Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host)<\br> 01. Cheri Peters<\br> 02. Amanda Hultz<\br> 03. Hilary Washington
Series Code: UC
Program Code: UC000402
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00:25 Hello, and welcome to another edition of Up Close.
00:28 We are coming to you from the beautiful 00:31 3 Angels SDA Church in Wichita, Kansas. 00:34 We're so pleased to have you and our live audience 00:38 join us. 00:39 Today's program will center on one of the most pervasive 00:42 problems of our generation: drug addiction. 00:46 If I say "drug addict", what image pops up in your mind? 00:51 Do you envision someone with scrambled brains who can 00:55 no longer function normally? The problem is more widespread 00:59 than most of us recognize. 73% of all drug use 01:05 is practiced by those that we, benignly, label as 01:10 "recreational" drug users. 01:14 These are people who go to work every day, 01:17 some in their 3 piece suits, but their choice of recreation 01:21 is funding the traffickers of the world. 01:25 Addiction is a progressive disease, one that accelerates 01:29 as brain neurochemicals become depleted by regular drug use. 01:33 This degenerative disease leads the addict constantly chasing 01:39 after the euphoric high. 01:41 Addicts have an illusion and they live in this illusion. 01:45 It's an illusion that is a total denial of truth, but it's time 01:50 that we stopped looking at drugs as the main issue 01:54 and we need to get to the bottom of the problem. 01:57 Our first guest, Amanda Hultz, suffered physical 02:01 and sexual abuse from childhood at the hands of her father. 02:06 His dirty secret was hidden for years, but finally 02:09 unveiled when Amanda stood up at 16 years old to testify 02:14 against him. 02:15 Her father was imprisoned, but the dysfunction of the family 02:19 was not healed. When her favorite aunt 02:22 was killed in a car crash, Amanda felt as if the only 02:26 positive, supporting pillar in her life had just given way, 02:31 and her whole world came crashing down. 02:33 Listen to this: 02:35 About a year, between 16 and 17, a friend of mine 02:41 had a brother who was using methamphetamines and at first 02:46 we started smoking weed just for a week, and then 02:51 he introduced methamphetamines to his sister, him and his drug 02:55 dealer did. 02:57 And so she introduced it to us, there were about 5 of us 03:00 that were all friends, and she introduced the meths to us. 03:06 In the beginning we would just do it on the weekends, 03:10 or we were just going to do it for recreation, 03:15 it wasn't going to become a habit, it was no big deal, 03:17 we weren't hurting anybody, that's what we kept saying 03:20 to everyone. 03:21 It's no big deal, nobody was getting hurt, 03:24 we were just trying to have a good time. 03:26 I was half into testifying in court, all that kind of stuff. 03:30 Well, if I went high, it wasn't the same as if I went sober. 03:35 It didn't seem as big of a deal to me, so it helped with 03:38 all that, I felt like it was drowning everything out. 03:44 I didn't realize that slowly, I was being dragged into 03:47 this world that was going to take me 7 years to get out of. 03:52 Here she thought it was nothing much in her life, and wasn't 03:55 taking it too seriously, but it became a serious problem. 03:58 Please help me welcome Amanda Hultz to the program. 04:02 [Audience Claps] 04:09 Amanda, when I look at you, you're such a pretty young lady, 04:12 it's hard for me to believe that you've ever had 04:15 a drug problem, but I want to thank you for coming and sharing 04:19 your testimony with us today. 04:22 Please tell our audience, how did you go from that point 04:27 of just recreational drug use into becoming 04:31 a full fledged addict? 04:33 At first, like I said, it was recreational. 04:36 I just used it on the weekends, I wanted to 04:40 do it with my friends, to have a good time, stay up all night 04:44 and play cards, but then I had to have it on Monday 04:47 because I had to work on Monday, and then it became 04:50 that I needed it on Tuesday, and then I needed it 04:53 on Wednesday so that I could stay up and go to work, 04:56 and then I quit my job all together, and then I spiraled 04:59 downhill, I needed it everyday. 05:02 Now, how did this affect your schooling. 05:04 Weren't you a cheerleader in school? 05:06 I was. I was a cheerleader. I was captain of my 05:09 cheerleader squad and as soon as I started doing drugs 05:13 I actually dropped out of high school. 05:16 And you were a very good student, right? 05:19 I was. I was a good student. 05:20 I was gifted and talented as a child. 05:24 Straight A student as a smaller child, and then a good student 05:27 in high school. 05:28 So you dropped out of school and then things began 05:32 to get even worse, what did you do to actually support 05:36 your drug habit? 05:38 About a year into my drug use, I ended up becoming 05:42 a drug dealer. 05:46 What was that like for you? Did it register up here 05:49 for you, Amanda, that you were doing something illegal, 05:53 or was this just something that you wanted to do because 05:56 you needed a fix? 05:57 This was something that I wanted to do because I needed a fix. 06:01 I needed it and I didn't have the money to support my habit, 06:05 so I did it for the fix. 06:09 Well, there's more to this story and in fact, Amanda also shared 06:12 with us the rest of the story. When she married the biggest 06:16 drug dealer in town, she went further down the slippery slope 06:21 into the abyss, and to support their drug habit, 06:25 Amanda's husband began making fake checks and fake IDs. 06:30 So listen to what happened next. 06:34 When I gave birth to my son, it came crashing down 06:38 on all of us. 06:40 5 days after my son was born, 06:43 they raided our house and they arrested my husband 06:48 and they charged him with several counts of forgery, fraud 06:55 and some drug possession. They released him on bail 07:00 and then had to drop the charges so he continued to sell 07:07 methamphetamines and we found out about 4 months after 07:12 they released him that they were bringing the charges back up. 07:17 So, here we had a 4 month old son 07:19 and we went on the run from the police. 07:24 For several months they followed us 07:27 from city to city, place to place. 07:30 They would find out, we would find out that they knew. 07:33 They would raid the house shortly after we would leave. 07:37 We would live in drug houses with my infant son, 07:41 where they were, actually, even manufacturing. 07:46 Then we would leave and the house would, shortly thereafter, 07:51 be raided, looking for us. 07:54 Finally, one night I was just done. I told my husband 07:59 that I had a child that I was going to raise 08:02 and that I couldn't live like that anymore. 