Participants: Cheri Peters (Host), Mary Holley MD
Series Code: CLR
Program Code: CLR000026
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00:11 Welcome to Celebrating Life In Recovery.
00:13 I'm Cheri, your host. 00:14 Today we are going to look at drugs. 00:15 All kinds of drugs, amphetamines, pot, heroine 00:19 and all that stuff and we are going to answer some questions, 00:22 but mainly we are going to look at the power of prayer. 00:24 Come join us. 00:52 We are going to cover a lot of information today. 00:56 We are going to talk about drugs, and I am going to try 00:59 and cover every single thing that Mary Holley knows. 01:04 Doctor Holley thank you for joining us again. 01:06 I loved having you on the show before. 01:08 Thank you very much. 01:10 You have researched a lot on drugs, especially meth 01:14 amphetamines, can you recap why the interest? 01:18 I became involved with the methamphetamine issue when 01:22 it affected my family. 01:23 My brother was 22 when he got hooked on crystal and he 01:26 was 24 when it killed him. 01:29 First it made him crazy, made him delusional, he thought 01:31 the police could see through the walls. 01:33 He thought they could read his mind. 01:34 He was at a party one night and the fellow next to him 01:37 got a hit of crystal and had a heart attack and 01:38 died right in front of him. - Right in front of him! 01:40 But he thought because his finger prints were on the flask 01:43 he thought he would get framed for the murder of this 01:45 fellow so he wanted to run right away and go to Mexico. 01:48 My mother knew that a crazy white boy wouldn't last five 01:51 minutes in Mexico so she brought him to my house. 01:53 See what you can do Mary. 01:56 You were a doctor? - I was an obstetrician delivering 01:59 babies, so I took him to my friend a Physiatrist that 02:02 diagnosed him paranoia schizophrenia. 02:04 - Which he wasn't? 02:05 - Well he was a drug induced Schizophrenic, 02:08 but there is a difference. 02:09 I know there is a difference because I was on the street 02:13 for 10 years so I saw a lot of my friends go from being 02:17 just normal and having fun, partying and things all the 02:21 way to very psychotic. 02:23 One of my best friends turned into an orange, he would sit 02:26 there and just spit, and I would say what are you doing? 02:29 He said I'm making orange juice. 02:31 We all laughed and thought that was hilarious, but he in 02:34 the state hospital for years and sat there and spit. 02:37 Yeah, it will cause a syndrome very much like 02:40 schizophrenia but for 90% of them it goes away when they 02:44 have been clean for a year or more. 02:46 Only 10 % remain psychotic the rest of their lives. 02:48 We have to say that again for anybody watching the 02:50 show that is on meth. 02:52 If you are on meth right now and you stop, your paranoid 02:54 would go away in about a year. - About a year. 02:57 We want it to happen right now, over night. 03:00 Yeah, and it does improve very quickly when they get 03:03 clean, but your still hallucinating occasionally up to 03:07 a year after using meth. 03:09 Then 10 % of them require medicine the rest of their life, 03:13 but the vast majority don't. 03:15 They restore the mental faculties, they restore their 03:19 memories, start laughing and cutting up again. 03:21 They enjoy their life again, but it will not happen over night. 03:24 I want you to share, I went on your website one time and 03:28 I saw a different things that you have learned in your 03:31 research, different things about different drugs. 03:33 Can we start out with, how about the drug that everyone 03:37 says is not big deal? Pot! 03:40 Oh, Yes! - No big deal, I'm just smoking weed. 03:42 Marijuana causes memory loss and loss of judgment and 03:47 reasoning, you do stupid things. 03:49 You lose motivation, you don't care about going to work 03:52 tomorrow, don't care about paying the bills. 03:55 That apathy just pervades every part of life. 03:58 Memory loss can last for years after stopping. 04:01 There is a loss of IQ points which is just about as much 04:05 as you get from fetal alcohol syndrome, 04:07 it's not a benign drug. 04:09 When I talk with kids, they will say I am just smoking 04:13 weed and it is no problem. 04:14 I'll ask them, when you go to the movies do you enjoy 04:19 the movies? Oh Yeah! Do you smoke weed before you go? 04:23 Yeah! Would you enjoy it as much if you didn't smoke 04:27 weed? Well why would I even go? 04:29 It is like, you use to be able to go to the movies 04:32 without smoking weed, when you go to visit friends do 04:34 you go over there, or do you smoke weed and then go 04:37 over there that everything becomes why I smoke weed 04:40 first, if I play video games. 04:42 We go to get a bag of weed first, smoke weed first. 04:45 So everything becomes that I do it on this drug. 04:48 If I am not on the drug I don't enjoy the activity. 04:51 Um Hummm! Yeah their mind becomes organized around it. 04:54 When they stop using it, they feel grouchy and irritable, 04:58 the lights are too bright, the sounds are too loud. 05:00 It takes about 28-days for the biochemical change in 05:03 the brain to reverse and the nerves to start firing correctly 05:07 again and during that 28-days you are miserable 05:11 until you get another joint. 05:12 So you have mentioned the brain a couple times. 05:16 Can you tell us what actually happens in the brain? 05:19 Know that I am an addict in recovery, you have to keep 05:22 it simple, no I have studied this. 05:26 I love this stuff because I think when you know what 05:30 happens in the brain, you make better choices. 05:32 Yes, and when addicts under - stand what the drug is doing 05:35 to their brain, they seem to recover some hope. 05:38 It's not that I am a derelict, this drugs making me a derelict. 05:41 It is not that I am stupid, the drug is making me stupid. 05:45 When they start realizing that, they start having 05:48 some hope about them. 05:49 Yeah I can recover and become functional again. 05:52 With any addiction? Especially with methamphetamine 05:55 Methamphetamine causes sever brain dysfunction, 05:59 it affects every aspect of life. 06:02 You can't nurture or protect your children. 06:04 Can't enjoy a good meal, you can't remember what you talked 06:08 about this morning, you forget about it this afternoon. 06:12 So many functions are involved with methamphetamine, 06:16 it makes them wonder whether they are every going to be 06:20 alive again, especially that first few months of recovery. 06:23 You are so depressed, 06:25 - it's horrible because you would really rather die. 06:28 Yes! - Even when someone says if I can use again, if I 06:31 even could drink again, if I can get online and look at 06:35 one more porn site again is that for at least a moment 06:38 I feel alive and don't realize if you really get through 06:41 that, time, if you give yourself time you will start 06:45 feeling alive without the addiction. 06:47 Right, Right! - So tell us a little bit about synopsis 06:49 and dopamine and all that stuff. 06:52 Okay, I always introduced in terms of Cell A and Cell B. 06:55 Cell A and Cell B are separated by a layer of fluid, 06:58 they can't touch directly or they will short out. 07:00 They are electorally charged. - Right! 07:02 So they are separated by fluid and we communicate 07:05 across the fluid using chemicals. 07:06 They are called neuro-transmitters. 07:08 When Cell A releases this neuro- transmitter and it gets on the 07:11 receiving Cell, then Cell B says I know what that is. 07:15 That is Cell A trying to tell me something. 