Yes, it was exactly 27 years ago tomorrow that I received the middle of the night call that so many people dread. The call has a variety of different details for each person who has received that call but the result is the same- normal is no longer normal and you will never be the same.

My life now had a very specific date in history from where I measured my life before and my life after… the accident.

I usually do not encourage those I counsel to go back to that traumatic moment, and I only briefly will now so I can see how far I have come in these past 27 years.

The first call came from my husband’s coworker, “SuAnne, are you awake? Are you awake?”

I did my best to be fully awake aware the voice on the other end sounded out of breath and very distraught needing me to hear whatever words he was needing to say.

“Something really bad has happened. I am not totally sure because I got a call from {another coworker} and he was freaking out and I couldn’t really understand him but it sounds really bad.  I’ll call you back.”

 I was pondering on what I had just heard when the phone rang again and I was ready to be grateful to hear that it was all a mistake. Instead, a very formal voice on the other end introduced themselves from the county sheriff’s department saying there had been an accident saying, “the Spirit helicopter is in route to transport your husband to Marshfield Hospital”.  

I was there in the early light of dawn when the helicopter arrived and left with my husband and best friend of 18 years. And so began this new journey in my life and our children’s lives. The call. Before and after Oct. 13, 1999.

Going from wondering how I could survive one hour to surviving one day then one week that has now stretched into years! Single parenting, a nursing degree, a remarriage, another degree, I became a Gramma (or Meema) 13 times!

I am now 8 weeks from the last tragic call, and though I am not yet able to relive that moment still I DO know by being here today and by looking back that “God is near to the broken hearted …and to those who are crushed in spirit”.

I know that God has walked beside me throughout my life incuding these past 8 weeks and these past 27 years and will continue as He has promised to never leave me. He has promised to bring good out of what the enemy has meant for evil. I trust Him to be true to His promises.

Addiction is a powerful force even for those who have put their trust in Jesus. God is not asking anyone to walk alone.  He is providing others to come along side those who are struggling to stay sober, struggling to stop the memories of childhood and adult trauma- memories that now only get masked with alcohol or other drugs.

I am amazed to see that through our family’s pain and loss a place of healing has emerged for others struggling with addiction. 

A safe place to heal and be forever changed from the inside out so that their family never has to get that call. God provided a beautiful place and moved the hearts of many to offer their well-earned money to support anyone who is willing to say, “yes”.

So many today are struggling with their addictions and if I could talk directly to those who are caught in their addiction, I would say to you please make this call so your family never receives that call. The call to say, “I need help. I want more. I want to live, really live”.

We have an answer and we have a place that can offer that hope and allow you to personally know the God and Creator Who designed you and has watched over you and brought you to this point and desires for You to know Him and start your journey to freedom.

I am not an addict; I am a survivor who deeply loved an addict. He did know Jesus and he did choose to drink and drive. Though he lived beyond the call that came to me that day he now lives in the presence of God along with those in my family who followed Jesus and went before me, and I look forward to seeing them all again!

 And yes, amazingly God allowed me to continue to live beyond that call 27 years ago to see my family grow and be a wife again, to laugh and have a purpose.

Tomorrow I will wake up to another new day knowing this anniversary is different as I will know that God has used my pain to provide an opportunity for others to journey into freedom. To see more go to: Yahweh Warrior Lodge

Please know that you are loved!