08:06 He said that was fine, I told him I was going to move in 08:10 with my family, and that he was going to have to go elsewhere. 08:15 We went to go to the store and we got pulled over 08:18 by the police. 08:20 What happened that night Amanda? 08:25 The cops surrounded the car with guns pulled, 08:28 and they knew that my husband was in the car, 08:30 and they asked him to get out of the car and at that moment 08:35 he told me that he was done, that he wasn't going to use 08:39 ever again. 08:41 He actually used the term that he was rescued, 08:44 not arrested. So here I was, 08:47 I was out, still not having a place to live, raising a baby, 08:53 I found out shortly thereafter I was pregnant. 08:56 So you had 1 baby and you were pregnant with another one. 08:59 Right. 09:00 My husband's in jail and he tells me that he gets saved 09:04 and that he is turning his life to Christ. 09:08 And I thought that was ridiculous. 09:12 Of course, he could say that. He's in jail, he has a bed 09:16 to sleep in, 3 meals a day. I have a baby, I'm pregnant 09:20 and I'm trying to work at a waitressing job. 09:25 We're you still doing drugs at this time? 09:28 I was still using marijuana at the time 09:31 for a couple of months, until I found out I was pregnant 09:34 and then I stopped using everything. 09:36 When you found out you were pregnant. 09:40 Your husband calls you and tells you that he has had an encounter 09:44 with the Lord, that he's been saved, he's been changed, 09:48 you're not buying it. You all went to court, 09:50 and what happened at court? 09:52 My husband stood before the judge and he said that 09:58 "I know what I've done is wrong and I know that it was" 10:02 "a horrible thing." and he said "I take full responsibility" 10:06 "for it", but he said "My first ministry, I would like to be" 10:10 "at home with my wife and my children, but if I go to prison" 10:14 "I know where God wants me, so that I can minister" 10:18 "to other men and lead them to the Lord." 10:21 And the judge's face softened, and I saw... 10:25 ...I saw it happen, I saw the judge soften, and I knew 10:29 at that moment that he meant what he said, and that 10:33 the Lord was there, present. 10:38 He was looking at 14 years and that's even what his 10:41 lawyer told him, he would probably get at least 7-14. 10:47 The judge sentenced him to 10 years and then told him 10:50 he only had to serve 6 months and he had already served 10:54 4 months, so he got out within less than 2 months later 10:57 after being sentenced. 10:58 Praise the Lord. Now let me ask you something, 11:01 were you brought up in a Christian home? 11:03 I was actually brought up in a Mormon LDS home. 11:06 Okay, so you were brought up in a religious home, 11:09 but you really didn't understand about a personal relationship 11:12 with the Lord. 11:13 No. 11:14 So now, when your husband only had that amount of time 11:18 given to him by the judge, did this make you believe 11:21 that there really is a God? 11:23 It did. It made me believe 11:25 and later that night he called me and I was 11:29 ecstatic, I was so excited. 11:32 I said "I believe, I believe what you've been telling me." 11:35 And he asked me to go into a room, private, 11:41 and get on my knees and that is when I accepted the Lord 11:46 and surrendered my life to Christ. 11:49 Praise the Lord. [Audience Claps] 11:52 I think that's wonderful. 11:55 Well, in the rest of our program we're going 11:57 to try to unveil some of the causes for drug addiction, 12:01 and we'll also examine the stages of addiction 12:04 and discuss how we can become educated enough to lead 12:08 our loved ones to the road of recovery, 12:11 but most importantly, we will learn of the resilient nature 12:15 of the human mind. 12:16 There is great hope for recovery 12:19 as Amanda is a testimony to, so please stay with us. 12:24 We'll be right back. 12:37 We're going to be talking with Dr. Neil Nedly about 12:40 some of the common symptoms and the causes of depression. 12:44 And I really hate to say this, but in all honesty, 12:48 it took every ounce energy I had to even take a shower. 12:52 I would be in bed for 5 days at a time. 12:55 It was just the most debilitating thing I've ever 12:59 gone through in my life. 13:01 And I would just lay there. 13:08 So don't miss it. 13:19 Welcome back to Up Close. 13:20 I'm excited to introduce our expert guest for today, 13:23 Cheri Peters. Cheri was a drug addict, 13:27 living on the streets for 10 years, from the ages of 13-23 13:32 before she had an encounter with God that turned her life around. 13:37 Now Cheri is the director of the True Step Ministries, 13:42 an international organization that reaches out 13:45 to at risk people, and it's located in Kuna, Idaho. 13:49 Cheri is also a Christian author and has written 2 books: 13:54 "Miracle from the streets", her life story, 13:57 and "God is crazy about you", please welcome Cheri Peters. 14:02 [Audience Claps] 14:04 I'm so glad you're here today, thank you so much. 14:08 You know what cracks me up, when somebody says an expert 14:11 witness, and I'm wanting to look around, 14:13 is somebody else here, because my background 14:15 is an addict. When I met Amanda was during 14:17 the time that she was pregnant and Dave was just getting 14:20 out of prison, and those kind of things, and so I work 14:22 with addicts, and so the only thing I know for sure 14:25 about God and about recovery is God does amazing 14:28 things with us. If somebody ran into me 14:30 at the airport or at the church, they would never say: 14:33 "You know what? She looks like a heroin addict." 14:35 You know what I mean is that they see somebody that's 14:37 in recovery and that looks healthy. 14:39 Amanda's beautiful, when she was up there talking with you 14:42 I was just crying because I thought God is so good. 14:46 So the first thing that I want to say about recovery is, 14:50 recovery is amazing and everything that God promises 14:53 about our life in recovery is true, it's a lot of work, 14:58 but we are so resilient. 15:00 Well you know, what makes you an expert is this is not 15:03 just theory for you, you've lived through the lifestyle 15:06 and you've lived through the recovery and God is doing 15:09 amazing things in your life. 15:11 But in Amanda's case it was methamphetamines, 15:16 we know that she had an incredibly dysfunctional 15:20 childhood, what can we tell about the causes of addiction 15:25 from the choice of addiction? 15:28 With Amanda, she needed something that would give her 15:31 some power because she was powerless. 15:34 Methamphetamines does that, Coke does that, 15:37 anything that's a stimulant, anything that's going to give 15:40 her the ability to feel that she can do anything. 