Recently I had the honor of meeting with Al Vineyard, and she blessed my socks off!  Al gave her testimony at the 2016 Pure Joy Women’s Conference, and she made a huge impact for God on thousands! Since then, I have been thrilled to see how God continues to work through her in an increasingly powerful way! I am so excited to share more of her story with you, and what God is doing in her life today.

Carolyn Hill: “At Pure Joy you shared that you were married, a soccer mom, and successful in your career, but after an injury became addicted to opiate pain medication. This advanced into an addiction to meth; can you describe how and why you tried meth for the first time?”

Al: “Well, I started shooting opiates (pain medicine…fentanyl oxycontin, morphine, dilaudid, pretty much whatever would fit in a syringe) a year earlier. In November of 2013 I decided to kick it. It was excruciating. I was shooting up to around 900 mg a day, so my withdrawal was horrible. There were moments that I really thought I was dying. The pain of the withdrawal finally subsided, but I was still incredibly fatigued all the time. I am pretty sure I didn’t leave the bed for a little more than a month. When I finally did, I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired. I went out with some people from the drug world, I got drunk and they all got high. Well, I ended up passing out from intoxication, and my friend thought I just needed a bump. (He knew I shot up, but not that I had quit and not that I had never done meth) so he shot me up with meth. I just remember bouncing straight up. I didn’t feel like I had felt for so long after quitting opiates. I felt amazing! It was indescribable.  I couldn’t get enough. That first shot and I was hooked. To be honest, there is a lot about that first month I don’t even remember. I wasn’t eating or sleeping.. I was numb to any pain and felt the most extreme high I had ever felt. After that first shot, I did at least 5-15 shots a day, every day until I got clean.”

It is hard to recognize Al in this photo, she was so painfully thin and withdrawn.

CH: “Heartbreakingly, you lost everything to this addiction: your family, home, job, health…everything. What was the turning point for you to finally seek help?”

Al:  “My kids. I thought I was going to lose them forever. For 2 months I stayed clean, but then the Judge over my case decided to leave my 2 children with their father in New York. I was devastated. At that point Pastor Reggie Bergeron (from 1st Baptist Forsyth) had been helping me, and pointing me to God. I would kind of smile and nod, but I wasn’t really interested. However, a guy that I usually got high with, convinced me that a shot of meth would make me feel better because I was completely in despair about losing my kids. Two months clean, and I failed. After that relapse, I began to listen to Pastor Reggie, and he helped me get started with a Christ based recovery program.”

CH: “Praise God you have been recovered and healed for over 2 years now! So tell me what happened in the program that made the difference?”

Al: “I realized I couldn’t do it on my own.  I didn’t want to admit that, and I had a shield of pride over me. I always felt that I needed to wear a mask; I was hiding. I had made it through high school, college, the Air Force, and as a manager of a restaurant for seven years but I had never been truly honest. I wasn’t OK. There was a root of pain down deep, that was much deeper than the physical pain. In the program I started dealing with anger issues and getting to the root of my problems. Drug addiction was not really my problem. It was a symptom of my root issues.”

“It feels so GOOD to be honest!”

CH: “I love that! How did you handle any temptation to go back to your addiction?”

Al: “I started really talking to God and being open to Him leading my life. There’s always been thoughts, but just by saying ‘get behind me Satan in the name of Jesus’  I have been able to overcome temptation. In Proverbs it says ‘idle hands are the devil’s workshop,’  and that is so true! I started painting, writing and talking to God…like He is right there in the room…because He is!”

CH: “I can only imagine how excited Pastor Reggie was to see you making such incredible progress!”

Al: “God used so many people to help me! He was definitely moving people on my behalf! If Pastor Reggie hadn’t been there for me, I can’t imagine where I’d be. He clothed me, provided transportation, fed me, even ordered pizza if he couldn’t bring it to me himself, and talked me down from the ledge many times. If he couldn’t personally come, he would send someone else to help! Kent and Lori Vanderpool allowed me to stay with them so that I could visit my kids (due to a court order) and did so much more.

Danielle Heil gave me the opportunity to go with her to do drug talks at high schools, the junior auxiliary, for state troopers and anywhere that would listen.  She took me to her church, Tri-Lakes Christian, to share my testimony. I was so nervous…these were people I would normally hide from. It was so hard and I choked up, but you could tell God was in that house! Many people told me they really needed to hear what I shared. They just loved on me. Tri-Lakes Christian Church is my church home today, and they have been amazing!

I even had one police officer who stalked me…but in a good way. He always planted seeds of encouragement and never gave up on me.  It really stood out when people would say ‘God bless you’ or would pray with me. In the midst of overcoming addiction, God was there the whole time.”

CH: “It sounds like God really blessed you and gave you favor. Tell me more about that.”

Al:  “Yes!  Doctors said that I should be dead. I was doing 4 g of meth a day. And even though I had done so much wrong, especially regarding my family, God never gave up on me and showed me so much love! My husband and I are back together and more in love than ever. But because of my addiction, I contracted hepatitis C (which causes liver cancer) and I gave it to my husband. A pharmaceutical company completely donated treatment for both of us…that’s $94,000 worth of treatment EACH!  We are both healed and doing great!”

CH: “Wow! Truly amazing! So tell me what are you up to these days?”

Al: “I have found my true home in God. For the longest time, I wished my addiction had never happened. But it dawned on me: what if God uses this to help someone else?

I spend Friday nights in jail! I get to share with the girls in jail and witness to them. Again this is God’s favor, because I am on felony probation, yet they have allowed me to come into the jail! The girls there ask me, ‘Why would you spend your Friday nights with us?’ The answer is: if I put this in a box and never let anyone see it, I would never be able to help others. I am also getting my degree in Addictions Psychology because I want to help combat drugs in this area.

Now that I am on the other side of my addiction, I don’t know if I would have had a relationship with Christ, and the church family like I do today. God has turned all of this into something beautiful.”

CH: “Thank you so much for sharing how God has worked in your life! Al, you are an inspiration and you truly glorify God! I look forward to reading your book: My Beautiful Scars.”