Testimony of a Drug Addict

Glory be to God! My name is Gilbert Plante, and I am a recovered drug addict. Sometimes I wonder why I am still alive! Maybe its to write this testimony and hopefully help someone else with their addiction. Of one thing I am sure, it is only by the grace of my Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ that I am sitting here today. Most of my so called friends are dead, in jail, or wasting away. How often I think of the wasted years, partying and doing drugs! I ignored my wife and three wonderful boys for so long, years in fact, just because I wanted to get high. Thank God that He will restore the years that the locusts have eaten. I have done all kinds of drugs; heroin, cocaine, crack, pot, acid, mushrooms, pills, special k, and crystal meth. Meth is the drug where I lost my mind to Satan. People who think that Satan is not real are just kidding themselves. Satan is alive and well! I weigh in at about 235 lbs these days; however that wasnt always the case. In my final days of meth use, I was down to 145 lbs, with open sores all over my body from me ripping the flesh off myself because I thought that aliens had filled by body with some kind of parasite. At one point I was convinced that aliens had taken over my wifes body so they could keep a close eye on me. The thing about meth is, once you get a thought, no matter how insane it is, you begin to think its the truth. I believed that only I could see and understand the supernatural. I saw evil spirits walking beside people; I believed that little people were living in trees,conspiring to take over the world. I even thought the neighbourhood cat was a trained narcotics officer. I thought alien spaceships followed me around because they had to make sure that I wasnt out of their reach, but only I could see what they were up to. I can remember sitting for days in the dark, in our bedroom, wondering how life was going to be on another planet. Things were not always this way. Life was good, and I was content with the way my life was. Im a high school dropout with a grade 8 education. However, back in the 80s, as long as you had a good work ethic, you would be just fine. I have always worked very hard to provide for my wife, and then family. I worked my way through the ranks of the working world to eventually become a Warehouse Supervisor for a global corporation. Then my life came tumbling down. I worked night shift and found myself stressed and wanting to take the edge off. At a party one night, a fellow offered me some cocaine and I liked it very much. I had smoked pot for many years, but the high from coke was intense. It didnt take long and I found myself doing

cocaine at work. I would lock my office door and powder my nose all night long. The people I was getting the coke from were some very serious people. Lets just say it was organized crime. These people did what they do best, supplied the coke and any other drug that I wanted. Before a blink of an eye, I had a $300.00 a day cocaine habit. This went on for months, doing coke at work, and partying all night long. When I was out enjoying my new found friends, I was one day closer to death. My wife was very concerned as to why I was never home anymore. I had no time for my family. That year I did $50,000.00 worth of cocaine, and wondered why I was broke, and in debt up to my ears. One cant do cocaine all night and be responsible for 30 employees at the same time. Without getting into many details, I lost my $65,000.00 a year job. I was very well liked and had a great reputation as a wonderful leader. With being fired, I lost my dignity and confidence, and my marriage of 20 years was on the rocks. My new found friends had ways of making serious money. So my criminal life began. I could not afford the cocaine anymore, but there were many other drugs. I soon learned that I was not a very good criminal because you cant do the product that you are trying to sell. This is when I started doing crack and all the other drugs I talked about earlier. It took about a year of this and partying all night, when I was introduced to meth. My life went from bad, to worse. I suppose you could say I started to lose my mind, with the hallucinations and just being weird. My so called good friends forgot about me, and the people I knew for years did not want anything to do with me. How can you blame people, I was very messed up. My kind and loving sister stuck by me as did my brothers and my mother. My wife however, had enough; I was kicked out of the house. At my sisters place of employment, she was able to get me enrolled in a carpentry course. The course involved me staying at a hotel and going to school. I was still smoking meth and trying to go to school. One day I was walking back to the hotel for lunch, which I never did before. As I was walking towards the hotel, out of nowhere, a taxi stopped, and the driver told me to get in. I told the gentleman that I didnt have any money, again he told me to get in. The driver was the largest East Indian person that I had ever seen. He was a mountain of a man (HUGE). He had a smile on him that was almost glowing. He looked at me and said just the start of things. My reply was WHAT! He appeared to be glowing and he said again just the start of things. Now knowing what to say or do, I replied yeah (how profound). He pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, and up to the front doors. As I was getting out of the car he touched my shoulder, and said do the right thing, Jesus loves you. Upon exiting the vehicle, it occurred to me that I never told this man where I was going.