15:45 So it's an arousal stage, it's a hype of high that just says 15:49 that somebody that's powerless, somebody that's abused, 15:53 somebody has really been damaged in a dysfunctional family 15:56 will get a lot of their needs met in that way. 15:59 Serotonin levels, if you know anything about neurochemistry, 16:02 serotonin levels get kicked off with amphetamines 16:05 and all of a sudden you feel euphoric, anything is possible, 16:08 "I can do anything", and this is from a child that felt 16:11 "I could do nothing and no one cares about me," 16:14 "and I couldn't care less about life" and all of a sudden 16:17 she wants to live, so the first part, when Amanda was talking 16:20 about the first part of her 16:21 addiction is everything seemed fun, 16:22 everything was incredible and then it got to the point 16:26 where I couldn't do this anymore. 16:28 When I started coming off of the drug, with an arousal 16:30 kind of high is when I come off the drug, then my neurochemistry 16:33 is actually flat and I'm not even producing what I was 16:36 producing before I felt that euphoria. 16:39 So with her, the stages about getting more and more 16:42 of the drug, was just a progression of the addiction. 16:45 Another part of a high is what's called "saturation". 16:49 Somebody that is needing to be filled up, they are empty, 16:53 they want to be numbed from pain, and that was more 16:55 my story. I was homeless from 13-23, 16:58 my parents were addicts, and I was empty inside, so I chose 17:02 things like heroin, marijuana, valium, Zanex, 17:07 things that are going to sedate me and where I could 17:10 escape, I can step away totally and escape. 17:12 The last part of a high, or an addictive personality 17:16 is fantasy, or trance-like stage, and that's more like 17:20 sexual addictions, but I want to totally detach from who I am, 17:23 from the pain, or the discomfort or the reality that I live in 17:26 everyday, I want to be different from... 17:29 So usually addictions start with a catalyst of some kind. 17:33 Wanting to be different than I am 17:35 and finding that in a thing, in an object or in an event, 17:40 so I'm not finding it in a person, I'm not finding it 17:42 in anything real, I'm finding it in something that is 17:45 not real, an illusion. 17:48 So basically, let's see if I get this right, 17:52 there's 3 types: there's the arousal, 17:54 the people who are powerless, who want to be empowered 17:58 and drugs do that for them. Then there is the sedating; 18:02 people who want to be numbed and want to forget what's 18:05 going on in their life. Then the other one is 18:09 the fantasy-like. Would gambling fall into this? 18:12 Oh yeah. Gambling is "Oh, I want to win big," 18:15 "and I want to be a big spender" and while they're pulling 18:17 the slot machine even if they're winning or losing, 18:20 that sense of "I'm in this beautiful place," 18:23 "and there's chandeliers" and all that kind of stuff is 18:26 that fantasy "I can be something other than who I am". 18:28 So all addictions, like cancer, nobody can really understand 18:34 all kinds of cancers unless they understand the basic thing 18:37 of cancer, it's multiplying of these dysfunctional cells. 18:41 In addiction it's the same thing, there's a common thread 18:43 through all addictions and that's trying to escape 18:47 into something that's not real. 18:49 Since what you're saying to me, 18:51 let's see if this makes sense, when somebody gets clean, 18:57 like for example when she got clean, 19:00 when Amanda was rid of her drugs, 19:03 that's doesn't mean that she's not longer a drug addict 19:06 if the cause was still there, is that correct? 19:09 I wish that when I was a heroin addict for 10 years 19:11 and somebody said "Cheri all you've got to do" 19:13 "is stop using heroin". I did, and my life was still a mess. 19:16 And I'm thinking "how fair is that?" 19:19 I still didn't know how to relate to people, 19:21 I was dysfunctional, I didn't know how to trust, 19:23 I didn't know how to do anything. 19:26 The first part of breaking an addiction is to get out 19:28 of denial, and denial means "I don't even know that I" 19:31 "always lie." Use it as an acronym. 19:36 "I just don't know anything". So the first step 19:42 of the first step is getting away from the drug, 19:45 but that is just the very beginning. 19:47 We're going to talk more about recovery in our next segment, 19:49 but let me ask you this question as well, 19:52 what are some of the stages of addiction? 19:55 I believe, if you all are like me, I had a sister who was 20:00 a heroin and drug addict for 15 years, the Lord healed 20:05 her, literally, over night, but we didn't recognize 20:10 the symptoms of how she got started in this, 20:13 and the different stages of what was going on. 20:16 So what are some of the stages? 20:18 Some people in the audience will find themselves 20:20 in various stages of addiction. The first stage is always the 20:23 one where I start to lie to myself. I'm actually getting 20:27 pulled by something that has met a need. 20:31 I'm starting to rationalize within my own mind, 20:33 I'm starting to protect whatever the behavior is that is 20:36 filling that need, whether it's drugs, alcohol, sex or whatever, 20:39 eating, workaholism, and so I'm starting to protect it, 20:42 so the first stage is very internal, nobody sees it, 20:45 nobody understands that there's really a change happening. 20:48 The second stage is that I'm starting to lie to you. 20:51 I'm starting to say, sex addicts, 20:55 "I'm not really online doing anything wrong." 20:57 even though they've been on 3 hours on a porn site. 21:00 They start to lie to the people around them, they start to 21:03 see you as an enemy; "you are somehow trying to rob" 21:06 "my only security." 21:08 "I'm not hurting anyone," like Amanda said, "I'm not hurting" 21:11 "anyone, I'm just having fun". So what she's trying to do 21:14 right now is rationalize, and that's the second stage, 21:16 is being able to rationalize that. 21:18 The third stage, and a lot of people have seen addicts 21:21 in this stage, they are totally out of control. 21:23 They are losing jobs, they are losing spouses, 21:25 they are financially in a mess, you can start seeing physical 21:30 issues happening with them, the liver starting to shut down. 21:33 3rd stage is "I'm losing everything", and I will not 21:35 get out of the third stage without intervention. 21:38 But there's 3 distinctive stages in all addictions. 21:41 Now, in the 3rd stage, isn't it true that their brains 21:44 have been so suppressed, as far as the serotonin development, 21:49 that they no longer have rational thinking. 21:52 What's really interesting about that is some people have 21:54 even said it's like talking to a schizophrenic, talking to 21:57 an addict in the 3rd stage, they do not reason with their 22:00 frontal lobe and that's where we reason, they have done 22:03 PET scans on addicts in this stage, and there's no frontal 22:06 lobe activity, so they can't reason. 