07:17 It sends a little feed-back signal to Cell A and says, 07:20 I heard you, you can stop now. 07:21 So that stops the normal transition, but when the 07:25 amphetamine gets into the picture, it is shoveling out 07:28 dopamine a hundred miles an hour with no chemical 07:33 electrical signal to trigger it, it is just dumped out 07:37 there and the receiving Cell is overwhelmed by excess 07:41 of dopamine and just shuts down. 07:43 It's like I heard you, I heard you, I heard you and 07:46 eventually stops. Yeah! If you won't shut up I will have 07:48 to hang up the phone. 07:50 So that is what Cell B does, it hangs up the phone. 07:52 Disconnects it's receptors, cuts them right off the Cell. 07:54 Now, after awhile of using, Cell A can't talk anymore, it's vocal 07:59 cords are ruptured, and Cell B can't hear anymore, 08:02 it's hung up the phone. 08:04 Cell A and Cell B are your ability to control your temper. 08:07 Your ability to nurture your children, your ability to get 08:10 up and work, laugh and enjoy life. 08:13 What's interesting is when these two stop communicating, 08:18 it really is every single thing. 08:21 When the sun hits your skin and you think that feels great, 08:25 you can't communicate that anymore so I cannot feel it. 08:29 When somebody laughs, when somebody tries to reach out, 08:32 I can't feel it, it is not the same. 08:34 That is so devastating. 08:38 Sometimes it is very long - lasting, I've talked to 08:41 fellows in the state Penn that are a year out and still feel 08:44 like plastic, like they can't feel anything. 08:47 When am I going to be able to feel again? 08:50 I don't know what to tell them because some of this 08:53 damage is permanent, the methamphetamine is unique among 08:56 all the drugs of abuse in that it causes real holes in 08:59 the brain, definite structural defects in the brain. 09:03 How does that happen? 09:04 It has been made out of battery acid and hydrosominia? and 09:07 Red Devil Lye, well when you metabolize that stuff down, 09:11 break it down in your body, you turn it back into 09:14 Red Devil Lye and battery acid. 09:16 That stuff eats a hole in the brain or your other tissues 09:19 as well, eats a hole in the lungs and heart. 09:22 It's interesting for a lot of the drugs we can break them 09:26 down and flush them from our system. 09:29 With those acids, we cannot so they pass the brain barrier 09:33 and literally drop onto our brain tissue, which is soft 09:37 tissue. - Yes, it is very sensitive, delicate tissue and 09:41 it doesn't take very much poison to destroy. 09:44 When one brain Cell dies, it is unique to the brain, 09:47 no other tissue does this. 09:48 When one brain Cell dies, it releases toxins to kill all 09:53 the neighbors, so the radius of destruction expands, 09:57 the more you use the bigger it gets. 10:00 There are big structural holes. 10:02 Of course, as you are speaking, we are putting graphics 10:04 up for that, but one of the things, I think is amazing, 10:07 when I first saw that, it looked to me like it wasn't 10:10 even a brain, I mean when you see a normal brain and then 10:13 you see the brain with the holes in it you think they 10:15 look like craters! - Craters, that's a good description of it. 10:18 Those craters are not just on the surface, they are all 10:21 the way through the middle of it too. 10:23 I have talked to people who have gotten out of prison 10:26 and say, I just can't read anymore, all the letters just 10:29 swim together and it doesn't make sense. 10:30 Well you can't read you can't work, 10:33 the man's an electrician. 10:34 So he has to go back to school and get the second grade 10:37 readers out and teach himself how to read all over again. 10:40 Because the area of the brain that knew 10:42 how to read is gone? - right! 10:44 You have to teach another bunch of Cells how to read. 10:46 It's amazing we are so adaptable, stop using and 10:50 your brain will actually rewire, retract things. 10:54 Oh dramatically, this is been shown in many different 10:57 context that the brain does remodel and rewire and restore. 11:00 I'm so grateful for that. 11:04 - well it says in the Bible in Philippians that if you 11:07 think on good things, if you think on things that are 11:09 right, and true, and good, and gracious, your brain heals. 11:13 That is not just Bible talk, that brain talk. 11:16 What's incredible, as an addict, I can look at those 11:19 things and think, God knows what is going to restore me. 11:23 A lot of times people think, or say those are nice words. 11:26 They are not, He created us and He knows how our brain works. 11:30 He knows about our recovery. 11:32 When we speak good things into our hearts, our brains 11:36 reorganize themselves, so thinking good things become 11:40 more natural spontaneously. 11:42 Controlling your temper becomes easy and natural. 11:44 You don't have to think about that stuff anymore, 11:47 it becomes part of you. 11:49 Take your time, again it takes time. 11:52 Making a commitment to recovery no matter how you feel. 11:55 It is not about how you feel. - Yes! 11:57 When you talk about, okay synapses, and in neuro there 12:00 is a, and we have talked about this in the other show, 12:03 but my favorite little track, talk about that. 12:06 A retro... - your favorite little track in the brain is 12:11 called visiculous-retro-flexis?. 12:13 Okay I want all of us to say that, but it is my favorite. 12:17 I had no idea that we had something literally going from 12:20 the frontal lobe to the back of our brain with our animal 12:23 instincts that really help us to choose right. 12:26 This is the thing that gives you your conscious mind, 12:29 where you make decisions and have rational thought. 12:31 It gives you control over the urges, drives, and cravings 12:35 they come out of the bottom of the brain. 12:37 So you can control your cravings, you can control your 12:41 temper, you can control your impulses, but when those 12:44 Cells get damaged you don't control that stuff anymore. 12:46 - exactly - it controls you! 12:49 I wonder why, why can't I just say no? 12:51 You don't have the ability because you are not 12:54 using your frontal lobe. 12:55 The frontal lobe is used, but it is not connected to the 12:58 behavior, and so that is the fallacy of cognitive 13:02 behavioral therapy that has been used for 13:04 so many years at rehab centers. 13:05 It has its role, it has a place, but we can't rely on 13:08 cognitive behavioral therapy to get us out of meth 13:11 amphetamine, the connection between cognitive and 13:14 behavioral isn't there anymore. 13:16 We have to heal that process and that takes a lot of time, 13:20 12 to even 18 months. 13:22 Doctor Holley, is it just meth that destroys that connection? 13:26 Methamphetamine does it the fastest and the most devastating 13:29 way, but cocaine damages the same bunch of Cells. 13:31 So does alcohol and inhalants, they all damage that same 13:37 little track that causes addiction. 13:40 So when that track is damaged, the electrical current 13:42 does not happen? - right! 13:44 In fact electrical activity goes the other way, 13:47 the impulses and desires to control the cortex instead 13:50 of the cortex controlling the impulses and desires. 13:53 That is huge! - yes it is huge. 13:56 I think for a lot of us we have no idea, we think that we 14:00 are in control when in fact we are no longer in control. 14:04 That is what the feeling of addicts have come they think 14:08 I can use just once, this fantasy of controlled use. 14:11 They have the idea that they can use just once and get by 14:14 with it, the next time they use they will speak smarter 14:17 about it, they won't get into as much trouble. 14:19 They will keep their job, they will pay their bills, 14:21 they will do better next time. 14:23 That is a fantasy and it is not reality. 