Mother shares how Jesus rescued her from drug addiction

Holly PrebbleFacebook

A mother and ex-drug addict has shared about how finding faith and a loving community helped her escape a cycle of drug abuse and homelessness. 

Prebble, 31, told Hutchinson News how she spent the winter of 2013 living on the streets with her boyfriend, while her mother looked after her three young children, aged between 4 and 9 years old.

The couple, from Hutchinson, Kansas, would sleep outside libraries, on the streets and in garages, although their meth habit would keep them awake most of the night.

She described her lowest moments as she sat in a garage in the freezing cold, "screaming at God to get me out of here. Get me out of here and make it stop."

She told Hutchinson News how she had become pregnant again while on the streets:

"I wanted my baby to be healthy and I wanted to get clean, but I kept slipping back," she said.

Afraid of social workers, the couple avoided seeking help: "We were so sick and tired and stuck and didn't think there was a way out," she said.

But, in the garage, Prebble said something changed for her, and she found a new determination to get clean.

"For the Lord hast rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living." She read the passage, tears welling up in her eyes. "That's Psalm 116:8-9."

She shared how this verse changed her life. Soon after that night in the garage, she found out about Open Door Pregnancy Centre, a Christian centre.

The centre, took her and her boyfriend in and paid for them to have accommodation. The couple were invited to church and got involved in a small group.

"I tried so hard to stay clean," Hollie said. But the addiction had been with her for 10 years and she ended up relapsing.

"We tried to stay in touch," Bev Nisley, who works at Open Door, said. "But they were not always that responsive."

"They dropped out of our lives," she added. "We loved and cared about them, so it hurt."

Despite her relapse, Prebble had been impacted by the hospitality shown at Open Door, and recalled seeing a sign on the wall which read: 'Jesus said, I am the door. If anyone enters by me they will be saved.' It stuck with her.

"I tried to get on the right track," Hollie said. "I wasn't going to call them until I got things together."

By the time she was eight months pregnant, she felt a pull back through the door. She was welcomed back into the community, who housed her, offered her counselling and parenting classes.

A week after Hollie and boyfriend Robert were housed, their daughter Faivann was born. The couple were baptised at the church they had been attending and Faivann was dedicated. In July the couple were married.

Despite such progress, recovery was not simple. Robert found it difficult to keep a job, they were evicted from their home and Holly relapsed. Faivann was taken from them and placed in foster care.

Although she relapsed, after just a week, Hollie stopped herself.

"I couldn't believe this was happening," she said. "I made a choice. That was my turning point."

Rather than falling back into old habits, she booked herself into a rehab clinic.

"I leaned on God and went to church," she said.

They found a new home, a new job and before long the couple were expecting another child. Hunter was born 14 April, 2014.

Just eight days after his son's birth, Robert was sent to prison for 11 months. He couldn't stop using drugs.

Hollie had turned him into the police; she chose to prioritise the safety and herself and her family over drug abuse.

"Without Open Door, I don't think I would be alive," Hollie said. "I want to be a drug and alcohol counsellor, where I can share my faith. There are so many people in this town addicted, if they could just find Jesus Christ."

"Isn't this a happy ending?" she asked. "I was a drug addict with no hope, and now my babies and Jesus are my life."