Jades story to Freedom

I would like to introduce you to an amazing woman doing incredible things for God - Jade Lewis.  I have invited Jade to share her story with us in this newsletter, which will also be added to our website.  She is an inspiration of what God can do to restore the broken and of how He can then use that story to rescue others.

I never really understood defeat whilst I was growing up.  I enjoyed life and it was uncomplicated.  Mum and Dad were happily married and I felt secure and much loved.  Dad would often tell me to have a dream, or a goal for my life.  All I wanted to do as a young girl was to run in the Olympics.  To stand on the number one podium and take gold for Australia.  The great thing about this dream is that I had a natural athletic ability.  I joined the local athletic club and quickly began to win medals and trophies and break records.  Life couldn’t be better.  I won my first state medal in the 800m when I was 12 and I believed that my Olympic dream really was achievable.  At 14, I was chosen to race in the State Team competing in Singapore and I came home with a gold and silver medal.  That year I won many awards for my sporting achievements.  I won the Doug Hancy Award for the State, I was named Athlete of the Year, Junior Sportswoman of the Year and I was Captain of the State Team.  When I was 15, I went to Malaysia with the State Athletic Team too and came home with a medal also. 

When I was 15, things started to change.  Little Athletics had finished and Senior Athletics was the next stage.  I was starting to feel the weight of pressure to constantly perform and win and decided that with the transition of moving into a senior level, that I could take a year break before I continued.  So I gave up my sports with the intention of returning to the track in a year’s time.

Looking back, I don’t think this was a bad thing to do.  But giving up something that I had dedicated much of my time too and not replacing it with another positive thing, was a big mistake.  I remember feeling very lost and unfocused.  I began to have an identity crisis and became very insecure.  I had an overwhelming need to fit in with my friends at school.  Until now, I gained all my identity in my sports and fit in quite well at the track. 

Going to a party to be with my school friends on weekends all started so innocently.  However the more I went to the parties and watched my friends enjoying alcohol and marijuana, the more curious I became.  Quickly I started to experiment with alcohol and marijuana and began to enjoy the experience of escaping reality for a while.  I didn’t have to think about the other things that were going on in my life. 

Party after party eventually led a group of us to a Rave party.  It was here that I began to experiment with other drugs such as LSD and Ecstasy.  I soon met my first boyfriend.  He told me everything I wanted to hear.  I was pretty, he loved me, and I was everything he needed.  Naively I trusted everything he told me.  He was a big amphetamine user and eventually convinced me to inject speed. The first time I used speed, I thought all my problems were answered and this was the answer to fun.

Before long I was introduced to amphetamines and stealing to buy drugs.  It wasn’t long before I was using heroin. 

I never knew defeat, until I started using drugs.  When my life spiraled out of control and I tried to stop taking heroin and smoking marijuana and failed, I now knew defeat very well.  Detox after detox, and failing to stay clean, my only alternative was to go on methadone.  Methadone didn’t make me better, it maintained my drug habit.  My health deteriorated quickly.  For the next three years, I lived life on heroin, methadone, stealing, dealing, ripping people off and my parents finding me overdosed.  Drugs not only affected my life, but my parents too.  They were under threat from my drug associates at one time, had bricks thrown through their front window when they were asleep.  They went into police protection and got restraining orders to keep these people away.  But the fear never really left them.

My turning point was in 1999 when I was arrested on Mother’s Day for crime I had been doing for a while.  I knew something had to change.

Before I went to court, I prayed and asked if God was real, for Him to help me.  I was so lost and broken and desperate for a new direction.  I just didn’t know how.

I thank God everyday for the second chance at life.  I was able to go to Teen Challenge and undergo rehabilitation. When I arrived at Teen Challenge in 1999, I was so thin, my hair was falling out, I could hardly eat food, and I was exhausted and very weak.  Drugs had totally destroyed my life.  I knew what defeat was.

Two things changed my life at Teen Challenge.

1. Taking personal responsibility for my life and realizing that I was the one, through my choices, to determine my where my life was going.  As soon as I took personal responsibility, the first choice I made, was to accept Jesus into my heart and allow Him to become my best friend.  The best decision I have ever made.  It totally transformed my life and I began to fully know what Real Success and Real Freedom was.  (2Cor 5:17, Jer 29:11, Gal 2:20)
2. Living for something greater than myself.  I had to realize that if my drug addiction was bigger than my goal then my goal wasn’t big enough.  So I set my dream big.  I quickly realized the bigger the dream, the less I could achieve it by myself.  Quite simply, that God was going to fulfill His purpose through me. (Eph 2:8-10)

I had an overwhelming desire to high school students and their families about the dangers of drugs and also to give people hope.

In 2000 my journey of telling the world begun.  Along with another Teen Challenge student, we began a bike marathon riding 1000km speaking to thousands of school students along the way about the destruction of drugs.  To date, we have completed 6 bike marathons.

I co-chaired the WA State Drug Summit in 2001, was included in the International Book of Hope Magazine and flew to South Africa to launch it into the schools over there.  I have won many awards for my dedication to youth.  I have now written and published my story Golden Haze which is now in over 500 Australian schools.  For the past seven years, I have been speaking in schools, churches, women’s groups and prisons. 

I am married to the most amazing husband and have two precious little girls. We are Youth Pastors at our church and we love seeing young people launched into their God given destiny. I sometimes have to pinch myself to see if this amazing life is real.  I will be forever grateful to Jesus who saved me from so much despair and desperation and breathed life into me again and gave me a whole new purpose and direction.  Best still, He sent so many amazing people into my life to help me.  I think back to when I first went to Teen Challenge and I am so glad I took that initial step and invited Jesus into my life.

God is so incredible and has turned something that was so tragic into something so beautiful. I truly say Thank You to my Jesus for what He has done in my life.  Awesome!

If you don’t know Jesus personally and would like to know more about receiving Him as your Saviour, starting out on your new journey of life in all it’s fullness, we would love to hear from you, or simply pray this prayer below.

“Dear Jesus,

I want to be a Christian, and have you as my Lord.  I am sorry for not trusting you with my life.  I know that you accept me with love and forgiveness.  Please come into my life and be my Lord, and start me on this new road with you to the fullness of life you offer me.  Thank you for loving me.

Amen".

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