14:26 Once those Cells have been damaged you don't control that 14:29 behavior anymore, you look for strength from the 14:33 Holy Spirit to overcome those impulses because you don't 14:36 have that natural track that makes it easier and 14:39 spontaneous and natural to control those impulses. 14:42 You need a power of Almighty God to control's those 14:45 impulses, you're helpless over it. 14:47 The next step of AA is recognizing we are helpless. 14:51 Yes we are helpless, we don't have those neurons anymore. 14:54 We are relying on God for that control. 14:56 For a lot of people that want an addict to come in and 15:01 just behave, I think what they don't realize is that it 15:04 is going to take a good year for us to sit down with a 15:09 structured program, and people have healed outside of AA 15:13 in different programs, but it is not just because 15:15 we sit there and know what to do. 15:17 I have to be in a program, I have to be around people 15:20 that tell me, don't rely on yourself, don't think you are 15:24 going to know what to do, ask somebody, 15:25 let somebody model for you the right behavior because 15:28 I am not making those connections. 15:30 To me the saddest thing is to watch an addict stumble into 15:35 a church and him or her to sit there. 15:38 I know that they are lost. 15:41 Addicts heal in communities, they heal with people around 15:44 them that understand what they're going through and can 15:47 pray with them, and help them understand themselves. 15:51 You do not heal in isolation, you have to heal in 15:54 community with people who understand you. 15:56 By that time, I believe for myself anyway when I stopped 16:00 using, I didn't even know who myself was anymore. 16:02 Who am I? And I seen things done and done things myself 16:07 with these drugs that I was just praying it was not me. 16:11 You know what I mean, I'm praying that's not who I am. 16:15 So I think in community, we have talked about this on 16:18 other shows, when you start getting affirmed and walk 16:21 with and discipled by someone, 16:23 that you literally have that restoration easier. 16:27 The most powerful things addicts do in community is to learn how 16:31 to pray, they learn how to pray genuine and effective prayers. 16:35 This is not lip service, it's not reading out of a book, 16:38 this is real prayer, this is real guts, and real crying. 16:41 If you are not willing to be genuine with the people 16:44 around you, you can't do it. 16:45 This is hard enough, but don't play your own recovery. 16:51 - yet we can't play games here. 16:53 The other pillar of recovery is the intense and 16:56 intelligence study of the Bible. 16:58 I recommend a 12 step Bible that Tyndale publishes. 17:02 - I love that. - I love that Bible. 17:04 It is so real, and really the addicts families get as 17:07 much out of it as the addict themselves. 17:09 You know for the people who haven't seen that Bible, 17:12 it's incredible, it is my study Bible. 17:14 You are reading along and they have the devotionals all 17:16 through the Bible that are about different parts of 17:19 recovery, different things you you need to know about honesty. 17:22 So you will read a story in the Bible and all of a sudden 17:25 the devotion will tell you why that story is important 17:29 and how it relates to recovery. 17:31 It brings it to life, a lot of people thought 12 steps 17:35 is on one page and the Bible is over here and 17:37 they don't have anything to do with each other, oh no, 17:39 those two are married. 17:41 The 12 steps are solidly biblical, they lead to deep 17:44 repentance and real restoration, but they need 17:48 to be joined with the word of God, 17:50 that is where their power comes from. 17:52 It's good to know that it is Jesus is blood that covers 17:55 me and He will restore me to sanity. 17:57 It is His righteousness not ours. 17:59 - and the Holy Spirit will live in me. 18:01 So let's talk about, what are some of the things you saw 18:06 in your research, after your brother's death, 18:11 that was the hardest for you? 18:14 I guess what I'm asking is that when I first started 18:18 seeing the downfall of addicts, just pictures of them 18:22 into recovery, or that thing I was just shocked. 18:26 What kinds of things where you felt shocked? 18:29 I saw pictures of their teeth falling out, and their hair 18:34 turning to straw, cheeks sunken in, they are wasted and 18:39 destroyed by this drug and they are totally oblivious. 18:44 I saw a woman walking downtown Huntsville a few months ago, 18:47 I just pulled over because I had to answer the Cell phone. 18:50 I can't drive and answer the Cell phone at the same time. 18:53 I was parked there by the side of the road and here comes 18:55 this woman staggering across the parking lot. 18:58 She could barely walk, I knew she was strung out on meth. 19:02 There was nothing I could do for her. 19:05 Once you have experienced it you can see it so clearly 19:09 everywhere. - the pasty skin, the dilated pupils, 19:14 can't focus, staggering, can't hold herself up, 19:18 and she was just as skinny as a rail and barely dressed. 19:22 I have seen women, I'm sure you have too, 19:25 even pregnant in those states. 19:28 I look at that and think what about their children? 19:32 The babies are born usually premature and always very 19:36 small, because they are malnourished. 19:39 The oxygen supplied to the placenta was not what it 19:43 should be, many of them have signs of seizures or even 19:47 Cerebral Palsy as we follow them out. 19:49 Many of them have ADHD, or learning disabilities that 19:55 will follow them throughout their lives. 19:57 If those children are raised in a nurturing environment, 20:00 where they are loved and fed and cared for, a lot of that 20:03 reverses and with proper intervention you can get a 20:07 healthy two-year-old out of that situation. 20:09 But if that child is sent home with a squeaker mother who 20:13 then shakes that child, abuses that child, doesn't feed 20:16 that child, he doesn't have a chance. 20:19 Right, and the neurochemistry for that child just gets 20:21 worse and worse. - it does! 20:23 The children, as they grow up in an abusive home, 20:26 a drug abusing home in particular, they learn that, 20:29 that is normal, they think that is how 20:31 you're supposed to do things. 20:32 Whatever daddy does, must be the right thing to do. 20:34 So the kid is 10 years old and he is using too. 20:37 When seventh-grade he is 12 years old, now he has been 20:40 promoted, he's daddies dealer and he thinks he's smarter 20:44 than anybody he knows. 20:46 In ninth grade the kid is up for murder charges. 20:48 It is the same child eating dog food six years ago because 20:52 no one would feed him, and now he's up on murder charges. 20:57 I know people say there is no excuse for certain behaviors, 21:02 but my heart breaks for that child. 21:04 I know the history, I know every single thing that led up 21:07 to that and I also know the power of this drug. 21:10 It is huge. - all the lies that kid believes. 21:13 He thinks he's worthless, he thinks he's useless and believes 21:18 that, and so he acts like it. 21:20 If I think I'm just an animal, I'm going to act like an animal. 21:24 You talk with a lot of people in prison, in rehab centers. 21:28 So what is it that you say to them? 21:32 Do you think it gets through? 21:35 Yes, the main thing that they come to me with is their 21:39 anger, they are enraged, they are mad at their peers, 21:43 they are mad at their dealer, they are mad at the arresting 21:45 officer, they're mad at the legal system, they are mad 21:48 at their attorney, they are angry. 21:49 Just boiling over with anger. - right! 21:51 I take that anger to the cross of Jesus Christ. 