Freedom From The Roof
The Denise McGirt Story (Revisited)
By Terrence Clark
Life can be full of transitions--such as going from high school to college, from college to career, from career to career, from single to married, from newlyweds to a house full of kids. All of these events are usually wonderful experiences, filling the scrapbook with pleasant memories.
Conversely, some of life’s transitions can have a downward direction and sometimes hit bottom or a wall. A place which there is nowhere else to go. However is heard, the lyrics of that old song, “Somewhere in the darkest night a candle glows” The candle’s lumens, not just a flicker, but a laser---a light that transitions the (would be) defeated testimony with the phrase..."but God”. This, two-word hinge of scripture, is the resolve, and power of the life that encounters the Almighty Redeemer. It is in these encounters that life’s greatest transitions can be found and experienced. We call these stories and exploits–Transitions of Glory. We would love to hear yours. Gospel recording artist Rev. Marvin Sapp sings a song, “I Would Never Have Made It Without You.” (The reference is to the Lord.) The melody may have also been the theme song for Rev. Denise McGirt---a graduate of Wor-Wic Community College and Salisbury University---Salisbury, Maryland majoring in Chemical Dependency Counseling. Already a minister and an evangelist, Denise has dedicated her life to helping others. Many, she can relate to, disclosed in her 2008 interview. |
THE BEGINNING
Her realities merged, as she climbed out of her home’s second story window, in Glassboro NJ—shutting it behind her. She was screaming for help. She was desperate. Her quests for help from drug rehabs centers were futile. She wasn’t crazy enough, they said. She had to be court committed.
Denise was born in Philadelphia, raised some in Washington DC, but spent most of her rearing in Glassboro, South Jersey. Her last move was to Salisbury, Maryland---where she sometimes wondered why God sent her there. He was establishing and connecting her. At times, it was overwhelming. There were all kinds of people He would send her way including people of advantage and prestige, as well as those who were disadvantaged and homeless.
The Lord showed her favor, introducing her to good opportunities. She admits opportunities that she and her husband would have never come into if she had of stayed in South Jersey. Still, looking back, on the last several years, thinking if she had to do it all again, she probably would not want to. They were now in Salisbury because they believed it was the Lord’s will.
Denise recalled the many transitions in her life. She is the mother of three children---two girls and one boy—all grown. Her oldest girl is 24. Her son 35, born on Independence Day, she added, has always been independent, never given her any problems. She admits, the baby, who is now 22, was the hardest one to let go. It was just recently, the Lord opened her eyes. He let her know that before His process can work in her children lives, she had to let go. So she did, trusting Proverbs 22:6--- "train them up in the way they should go and they’ll not depart." She’s just trusting God to bring them back to Him.
Retrospectively, It wasn’t her children that would prove the hardest challenge in her life. About two weeks after having her third child, she was introduced to cocaine. It would be an addiction that would last for the next twelve years. During that time, she would lose virtually everything—her home, car, dignity, self-respect and the trust of her family.
“I lost a lot, said Denise, but I thank God that despite losing everything, I found the most precious thing—a Savior who loved me despite what I had done. It was at the point, where I said---God, I can’t do it. You have to do it. I give it to You. It was then, He did what He was waiting to do for me all along. He delivered me and set me free from drugs. But I didn’t necessary step back into the same place of a mother, daughter, and sister. I was able to step into a place and be a mother, daughter, and sister again.
"Until God restored me completely, my children were literally scared to let me go. They would be afraid that they wouldn’t see me again. They remembered one time, I said I would be right back and they didn’t see me back for four years. So it was hard for them to watch me go out of the house. They literally would hold on to me. I thank God. It will be eleven years (as of the time of this 2008 interview) in October thank the Lord. And, it will be twelve years that I have been married to a man, who has been there for me, and stuck there with me, no matter what.”
Her realities merged, as she climbed out of her home’s second story window, in Glassboro NJ—shutting it behind her. She was screaming for help. She was desperate. Her quests for help from drug rehabs centers were futile. She wasn’t crazy enough, they said. She had to be court committed.
Denise was born in Philadelphia, raised some in Washington DC, but spent most of her rearing in Glassboro, South Jersey. Her last move was to Salisbury, Maryland---where she sometimes wondered why God sent her there. He was establishing and connecting her. At times, it was overwhelming. There were all kinds of people He would send her way including people of advantage and prestige, as well as those who were disadvantaged and homeless.
