March 2016 My eyes opened! I saw a lady in scrubs standing at the end of the bed. She asked me, “Do you know who you are?” I answered, “Susan Robinson?” She asked me, “Do you know where you are?” I looked around and responded, “In a hospital?” She smiled. My mind was racing. I asked her, “How long have I been here?” She replied it has been 9 days. My heart sank. She went on to tell me, “You overdosed on morphine and have been in a coma.” It all came rushing back; the darkness, the fear, sadness, loneliness, the hatred, the emptiness. I was so broken. The result of 35 years of alcoholism and drug abuse hurt so bad. How could I face my family? What would I say to them? Would they even want to see me? My sister came that afternoon and told me everything. I was horrified as she told me how my husband called her and our children, saying, “Come now! They don’t know if she will live. She overdosed on morphine she had been stealing from me” (he had a contract with the state for pain control). I was in the ICU. My organs were shutting down. I was only alive due to sleeping on my side so when I aspirated only one lung filled. My family made it very clear I was not allowed to come home until I had been through a rehab program (my third one). They had drawn a line, and there would never again be a chance to cross it. Failure was not an option. I successfully completed the program at Sundown and began AA the day after I was released. It worked for me; I stayed sober and lived right. July 2019 I was working at a local fruit company when I got a text from a gal I had previously worked with at Boeing for years, “Are you working? I have a job for you!” The job was at Sikorsky Aircraft in Troy, Alabama. Something stirred in the depths of my soul. Right then I made up my mind: I was going. I finished my day, went home, applied for the job, and then told my husband. I got the job offer, accepted it, loaded up the cargo trailer with everything to fill a house, and my husband and I were on the road by July 18. My husband was taking me there but flying back home. I was on my own. I will always remember taking him to the airport for his return trip home; the tears that rolled down his cheeks – each one tearing away a piece of my heart. Neither of us knew if I would ever go back home again. For the first two weeks there, I was so lonely. What had I done? At work, I moved from an office position out to the shop floor. A young man about my son’s age named Heath Fisher started stopping by a few times a day, telling a joke or just making small talk. The next thing I knew, I had told him my life story, the complete bag of shame. He was a stranger, but I had never felt so safe. He looked at me and said, “Miss Susan, let me tell you my testimony.” Oh man, I thought, here it comes... after all I am in the Bible Belt. My walls went up, but as he shared, they began coming down. I had such a sense of peace. The next Sunday I joined him and his family at their church and had a wonderful meal afterwards at their home. He started introducing me to others at work, and I found myself amongst a very special group of people. They had beautiful, warm hearts, but more than that a true belief in the Lord. I wanted that for myself. I joined a Freedom Class through the Church of the Highlands. It was so powerful. I attended many church services over the weeks as those I’d become acquainted with were excited for me to come experience their church services. Wow! The overwhelming love that was growing in me was surreal. I became friends with a gal who sang in a gospel band. She took me many times to watch them perform at churches and festivals. She held my hands and prayed with me as I asked Jesus into my heart. I was baptized in October, surrounded by Heath Fisher and his family.
The Lord had saved me. In His timing, my journey led me right into His loving arms.
By the beginning of December, I knew it was time to go back home to my husband and family. When I arrived back in Selah, I tried out a few churches, but then Covid hit and things were shutting down, so I studied the Bible on my own. As I began to struggle, longing for fellowship, I ran into my sister’s sister-in-law, Suzanne, who is a minister. She became my mentor. We talked over the phone weekly to discuss the assignments she would give me, and I attended her church, Wenatchee First Assembly of God, online. As the Covid restrictions lifted, I checked out a few churches in Selah, but nothing seemed to fit, so Suzanne recommended Stone Church. I came to Stone Selah. As I walked up to the front door for the first time, I was welcomed so warmly that I felt as though I was back in the south. Here was the love and fellowship that I so badly was missing. I had found a home.
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