‘Holidays Were Terrible’: Lisa’s Transformational Thanksgiving
When Lisa* was a little girl, Thanksgiving meant ordering fast food while family members got drunk and fought. Her traumatic childhood led her to decades of dysfunction, drug abuse, and jail time. During those years of chaos, Lisa had five children. When Lisa hit rock bottom in 2019, she checked into a Christ-centered residential recovery center in Charlotte, North Carolina. By the grace of God, Thanksgiving began to look a lot different for Lisa and her children. Listen to the story of God’s faithfulness in her life on this episode of GPS. *Name has been changed for privacy. Connect with us through email at [email protected] or on Facebook at Billy Graham Radio. If you’d like to know more about beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ, or deepening the faith you already have, visit FindPeacewithGod.net. If you’d like to pray with someone, call the Billy Graham 24/7 Prayer Line at 855-255-7729.
memories of holidays were terrible
nobody really cooked so Thanksgiving we
would always go like to a family
member’s house that we didn’t really
know and we would be really awkward
there but as far as our family my
grandma would order like chicken from
KFC and we would all eat in separate
rooms for some people Thanksgiving with
family is one of the best times of the
year for others of us though they can be
stressful or lonely or awkward for Lisa
holiday get togethers were downright
traumatic so this whole time all this is
going on my mom is Raging alcoholic so
there’s episodes every holiday she’s
knocking over the tree her and my
grandma are getting into it throwing
things at each other me and my sister
I’ve got a sister at this point too
we’re 10 years apart so you know she’s
seeing my mom and my grandma fuss and
just holidays were not a good time for
us at all it took Lisa a long time to
face her past which involved addiction
abuse and some very very deep heartache
we spoke with her while she was staying
at a Recovery Center for Women and
Children a few years ago and to respect
her privacy we’re not using her real
name but we think you’ll find Lisa’s
very real story to be one that shows
that with God there is hope even in the
ugliest of situations you’re listening
to GPS God people stories an Outreach Of
The Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association I’m Jim Kirkland and I’m
Phil Flashman a little later in the
episode Billy Graham looks at
Thanksgiving and the cross of Jesus
Christ I must bow in front of that cross
and say especially on Thanksgiving Day
thank you Lord for not sparing your son
thank you Lord for saving my soul
because Jesus Christ died on a cross
2,000 years ago you can live with God
forever in heaven we can tell you more
about it at this website find
peacewithgod.net
that’s find peacewithgod.net
and you’ll hear more from Billy Graham
about Thanksgiving and God’s love for
you a little later in this episode
GPS God people
stories I was born to two alcoholic
parents that loved me just didn’t love
theirselves very much they were both
very young Lisa was born in 1987 in the
foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of
North Carolina
I had a lot of trauma happen in the
first eight years of my life I’ve seen a
lot of things I shouldn’t have seen I
experienced some accidents that were
some physically harmful and some of them
just scary for example when Lisa was
just four years old she was riding in
the car with her mom who was already
battling alcohol and drug use at that
time they got into a wreck that threw
Lisa from the car and severely injured
her mom she was in a coma for three
weeks after that
and got severe brain damage I was
flipped out of the car the first time it
flipped and I just had a broke arm so
God was with me during that and um I
just always seen my family blame
everything on that one accident like
they lived in that accident everything
went back to that cuz my mom had severe
brain damage after that so when you
added the brain damage in with the
alcohol and drugs she was already using
she was completely different person
because the brain damage made it even
worse so my whole life she just blamed
it on this wreck and she never moved out
of that situation Lisa’s parents split
up when she was four and Lisa lived with
her mom until she was eight it was four
years of utter chaos her drinking was
very heavy plus the brain damage and um
she would have seizures all the time I
would witness those really scary men in
and out lot of partying but I still can
remember that excitement
of that freedom of being in hotel rooms
jumping on the bed or you know just
being up eating whatever I wanted to eat
anytime I wanted to eat it not going to
school half the time like I remember
that freedom and it was comfortable for
me because that’s how my life went Lisa