Well, I did not know what to think. I could not comprehend what had just happened, so I ran upstairs, and smoked a bowl of crystal meth. My mother, seeing me looking like death, and not far from it, had always told me to try getting on my knees and pray. She always wanted me to believe that God would help me. For the first time in a very long while, I was looking at my life and was wondering what happened to me. It hit me like a ton of bricks, I WAS A DRUG ADDICT. How could this be? I had always worked so hard for everything I had, and now it appeared as though I had nothing. I remember calling my wife, crying like a baby for help. To this day, I dont know why she told me to come home. Conditions applied though, no drugs. I agreed and returned home. I was happy to be back at home with my wife and three boys, but life was not easy. I had no job, and drugs were always on my mind. I was running a marathon; was it going to be life, or was it going to be drugs? I was told by my brothers the only way I was going to stay clean was to enter drug rehabilitation. However, this was not an option for me because I could not bear to be away from my family again. I wasted so many years of not being there for them. I had this inner voice asking me will you come unto Me? I decided to do what my mother had told me for years to do, pray for help. I had drug urges one day and was thinking of making a phone call for drugs. Instead I got on my knees and asked God to help me. My thought was, why would Jesus help such a sinner? Was I wrong! While praying for Jesus to take these cravings away, I had an instant sense of inner peace. The urge to buy drugs was gone. I remembered the cab driver telling me, ``just the start of things``, and it was. The very next day I found a church to go to and kept going everyday for about a month. Going to church and listening seemed to be working. The more I went, the thirstier I was for God. I was staying clean. The more I prayed, the better I felt. It was incredible. Just when things were going fine... BANG, drug urges. Satan was attacking in full force. I got on my knees and screamed to the heavens Jesus I want to get high send somebody to help me. As I was getting off my knees there was a knock at the front door. I opened the door and there was a police officer that had arrested me a few months earlier. He informed me he didnt know why he was there, but he brought me a gift. It was a New Testament Bible; the title was How to find God for those who thirst. I could not believe it! Thank you Jesus! I invited Officer Cal into my home and proceeded to tell him why he was there. I told Cal that seconds earlier I was on my knees praying for Jesus to send me some help. And apparently Officer Cal was it. He was speechless. He said that he had thought of me often, and did not know why. Cal had never before in 25 years of service tried to find someone he had arrested, to see how they were doing. We talked for quite awhile about my addiction and how Christ would save me, but I had to ask to be saved, only

through Jesus would I ever truly find peace. To this day Officer Cal and I speak on a regular basis. Thank you Jesus for sending me Officer Cal. Then it happened, I was asleep one night and was awakened by what felt like a punch to the chest. In our bedroom we had two windows, one on the east side and one on the west side. The east side window was extremely bright and the west side window was the darkest I had ever seen. I could hear an inner voice which way are you going? Was this really happening to me, or was I dreaming? I tried to go back to sleep, again it felt like somebody punched me in the chest. This time the voice was louder which way are you going? I immediately jumped out of bed, fell to my knees looking to the light and screamed Jesus please save this helpless sinner, I surrender myself to You my Lord! That instant I was saved, and I knew it. Things immediately fell into place, the cab driver, the police officer, these were no coincidences, Jesus had been working on me for some time. My life has never been the same. I have been clean and sober since April 1st 2006, with no regrets. I am working full time at a Christian organization. Life is good. My Saviour, my Redeemer, my Comforter, my Love. All honour and glory be to God. Im currently the Pastor of Family Life Church in Winnipegs North End. Through the church we have a unique ministry, feeding people physically and spiritually. I believe that God let me go through my years of drug addiction in order to help individuals today. If you know anyone that is struggling with an addiction, or just needs a friendly voice to talk to, please call me. If you wish to support the Have a Bowl of Soup on Jesus Ministry and help us give ourselves away for the Kingdom of God, please contact: Pastor Gilbert Plante via Family Life Church