21:55 That is where we have to take it. 21:57 Yeah, what happened to you was brutal and obscene. 22:00 That cross is brutal and obscene. 22:03 You don't have to pretend it didn't happen, and you don't 22:06 have to pretend it didn't hurt. 22:08 You take real pain and real rage to the foot of this 22:11 cross because guys, that's real, and you do not 22:14 have to be controlled by your anger anymore. 22:16 I don't have to excuse it. 22:18 You don't have to wallpaper over it, I can accept it. 22:22 Yes I am enraged because I was raped when 22:24 I was 8 years old and that was wrong. 22:26 That man hanging on a cross is paying for it. 22:30 You do not have to gloss over it. 22:32 The flip side of that, after we have been talking about 22:36 that for a little while, then we're talking about, 22:38 well what have you done to your kids? 22:40 I mean you are here in jail, there is a good reason for it. 22:42 What have you done to your dad? 22:44 What have you done to your mother? 22:46 Let's take your shame and your guilt to the very same cross, 22:49 guys, He died for you too. 22:52 He died for you too, you don't have to deny it, 22:55 you don't have to play games with Him. 22:57 He'll explain the part that can be explained. 23:00 He will excuse the part that can be excused, the part that 23:02 somebody else's fault, it is somebody else's fault. 23:05 It's the part that's left over, the part that says, 23:08 I did it and there is no excuse for it, 23:11 that is the part He forgives. 23:14 When He has forgiven you, you can forgive yourself, 23:18 restore your dignity and self- respect and now you can 23:23 heal from your addiction, it's a whole new world. 23:27 Now I can see in their eyes they hear you, they so long 23:30 for someone to say there is hope. 23:32 They often don't understand with their minds, 23:34 but they understand what their hearts. 23:36 My heart is speaking to your heart and you will remember 23:40 it tomorrow. - right! 23:42 With any addiction, it's like being able to get that basic, 23:46 you have to be able to get to God, you have to understand that 23:50 He knows your insanity and He wants to restore you. 23:53 He has paid the price and He wants to help you learn to 23:56 forgive, and He wants to forgive you. 23:58 Now let's stand up and it will be a daily walk. 24:02 We are going to have to work at this and pay attention 24:05 to what we put in our bodies every day. 24:08 We must be aware of what we put in our minds. 24:10 But it is a walk we don't walk by our self, He is within 24:14 us giving courage, wisdom, the courage and strength to do 24:19 what we know we have to do. 24:20 You can know that it is wrong to go to this party and that 24:23 you should do this instead, but you need strength within 24:26 you to make that decision. 24:27 You don't have the necessary neurons to do by yourself. 24:32 He does it within you, He is holy within you. 24:36 This is not rocket science, He does it within you. 24:39 That's amazing, and as that restores, as those tracks to 24:44 restore those neurochemistry's restores, you can 24:46 literally see it on a PET scan, that fascinates me. 24:48 All of a sudden when I start using my brain again, 24:51 when I'm starting to pay attention and being able to use 24:54 my frontal lobes, I can see it on a PET scan. 24:58 I can bring up a graphic for you, I'll show you which one 25:02 to put in where the brain recovers over a 14 month period. 25:05 You see one month clean, the guy has no read stuff in his 25:09 mid-brain, the red stuff is dopamine transmissions. 25:13 Cell A talking to Cell B. 25:15 By the time the guy is 14 months clean, Cell A and 25:18 Cell B have started talking to teach other, the red stuff 25:20 came back, healing is occurring in the brain. 25:25 This is not just somebody going through the motions, 25:29 this is real healing in a real brain track that really 25:33 makes a difference in your lives. 25:34 So when someone says it's easier for me to make 25:36 a decision today, it is literally is because 25:38 your brain is restoring itself. 25:40 That's a sign, and we gotta to know that, we gotta know 25:44 that, so we don't feel so helpless, the first little while 25:46 when we feel like we can't make a decision, when we have 25:49 to rely on someone else, we have to call someone else. 25:52 It is brutal that first three months. 25:54 That three months they hit a wall and they think they 25:57 are not going to make it, I'm not going to make it. 26:00 - you feel like you're going to die. 26:01 But if they hang on, they can march through that first six 26:04 months and things start looking better. 26:06 You have good days to match the bad days. 26:08 You start laughing and cutting up again. 26:11 You start remembering things, you start feeling more 26:14 motivated and want to go to work 26:15 and do something meaningful. 26:16 In about a year, then all that comes together. 26:20 You're thinking, I used to live in the gutter, 26:24 I don't live in the gutter anymore. 26:26 We're going to take a break and then open it up for questions. 26:29 Every time I hear you speak, I feel so much hope, 26:32 not only for myself but for every addict out there, 26:35 everybody that is watching this show that is 26:38 dealing with a loved one that is strung now, 26:40 know that God is so bigger than all that. 26:43 He has created us in a way that all the damage we have 26:47 done, in time, corrects itself. 26:50 We may be left with some of it, but you would be surprised, 26:54 eat right, think right, and put your hands together and pray. 26:58 We will be right back! 27:05 Think you've seen it all? Think again. 27:08 Cheri Peters is back for a second season of 27:12 Celebrating Life In Recovery with more lives 27:15 more stories and more miracles. 27:18 Watch the shocking, inspiring, and the incredible. 27:23 Check your local listings to find out when 27:25 Celebrating Life In Recovery comes to you and get 27:29 ready for another dose of reality, Cheri style. 27:47 Thanks for coming back. 27:48 Doctor Holley, I know that you travel a lot, 27:50 when you travel, what is your audience and 27:53 who calls for your engagements? 27:55 I get a variety of audiences, I go to prisons and 27:58 rehabilitation centers, especially in North Alabama. 28:03 I also teaching in churches, talk to moms and dads and 28:07 youth, and boy that is powerful. 28:09 I always assumed there are four or five addicts in my 28:11 audience, so I drill them about the cross. 28:14 I take them to the cross of Jesus Christ for healing. 28:17 Then on the other side I do a lot of secular work with 28:20 teachers and lawyers and doctors and nurses. 28:23 Sometimes employer groups about a drug-free 28:26 work place act clause. 28:28 You worked where I lived not long ago 28:30 talking with professionals. 28:32 That was a full eight hour seminar for professionals. 28:35 It ran the gamut from biochemistry for rehabilitation 28:39 professionals all the way to school strategies, 28:42 what schools districts can do to reduce 28:44 drug use in their schools. 28:46 When you got done talking I had people calling me, 28:48 Cheri, do you know who Doctor Mary Holley is? 28:51 She was amazing, they were so thrilled with what you had 28:55 shared with them and felt fully empowered by the 28:57 information, which is incredible. 28:59 Yes, I always give a solution. 29:01 And I'm going to present a problem, 29:02 I'm also going to present a solution. 29:04 If talking about drug endangered children, I'm going to 29:06 talk about intervention that we can do to help those kids. 29:09 If were talking about problems in the schools, 29:11 I'm going to talk about programs we can do in the schools 29:13 to educate and prevent drugs abuse in our students. 