was taken away from her mom and she went
to live with her dad and stepmom she
says her dad was a functioning alcoholic
who tried to give Lisa the structure
that she’d been lacking part of that
structure involved going to church each
Sunday one morning Lisa sensed her need
for God and made the decision to invite
Jesus into her life and it was just
something you know that tug to go up to
the Altar and I knew I couldn’t be what
I needed to be and felt like a desperate
need for God and I can just remember all
over my body just this amazing feeling
and then I went on to get baptized and I
had a change happened then for a little
while Lisa was doing pretty good she was
going to church with her family and
getting a fresh start at a new school
but then her dad left his wife and moved
Lisa back to her old stomping grounds
including her old school that led to a
downward spiral that would essentially
last for the next two decades Lisa says
her dad was very strict but when she was
about 10 years old he started allowing
her to go to her grandmother’s house on
weekends things weren’t so strict there
and Lisa saw an opportunity to start
sneaking out at first it was just
sneaking out to the skating room drink
but pretty soon she was taking bigger
risks and by the time she was a teenager
Lisa was openly rebelling against her
dad he was a man trying to raise a
teenage girl so it was really hard on
him he was actually doing the best he
could you know I couldn’t see that at
the time and he also had a drinking
problem So eventually 14 I started
experimenting with marijuana and
alcohol very quickly took off I didn’t
hide it by the time I was 15 I was
smoking marijuana every every day I was
drinking at least five or six times a
week um well four or five times a week
let me say that cuz I would be sick the
other day recuperating taking pills when
I could I mean 16 I started doing
cocaine and at 15 I had left home and my
dad didn’t come to look for me he knew
where I was but he didn’t come and get
me I think that hurt too Lisa was
running around with a guy who shared her
taste for alcohol and drugs for a while
they lived at a house where they paid
their rent with drugs so the landlord
was all strung out and everything in it
was stolen we went on people’s porches
and took their couch if we needed a
couch their window unit out of the
window like bad things to learn at the
age of 15 by the time she was 16 Lisa
was pregnant she had a baby girl and
planned to raise her with her boyfriend
he had never hit me nothing like that
two weeks after I had her I was at his
brother’s house and he a girl pulled up
and he got out of the car and she got
out and he kissed her so I just started
flipping like how could you do this to
me and he beat me up extremely bad and
that was the first time he had ever put
his hands on me I ne like it done
something to me it broke me I never
thought he could do that you know and it
it changed my whole life because it got
to where you know I didn’t have any
self-esteem I had a baby I felt like I
was stuck with him you know I didn’t
have my dad
anymore I didn’t really my grandma
always let me do what I wanted to do so
that didn’t really feel like somebody
that had I mean she always had my back
right or wrong but you want somebody to
tell you when you’re wrong like We crave
that discipline so I didn’t you know he
was all I had and I had this baby and um
I just went really hard into drugs I
didn’t trust him and he shouldn’t trust
me after that I wanted to hurt him as
bad as he had hurt me and that was my
motive a lot of the time and just to
stay numb the Outlook was pretty bleak
Lisa had dropped out of school in 10th
Grade whenever the family got together
her mom’s addiction and health problems
always took Center Stage holidays were
especially memorable and not in a warm
and fuzzy way so this whole time all
this is going on my mom is Raging
alcoholic so there’s episodes every
holiday she’s knocking over the tree her
and my grandma are getting into it
throwing things at each other
holidays were not a good time for us at
all memories of holidays were terrible
nobody really cooked so Thanksgiving we
would always go like to a family
member’s house that we didn’t really
know and we would be really awkward
there but as far as our family my
grandma would order like chicken from
KFC and we would all eat in separate
rooms Lisa and her boyfriend had another
baby and then another during this time
she was still doing drugs and getting
into trouble with the law in fact she
says some of the best seasons in her
life during this period were actually
spent behind bars every time I would go
to jail I everything would be quiet
enough where I could hear God and I
would know he was calling me out of this
but it just wasn’t time you know I
wasn’t done I guess I needed to be here
today but I learned about him you know I
