The story you are about to read is true. It is the story of a man who
suffered with the disease of alcoholism until he was 44 years old. It
is also a story about the
power of prayer and faith that God’s Word is true and how one Christian alcoholic was healed of alcoholism by practicing James 5:14-16.
I can only tell this story in second-person, but I was David’s wife
for the last 9 years that he actively drank alcohol and for the 5 years
that he was sober. This story is not about me; I am just the vessel that
God has chosen to tell it. I will try not to be too long, but it’s hard
to know what details to include and what to leave out. I know that
David would want this story to be told, if it helps other alcoholics.
All I can really say about those first 9 drinking years, is that for
the most part it was hell. David has been a practicing alcoholic since
his early teens. He was divorced and had 2 daughters when I met him. We
actually met for the very first time at a treatment center. He was in
his last couple of days of
alcohol detox
(2nd time) and I was just beginning my treatment for cocaine addiction.
Later we met again at AA meetings and eventually married. David’s
sobriety didn’t last long, thus beginning numerous cycles of hard
drinking with brief periods of sobriety. I won’t go into a lot of
details except to say the hard drinking periods resulted in 2 trips to
jail for domestic violence while he was in blackouts, ending with a
felony DUI and a 3rd trip to the same treatment center.
After David’s 2nd domestic violence arrest, we started attending
church and made some close friends, David stayed sober. Life was good,
but it wasn’t to last. David and I had both been raised in Christian
homes, so we knew and believed in Jesus Christ.
Just to clarify, when I say “Christian,” I am referring to a person
who at one point in life admitted being a sinner, confessed those sins,
and asked Jesus Christ to come into their heart and be Lord and Savior
of their life. Faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved.
The first church that we attended ended up splitting, because there
was a conspiracy to oust the pastor. We left the church and did not go
anywhere else for over a year. David once again fell off the wagon. Some
of our closest friends had started going to another church in the area,
so I went there by myself. David would attend services with me on the
rare occasion, and people from the church would come out and visit us.
There were some awesome prayer warriors at that church. They prayed
often for David and for our family. David would try to stay sober, but
he just couldn’t do it. No matter how hard he tried, he eventually went
back to the bottle. He would try to hide how much he was drinking, but I
always found the evidence.
Things got very bad in early 2001. Under the guise of helping an
older man that used to live across the street and had some health
issues, he was actually drinking with him. This man had been sober for a
few years, but David enticed him to drink again. They became whiskey
buddies. One fateful day, David said he was leaving for work but instead
went to the liquor store, He ended up at his buddy’s house and had to
call the man an ambulance because his buddy though he was having a heart
attack. When David tried to leave, he bumped the ambulance with his big
car. The EMTs called the police, who arrested David in our driveway. I
had come home for lunch and witnessed the whole thing. I didn’t do
anything to stop him from being arrested, because he was staggering
drunk already and it was only noon. I wanted him to go to jail.
He went to jail for what was actually his 5th DUI, making it a
felony. After spending the night in jail, he told me how he laid on the
cold cell floor and prayed for Jesus to forgive him and to help him stay
sober. He maintained his sobriety for only a couple of months, then it
was right back to the hard drinking like before the DUI. One day I came
home for lunch, and could tell right away he was in a blackout by the
look in his eyes and the way he talked. My son was at school, so I had
my mother pick him up and take him to her house. I left and didn’t go
home after work.
Some may wonder why I stayed married to David through all the
insanity. Well, during the really bad periods, I was clinging to God to
get me through. I kept hearing in my spirit to just hang in there
because God was going to do a miracle in David’s life. I didn’t want to
miss the miracle, since I had already put up with so much. I prayed for a
forgiving spirit and God gave me one.
Later that night, I did go home not knowing what to expect. David had
sobered up some and was contrite as usual. But I, for one, had reached
my limit. I told him that if he didn’t go back to treatment, I was done
with our marriage. He allowed me to take him to the treatment center,
but they had no beds available. He was able to return to treatment the
next night, where he spent 7 days detoxing. That night he went into
treatment for the 3rd time was actually his sobriety date, because he
didn’t take another drink after that. But he still craved alcohol.
During his periods of sobriety, we had attended church together. We
made a lot of close friends our age who were living true Christian
lives. After David’s treatment, the men took David under their wings and
discipled him. We attended Bible studies together and were becoming
stronger Christians. We studied the book of James and learned about
James 5:14-16.
14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to
pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the
Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so
that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and
effective.
David still struggled with a desire to drink. One Wednesday night,
David asked some of the men in our church to come into the prayer room
with him, anoint him with oil and pray for deliverance from his craving
for alcohol. I don’t know how many men actually prayed over David that
night. David did say that when one particular friend touched and prayed
over him, that he felt like electricity go through his body and felt the
Holy Spirit. What I do know is that from that moment on, David never
craved alcohol.
David told me that the moment he knew he was really healed, was the
first time we went back to the river. That had always been a big
drinking trigger for him. But this time, he didn’t even think about it
until afterwards. David wasn’t sure if he was a Christian, so he gave
his life to Christ and was baptized in our friends’ swimming pool by his
Christian friends. He became involved with Alcoholics for Christ. We
began working in the church and even served as youth ministers for a
couple of years. God led us to a different church to help with the
Celebrate Recovery ministry there.
As for David’s felony DUI, I saw God do many miracles during the time
the case was going to trial, and afterwards in the sentencing. Our
Christian friends really showed their support by coming to court dates
with David and writing letters of support to the judge. Everyone had
witnessed the divine change in David. He was so excited about his
salvation and his deliverance, people couldn’t help but be drawn to him.
David ended up doing 6 days of a 10 day sentence, reduced from a
possible year in prison. He had to pay a large fine, but only lost his
drivers license for 90 days, instead of 5 years.
David continued to love and serve Jesus until God called him home in
October 2006. I tell you his story so that you will understand something
important. If you are a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ, then
the words in James 5:14-16 are for you.
David was just a regular country boy who loved his family, Tennessee
Vols football, NASCAR, wrestling, drywall finishing, and drinking
alcohol. His father died from complications of alcoholism, and David was
headed down the very same path. What made the difference was David’s
faith in God’s word and his willingness to put God’s words into action.
I don’t know why David got healed and others don’t. God is God and
I’m not. I just know that putting into practice James 5:14-16 enabled
David to live the last 5 years of his life sober. All David ever really
wanted in life was to be respected. He finally found that through
sobriety. I am witness to that fact.
Thanks for staying with me for so long. My point of this long article
is to say to the Christian alcoholic who still craves that there is
hope for you. If you have some men in your life who have a close
relationship with Jesus, ask them if they would be willing to practice
James 5:14-16 on you. Believe that Jesus wants to set you free from the
disease of alcoholism and accept God’s gift of healing. What do you have
to lose?
