me and my son. I was thrilled. We married six months later.

Three months into the marriage, I got pregnant. But before the baby was born, my husband stopped coming home at night. I discovered that he was having an affair with a friend of mine. To kill the pain, I turned back to drugs. My baby was born addicted to crack and I lost custody of him. I could no longer take care of my other son either.

I needed help so I tried rehab twice, but each effort proved futile. I sank to depths I never knew existed. My children were gone, my husband was gone, my job was gone, and I was bound.

I decided to go to Detroit to try to straighten up my life. I thought a change in scenery was the answer, but I was terribly mistaken. I started getting high all over again. One day, my brother-in-law called me and asked me how I was doing with my drinking. I was honest with him and told him I needed a long-term program. Both he and my sister helped me to get into Life Challenge. That was in May of 2000.

Three months into the program a preacher in a chapel service told me I had to make a choice between life and death. I started to realize that there was a way out, and that way was to totally surrender to God. I cried out to Jesus to forgive me. Afterwards, a peace that I had never known entered my life. God’s grace opened my heart and I became hungry for the Word.

I began to grow in understanding of God’s love. All the approval I had sought for all my life I received through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Upon graduating from the program, I completed a two-year course of study at Word of Faith Bible Training Center. I have been working at Walmart for the last three years as a customer service manager. To God be the glory!”