learned and I would go to jail and I
would walk with him and I could didn’t
really have a choice but I could have
chose to just sit around and not do that
and like the other women but for some
reason I always went to him you know in
those desperate times it was always just
the desperate times though when Lisa
wasn’t in jail it was all too easy to go
back to her old ways the noise of a
chaotic life and the demands of
addiction drowned out God’s voice at one
point Lisa and her boyfriend started
selling drugs that put them on a path
that led both of them to prison Lisa
spent about 15 months in federal prison
and says it was one of her most
spiritually fruitful Seasons but it
didn’t last she kept going back to her
boyfriend and ended up getting pregnant
with twins they were born in 2014 making
Lisa a single mother of five if you
haven’t struggled with addiction or an
abusive relationship you may find
yourself wondering why did Lisa keep
repeating the same
mistakes one of the earliest followers
of Jesus Paul addressed this very thing
in the Book of Romans chapter 7 he said
I know that nothing good dwells in me
that is in my flesh
for I have the desire to do what is
right but not the ability to carry it
out for I do not do the good I want but
the evil I do not want is what I keep
doing I knew that I was veering off the
track you know I knew God was telling me
know this way this way and I just
continued I went back to their dad again
and was right back in the scene of
selling drugs and doing drugs and I was
still on federal probation while Lisa
was on probation she lost her mother
admittedly the relationship had been
difficult but that didn’t make the loss
any easier we loved each other very very
much and um she
died
and um February of
2018
sorry
um she already had sever the liver but I
had been doing drugs with
her giving them to her selling them to
her um and it kept her up for like 3
days and because she had that brain
damage she had seizures a
lot and um she didn’t eat or sleep and
she ended up having multiple seizures
and hitting her head and
dying so it was just really tragic you
know the way it happened I was living
with her and I blamed myself because I
wouldn’t home I blamed myself because it
was the drugs that I gave her I blamed
myself for a long time life spiraled
further out of control harder drugs more
jail time then Lisa lost her home and
she lost the only family member she had
consistently counted on her grandmother
she died and that was it that was the
the hit that knocked me
out I couldn’t take it anymore I was so
down I was so lost
I was so
lost and I just I had heard about this
place in jail when I went for my federal
time it always stuck with me that I
needed to be
here and I didn’t have anywhere to run
you know I was just out of
options so it’s crazy to look back
and see that these two people that I
love so much had to die for me to live
the place Lisa had heard about when she
was in federal prison is called The
dov’s Nest here in Charlotte North
Carolina it’s a free residential
recovery program for women and their
children and it’s part of the Charlotte
Rescue Mission which exists to transform
lives in the name of Jesus Christ when
she finally hit rock bottom Lisa went to
the Dove’s nest with three of her five
children the oldest two had been living
with a family friend
Lisa was hesitant and anxious about
walking away from her old life
Brokenness was all that she had ever
known she says only God could have
gotten her to go to the recovery center
and stay there but that’s exactly what
she’s done I didn’t know how to live I
didn’t know how to take care of my kids
I didn’t know how to have a conversation
Lisa went through an intensive
four-month recovery program for
substance abuse there she learned how to
break the cycle of abuse through the
power of Christ she’s also learning how
to be a mother and her 9-year-old boy
and two four-year-old twin girls are
learning what a loving functional family
looks like here we sit down at the table
together my kids they got here they they
wouldn’t even they couldn’t even
understand sitting down and eating they
were running all over the place and
screaming and crying about everything
and now they enjoy um sitting down at
the table and eating and just spending
time together
and knowing that when they’re hungry I’m
going to fix them something to eat today
they don’t have to beg me for something
to eat they don’t have to get yelled at
you know they’re they’re safe now
self-centered that’s how Lisa would
describe herself before the do’s nest
after 7 months there though she’s
focusing on loving God and loving others
it’s not a pretty site at all to have to
look back on who I have been and who how
many people I’ve hurt how much damage
I’ve done
but it does give me a push in the
direction of trying to put something
into the world instead of continuing to
