Pieced back Together

By Michelle Hamilton

Lori Small has been clean from crack cocaine for a year now. She is beginning to see her life be pieced back together. Her love of the drug no longer controls her; yet, it is the love for her children, a yearning to have them back, and a relationship with Jesus Christ, which drives her. Through counseling and training at Wisdom In Living Life Ministry, Lori has found hope through the support of others like herself, and a trust in God to guide her through each day.

Tragedy struck her life at a very young age

Lori grew up in a private school and knew God because of her parents. Tragedy struck her life at age four, when her mom died; at age eight, when her father died; and at age fourteen, when her brother died. Despite these incidents, she did not begin using drugs until age 25, when she was faced with divorce. Shortly after being exposed to crack cocaine, Lori found out she was pregnant with a girl, Mattie. She remained clean throughout her pregnancy and several years after that. When Mattie was three years old her father took her (Mattie) to Georgia, away from Lori and she relapsed. She expressed, “My daughter was my whole life, she was on my hip and then she wasn’t there anymore. That retracted me back to drugs again, which was the worst thing I could do.”

For ten years she drugged to numb the pain

Continuing on in her drugging Lori had a son when she was 34 years old. DSS stepped in and Lori allowed her brother to be primary care taker of her son. For ten years drugs helped to numb pain which she encountered at such a young age. It was a relentless excuse to dull her feelings.
The change in Lori’s life began when she met Farron Hancox, at church. She found out he was a biblical counselor at Wisdom In Living Life Ministry. Lori immediately noticed something different about him and came to find out he had been a living testimony
of what their training center was teaching. She began to notice a gradual change in her own life. Lori says, “before that I went through NA and it just didn’t work for me. I would use that as an excuse to go get out of the house, to go get high again. I have a hard time listening to non-addicts who try to tell me not to use drugs, if you haven’t been there then you don’t know. That was a big problem for me going to these places, and them not knowing where I’ve been. They keep saying you shouldn’t use drugs, you shouldn’t use drugs…well we know that! But you haven’t been where I’ve been.” The stories of those individuals, ministering at Wisdom In Living Life Ministry, have inspired Lori and many others like herself. They have learned from those who have been where they have been, and felt the same feelings they have felt, driving down certain roads. The greatest thing, now, is that these individuals have come back from where they were and live to tell their stories!

In the past year, she has achieved a lot and loves having a career

Lori is so excited about her life and the things God has brought her through. She not only has been drug-free for one year, but in this time she has achieved a lot and became a cosmetology instructor and actually has a career that she loves. She recalls, driving one day and thinking, “I just drove by the hood and I didn’t even think about it (getting high).” Lori has found it gets easier everyday to live her life without drugs. She says, “My family has me back and I feel like I’m coming back. I lost myself there for a while, but it’s good to be back. You get to that point when you know better, and God disciplines you even more for it. I’m glad He loves me enough to do that.” Lori has experienced true freedom and learned to forgive herself, because Jesus has forgiven her. Striving to get her children back, she knows and believes God will miraculously intervene to answer her prayers, bringing back those two “very important” pieces of her life.