22:08 When we say "I can't believe you don't understand this" 22:10 and you're talking to somebody you love and is totally 22:13 falling apart, they do not hear you. 22:15 They honestly do not hear you. When they're manipulating you, 22:18 they don't even know that they are manipulating anymore. 22:21 That stage is beyond any kind of reasoning, 22:25 all you can do with that stage with an addict is pray for them 22:29 and be able to intervene in short, little spurts with truth, 22:33 and hopefully they will hear something. 22:36 Have you seen the advertisement on television where it shows 22:40 the frying pan and then it says: "This is your brain." 22:44 And then it shows the fried egg, they crack an egg 22:48 and say "this is your brain on drugs", the cognitive impairment 22:52 is so bad, that they are not reasoning, and you can't 22:56 reason with them. Now, for example, Amanda, 22:59 you told me earlier that you were in the hospital 23:02 and you were being treated, your kidneys were shutting down. 23:05 Right. My kidneys were failing, completely failing. 23:10 I was on dialysis for a little bit. 23:13 Listen, in the 80's you were 83 pounds. 23:18 I weighed 86 pounds, I was in the hospital, 23:20 I was so dehydrated that my kidneys were literally 23:23 shutting down, and I couldn't wait to get out of the hospital 23:28 so that I could get another fix. 23:30 How long were you in the hospital? 23:32 3 weeks. 23:33 3 weeks, so in my mind, and probably in your mind as well, 23:37 we would think that 3 weeks of no drug use, it aught to be 23:42 out of her system, but yet they are not thinking properly. 23:46 Well, coming up next we're going to introduce you to a man 23:50 who battled a lifelong addiction to drugs, 23:53 so please stay with us for this encouraging story. 24:02 Are you, or someone you love, struggling 24:04 with drugs or alcohol? Do you sometimes wonder 24:06 if there is hope? If so, we have just the book for you. 24:09 Be encouraged as you read the promises that God 24:12 has given in His word. Call or write today for your free gift 24:15 of "God's promises" for your every need. 24:17 You can write to us at: [information on screen] 24:23 Or call during regular business hours: 24:25 [information on screen] 24:30 Ask for Up Close Offer Nr. 2. 24:38 Welcome back to Up Close. Today we're talking about 24:41 recovery from drug addiction, and our next guest 24:45 is Ivan Morfit from Wichita, Kansas. 24:48 Ivan was tragically introduced to drugs as a youth 24:52 by his older sister who thought it would be funny 24:55 to see her brother high. Here's Ivan's story. 25:00 My older sister starting giving me drugs when I was probably 25:04 11 years old. I'm not sure why, I never 25:07 really asked her, but it was probably simply to be amused 25:12 by the antics that I would do. 25:16 It was a very powerful thing for me because then I got 25:20 to hang out with her and all of her friends, and I was 25:23 socially accepted into that peer group 25:26 as their little buddy. 25:30 I used to spend the weekends with my sister at her house, 25:33 and we would smoke pot and watch TV and hang out, 25:38 or sometimes we would drink. 25:42 For me, it was being cool. I was cool, to hang out 25:47 and do all those things. 25:51 When you're 11 years old you just don't stop and think 25:54 about consequences, you don't have the mental acuity 25:57 to do that. 26:00 It really became engrained into my personality, 26:04 into my behavior. All through school 26:09 I was smoking and drinking and carrying on as I wanted to. 26:15 Teachers would pull me aside and say "Ivan, you're a really" 26:19 "smart guy, why are you going through the motions?" 26:23 Well, I didn't tell them it's because I'm getting high 26:25 every weekend and not worrying about it, and I never thought 26:30 about what it would lead to. 26:35 Ivan didn't realize how this was going to affect his life, 26:38 and how long, when Ivan actually met the woman of his dreams, 26:43 she loved him so much that she tolerated his drug addiction 26:47 and agreed to marry him anyway. 26:49 But Ivan received a wake up call when the couple 26:53 was expecting their first baby, and when his wife 26:56 faced frightening complications, let's have a look. 27:00 We had our first child, my son, Daniel, 27:03 and I still used drugs. 27:08 And then she got pregnant with our daughter, Audrey, 27:12 and got exposed to chicken pox 27:15 and she ended up in a coma. 27:19 42 days. I didn't know if she was 27:22 going to live, she was going to die. 27:25 My daughter was born 2 and a half months premature 27:28 and I couldn't hold her, I couldn't pick her up, 27:32 I couldn't touch her, she had all these tubes and wires 27:36 and leads wired to her body to keep her alive. 27:41 I think that was the pivotal point when 27:47 I realized no matter how much drugs I did, I was still unhappy 27:53 and I began to look; there's got to be something out here 27:59 that'll make me happy. 28:01 I couldn't fight the depression and I couldn't fight the feeling 28:06 that there is something missing in your life, and you better 28:10 figure out what it is. 28:13 Well we're happy to have Ivan here with us today, 28:15 and we'd like to ask him to come on up, so please help me 28:18 welcome Ivan Morfit. [Audience claps] 28:26 Thank you for being here today to share your testimony. 28:29 When your wife was in that coma, what was going through your mind 28:35 as far as what you've been doing with your life? 28:40 At first I would just say 28:44 "do more drugs!" 28:47 I was so miserable I couldn't function, and then 28:51 when I realized that I was still so unhappy, even when I was high 28:57 that I had to figure something out. 29:02 So did you think that she could possibly die, 29:06 were you facing a life and death issue? 29:08 That year was a bad year, there were 4 other expecting mothers 29:12 at the hospital with chicken pox that year 29:15 and in all 4 instances either the mother or the infant died. 29:18 Oh my goodness! Oh, mercy. 29:21 So then, you started off doing more drugs initially 29:27 during these 42 days, but something happened 29:30 when you went to a party and you went from a party 29:34 to a church - could you tell us a little bit about that. 29:39 Being at the party and just singing and doing all the things 29:43 that I did, I couldn't handle it anymore, 29:47 I was so miserable. 29:50 I went for a drive. 29:54 I'm just driving in my vehicle and I'm looking around 29:57 and I ended up, actually here, at 3 Angels church. 30:01 And it was very quiet and it was very peaceful. 30:05 I had tried everything the devil could give me 30:08 to make me happy, I mean everything. 30:11 So that night I tried something new, I said a prayer. 