29:16 If we're talking about medical issues, 29:18 I'm going to talk about the treatments for those medical 29:20 issues, the heart attacks and strokes. 29:22 I will always bring a solution to the table. 29:25 What's interesting for the people watching, or at the café, 29:30 you have 'Power Over Addictions', CDs, books, 29:36 and CDs for teenagers. 29:39 You have books on crystal meth and videos that go with 29:42 that, so you really cover a lot of this in your material. 29:45 So when people talk to me and say, I'm not sure 29:50 I know enough about addictions. 29:52 I'm thinking, get yourself educated, get some books. 29:55 If you don't like to read get some CDs, but educate 29:58 yourself because the more educated we are, especially as 30:01 a church or in our communities, the more we can help to 30:05 bring in solutions instead of just aggravate the problems. 30:09 Yes, the more we know the less we fear. 30:11 It we don't know very much about addiction we are afraid 30:14 of addicts, we don't like addicts. 30:17 But if we understand addiction, we can reach out with 30:19 compassion to those addicts. 30:21 We are not expecting them, we just what you shared 30:24 with us, we aren't expecting them the next day to make 30:27 a major decisions, that we know it's going to take a 30:30 good year for this person to start making decisions and 30:33 being on their own. 30:35 So our expectations change. 30:37 We understand what they are up against biochemically, 30:40 and we don't expect a miracle, but what we do witness 30:44 is kind of a miracle. 30:46 We are watching the blossoming of the Holy Spirit in 30:49 somebody's life and it is almost like watching Lazarus 30:53 rise from the dead. It is beautiful! 30:56 We are going to open it up for comments, questions. 30:59 I know Hal you had a comment. 31:00 Yes I did, Doctor Holley is very interesting that you 31:03 are talking about the three months, six months as they 31:06 progress into this because there is a caller that calls 31:09 and in quite often, and her son, her name is Carolyn. 31:12 Her son never has made it past three months and he has 31:15 been in like 5 rehabs and she can't figure this out 31:18 because he seems like he's doing so good and then he 31:21 gets against a brick wall and he is back out 31:24 and back in trouble. 31:25 I've been praying for this young man in the Pastoral 31:28 Department now for three years, his name is Justin. 31:31 I'm not going to give up on him, but he could just make 31:33 it past three months do you feel like that would be 31:36 a turning point for him? 31:38 Three months is a turning point where they realize the 31:41 value to the sobriety, at about three months. 31:44 Get past that profound depression, but if they can't 31:48 get past that profound depression all by themselves, 31:51 they need a network of people around them. 31:53 He needs to be in a support group, or some outpatient 31:57 rehabilitation, or a halfway house to get past that 32:01 hard first few months. 32:04 Like to just start appreciating a life again. 32:06 This is amazing what I'm hearing, and the prayer requests 32:10 that are coming in from all over the world. 32:13 There are so many that will call, desperate, 32:16 I mean desperate to be delivered from this. 32:20 I just asked one man recently, why did you get on crystal meth? 32:24 He told me I enjoyed smoking weed, I enjoyed snorting coke, 32:28 but I went to crystal meth. I said why did you do this? 32:32 If my memory is correct on this, he said, marijuana is 32:36 $150 an ounce, an eighth ball, three and half grams of 32:40 cocaine is $250 and he said, meth is cheap. 32:45 He said not only is it cheap but it lasts a lot longer than 32:48 the cocaine would last, and this is why do it. 32:51 I said well are you able to quit? 32:54 He said no, after the first time I used this I realized 32:58 that I could not get past this. 33:00 I run into people although time on the streets, 33:02 and I know you have too, it is obvious that they are on 33:07 meth, their teeth are rotting out, their face have holes 33:11 in them and sunk in, like that. 33:14 As a matter of fact, I was at a dentist office recently, 33:17 he said, they are now holding seminars, dental seminars, 33:20 for what he referred to as meth mouth. 33:23 He showed me some pictures that were horrible, teeth all 33:27 gone, sores inside their mouth and everything else. 33:30 This is something that every one of us need to sincerely 33:34 pray about and seek God on. 33:37 Because this thing is a snowball rolling down the side of 33:41 a snow-covered hill. 33:42 It is growing, and we can't stick our head somewhere in the 33:45 sand and play an ostrich, neither can we be 33:48 a lion and roar, we need to be the Dove and reach out to 33:51 minister to these people. 33:53 I got a prayer request two weeks ago ended up e-mailing 33:55 the man and asking him to call me. 33:57 He lives in Chicago and is moving to Junction city Kansas. 34:04 I couldn't figure out why are you moving to 34:05 Junction City Kansas? 34:07 He said it's a farming area, put two and two together. 34:11 The fertilizer everywhere, what they use to make this 34:15 stuff with, if they can get the pseudoephedrine. 34:18 I went to Wal-Mart about two weeks ago, I had some sinus 34:21 problems and was go to get some Tylenol sinus and I had 34:24 to give a pint of blood, old yellow dog and my drivers 34:27 license just to get it. 34:28 This is affecting everybody so people sitting home think 34:33 this doesn't affect me, they better believe that it will 34:38 affect them, and affect them big time. 34:41 If you pay taxes methamphetamine affects you. 34:43 You are paying for the law- enforcement, incarceration, 34:46 the public hospital visits where they come in with their 34:50 strokes, the lab cleanup, the environmental damage, 34:53 the poisoned wells and destroyed property. 34:57 If you pay taxes, you are paying for methamphetamine. 35:00 Something else too, I think we have a tendency to think 35:03 it is the down and outers that are doing this. 35:06 I have a friend in Kentucky, I won't tell you names, 35:10 but she and her husband are very, very, wealthy and their 35:14 son not only does meth, he started selling meth and now he 35:19 is facing 20 years for doing this. 35:22 Had everything he wanted, everything he needed, 35:25 not that they just dished it out to him 35:27 but it was there to ask for. 35:29 It's like the prodigal son's brother, it was all there for 35:32 the taking and yet he is into this. 35:34 So it is easy for us to go after the down and outers, 35:37 but there are up and outers that need Jesus just as bad 35:40 as the down and outers. 35:42 These people are attracted to methamphetamine because 35:45 it makes them more effective, 35:47 more powerful, work longer hours. 35:49 They want to drive another hundred miles, 35:51 or work a double shift, or keep their place real clean, 35:55 or chase after three soccer kids, and they are intelligent 35:59 people that work hard. 36:01 They think they're getting by with it because they haven't 36:03 gotten to the point where their teeth are falling out yet. 36:06 They are not sunken in, they have lost weight yet and they 36:09 think they're getting by with it. 36:11 They are just as addicted as the skid row bum. 36:13 So what you are saying is that the meth does not affect 36:16 the lows, it keeps the highs up, but you don't go back 36:19 down in the lows when you first start doing it? 36:21 When you first start using it makes them feel powerful, 36:24 and attractive, and intelligent and invincible. 36:27 It is only in the later stages of addiction that they start 36:30 losing their teeth, losing their jobs, losing their families. 36:34 By then they are in a terrible pickle. 