(Editor’s note: Due to technical difficulties, not all our email subscribers read the following story. Webster Parish Journal believes the testimonies of these two ladies requires a second look.)
By Pat Culverhouse
From the depths of despair to the heights of hope can be a tortuous journey, but with God as the guide all obstacles can be overcome.
A pair of living examples of how prayer and determination, combined with the Louisiana Adult and Teen Challenge program and a local business, gave members of the Minden Lions Club an insight into what is possible when faith becomes the fulcrum for controlling life’s problems.
Ashley Miller is manager of The Broken Bean, a Minden coffee shop/diner with a goal of giving its workers a second chance to improve their lives. Miller’s testimony to the civic club was one of a near-tragic journey from the pitfalls of drug addiction to restoration and salvation.
“I grew up with the perfect, the ideal life; the poster child for what life should look like,” Miller said. “My husband and I began experimenting with drugs in college. We thought it was a rite of passage…thought we would eventually outgrow this and have some funny stories to tell our kids.”
But, she said, the drugs soon dominated their lives, escalating from marijuana to crystal meth and finally, heroin. To her friends and coworkers, Miller, her husband and their four children lived the perfect life. But the facade only masked a dependency that laid undisclosed for years.
“It was important for me for people to see what I wanted them to see and they did,” she said. “We had an addiction for 15 years before anyone knew anything about it.”
In Miller’s words, everything came “tumbling down” in February, 2017 when she was discovered stealing drugs from the emergency room where she had worked as a nurse for 11 years with people who loved and trusted her.
“I got to the point where I wasn’t just a drug addict, I was hopeless and desperate…in a constant state of withdrawal,” she said. “But God brings everything to light and He did it to save my life. In that moment, God saw his daughter was hurting.”
A series of events changed her heart when God gave her hope for something different. At her mother-in-law’s suggestion, a trip to Adult and Teen Challenge in August, 2019, put Miller into a program that would mark a new beginning. Even though she arrived at the facility while still high on heroin, she knew something was different and sensed an immediate change.
“There’s nothing medically to explain why I felt better 24 hours later. There was no withdrawal. Only God could have done this,” she said. “And as I got to know God, things began to change quickly. I got saved, I got to know Jesus and everything changed in my life.”
That change produced a new relationship with her husband and her children. It also developed into a strong relationship with new acquaintances and their community.
“I got a job at The Broken Bean as a cashier and started to get to know you (residents) and got to know Minden,” Miller said. “I fell in love with Minden. There’s something really special and sweet about this town because you loved me and you didn’t even know me. I knew this was going to be my home.”
Following her internship at Broken Bean, Miller said she was blessed to be offered the opportunity to become manager where there’s more than just coffee and eats on the menu.
“It’s not just a coffee shop; we pray for people all day long. We talk about how an ugly past has nothing to do with what we are now,” she said. “We’re about saving lives. We’re more than a coffee shop and more than rehab. I don’t walk around in shame anymore and I’m happy to share my story. It hurts and it’s hard, but if I can save one person or give hope to one…”
Miller’s story of finding hope is shared by Haylie Humphries, a Winnfield native who realized she needed to make dramatic changes in her life. That need led her to the Adult and Teen Challenge program where she also found God.
“My parents divorced when I was young, but nothing traumatic happened to me,” she said. “But, I grew up rebellious and in the summer before my senior year I became pregnant and dropped out of high school. After my son was born, I began using meth and he eventually was taken away from me. I felt guilt, shame and condemnation.”
When she became pregnant again, abortion seemed to be the only solution “…because I didn’t believe I’d ever be a good mother.” Now she knows that idea wasn’t part of God’s plan for her life.
“My appointment date for the abortion fell two days before I was to visit with my son, and the arrangement was to meet at church,” she remembered. “Inside, with my son literally holding my finger, the preacher began to talk about abortion. I knew God was speaking to me.”
After giving birth to a healthy baby girl, Humphries said she slipped back into old habits. But God was setting things in motion that would change the direction in which her life was spiraling. A terrifying drug induced psychosis brought her to her knees in prayer.
“I called on the Lord to save me from what I was doing to myself, and He led me to Teen Challenge. Three days after going there, I dedicated my life to Jesus. He delivered me from the confusion. H showed me how to truly know and love my daughter,” she said.
Today, Humphries, who interns with her daughter Laney, works with the Adult and Teen Challenge daycare. It’s the only program in the state, and one of only eight in the nation, that allows pregnant women or women with their children to participate.
“God put me in daycare where each and every day I get to walk in and show children the love of God. He made me a loving and Godly mother…the mother I never thought I would ever be. I am no longer a slave to guilt, shame or the condemnation of an earlier life,” she said.
Humphries said she cherishes the peace and security that has put her in Minden and the Teen Challenge program.
“It is the rock solid foundation on which to build the rest of my life,” she said.