She said she had never been to church before last Sunday; she said she had never prayed.  And last Sunday -- her first weekend visiting at home after coming to Killingsworth several months earlier -- her grandmother asked her again, as she had done many times.  However, this time Mary said "I brought a dress home with me.  Yes, I'll go to church with you".
Mary was telling this story in the Killingsworth Monday night house meeting that all residents and staff attend.  Much of the sharing is matter of fact; sometimes the sharing is sad; sometimes there are wonderful victories to celebrate.  But this sharing was different.  Something in Mary's voice had  silenced all the impatient sighs and whispered comments; something peaceful in her face had stilled all the usual shuffling, and squirming.  The room was warmed by her story, but Mary told us she was having cold chills telling us about going into the older ladies Sunday School Class at her grandmother's church.   
She spoke in awed tones about listening to her grandmother and her friends pray.  And she rubbed her arms as she spoke about her amazing feeling of hope and peace when she heard them pray for her - she kept laughing nervously saying it was giving her goose bumps to talk about it.  They had invited her to pray, and she hinted that she tried.  Later after the 11:00 service, she was given a tape of the morning's sermon.  She described listening to it as she drove back to make the Killingsworth curfew.  It was funny, she said, how fast that trip went!  "After knowing this is possible, I don't think my life can ever be the same.  God is a little scary, but good scary, too - I want God to be a part of my life like in my grandmomma's life."
The Bible she had first gotten at Killingsworth had very small type and language that Mary didn't understand easily.  The week after the visit to her grandmother's Sunday School class she was full of questions - really hard questions that those of us who were brought up going to Bible School and Sunday School don't often consider.  What a good gift that one of our volunteers talked with Mary about her amazing experience of grace, understood her puzzlement, and arranged to get her a Bible written in language more helpful to those who are just beginning a faith journey.   Even at this tender place, though everything about Mary may seem the same, she was exactly right when she told us in the house meeting:  her life won't ever be the same again. Thanks be to God.
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A number of our residents participate in IOP (Intensive Outpatient Treatment) as a requirement of their residency.  Sometimes they are required by a judge or a parole officer, and sometimes by our staff.   This therapeutic program last twelve weeks and one of the final tasks they are given is to write a letter to their addiction.   These are L's words to her disease.

Letter to My Addiction:
......I've written to you before, but I'm more hip to you now.  The last time I wrote I said that I hated you, and I still do. But at the time I still loved dope (crack), your closest ally.
See, now that I know a little bit more about you, I understand that it's not all about just the dope.  You used dope too -  to steal my rational thinking and to try to kill me.  You did an excellent job, too.....for a while.
Now I know that dope was just a pawn in your game.  And when the dope was gone, you still used your rook (MY JOB) and even your knight (NATHAN) to try to beat me. I understand how devious and desperate you were to have my soul because you even put your bishop (MY CAREER) and your queen (MY CHILDREN) in danger to have me!  What were you going to do next?  Use your king (MY PARENTS) for my life?!
Well, guess what?  "Just for today" I've got you in checkmate. See, I have some very experienced coaches --  Narcotics Anonymous and LRADAC (Lexington/Richland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission) -- that teach me all of your strategies. I know which direction you're coming from, and my knight (MY SPONSOR) is always guarding me.
My bishop (KILLINGSWORTH) provides the spiritual wisdom and guidance to outmaneuver your every move.  Check.  I have  your queen; I take back my children.  Checkmate.  My King, my Higher Power, God as I understand Him, has taken over my life, and "just for today" this game is over.