36:38 They are mentally addicted to it, emotionally addicted to 36:42 it, and physically addicted to it, but they think they are 36:46 just driving in another 100 miles, they are deluded. 36:50 To me it's a powerful thing that a lot of people don't, 36:55 you just don't see the end result of meth use. 36:59 A lot of drug use, all of a sudden it gets you, it comes 37:04 around and bites you and nothing works anymore. 37:07 I am not getting the same highs, I'm not feeling the same 37:09 and I'm afraid this power is a lie. 37:12 Even the addict eventually will feel that. 37:15 In the early stage addicts feel so wonderful and powerful 37:19 an intelligent, they don't realize when they've turned the 37:23 corner and started becoming self-destructive. 37:26 They still think they are in control, that is one of the 37:29 effects of the drug, the hallucination of control. 37:31 Some of these people are professionals doing six cities 37:34 in four days, one of whom was an obstetrician in Tulsa, 37:38 Oklahoma, and intelligent, educated woman delivering babies 37:41 for a living and she took speed to stay up all night. 37:44 People do that for weight loss, weight control so there is 37:48 a lot of reasons, but one of the things I have to say on 37:52 the show is they are all lies, they are all lies. 37:56 If I could do anything, I would love to convince people 38:00 to take care of themselves and get away from their 38:03 addictions, that is what this show is about. 38:05 Find Christ, turned it over to Him, step away from your 38:08 addictions before you cannot, before someone has to intervene. 38:12 Brian, I know that you had some comments. 38:15 Yeah I have a comment and a question. 38:17 I thank God that we serve a God that loves us 38:21 and doesn't give up on us. 38:22 I was a former drug and alcohol user as someone prayed for 38:27 me, I think the message that needs to get out there to the 38:31 family members of the users is, never give up on them. 38:34 Never give up on them, someone prayed for me and that is 38:38 why I am here today. 38:39 There is a lot people that just want to give up on these 38:42 drug users, but I thank God I learned some today, 38:46 Jesus is our healer and He can restore us back. 38:49 Did it bug you, when you were in the middle of your 38:52 addiction, they kept coming up and wanting you to clean up? 38:56 It bugged you, hey? - Yeah did, it did, like leave me alone. 39:00 They said no I'm not. - this is my life and I'm going to 39:03 live it the way want to live it, but I thank God someone 39:07 did not give up on these. 39:09 As long as they have a breath in their body we need to 39:12 keep praying for them and doing whatever we can for them 39:15 to get them clean and sober. 39:17 I wish that somehow we had, when you talk about treatment 39:21 centers, it is really difficult to get an addict 39:24 in treatment for a year. 39:26 You know teen challenge has a program for year. 39:28 There are people who do programs that last for an entire year, 39:32 it's tough for me to find, when I have a meth addict or 39:36 somebody I know they need somebody directing their steps 39:40 for a while, not just the weekend, not just 30 days. 39:43 Yes, and they have to agree to it, nobody can hold them 39:47 against their will, accept the law. 39:49 So, yeah keep them in jail for a year against their will, 39:52 but you can't keep them in a rehabilitation for a year 39:55 against their will, they have to want it. 39:57 It's generally after a future trip's through the county 40:00 jail that they decide they want to get clean bad enough 40:03 to stay in a program for full-year. 40:05 I so understand when they talk about, 40:07 like in San Francisco there is that prison on the island, 40:10 you know just get an island somewhere, lots of food, 40:15 lots of fruit and just say I'll be back in a year. 40:21 That sounds so cruel, but for me it is amazing as God 40:25 restores some of the stuff within myself, all of a sudden 40:30 to fill health for the first time is absolutely the 40:33 coolest thing ever, to just feel that start to restore and feel 40:37 that life and your personality is starting to come out. 40:41 It is so incredible, and I know that with a lot of addicts that 40:45 I work with, is that I cannot hardly convince them, 40:48 please give me three months, six months because you will 40:51 start to feel it and then you will self reinforce. 40:55 Do you know what I mean? 40:57 You are feeling good from within, instead of somebody 40:59 forcing you to toe the line, stand up straight, 41:02 you will feel that strength from within and it becomes 41:07 authentic and natural and spontaneous. 41:09 I woke up for the first time and felt healthy, but I felt so 41:13 happy and I was thinking is it my birthday, what's going on? 41:16 I was trying, just in my head, trying to figure out 41:18 what was going on, and I heard the Holy Spirit say, 41:21 no this is health. I'm like shut up, I love this. 41:25 It had been so long since I had felt that that I was 41:29 overjoyed, this is a, this is what it feels like to feel 41:33 joy and God says, the joy of our Lord is our strength. 41:36 God says I will pour that into you, that you will feel joy, 41:39 maybe for the first time for some of us. 41:41 The things that actually come into your life after you do 41:45 give recovery time, you wouldn't trade for anything. 41:49 I wouldn't trade my life for anybody, I never thought 41:52 I would say that, but that's what recovery brings to you. 41:55 Curly, you had a question. 41:58 Yeah, your brother, did he OD, is that how he passed away? 42:03 My brother committed suicide under the influence of 42:06 methamphetamine, he had been clean off and on, 42:09 struggling with it, going to programs and taking 42:12 medication and he tried to stay clean, 42:15 but the hallucinations wouldn't go away. 42:18 The satellites in space for telling him to kill yourself, 42:21 kill yourself, kill yourself, constantly. 42:24 He would take psychiatric medicine that would slow 42:28 it down, quiet it down a little bit, 42:30 but it never completely went away. 42:32 He was like I cannot live like this and so he got a gun 42:36 on the Fourth of July, we thought it was a firecracker. 42:39 Was he at your house still? 42:42 He was a my uncles house, uncle son had just gotten 42:45 married and they had a wedding celebration and the next 42:48 day, after everybody has left town, it was the fourth of July. 42:52 He killed himself in the basement of the house and 42:56 we all thought it was just a firecracker. 42:58 Was he turning to God at this point, trying to... 43:01 the day before his suicide he had wanted to go to church. 43:04 Mom had to take him to church, I've got to go to church. 43:07 The only church they could find was a little Methodist 43:10 Church, and he went to 8:30 service and stayed for the 43:13 10 o'clock service because he wanted to hear it again. 43:16 But the next day he caved in. 43:21 when someone is in recovery like that, for a lot of us, 43:25 is you really do have to pay attention and watch them. 43:29 Not that you can catch everyone, what I mean is you don't 43:33 get signals for some, but for some you do, so pay attention. 43:36 During that first three months, six months there is a lot 43:40 of potential for suicide because you feel so horrible. 43:43 So depressed, so grouchy, from the radio, from the TV, you're 43:49 getting all this psychotic stuff that will be less, but you are 43:55 not really safe with yourself. 43:57 No! - with your family, how is everybody? 44:04 With your brothers and stuff, I know you are really 44:07 reaching out and educating people. 