Welcome!

Primarily, people know us at the Harbor Light as those who help people in addiction. Secondly, but more importantly we would like you to know we are a place where people and their families worship and minister.  Celebrate Recovery Every Wednesday at 7:00 PM

Volunteer Appreciation Dinner – February, 2013

We Love Our Volunteers

Congratulations Miss Ora for 20 years of faithful service!

Celebrate Recovery!

Every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.

Maggie O.’s story

I would first like to thank God … for giving me this opportunity to share with you my experience, hope, and strength. September 10, 2012 marked my 5 years of being drug free in recovery. To tell you that my journey to recovery was easy… to tell you that staying clean was easy would be far from the truth. The only thing you have to change is everything, but you won’t have to do it alone.
My story of recovery started by me acknowledging God for the first time in a long time, and asking God to take away the desire from my lips to use. The next step was to get honest with myself, and acknowledging that I needed help. Thirdly, I reached out to another person, an assessment counselor from the … County building, telling him that I needed help, but could not do it on my own, or the current location where I was. At that time, I was facing charges of Battery and Assault that the county had picked up after a drunken rage with my brother and stepfather. But the man must have been able to sense the sincerity in my plea for help, because he began to search through some papers on his desk. He asked me where I’d be willing to go, and I told him. “Anywhere, I just can’t do it here.” I didn’t tell him anything more, but the reason I had to leave is because I had been living with my family, and using was a family affair. And that is where my recovery began.
The man set me up with a lady from Harbor Light. I was to travel down to Indianapolis (3 hours away) and take an assessment to try to get into their recovery program. I must have already attended more than 50 assessments in my using career before this one, but this was the only time that I ever really wanted help. However, the lady informed me after our discussion that I would just not be able to get in because they didn’t have a bed available in Detox. I’ll never forget the feeling of despair and the look on my mother and grandmother’s face when I told them. I knew inside that this was the end for me. Deep inside, something told me that I would never be coming back to that place; that I was going to die with my addiction. And just as we were about to walk to the door, a man … stopped me (he had just returned from lunch) and he had asked me why I was coming there. Tears came down for the first time in years as I uttered to him my honest reply, “I’m just tired of … killing myself.” He told me to wait for a minute. He came back and started to ask me about my drug usage, my age, etc. He determined that with my situation, that it would be safe to allow me to detox in their residential treatment program.
I believe that God spoke to that man that day, and although I didn’t see much of him after that, because of him listening to God, he saved my life. When I came into the program, I had no confusion whatsoever that my life was at stake, not that I had much of a life left. I had reached a point where I had realized that I didn’t care about anyone or anything anymore except getting and using drugs. But after they accepted me at Harbor Light, I began to have hope that there was a better way. I had never met anyone that had gotten over drug use. I became willing to do whatever it took to start a new life. And it took absolutely everything I had to do so. What I had not realized before was that drugs were only the surface. For the first time in almost my whole life (I used from age 9-21 years of age), I was forced to live life on life’s terms without the use of drugs. It was the smartest, the hardest, and the best decision I ever made in my life, and I would not have been able to persevere without the help of God and the people that He placed in my life, including the staff members of Harbor Light.
Some of the things they used to say to me still are in my mind. “Stay as long as you can. Stick with the winners. Meeting makers make it. Chase your recovery like you did the dope. Acceptance.  All you have to change is everything.” And I did. I attended all the meetings I could, all the IOP classes, all the Bible studies, the church services on Sunday. I tried to stay away from old behaviors, including people that were practicing old behaviors. I didn’t do the program perfect, I think I may have had 16 write ups in the 9 months I stayed at Harbor Light, but by the grace of God and the desire to never feel that emptiness again, I was able to stay clean. I was forced to look at a lot of defects of character, as well as a lot of hurt that I had caused to myself and others. I could not have gotten through without the love and support that I received from the Salvation Army Harbor Light. God is in this program.
I would encourage anyone who is struggling with an addiction that is ready to stop, God loves you. You don’t have to live your life in nothingness. There is hope for you. You can have a new life, a second chance, a partnership with God, and become a witness to his glory. Harbor Light can help you just like they helped me. They are the real deal, and completely genuine. You may be convicted, you may feel some pain, but it is nothing compared to the complete feeling of joy that comes from knowing God, and enjoying the promises that He has for you.
As for me, God has brought me back to life again. September 10, 2012 not only marks 5 years of sobriety. It also marks one year that I have been married with my husband. God has blessed us more than I could ever even begin to describe to you. We also have a beautiful daughter, a great church family, and my real family is starting to come back around the faith again. To God be the glory. The blessings are endless and the promises of God remain firm forever. It is so nice to live in peace after all those years of chaos and confusion. I know that God was just waiting for me, just like I know He’s just waiting for all the others suffering. All I needed was Him, and everything else became clear. God is good. He reins forever. His love and mercy are supreme. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. -Matthew 6:33 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. -Isaiah 42:16
Written by: Maggie O.

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