Walking in freedom
Aleasha has found freedom and faith through the support of her corps. (Photo courtesy of Aleasha)
Drugs will rob you of everything, till you have nothing left. But God gives you ‘life to the full’.
– Aleasha, Ministry Worker and Salvation Army soldier, Tweed Heads Salvos
Sitting in church at the Tweed Heads Salvation Army, Aleasha says that at first it must have been obvious to everyone that she was an addict, and yet two “beautiful women” immediately showed her love and “tucked her under their wings”.
In the early days, Aleasha says: “I had black eyes, I would pick myself, I would have sores all over my body and hate myself for the mess I had made of myself. (The drug) ice was all I lived for.”
Aleasha grew up in Tasmania, attending a Catholic primary school. She went to church through those years but says: “I didn't have a true understanding who God is, until I came to The Salvation Army.”
For Aleasha, her happy childhood with her stable, loving family was torn apart in her early primary school years after being repeatedly abused by a neighbour. Her schoolwork began to suffer, her confidence dropped, and she went on to struggle through school until Year 10.
With low confidence and not many friends, she began binge drinking. Around the age of 24, a female acquaintance with a bad drug history introduced Aleasha to ecstasy, which had her instantly hooked. Later, a man (who Aleasha went on to have her daughter with) offered her an ice pipe. “Everything else went out the window. Ice became the all-consuming thing,” she says.
Having moved north, she one day finally got the courage to walk through the doors of Tweed Heads Salvos, and says from then on, she “never left”.
She was offered the chance to attend a Salvation Army camp at Collaroy in Sydney for single mothers (sponsored by her church), where she “surrendered her life” to God. "Church then became my rehab," she says.
Tweed Heads corps member Leanne Hardaker (who now works at the Gold Coast Recovery Services) began to work through a corps-based recovery program with Aleasha. Around this time Aleasha also started to attend TAFE to deal with literacy issues and then went on to complete a Certificate IV in Mental Health.
She says: “I built a relationship with God over this time. My chains of addiction were breaking. I got ‘clean’ and I started to feel good within myself. If it wasn’t for God I wouldn’t be here today. He’s everything to me.”
Clean for the past two years, Aleasha works in ministry for the Tweed Heads Salvos and became a senior soldier in 2014.
She says her heart is now full of compassion for troubled teenage girls, which may become a ministry direction in the future. She says: “I want to be able to say: ‘okay you may have had a bad start but that doesn’t have to determine your future. You’re one in a million in God’s eyes!
“I know because I’ve lived it. Now I am free; I love life; I like who I am today. Living life with God is better than any drug. I am a new person because I know God loves me and he gives me strength to do things I never dreamed I could.”
By Naomi Singlehurst
Comments
Congratulations Aleasha, I am so proud of your recovery. May God always bless you well in your ministry with others addicted to drug and alcohol abuse. Keep up your good work and shine for His Kingdom. God Bless you, Carolyn.
Aleasha, I often think of you and the amazing night sitting together when you gave your life to Jesus - so amazing! To see and hear the way Jesus is continuing to work in and through your life is so incredibly exciting. He has so much more ahead for you. God has given you a blessed story - go for it - live it, share it, dream big dreams and trust God for all that you will need to see them become a reality. Love who you are. Bless you Di x