Every Day is a New Fight: Part 2
An Anonymous True Story of Addiction Recovery
Written by Megan Wilczek
Continued from last week…I was ready to walk out, standing just before the double doors that would lock behind me if I left. I paused. Something inside me said, “If you do this, you’re done.”
…I turned around and walked back to my room, deciding to finish the program. When my roommate got there to pick me up, the staff asked me if I would like to go with him. I said no, so they sent him away. My mindset had completely changed.
I was ready to recover.
A few weeks later, my insurance ran out. They said I was ready to be discharged. I told them that I was not ready yet. It didn’t matter. Unless I had another way to pay for the rest of the program, I had to leave. I called my mom, and she said they would try to figure something out. I had seen this happen before. Some people even relapsed on purpose so that their insurance would cover more time in rehab for them. The next morning, I was supposed to be released and had my bags packed. That’s when they told me I didn’t have to leave because they received a credit card payment that morning covering the rest of my stay. I was super excited to be able to finish the program.
After I finished the program, my dad picked me up. I had a friend in the program who had to leave due to his insurance running out, so we gave him a ride to the city where he had lived. As I watched him walk away wearing a backpack, I thought, “I will never see him again,” and I didn’t.
A couple of days later, I flew to Oklahoma to live with my aunt and uncle for a while so they could help me restructure my life. They also wanted me to have a break from the people I used to hang out with. I was there for two weeks before I had to come back for court. I had planned to fly back there but never did. I stayed. After that, I got a job and started working. That was the beginning of my new, normal life.
I am now seven years clean.
It wasn’t until later that I understood God’s role in my story. In 2021, my girlfriend talked to me a lot about God. This is when I sat down and really looked at my life. It was at that moment that I knew what God had done. I’m a full believer that God saved my life years ago. By the grace of God, I walked out of my own hell.
The memory of the night I woke up feeling scared to death was stuck in my head for years. Looking back, I feel as if that was God slapping me in the face to wake me up. He was giving me the opportunity to get better and get out of that situation. He gave me a sign that I needed to leave, and I needed to do it now.
Later, it was God who stopped me at the door. It was God who kept me from walking out of rehab. Then God helped me again when my insurance decided they were done paying for my care at rehab.
It was God who not only gave someone the ability but also prompted them to pay for the rest of my time at rehab. He knew I needed to stay.
“Every addict knows that every day is a new fight. You have to wake up every day and start the fight again.”
God gave me the strength to push through day in and day out. “Every addict knows that every day is a new fight. You have to wake up every day and start the fight again.” Just knowing God is in my corner makes my fight go better. Satan is always there pushing, but God gives me the strength to resist.
When I was on drugs, I hurt a lot of people. Where I am now, working with fire and EMS, I feel that God has put me in a position to help people instead of hurting them. I think this was all part of His plan for me.
I’m a better person now. Now, I have an amazing fiancé and an incredible son, who I get to be present for every day. I have a steady job to provide for my family. Now, my work is to help people. If it wasn’t for God’s hand in my life, none of this would have been possible. I would’ve been dead. I thank Him every day to be where I am. It all started with my family praying for me.