30:15 I said "God, I can't figure this out, I need Your help." 30:21 Was this your first prayer? 30:22 Pretty much. 30:24 And then how this prayer opened the way, and started you 30:27 on the road to recovery, tell us a little about your road 30:31 to recovery. 30:34 I started Bible study with some men here in the church 30:37 and every time they met with me, I knew that 30:43 whatever they had, I wanted. 30:48 I studied the Bible for over a year 30:52 and then when school started I put my son here in the school. 30:57 He came up to me one day and he said: "You know, dad" 30:59 "I really think we should be baptized." 31:01 Praise the Lord. How old was he? 31:04 12 at the time. 31:05 How old is your baby that was born after 31:08 the chicken pox incident? 31:10 She's 11 now and She's something else. 31:13 And she's a healthy baby? 31:14 Yeah. 31:15 Praise the Lord. Well, when Ivan was speaking 31:17 with us earlier, he reflected on what might have been. 31:24 I think the most dangerous thing for the youth of today 31:29 is that drugs make you feel good. 31:33 I'm not going to deny it, I can't deny it. 31:35 I did drugs for over 20 years. 31:40 They don't understand, 31:45 they'll say "well, I don't rob banks." 31:46 "I don't beat up old ladies. I don't do all those things" 31:49 "that drug addicts do." Well, it doesn't matter, 31:51 I didn't do those things either. 31:55 I scored really high on all those standardized testing 31:59 that schools used. 32:02 I believe I have a really great intellect, but here I am, 32:07 I'm a 35 year old man, family, and I work part time 32:11 in a warehouse. 32:14 What could I have done if I had put the drugs away? 32:18 Where would I be now? 32:20 Ivan, it's a sad thing when God gave you so much potential 32:24 and you feel like you haven't used that. 32:26 What do you think might have been? 32:28 What was your interest before? 32:31 Or were you too young to really even gain that interest? 32:34 No, from the time I was really young, I was always reading 32:37 books on science. 32:40 Natural history, stuff like that. 32:43 Archeology is a really big interest of mine, 32:46 I love watching Discovery Channel, 32:48 it's great. 32:51 There's really no telling what I might have done or become. 32:57 I try not to dwell on it. 33:00 One of the crew, when I was doing my interview, 33:02 told me, he said "I was 34 with a family, and I went back" 33:06 "to university and I now have a Ph.D." 33:09 He said it's never too late. 33:12 You know what I was just getting ready to tell him, 33:15 God is the God of the impossible, all things 33:18 are possible with God, so we're just going to be believing 33:21 and praying for you. 33:24 I know He has a purpose for your life, He's got a plan for your 33:27 life and you're beginning to walk in that. 33:30 We'll just believe that God is going to bring about 33:33 some wonderful things in your life, so thank you. 33:36 Please stay tuned, when we return we're going to be talking 33:39 with Cheri Peters again about how families can educate 33:43 themselves and reach out to at risk loved ones, 33:48 so don't go away. 33:59 We're going to be talking with Dr. Neil Nedly about 34:02 some of the common symptoms and the causes of depression. 34:05 And I really hate to say this, but in all honesty, 34:09 it took every ounce energy I had to even take a shower. 34:14 I would be in bed for 5 days at a time. 34:17 It was just the most debilitating thing I've ever 34:20 gone through in my life. 34:23 And I would just lay there. 34:29 So don't miss it. 34:38 Welcome back to Up Close. 34:39 We're talking to Cheri Peters, a former drug addict, 34:42 who was literally a miracle from the streets. 34:46 Cheri, if you would, you mentioned to me earlier 34:50 when we were just talking by ourselves, 34:51 a story about Lance Michael, could you share 34:54 just a little bit about that. 34:56 That, to me, was one of the saddest things. 34:58 Lance Michael was an incredible kid, was very good in school, 35:03 his family loved him, parents were very normal 35:06 and very involved in their lives. 35:08 Lance gets strung out on methamphetamine in the 9th grade 35:13 and was dead by the time he was 22 years old. 35:16 But I've got to tell you, in that process, he found out, 35:19 after he started experimenting with drugs, 35:23 he found out that his heart was blown up, and swollen up, 35:26 and the doctors said "you even need a heart transplant". 35:29 His mom totally panicked, 35:33 could you imagine, as mom, hearing that? 35:35 Was it the drugs that caused this? 35:38 The drugs accelerated a natural condition in this family 35:43 that the men typically die when they're 70, 80 years old. 35:47 This kid's dying at 18 years old, but it was a predisposition 35:50 in this family for this type of heart disease, 35:52 but the methamphetamine just sped that up. 35:55 So he's in the hospital, he's on IVs, 35:57 he's waiting for a heart transplant and he pulls 35:59 the IVs from his arm and goes and gets high. 36:02 And his mum said she would cry to somebody 36:06 "I don't understand addiction. I don't understand" 36:08 "what this is, somebody should have taught me because I don't" 36:11 "even know how to reach him. I don't how to tell him to stop" 36:15 When he turns 21 he finally says "I can't accept a heart" 36:19 "because if I did this to someone else's heart," 36:21 "what I've done to my own heart, I wouldn't be able to live" 36:24 "with myself." Takes himself off the heart transplant list 36:26 and dies within 3 months, and this is a family 36:29 that was in love with him. 36:31 Ivan, your family you said was pretty normal when you 36:33 were growing up, and all those kind of things. 36:37 The addiction just took this kid's life. 36:40 The mom said at one point she thought 36:43 "he just needs to do something. He just needs to be" 36:45 "involved in something." So she wanted to make 36:48 a hobby for him. So she said "Lance, what would" 36:50 "you like to learn, or do?" And he said "I'd like to do" 36:53 "glass blowing." 36:55 For any addicts in the audience, why do you think 36:57 he wanted to glass blow? Do you have any idea? 37:00 He wanted to make his own pipes, and his mom didn't 37:03 know that because she's not educated, so she sent 37:06 him to school to learn how to blow glass, and he made 37:09 the cutest little pipes to smoke crack in. 37:12 His mom even found a pipe, a little bear, in the trash can 37:15 with a long tail, and she said "Lance, why did you" 37:18 "throw this away, it is so cute." 37:21 She got it out and gave it back to him, and said 37:24 you can make something of this, and it was a pipe to smoke 37:26 his meth in. 37:29 So I really believe that for families you've got to be 37:32 educated, and we hate to educate ourselves with darker 37:35 things, but addiction is all around us 37:37 and we need to know what it is, what it looks like. 37:40 I would even suggest, if you're worried about your child using 37:43 or your spouse using, get a drug test, tell them to pee 37:46 in this bottle. 