Free From The Horrors Of Addiction!
by Morgan Longjohn
Before Christ, my life was a mess, and I grew up a screw up. My life went against all society’s standards of normality. I grew up off-reserve in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. I had a decent family and attended a religious school. I excelled academically and athletically as an urban Indian. But growing up as a marginalized, stigmatized Indian caused me to experience great shame and unnecessary oppression. I remember looking at my little brown hands and thinking how ugly they were as the only Indigenous child in my class. I carried false beliefs and lies due to the abuses and afflictions I experienced as a child, and my life did not go according to plan. I was not what the world deems healthy, normal, productive or successful.
My life easily became a mess, and I experimented with drugs and alcohol at an early age. I left home at 15 years old to live with my addicted mother. I became a teen parent at 16 years old and dropped out of high school. By age 18, illicit drugs use and alcohol became my way of life for the next eleven years.
I lost everything important to me and developed a bad name for myself. My children were apprehended from the Ministry of Social Services, and I was unable to function in society. My family relationships were broken, and all other relationships were toxic. I literally referred to myself as a “rebel of the underground,” and surrounded myself with thugs, bad boys and drug dealers. Immorality increased, and I was hell-bound.
The problem was sin, and the solution is Jesus.
I did not realize I was deeply bound in sin with no way out. I tried everything to get free from the horrors of addiction and sinful living, and I attended numerous treatment centers and addiction programming. I completed hundreds of counseling sessions and intensive therapies. I participated in Indigenous cultural ceremonies and sharing circles with no avail. There was no government funded agency or mental health program that was able to set my life in order. I was 18 years old when I first entered Addiction Services in Prince Albert. Over the course of eleven years I tried my best to get free from the drug use and alcoholism that nearly destroyed my life. I concluded only God could help me, and it was not until I looked unto Jesus that I began to experience total freedom. By looking unto Jesus I was able to acknowledge the deep-rooted problem in my life. The problem was sin, and the solution is Jesus.
The greatest decision I ever made was to believe in Christ and repent of my sin.
Psalm 120:1 says “In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me.” and that is exactly what I did. I poured my heart out unto God. He started lining up things in my life to experience freedom in Christ. John 8:32 states “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
In 2016, I discovered the RU Recovery Program in Prince Albert. When I attended my first RU class on a cold winter night I knew in my heart it was exactly what I needed. RU continues to be my favorite night of the week to this day as I follow Jesus with my life. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. He saved me from the sin that crippled my life for years. The greatest decision I ever made was to believe in Christ and repent of my sin. I confessed all the things I’ve done wrong to God. I John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
God’s plan for my life is far greater than anything I could ever plan for myself.
When Jesus was born – from the cradle to the cross – it was for you and me. Jesus Christ brutally died on that cross, was buried, and rose again three days later for you and me. I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Who died to take away my sin, and now Christ lives in me. God has a plan for my life, and He started unraveling my mess through His mercy and grace as I looked unto Jesus. Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” God’s plan for my life is far greater than anything I could ever plan for myself, and my mess has become a message of hope for others.
For 934 days – which is nearly three years – I have been free from alcohol, crack cocaine and other illicit drugs. God continues to work in my life every day, even freeing me from sinful anger, immorality and all other sins – past, present, and future through Christ! Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” I am not perfect. There are days I wrestle with sin and selfishness, but Christ is my perfection. When I fall, Christ is my foundation. I Corinthians 3:11 says, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
God is transforming me into the mother He created me to be,
and my family has been restored. This week marks a full year since my son came
home from foster care. My children and I are under one roof, and it is a
miracle from God. When I accepted Christ, I was added to God’s royal family, and I have numerous brothers and sisters in
Christ at Prince Albert Baptist Church and throughout the nations; through
Christ I am a child of God. After 17 years of couch-surfing and living with
family I have my own
apartment in Prince Albert. I also
have an eternal home today where a mansion is prepared for me because I am
Heaven-bound. After withdrawing eight times from the University of
Saskatchewan, by God’s grace, I returned
to my studies. This week, I successfully completed the first term of my second
year at the College of Arts and Science. I have 20 months remaining in
University to achieve a four-year degree.
Christ saved me, and He wants to save the world.
I am no longer a marginalized, stigmatized Indian, and I am no longer a slave to sin. But I am an Indian princess for Christ, a daughter of the King raised up at the right hand of God! Ephesians 2:4-6 states “But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” If it were not for God’s Word and God’s Son, I would not have been able to change my life. The change is permanent, eternal, and everlasting, Christ saved me, and He wants to save the world. God gave me a new life when I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. The life I found in Christ is worth every moment!
Morgan Longjohn,
Plains Cree
Sturgeon Lake First Nation
“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).