I tell my story for everyone to hear. I will tell it to complete strangers and friends whenever I am given the opportunity.

Why do I tell my story? I tell my story because I am proud of the things that I have come through and from. I am proud that I have been able to be this strong and this courageous when others would have fallen. I am proud of the being that God is creating in me and I want to share that with others.

I tell my story because I know that there are others out there just like me. That have been abused and battered, that have always known that they were nothing especially if they stood between the addict they loved and the next score. I tell my story because I have been dependent and co-dependent, loved and hated, crazy and sane. I tell my story because I am not ashamed of what I have done in my life, it has made me into the person that I am today.

I tell my story with joy in my heart and determination to finish, because I know that as hard as it is to tell, it is the story that I have been dealt and I cannot turn my back on it. I tell my story because God gave me this story to share with you. He knew that it would affect you in someway, in some small thing that you do. It’s what sets me apart and also what binds me to you. I am so proud of all of the miraculous things that I have been through, because I am here to tell you my story, I am an example that you can make it through.

I do not tell my story for you to pity me. I do not tell you my story for you to feel sorry and cry, rather you should rejoice in what God has been able to bring me through and in the fact that he has brought me forward to say this to all of you.

Sometimes I feel for those that have lived that sheltered life, those that know nothing of drugs and abuse, because they know nothing of what it truly means to fall into the hands of grace. Perhaps this is the future of Christianity, that the ones that have fallen, the ones that are broken, the ones that have always been far from God shall inherit His grace.

I tell my story because it is mine to share, and it weighs on my heart that you should know my truth.