Written Testimony – Give the World Hope

I was a truck driver and I'd pick my truck up in Kentucky on Sunday mornings and get home on Thursday night late. It was April 16th 2020, I had ridden my motorcycle to work that week. On my way home, an oncoming pickup truck turned in front of me and I hit it in the passenger's side No helmet on and the police report estimated both vehicles going 50mph at impact. It was sometime after 11pm. I had 7 broken bones including an open fracture of my femur with severe bleeding. The first person on scene was a nurse returning from her shift. She put a tourniquet on my leg which the hospital confirmed probably saved my life. After 2 weeks in the hospital I was able to go home. That following July my then 6yr old granddaughter came to live with us. By October, my wife and I couldn't get along and she left me and my granddaughter to fend for ourselves with no money, no way to make money, and not even on any welfare at that point. I still couldn't even attempt to walk. Of course it was the lowest point in my life. But God, in His perfect timing came through with some money and hope.

I wanted to tell you that yesterday Jackie called me and said we owe the vet a little over $1000 and we have a transport coming up and have a lot of fosters to fix. We started brainstorming on what we can do to raise money and today $1000 arrived! God always comes through for us, always. We can pay off the vet and start raising money for the future.

My name is Sharon Allen. I am a 45-year-old life-long resident of West Virginia. I am from a small town called Bolt in Raleigh County. I grew up in a two-parent home with a stable middle-class privileged life alongside my twin brother. My addiction began at the young age of 12 with a sip of beer, Marijuana followed soon after. Around 17 years old I soon found what grew to be my 'idol" prescription medication. For over the next two decades I wasted a lot of time chasing the next prescription or finding the next new doctor. In 2001, I found myself doctor shopping and obtaining prescriptions for pain medication. I was the face of the opioid epidemic. I found myself lying, stealing, cheating, manipulating, and committing serious crimes. My only goal was working on how I was going to get my next high. I was using to get out of the bed to function daily. I couldn't leave my house without it. Before I knew it, heroin entered my life and I became an IV heroin addict. I remember waking up in a local emergency room after receiving Narcan and finding out that I was pregnant. I took my ultrasound pictures and signed myself out against medical advice. Substance use treatment or any kind of support was never offered to me during this ER visit. My life changed in December 2017 when I gave birth to my son, Liam. CPS was involved immediately and I was desperate. A nurse at the hospital told me about an outreach called SafeHaven at I Heart Church helping mothers who were suffering in addiction. A lady named Savannah Grimmett from this campaign visited with my newborn son and myself at the newborn nursery. I swallowed my pride and admitted I had a substance use problem to her. After losing my rights to my son to CPS Savannah became my life-line. She reached out and checked on me and showed me God's love when I couldn't love myself. I remember Savannah assisting me in finding a treatment facility Sound Mind, a faith based Sober-Living Facility. During this six-month treatment program, I lost my sister to a heroin overdose, but I found God again and my voice of recovery. SafeHaven ladies invited the Sound Mind residents to the Arise Conference. My life was changed that weekend. I was approached by another lady from SafeHaven and was told, "You have no idea the people that have been praying for you." What I thought to myself people have been praying for me, a drug addict who lost her baby. This was a spiritual awakening for me. My eyes were opened to the power of prayer. I realized God does answers prayers. I realized he was my answer to everything, that God could turn my whole situation around. These SafeHaven ladies continued to visit my facility and formed bonds with each of us that can never be severed. One Voice provided me with a life changing opportunity to take Recovery Coach Training during my 6 months treatment. This training gave me knowledge about addiction but it also gave me confidence that I could do this. I could stay clean and live a sober life. I completed my 6-month faith-based program and got full custody of my son back. Almost three weeks to the day of my CPS case being closed, my son’s father passed away. I was left with no choice to move forward and raise my 16-month-old baby on my own. I needed a job and a purpose. Once again I reached out to SafeHaven and it wasn't by luck that the Kari Cutshaw that was over SafeHaven Campaign was also employed through Workforce WV. I enrolled in a Work-Force program and she placed at One Voice, a host site for WorkForce. It's amazing how God placed me back with the people who helped me in the beginning of my recovery from SafeHaven to One Voice. I was given the opportunity to serve the community and serve those in need. As my 26-week placement was coming to end I wrote up a prayer petition and prayed over this prayer every 6 hours. I had a week left and my now boss stopped in on other business and I was offered a job providing Peer Recovery Support for Compass Counseling working out of the One Voice office. That was a year ago this past February. Today I am a mother, a member of the SafeHaven serve team (I get to minister to ladies at the same sober living facility that SafeHaven helped me get into), a Peer Recovery Support Specialist for Compass Counseling, on the One Voice Board, and now serving as Vice President of One Voice but most of all I am FREE! I'm no longer a slave to Heroin or any substance. My prayer is that others see enough hope in my recovery from drug addiction and realizes God will do the same for them. Looking back from the day Savannah came to the hospital to every mountain top and every dark valley I realize my life has Jesus Christ wrote all over it. God is still in the business of miracles and I want my life always be a testimony to His wondrous power. Recovery IS possible! I am living proof!