take take take take take everything I
can it’s a process Lisa is sorting
through a lifetime of heartbreak and sin
sin that was committed against her and
sin she committed herself and that
that’s why Jesus died to take away the
sins of the World by his grace Lisa and
her family are finding forgiveness and
healing and it came just in time if this
didn’t work I probably would have came
up with a plan to kill myself there was
no point in me living I was finally
seeing myself you know for what
everything that I’d done so these people
just they’re amazing here they love us
they love us until we love ourselves
we’re getting ready to celebrate
Thanksgiving and we’re happy to report
that this year won’t look anything like
it used to for Lisa on Thanksgiving day
she’ll be having dinner with all five of
her children and then they’re having a
second Thanksgiving at the home of a
family they’ve met since arriving at the
do’s Nest we’re going to just spend
quality time with family and have a nice
meal for Thanksgiving and then the day
after Thanksgiving we’re going to a
friend’s house here that we’ve met who
you know we’ve got a family here now in
just a short time we’ve only been here
since April 22nd and we have a family’s
house to go to for Thanksgiving it feels
good to fit somewhere I think my whole
life that’s what I wanted I wanted to
fit you are sacred you are
his you’re
beautiful we praise God that Lisa has
found what she was looking for what
about you you might not be too excited
about Thanksgiving or the Christmas
season that follows maybe you’re feeling
like you don’t belong we want you to
know that you can be a part of God’s
family forever and you can have the
peace Lisa has found start by visiting
find peacewithgod.net
that’s find peacewithgod.net
we will be back in one minute after a
message from Billy Graham and then Lisa
is going to share one of the most
important things she’s learned about
God you’re listening to GPS God people
stories a uction of the Billy Graham
Evangelistic
Association more than 150 times the
Bible either calls men to thank God or
tells them how to give thanks Billy
Graham in Old Testament days God
designated a special offering of
Thanksgiving for his people more than 30
times in the Psalms the psalmist speaks
of giving thanks Jesus taught us to give
thanks as he gave thanks and broke the
Loaves and the fishes to feed the
multitude but more than than any other
spiritual or material blessing is the
blessing of God’s offer of Salvation
through his son the Lord Jesus Christ
When I See Jesus Christ hanging on the
cross and I remember that God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten
son to take my place on the cross I must
bow in front of that cross and say
especially on Thanksgiving Day thank you
Lord for not sparing your son thank you
Lord for saving my soul
he can give you peace and joy and hope
in your heart today by trusting
him you can learn more about trusting
Jesus Christ about beginning a
relationship with him by visiting this
website find peacewithgod.net
we have a link to it in the show notes
before we wrap up here we want to give
Lisa a chance to share one more thought
and it’s an important one for all of us
to
grasp it’s about how her view of God has
changed since getting sober and turning
her life over to
Jesus I used to feel like he was mad or
didn’t want to have anything to do with
me until I got better until I stopped
everything and I’m learning now that
that’s not the way he works that he’s
never disappointed that he already knew
everything I was going to do before I
done it and that he loved me anyway and
he brought me here for this purpose you
know to be talking on this microphone
right now you know
and he wants to be my friend he wants to
be my father my husband my brother all
these things that I crave and I’ve
looked for in all these other places he
wants to be all of that and he is he is
today I talk to him like I’m talking on
this microphone right now um I’m still
learning you know to instead of worry
and just talk to him instead of worry
you know things like that walking down
the hall talk to him and I’ve got this
relationship and it’s
amazing another relationship Lisa is
thrilled to be working on is the one
with her Earthly father he’s a follower
of Jesus and he and Lisa are walking
through the healing process one step at
a time we want to thank Lisa for sharing
her story with us and we want to thank
you for listening I’m Phil Flashman and
I’m Jim Kirkland it’s our prayer that
God uses Lisa’s story and all the
stories that you hear on GPS to help you
grow in your faith GPS stands for God
people stories it’s an Outreach Of The
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
always good news and Happy Thanksgiving
no
no
no still the truth is the cross has made
the cross has made you fall
[Music]