44:10 Yeah, for the first year after he died I did want to think 44:12 about it, I did want talk about it, I didn't want nothing 44:15 to do with methamphetamine. 44:17 Were you angry at the drug culture itself? 44:20 I closed down, I just didn't want anything to do with it. 44:23 But then after about a year I started noticing that my 44:25 patience were coming in and acting just as crazy as Jim 44:28 was, and that is what motivated me to look into it. 44:31 Yeah, the first paper I saw, that I pulled up on the 44:35 Internet, was about how methamphetamine causes this kind 44:38 of brain damage to these kind of Cells, 44:40 and it was exactly what my brother had told me. 44:43 He kept insisting he had brain damage from this drug and 44:45 I kept telling him that's nonsense, drugs don't do that 44:48 kind of thing to your brain. 44:50 I thought it was a cop out, that he was just playing the brain 44:53 damage game to avoid doing what he needed to do to stay 44:55 clean, but everything he described was right there 44:59 on that scientific paper, he really did damage 45:02 his brain using that drug. 45:05 The hair stood up on the back of my neck and I got sick 45:08 to my stomach when I realize what really happened to him. 45:11 And you wanted to tell someone. 45:13 - I wanted to tell someone. 45:16 I started teaching at the local rehabilitation center, 45:18 and the juvenile probation, and the county jail. 45:20 I start writing little articles and putting them in the 45:23 local newspaper and people kept 45:25 calling me for more information. 45:26 There are some mug shots that you have on your website. 45:29 I would like to bring them up and show them, 45:31 explain to us what we are seeing as far as the girl 45:34 that got arrested a number of times? 45:36 Oh, there are serious of about six pictures. 45:39 The first time she was arrested she was about 45:41 32 years old, she worked as a librarian in Hollywood Florida. 45:45 She a couple little kids, she was a productive member of 45:48 society, but over the next several years 45:51 she disintegrated, her cheeks sunk in, her skin turned 45:55 gray, and the last picture you notice her nose and her 45:59 chin are a little too close together and that is 46:01 because her teeth are gone. 46:03 When your jaw just collapses in on itself, it's pretty 46:06 amazing. - bones disintegrate, there's not even 46:08 anything to put a denture on. 46:10 Yes and pictures to of children that have been taken 46:14 out of meth houses during the arrest. 46:16 Can you talk a little bit about that? 46:18 Children that had broken bones, chemical burns. 46:22 This one little girl, where her mother's tweaker 46:25 boyfriend thought it was fun to pull her hair out 46:28 one strand at a time, just to hear her scream. 46:31 Children with chemical burns on their bottoms where 46:35 they were in a lab when it exploded. 46:38 These kids come out of these environments and 46:41 they don't know what's normal. 46:43 They literally, on some of the kids I've worked with, 46:46 have meth scores, and they are not users, 46:49 they are just inhaling the drug around them. 46:52 If it is in the carpet, or on the floor, the little kids, 46:56 the first thing they do is put their fingers in 46:57 their mouths and they can get toxic levels of methamphetamine 47:01 just from putting their fingers in their mouth. 47:03 The ventilation system, it's blown into every room in the 47:06 house, so they could cook it in the kitchen, but the far 47:09 bedroom, four rooms away, still has toxic levels of meth 47:12 just in the air they breathe. 47:14 When you think of all that, and the environment that kids 47:21 are being raised in, and the mindset of the addict 47:26 themselves is that it is hard to go in and just say 47:29 common sense, you need to stop this, what you're doing. 47:33 You're just not thinking, right? 47:35 So when you intervene with somebody, if a family member 47:38 is watching and they really want to intervene with 47:40 somebody that is that out of control, could you give 47:43 them suggestions on what to do? 47:45 There are a set of professionals called, interventionists. 47:49 They do an effective job of confronting a person with the 47:52 reality of what they are doing, that is a professional 47:55 level job, you can't do that by yourself. 47:58 If you don't have access to an interventionist, 48:01 you can find one at us psychologist office. 48:03 I used to be on those teams come if you call in to any 48:07 psych hospital, a lot of times they will have teams that 48:10 will go out with you. 48:11 Yes, but if you don't have access to that in your little 48:14 rinky-dink town, you have to use the Police Department. 48:17 If there is any way you can file charges, if they have 48:20 stolen anything from you, if they ran off with your car 48:22 and didn't bring it back, call it grand theft auto. 48:25 Get the kid arrested. 48:27 For someone listening right now, why would you answer my 48:30 question with that? Because they are going to say, 48:32 did you just ask how we help? 48:35 What you are saying is, call the police. 48:37 Why would you answer that? 48:39 You want to stop your kid from using, the other word for stop 48:42 is arrest, nobody else can hold him against his will. 48:45 One of the meth addicts that I work with says, I wasn't 48:48 arrested, I was rescued. - yes! 48:50 So when they get their sense back, if people can intervene 48:54 long enough, if they can get the drug out of their body 48:57 long enough, then maybe you can reason with them somewhat. 49:00 Yes, I met a woman in Indiana that had been arrested on her 49:03 meth charges, that is what brought her around where 49:06 she could live again. 49:07 She was giving a seminar to her community and I was 49:10 invited to speak there. 49:12 One of those people who spoke with me 49:13 was her arresting officer. 49:15 She was so grateful to this man for stopping her and saving her 49:19 life, just tears, tears running down her face as 49:22 she hugged his neck. 49:24 Not the night she got arrested? Nope, not that night. 49:28 So it's hard to say, if we're going to intervene in the 49:32 community from a church level, or our families, 49:35 it is not going to be pleasant initially, 49:38 but you save somebody's life. 49:40 They are going to cuss, they're going to scream, 49:42 they're going to threaten to burn your house down and 49:45 they might very well turn around and burn 49:47 your house down, you have to do it anyway. 49:49 Get insured first! No kidding! 49:54 I hear what you're saying, what you're saying is for 49:57 a lot of people I work with, a lot of the addicts, 50:01 they truly know that I care about them so I lot of 50:04 anger stuff doesn't come back on me. 50:06 Not that I don't get cussed out in that stuff but the 50:08 really hard-core anger doesn't come back. 50:10 So if you can, I care about you, I love you and 50:16 let that always be spoken. 50:18 I hate what this drug is doing to your body. 50:21 I hate what it is doing to your children. 50:25 I hate the fact that you can let them sit here and 50:27 not even pay attention to them for four or six hours 50:30 and not even know if you have the kids or not, 50:33 because I hate all that, but I love you and 50:36 I will not let go, I will not stop trying to intervene. 50:40 Trying to get your life back together. 50:42 Keep praying, even when there is no communication with 50:46 that kid whatsoever, he doesn't call you and 50:48 you don't call him, you can still pray for that kid. 50:51 So you believe that prayer matters? 50:53 Oh absolutely! - I have to say that, some people say, 50:57 all I can do is pray and I'm thinking stop! 51:00 All of heaven is down there. 