3 minute read
Testimonies 18 and
Helen Williams says,
IWAS brought up a Christian and attended our local church and Sunday school, but when I started secondary school I started using soft drugs and was also smoking and drinking. I had got in with the wrong crowd and was in trouble a lot.
I left school at 15 with a few GCEs and found work straight away. Over the next two years my drug habit became so serious that I lost my job.
With help, I managed to get clean and at the end of 1998 I discovered I was pregnant and gave birth to my son. Life was not easy, but my partner, son and I moved in with my parents, who tried their best to support me.
After a year we managed to get our own house and things started to go downhill as I had started using drugs again. I left my partner and started a new relationship that lasted 10 years.
When my son was five, I was really struggling and it was agreed that he would go and live with my sister as she could offer him a better life. It was very hard but I know it was the best decision for him. My mental health at that time was really bad.
For the next six years I was at rock bottom. My drinking and drug abuse was out of control. I spent so much time in and out of recovery. I knew I couldn’t go on like this.
Now, 30 years later, all the battling with alcohol and drugs has affected my physical and mental health.
But God had a plan! In 2018 I was referred to the Psychosocial Recovery Programme run by The Salvation Army in Wrexham. Karen, Pete and Margaret were the course facilitators. The first time I attended the course I was so high on drugs that I didn’t take a lot in, but I was never judged and always encouraged, and for once in my life
I had found a place where I felt safe. I then did the course a second time and felt that this was a big turning point in my life. I felt equipped to take hold of my problems and look for ways to change. One of
the biggest changes was distancing myself from my previous social circle.
Following this I started volunteering at the church community centre several times a week. I was invited to attend the Sunday service. I found it difficult to pick up the courage to go as I didn’t know what to expect. I was made to feel so welcome and accepted by everyone that all I could say was, ‘I am home!’
I am now very much part of the church family and I know in my heart that God has sent me to this special place where I feel I belong.
It has been a hard 30 years and I thank God I am stable in my recovery journey although I know I still have a way to go. I have lost those 30 years of my life, now finally my eyes are open and I have started to see the world before me and appreciate God’s creation and the many things I’ve taken for granted.
I have now got a good relationship with my family, especially my son.
I thank God so much for the help I have received here in Wrexham. As well as volunteering I am now part of a Bible study group who support each other.
Thank you especially Majors Ian and Sandy, Karen, Pete, Margaret and Cass for your love and encouragement.
I love the Bible verses that say: ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will’ (Romans 12:2), and ‘I can do all this through him who gives me strength’ (Philippians 4:13).