37:48 I am so bold when it comes to that, if I am hanging 37:51 out with somebody and I think they're using, 37:53 "You've got to pee in this bottle." 37:55 If they don't do it, I will set boundaries. 37:58 "Then you can't be over here with us because I can't" 38:01 "have you using, and lying to yourself and lying to us." 38:04 So I really set strong boundaries. 38:06 So how do families educate themselves, because even though 38:10 my sister was a drug addict for 15 years, I prayed 38:13 for her everyday for 15 years and the Lord did deliver her 38:18 in an unusual way, literally overnight. 38:21 Oh, and I hate that. 38:23 That was 18 years ago. 38:25 And I say that I hate that, not because of any other reason 38:27 than some people work the rest of their life in their recovery. 38:30 My sister, when she prayed to the Lord 38:33 and surrendered, and said "OK, I'm ready," 38:35 "I'm powerless, give me Your Holy Spirit." 38:38 That was nearly 18 years ago and she's never done 38:41 drugs since. 38:44 That's rare isn't it? 38:45 Right. It's rare. God is faithful. 38:47 The reason I think it's rare is He knows that if I would have 38:52 gotten victory over night, I would have been using 38:54 the next day. Do you know what I mean? 38:56 So I had to learn the whole process of recovery, 38:58 I had to learn to hate the drugs and the dysfunction. 39:02 I had to learn that it's better to be honest and not lie 39:07 and manipulate. Why do I not have sex 39:09 with different people? Because it's better to be 39:11 in a monogamous relationship that has more purity. 39:15 So God teaches us slowly in recovery. 39:17 But for family education, with your sister is a good example, 39:21 you start noticing changes in your sister, and everybody 39:24 hides that, nobody says anything. 39:27 People start making excuses for them, 39:31 instead of confronting: "It's not OK that you're no longer" 39:34 "doing good in school. It's not OK that you're hanging out" 39:37 "with friends that you would not have hung out with before." 39:40 "It's not OK with me" - for a husband- "that you're not" 39:42 "coming home at night. It's not OK with me" 39:44 "that you're working till 12 o'clock at the office." 39:46 All those things, when you see behavioral changes 39:50 in somebody you love, do not let that go unspoken. 39:54 People say "well, I don't want to nag." 39:56 I don't want them to die. 39:58 Chris, Lance's mum, did not want to bury her son 40:00 and she did, and she said I enabled him right into 40:04 the grave because I didn't know how to speak to him, 40:07 and I didn't know about drug education. 40:09 Go online and find out signs and symptoms of different 40:13 addictions, get yourself books from the library. 40:16 There is so much information out there that you couldn't 40:20 read or take in everything that's out there. 40:23 Stop living in denial yourself that "I don't have to be aware." 40:27 I think you just hit the nail no the head, 40:28 Most of us feel overwhelmed. I know some of your symptoms, 40:31 Amanda, you began losing weight, your hair began to get 40:34 like straw. 40:36 I was just recently working with another family who's daughter 40:40 was going through the same thing and I kept telling them 40:44 "your child is using drugs", and there was absolute denial. 40:49 "I've suspicion that may be, but we can't prove that." 40:53 "She keeps telling me, I've asked her, and she said" 40:55 "absolutely not." 40:57 Somebody called Chris and said, in the middle of Lance's 41:00 worst part of his addiction, called her and said 41:03 "Chris, what is Lance's drug of choice?" 41:06 And Chris said "I was absolutely dumbfounded and I said" 41:10 "Tylenol?", and they said "No, I didn't mean that." 41:13 "I mean his illegal drug of choice." And she said 41:16 "I couldn't even hardly hear them," there was such denial. 41:22 You said there's so much out there it's overwhelming. 41:25 Most of us don't know where to begin, don't you have 41:28 some information on your website that can give people... 41:31 I will send anybody anything on any drug, on any type 41:34 of recovery, for sex, workaholism, drugs, 41:37 alcohol, all the latest stuff, ecstasy, club drugs, 41:42 so I will send them anything, www.truestep.org is my website 41:45 and you can ask for anything and I will send it. 41:49 You can put "drug intervention", type it into your 41:53 search program and it will give you tones of stuff. 41:58 Online you can find amazing information. 42:00 Let me give you that because she speaks so slowly 42:03 you might have missed it. 42:09 It's www.truestep.org. 42:15 So, www.truestep.org. 42:20 Right, and there's something else that different ministries 42:23 will do, or different people will do, we've actually 42:26 gone out to houses and do interventions, where you sit 42:28 down with the family and you tell them. 42:31 Tell them what you're afraid of, you encourage people 42:34 to speak the truth to the addict, in stage 3 the addict 42:36 will not hear you, but until they get to that stage 42:39 they will hear you. Even in stage 3 you're still 42:42 planting seeds, so you do an actual intervention. 42:45 Having one addict talking to another one and me looking 42:48 right into their face, or somebody like me looking 42:50 in their face saying: "You are losing everything" and giving 42:54 that truth to them. 42:56 We did a structured intervention with my sister and we got 42:59 her into a drug recovery program, she actually 43:02 went through 3 of them, and each time it was 43:06 a 30 day program and she would come out and within 43:09 3-5 days she would be on drugs again. 43:12 I just want to emphasize something that we mentioned 43:16 earlier: getting clean, being drug free for 30 days... 43:19 ...Is half of the first step. 43:21 Did you catch that? It's not even the first step, 43:24 it's half of the first step. 43:26 What's really interesting is if you don't take an addict 43:28 through the rest of the steps in your families, in your 43:31 churches, in your community, then they will relapse, 43:33 so the next step is to acknowledge that I am 43:36 out of control, so I get clean, but then I say out loud 43:40 "I am out of control. I need some help. " 43:42 Reaching out for actual, real connections, 43:45 not with any even or object, but with a person. 43:47 "I need your help, will you help me?" 43:49 So being able to do that with family or friends, 43:51 or definitely the Body of Christ, is being able to say 43:54 "I need some help" is definitely a part of it, 43:56 to look outside myself and find some meaning outside of myself. 