Kimmy – Freeing a heroin addict:

This is an absolutely true story, experienced by me.  It is not her real name, not that you would ever know or meet her, but just in case.

I was working for the Rescue Mission at the time.  I was in a mobile fifth-wheel vehicle endeavoring to teach job skills to the homeless and the poor.  The trailer had computers and a server in it as well as a satellite connection to the internet.  Kimmy (not her real name) would come in often trying to sell me candles.  She was living with her boyfriend in a van when they didn’t have enough money for a one of the many motels that had gone from servicing the Disneyland travelers in the early days of the magic kingdom to housing many of the people that worked at the theme parks in Orange County.

They were both addicted to heroin.  Kimmy had infections and welts all over her arms.  Many of them were swollen and pussy.  She was almost always depressed.  I tried to help her as best as I could.  She would go to the Medical trailer sometimes and get help with the infections on her arms.  The computers and the classes were available to her, but he was getting assistance and she would often sell enough candles to get a fix and they would get by.  I talked to her about the Lord and tried to encourage her to read her Bible but everything was “working for her” so she would not avail herself of any of our real help.  I kept praying for her.  She kept coming by for fellowship and acceptance.

Then, one day, it all changed.  She came to the trailer with deep uncontrollable sobs.  Her boyfriend (I don’t remember his name) had committed suicide in the van.  He had filled the van with carbon monoxide, fell asleep, and died.  She was inconsolable.  I was very concerned for her, as I knew she had no money, and was destitute, and very sad.  I asked her if she was willing to go into recovery.  She said yes!

I think it was late morning and I was very concerned.  I had called several of the recovery places just the other day and they were all full.  I knew there were no openings.  But we prayed and started calling anyway.  One of the calls was to the Walter Hoving Home for Girls in Pasadena, CA.  I had called them before, as I said, and there were no openings, but I dialed anyway.  I know, to this day, that it was a miricle.  they just “happened” to have an opening that just happened.  If I could get her down there in just a couple of hours……?

I got one of the female co-workers in outreach and we picked her up and took her down there.  They showed her the rules and she agreed to the three month lock-down, signed the papers and we left.

Three months later I was working hard on the Technology Vehicle classroom and wasn’t thinking about Kimmy at the time.  It was around 4:30 p.m., I even remember the motel I was parked at.  I was outside the 5th wheel, talking to a client.  The cell phone rang, I picked it up.  A bubbly, happy, enthusiastic female voice greeted me by name and started talking very rapidly and excitedly.  I didn’t recognize the voice and was trying to figure it out, but could not get a word in edgewise.  “Oh it’s so exciting…!”  “God is so good…”  “I am so joyous…”  “Can you come by and see me?  Finally, I had a question and a pause!  I said, “Who is this?”  It’s me, Kimmy, she said.  You could have peeled me off the pavement.

The voice was so different from the one I had dropped off three months ago I had to find out what had happened.  So of course I said yes and made sure to drop by during one of her free times.  We met in the lobby and she filled me in with all that had been happening.  Back then she was required to read and study the Bible for many hours each day.  She showed me typed homework papers with questions and blank fill-in-the-answers that she had to complete with Bible verses as reference.  There were pages and pages of them where she had filled in the answers with pencil.  She also had chores to do and a regular schedule.  I left amazed and grateful.

As I was thinking of this I remembered Ephesians 5:26 and Hebrews 5:12 and how the Lord Jesus washes us by His word and renews our mind and took instruction from it.  However, I was amazed, because I had never seen it so clearly as I did in this case where in such a short time someone was completely different and made new.

I also saw that it wasn’t just the reading of the word of God, but the applying of it and meditating on it as it applied to myself and asking the Holy Spirit to reveal in me Gods truth and how to apply it to my life.

This was one of the many experiences and life-lessons that prompted us to start this Bible Study/Podcast of going through the complete word of God and not leaving anything out.

Please, leave your comments down below.  I would love to hear them.

God bless.