A Family’s Perspective: Battling Addiction – Part 3

In Part 2, I left off with my sister being incarcerated for possession and trafficking of heroin and meth, as well as a DUI from that traffic stop. Jail. Heroin. We had no idea who this little girl posing as our beloved daughter and sister was, and it broke our hearts. I wasn’t in denial because the history existed, but HEROIN!

This was the way her life looked for over a year: one jail stint after another, bouts of homelessness, floating through her days apparently in a drug induced haze. Lying. Denying. Refusing.

She refused to admit she had a problem and she refused to get help. My days were filled with prayers flowing from my mouth to God’s ears, pleading with him to save her life. Jail was His answer. The jail cell of her mind manifested itself into reality. She lived in the shadows as so many addicts do. The only time she could sleep soundly was when she managed to come and stay with me for a few days to sometimes a couple of weeks. I tried to take care of her; she didn’t know how to let me, despite being desperate for it.

The nightmare was real. The illness that overtook her mind, body and spirit was beyond the drug it was hell on earth…and she put and kept herself there. But if it was the last thing I did on earth, I was not going to watch her go down and stay down. I had an army of prayer warriors interceding on her behalf, as I’d find out one more piece of bad news after another.

The prayers turned into a river flowing out of heaven and finally God put his Almighty foot down: she’d pushed the judge and her parole officer too far in September of 2017. She’d only been out of jail for three weeks this time, and was an inch from having her probation transferred to Ohio so she could be closer to the family and get her life together. We were so excited. She and I began making plans of things we’d do together.

But, as it is known to, the drug beckoned out to her one ill-fated night and she, as always, gave in to temptation. Stupidly, while sitting in her truck across the street from a police station. They planted a snitch in her midst and she had no idea.

The next thing I knew, I receive a call from the jail…

I had not heard my sister apologize for anything in years, but during that call she broke. In an instant, I realized God had put her there and was going to keep her incarcerated (as well as the judge and her PO) until He reached her. I told her ‘I love you’ but this is what’s best for you right now. She didn’t get angry or cuss me out; instead, she said again how sorry she was and how much she loved me.

I hung up the phone and broke down into sobs and prayers, but above all I thanked the Lord for keeping her alive and received peace in knowing at least now she was safe. Then, I had to pick up the phone to once again dial our mother’s number to break her heart all over again.

Stacey Louiso lives for, and tries to love everyone wholly by constantly studying the heart of, Jesus Christ. In gratitude for transforming her life back into one that is pleasing and usable to God, she walks toward virtue, praying to embody a woman after God’s own heart! Her gratitude is due to being delivered from several decades of many types of abuse and victimization, as well as physical, emotional and mental health issues.