44:05 Alcoholics Anonymous was one of the first treatment modalities 44:08 that got the attention of almost the world, as far as 44:11 addictions, in 1935 because they started seeing addicts 44:14 really get well. 44:15 And the reason they get well is because there was community, 44:17 there was 1 addict sharing hope with another one, they started 44:20 to look outside themselves in the addiction and started to 44:24 realize that there is a power greater than myself 44:26 that will restore me to sanity, and there's nothing magical 44:29 about AA, it's just that they did things that were right 44:32 for addicts, and families can do that. 44:35 Actually, the 12 steps of AA, if you're familiar with them, 44:38 they all come from the Bible. 44:40 Exactly. 44:45 Let's say that in a church environment, or even in a home, 44:48 once someone has gotten to that point, they've admitted they're 44:52 out of control, if someone walks into our church and tells us 44:55 "I'm a recovering drug addict", what can we do to help 45:00 because how uncomfortable are they to be "normal people". 45:06 So uncomfortable. 45:08 I was an addict on the streets by age 13, 45:11 [?] at 23, when I came into the church. 45:14 My family are addicts, and when I came into the church 45:17 I didn't even know how to eat at a table with someone. 45:20 I had not eaten dinner with someone, I didn't know 45:23 how to deal with anything normal and I'm around normal folk. 45:26 So anything you did was modeling to me. 45:29 When somebody would say anything about friendship, that you are 45:32 my friend, my palms would sweat because I didn't 45:34 know how to do that, I didn't know how to trust. 45:36 So as family members, as a community, church community, 45:40 any of that, is to realize that your role is to show them 45:44 everything; how to laugh without it being a sadistic kind of 45:47 laugh, how to communicate, how to have small talk. 45:51 When somebody would sit across the table 45:53 and eat with me, I would think "Do I look at them chew?" 45:55 "Do I look at the table?" "Do I look at my feet?" 45:58 I had no idea; Why do you talk about just the weather? 46:01 And I had no idea that for normal people, the weather, 46:04 talking about that kind of stuff is just getting to feel 46:07 each other out and being normal. 46:08 And I wanted to talk about my last suicide attempt, 46:11 and they're like "Whoa!", so it's like being able to model 46:14 appropriate communication. 46:16 If we did that as a body of Christ, if we understood 46:19 we're doing this for the very life of the person, 46:21 we would bless them beyond what you could imagine, 46:23 and we would bless ourselves. There's a reason why we need 46:26 to be well and a reason why we need to model that. 46:29 People would just flock to us if we could just do that. 46:33 Ivan, for you a great part of your recovery was coming 46:38 to this church and beginning to do the Bible studies with 46:41 these men, did they do some role modeling for you 46:44 and help you? What was the most effective part, 46:48 besides the spiritual knowledge you were getting, 46:52 working with the other men began to change your life? 46:55 I would say the biggest thing was that when somebody's 46:59 new to Christ and they're studying the word, 47:02 they have questions. 47:04 It didn't matter what question I had, they would say 47:08 "Well, let's see what the Bible says." 47:10 They would open the book and the answers are in there. 47:15 I don't care what the question is, the answer is in there. 47:18 Amen. 47:19 But I have to say Ivan, too, that what doesn't 47:22 get seen a lot is just the interaction with asking someone 47:25 for help and getting the help. 47:27 There's a healing process that happens there, just being 47:31 able to sit down with a live person, rather than an 47:34 inanimate object, a substance, or the addiction. 47:37 So any communication that you do with an addict during that part 47:40 of the recovery, will keep them in recovery. 47:43 This is a stat the most people don't know, and I was shocked 47:46 to hear it, but as sex offenders, somebody that is 47:49 acting out a lot, establishes a friend with one person, 47:53 a real friendship, not a token friendship, a real friendship 47:56 with 1 person, the recidivism rate for them acting out 47:59 drops 98%. 48:01 98%, and that is with an addiction that is difficult 48:05 to control, and so you're talking about 48:07 any other addiction, we can act as a body of Christ, 48:10 and the Bible backs us up, we will heal each other. 48:13 Confess one to another, pray for each other that you may 48:16 be healed, and it's an amazing process, but if I think 48:19 it's just about stopping the drugs, I'm never going to help 48:22 that person get well, it's about walking with them now. 48:25 Because you've got to uproot whatever the cause was. 48:28 Right, and relearn stuff. 48:30 Well coming up next we're going to be taking some questions 48:33 from our live audience, so please stay with us. 48:41 Are you, or someone you love, struggling 48:42 with drugs or alcohol? Do you sometimes wonder 48:45 if there is hope? If so, we have just the book for you. 48:48 Be encouraged as you read the promises that God 48:50 has given in His word. Call or write today for your free gift 48:53 of "God's promises" for your every need. 48:56 You can write to us at: [information on screen] 49:01 Or call during regular business hours: 49:03 [information on screen] 49:18 Welcome back to Up Close. We're talking about how to 49:22 escape from drug and alcohol addiction, and we're now going 49:25 to be taking some questions from our live audience. 49:30 So if you will, please, thank you for coming up. 49:33 Tell us what you're name and your question is. 49:36 Hello, my name is John Cayler, my question is 49:39 if there is a key in helping keep people out of addiction 49:42 after having been addicted, what would that key be? 49:47 The key is finding meaning outside yourself. 49:50 Addicts are so self focused. Everything is about finding 49:53 release of pain, or pleasure for myself. 49:55 So finding a purpose, when AA uses a higher power, 49:59 that I can turn it over to God, I can look at something 50:02 that's bigger than myself, I can even say my purpose 50:05 is to let people know that recovery is possible, 50:08 and so the purpose is bigger than what the addictive draw was 50:12 Then I start getting reinforced by people that get into recovery 50:17 because of something, we share it. 50:20 So the key is finding meaning outside yourself, 50:22 and stop being so self focused, and that's so hard for addicts 50:26 because "it's all about me." 50:30 Just to add to that, I think that really, an intimate 50:33 relationship with God, if we don't try to practice religion 50:36 but if we really come to know God as a loving Father 50:40 and someone who is intimately involved and concerned about 50:44 every detail of our life, if we see Him that way, I think 50:49 that'll really help us. We begin to understand what 50:52 2 Corinthians 12:9 says "His grace is sufficient, His power" 50:56 "is made perfect in our weakness." 