51:02 It's the most powerful thing you can do is pray, all of heaven 51:05 responds when you pray for that kid. 51:07 So for people that are outside of the problem, 51:10 even the communities when it is not a child involved, 51:13 you want to change a community. 51:15 Randy Maxwell is a prayer guide I love. 51:18 He is a friend of mine, just married my daughter. 51:20 He was a Pastor that married my daughter. 51:22 He really believes in prayer, so I think for a lot of 51:26 people, if you have any concern whether 51:29 prayer is answered, study it. 51:30 Read in the Bible what God says about prayer, 51:32 because when you realize that Christ intercede for us 51:37 in the very throne room. 51:39 He says, pray, the Holy Spirit sometimes changes your 51:42 prayer, if you can't really get it as deep as you want 51:45 to get, the Holy Spirit knows what you want to say and 51:48 will say it for you. 51:49 Christ Himself is interceding for you, saying out loud, 51:52 in the presence of God, and intercedes for the person 51:55 you are praying for. 51:56 So it is huge, and for people that are not Christian, 51:59 I want to say, sorry, because it is huge 52:02 and prayer does matter. 52:04 And you better watch out when you pray for that kid. 52:06 Because he's going to lose his job, he's going to get 52:09 kicked out of his place, he's going to end up living 52:11 in the back of his car and eating out of dumpsters, 52:13 because that is what the Holy Spirit is going to do 52:15 to save your child's life. 52:17 You have to let Him do it. You have to let it happen. 52:21 What I think is amazing, tell me what you think about this. 52:26 Not only let it happen, but when you look at that child, 52:31 I want you to look at the child as under there, 52:34 and when they see your eyes I don't want them to see fear 52:37 or anger or somehow that you think that 52:39 this drug is going to take them out. 52:41 I want to look at you and say that I know that 52:45 God is answering my prayer. 52:46 I cannot give you this hundred bucks, but I know that 52:49 tonight I'm going to be on my knees and that 52:52 God is going to answer this. 52:53 As mad as you are right now that I am even praying, and 52:55 I am going to pray that you no longer can feel this drug 52:57 and pray that you no longer can get high, that you can't 52:59 find it because I love you and I want you home. 53:03 You have a confidence about yourself when you handle 53:07 them that way, that confidence speaks volumes about 53:11 their potential to recover. 53:13 They see it in your eyes. 53:14 A lot of times I will see some body that will minister 53:19 to their child and they looked defeated, and 53:21 they really do not believe in the power prayer or that 53:24 God is going to respond, because when they look at them 53:27 it is almost like they're buying funeral clothes. 53:29 Don't let them see that in your eyes because they take 53:32 that on, you get an addict that is not thinking clearly, 53:35 that is paranoid, that is not reasoning the same way, 53:38 and the only reality they are seeing is the defeat 53:41 they see in your eyes. 53:43 Don't do it, I don't care who you have to get to affirm 53:46 yourself, to lift up yourself, but let them lift you up. 53:50 Let them really start to get you some solid ground to 53:53 stand on so that when this child is in front of you, 53:56 or when spouse or whoever the addict is in front of you, 53:59 you are saying I know that 54:01 God is bigger than this addiction. I know it. 54:03 If you let them make you angry you have just given them control 54:07 over you, and as long as they are in control, 54:11 they think everything is fine. 54:12 If they can make you angry, they control you. 54:15 But if you have confidence in peace in the Lord, 54:18 then you don't get angry, you don't have to get angry. 54:21 Because I am not talking to this drug, I'm done. 54:23 I'm done and I am going to wait for 54:25 God to make a difference here. 54:28 I would like to say again, it was amazing to have you on 54:31 the show, you have so much information and 54:34 I am so glad that you shared it with us. 54:36 I'm sorry about your brother, but I know that God 54:40 is using everything you do for His glory and 54:42 to vindicate His name, which is amazing. 54:45 We will be right back, but as we take this break I want 54:49 you to think about that we as Christians have the 54:53 throne room of God to go to. 54:55 Even if you have no addicts in your family, 54:58 let's say you have somehow, in this world, 55:01 gotten through life with intact families, and 55:04 the community around you has not been so lucky. 55:07 We have the ability and the privilege to pray for them. 55:10 To pray and ask God, please step in, 55:13 change this community, take it back. 55:16 If you can get one more person in, and one more person 55:20 in and watch God do what God does best. 55:23 He brings restoration and healing. 55:25 Stay right with us, will be right back! 55:32 Cheri Peters uses the book, 'Coming Of The Comforter' 55:35 as a guide for the second season of Celebrating Life In 55:38 Recovery, written by Lee Roy E. Froom is a 320 page book 55:41 that offers every sinner the knowledge that the 55:43 Holy Spirit is available to all. 55:45 3ABN now offers this book to you for a suggested donation 55:49 of only $13 postpaid within the US. 55:52 Call 3ABN at 618-627-4651 or go online to 3ABN.org. 56:13 You know talking about the power of prayer over addictions, 56:15 I was doing and outreach in the West Indies. 56:18 There was a young kid that was acting out, drug involved, 56:22 his mother had called me before we flew in to do this 56:26 outreach, and she said would you pray for my son. 56:29 I ended up there and met the son one time, the rest of 56:34 the week he was high on drugs. 56:36 Didn't come to any meetings, I had no contact with him. 56:38 So on the way to the airport I felt like the Holy Spirit 56:41 said you need to go on pray for Michael. 56:43 So I said does anybody know where Michael lives, 56:46 and somebody did so I said, I'm going. 56:48 I'm going to pray for Michael and I get there and 56:51 his mom says, oh he has been out drinking all night and 56:53 he's been using drugs and he just got in really late 56:56 and is passed out. 56:57 I said please let me come in and pray for him. 57:01 I felt so burdened that I had to before I left. 57:04 I said if he tells me no, I'll ask him if I can pray for 57:08 you and he says no, I will go to the airport and 57:10 you will never see me again. 57:11 If he says yes, I will have a quick prayer before I go. 57:15 Well I came in, Michael is laying on the bed naked 57:20 and hung over, I'm thinking oh man. 57:23 He's 14 years old, just this kid and I walk over and 57:27 I tapped him on the shoulder and said Michael, Michael. 57:31 It took a while for him to wake up. 57:33 This one little bloodshot eyes looks at me and he sees 57:36 the evangelist, who had just been running these meetings. 57:40 I could tell, he was like, am I dreaming? 57:42 I'm like Michael, I said, it again and he opens his eyes 57:45 again and finally he says, what, what do you want? 57:49 I said I just want to pray for you. 57:51 He was like, what? 57:54 I just want to pray for you is that okay? 57:56 He said yes, I put my hands on him and said God, 57:59 let nothing work for him any more, if he goes out to get 58:03 high let him get busted. 58:04 If he takes drugs let it not even give him a high anymore 58:07 and let every single thing get in his way and reclaim this boy. 58:11 And you know what? Michael is in treatment now and he 58:14 is fine and it is because some body prayed, so pray. 58:17 Always remember, until we see each other next time that 58:20 God is crazy about you and me too! God bless! 58:23 Thanks for joining us! |
Revised 2014-12-17