50:58 We've learned to depend totally upon Him. 51:00 Amen. 51:02 Well, hello, thank you for coming. What's your name 51:05 and your question. 51:06 My name's [?], and my question is 51:09 how can you tell if one of your friends that you don't know 51:13 very well, is having drug abuse? 51:19 When I can tell when somebody's using is all of a sudden 51:21 they'll be happy, then they'll be angry, then they'll 51:23 be irritated, then they'll want to go do something, 51:26 they're going from one thing to another. 51:28 Or their interests change radically, and those kind 51:31 of things, so usually it's a change in behavior. 51:36 If you're saying in your gut "Something is not quite right", 51:40 trust your gut, it's probably not right and there's something 51:42 going on. To check it out just says 51:45 what an incredible friend you are, if you came up to me 51:47 and said "Cheri, I really like you and I'm starting to get" 51:50 "to know you, but you know you're all over the place." 51:52 Being able to check it out is incredible. 51:55 Sometimes you can stop an addictive process right in 51:58 the beginning of an addiction if somebody is just able 52:00 to talk about what's happening. 52:02 Good question. 52:03 Yes, very good question. 52:05 Hi, welcome to the program, please tell us your name 52:08 and your question. 52:09 Hilary Washington. My father has been 52:12 involved with drugs ever since he was 18. 52:16 He was a drug dealer at first, it was easy money for him 52:20 and then he became addicted and he's been addicted 52:23 for the past 20 years. He's been in and out of prison 52:26 and he acknowledges his problem, but he always seems to go back. 52:32 What can I do, physically, because I've prayed, 52:36 all of our family for the past 20 years, but it doesn't seem... 52:41 A lot of the times relapse happens with an addict 52:43 7-8 times before they get it right. 52:47 So sometimes going back is part of the process 52:50 for some people, but also a lot of times with people 52:53 that we love, we think that stopping the drug, 52:55 or stopping the alcohol is the answer, and it's not. 52:59 He has to learn. That neurochemistry that he got 53:02 way out of whack has to establish itself again, 53:05 and that all takes time. With some people that are in 53:08 severe addictions, and I know that this is not a popular 53:11 belief for some, but with severe addictions you actually need 53:14 to take some anti depressants that will kick up your serotonin 53:17 levels so that you feel like living during the time 53:20 that you are relearning how to function again. 53:25 So with a severe addict their neurochemistry 53:27 is so suppressed that you need some intervention. 53:32 With your dad, I want to say for one, I will join you 53:35 in prayer with him, and don't give up on him, ever! 53:40 Well Cheri, we have about 2 minutes that I'd like to get 53:42 some final thoughts from you. 53:45 One thing I was interested in, what are the stages of recovery? 53:49 Stages of recovery are first to admit that I am powerless, 53:52 I can't do this, I am a mess, my life is not working. 53:56 The first stage is the acknowledgement of that. 53:59 A lot of times, the first stage happens when somebody's 54:01 in prison, they're sitting there and they're thinking 54:02 "I think this is not working", it's like "Well hello!" 54:06 The next stage is somebody intervening and introducing you 54:10 to your own spirituality, and some people hate to say that 54:13 is God or whatever, but to God Himself, and being able 54:16 to realize that there is something outside myself. 54:19 I can start establishing trust in you because I can't trust me. 54:23 Another thing is to have a really conscious 54:28 skepticism about your own understanding; 54:30 don't lean on it, don't trust it. 54:33 I do not know how to think yet, and I may never, 54:36 so I'm going to lean on people around me. 54:38 I'm going to lean on you as my friend, I'm going to lean 54:41 on my family, people in church, the men that are ministering 54:44 to me, I'm going to lean on God Himself, I'm not going to at all 54:47 think that I can figure this out because I can't. 54:50 So it's like being able to start looking at all those things: 54:52 "I need to start doing the nutrition thing." 54:54 "I need to start putting water in my body, 54:56 "good stuff in my body. I need to start sleeping." 54:59 An addict is never to be too tired, too hungry, or too angry. 55:02 All those kind of things all relapse, 55:05 so the first stages are just learning all those things. 55:09 Once you get into the next stage of recovery is you 55:12 finally get it; there's meaning in my life outside myself. 55:15 "I care about you!" and all of a sudden the addict looks 55:19 up and says "I care about you. I'm glad Amanda's" 55:22 "in recovery. I'm glad that she's learning" 55:25 "to love her children." Those kind of things that her 55:27 husband is in recovery, that they have a life. 55:30 As an addict I'm not glad about that at all 55:32 unless that's somehow going to benefit me. 55:34 When I'm in the next stage in recovery, I am truly glad 55:37 for someone else. So you can start telling 55:40 where an addict is in recovery by those things. 55:43 The last stage is not only am I glad for her, but I want 55:46 to see if I can help in any way, so I actually start 55:49 reaching out to make a difference in my family, 55:51 in the community around me, in my church 55:54 and I feel like I'm actively a part of the human race, 55:58 which I didn't feel in my addiction. 56:00 Praise God. I just want to thank you so much 56:02 for being here today, it has been such a pleasure. 56:05 I also want to thank our guests, Amanda Hultz and Ivan Morfit, 56:09 thank you for sharing your testimony with us. 56:14 As I've been sitting here, the scripture that keeps coming 56:17 to my mind tonight is Acts 26:18. 56:23 This is what Jesus told Paul, and Paul is sharing this, 56:30 Christ told him: "I am sending you to them to open their eyes" 56:35 "that they may turn from darkness to light," 56:38 "and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may" 56:42 "receive forgiveness and release from their sins," 56:46 "and a place and a portion among those who are consecrated" 56:51 "by faith in Me. " Jesus really is the answer 56:56 and His power is made perfect in our weakness. 57:00 So I pray that you will put your trust in Jesus, 57:04 don't ever underestimate the power of prayer, 57:07 but we've got to all be educated and do some very 57:10 practical things as well. 57:12 Thank you for joining us tonight. 57:15 [Audience Claps] 57:21 [Music for Credits] |
Revised 2014-12-17