The Lord showed her favor, introducing her to good opportunities. She admits opportunities that she and her husband would have never come into if she had of stayed in South Jersey. Still, looking back, on the last several years, thinking if she had to do it all again, she probably would not want to. They were now in Salisbury because they believed it was the Lord’s will.
Denise recalled the many transitions in her life. She is the mother of three children---two girls and one boy—all grown. Her oldest girl is 24. Her son 35, born on Independence Day, she added, has always been independent, never given her any problems. She admits, the baby, who is now 22, was the hardest one to let go. It was just recently, the Lord opened her eyes. He let her know that before His process can work in her children lives, she had to let go. So she did, trusting Proverbs 22:6--- "train them up in the way they should go and they’ll not depart." She’s just trusting God to bring them back to Him.
Retrospectively, It wasn’t her children that would prove the hardest challenge in her life. About two weeks after having her third child, she was introduced to cocaine. It would be an addiction that would last for the next twelve years. During that time, she would lose virtually everything—her home, car, dignity, self-respect and the trust of her family.
“I lost a lot, said Denise, but I thank God that despite losing everything, I found the most precious thing—a Savior who loved me despite what I had done. It was at the point, where I said---God, I can’t do it. You have to do it. I give it to You. It was then, He did what He was waiting to do for me all along. He delivered me and set me free from drugs. But I didn’t necessary step back into the same place of a mother, daughter, and sister. I was able to step into a place and be a mother, daughter, and sister again.
"Until God restored me completely, my children were literally scared to let me go. They would be afraid that they wouldn’t see me again. They remembered one time, I said I would be right back and they didn’t see me back for four years. So it was hard for them to watch me go out of the house. They literally would hold on to me. I thank God. It will be eleven years (as of the time of this 2008 interview) in October thank the Lord. And, it will be twelve years that I have been married to a man, who has been there for me, and stuck there with me, no matter what.”
THE ADDICTION
Typically, you hear a lot about drug addiction beginning before children come along. Denise’s drug addiction manifested after her children were born. Unknown to her, her two daughters' father had been involved in drugs. She knew he would spend a lot of time away from home. She didn’t understand his distance emotionally from her and the children. Her answer came on the night when one of his friends came home with him. The two began to do drugs in front or her––bringing into their house what he had been doing before on the street. |
“And that’s what coke does, she explained. It kicks your brain. It’s that feeling that you are actually chasing. The feeling that you got the first time is what you are constantly trying to get.
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“The opportunity entered into our home, and consequently I got involved, acknowledged Denise. I am a firm believer in the need for people to guard their emotions. Your emotions can set you up to get involved in some things, in which, you really never planned to get involved. You can find yourself doing things just because of your emotions. Consequently, I did what I did because of him. You see, I just wanted to be with him. I was so involved with him that I just wanted to be with him and be a part of what he was doing. You know, wherever you are---I just want to be there.”
Still, she knew better. She knew that drugs were wrong. She wasn’t coerced. She was simply asked if she wanted some of the cocaine. “I had never seen cocaine before, explained Denise. I smoked cigarettes before. I smoked marijuana before. And, I had drank liquor before.
I didn’t know what it was. I asked, well what is it? They said, ‘this is coke.’ My response, so okay, what is that? So, they prepared it. So, I could ingest it. They had to show me how to do it. I didn’t know how. They said you don’t pull on it like a cigarette. You don’t smoke it like a joint. So, after tasting coke for the first time, I said okay, what’s the big deal?”
It wasn’t her first taste of the drug that would pull her down---for the next twelve years of her life—it was the second taste. She attempted it again, the same night, and that’s when it kicked her brain.
“And that’s what coke does, she explained. It kicks your brain. It’s that feeling that you are actually chasing. The feeling that you got the first time is what you are constantly trying to get. That’s why it’s so addictive. It’s very psychological.”
Still, she knew better. She knew that drugs were wrong. She wasn’t coerced. She was simply asked if she wanted some of the cocaine. “I had never seen cocaine before, explained Denise. I smoked cigarettes before. I smoked marijuana before. And, I had drank liquor before.
I didn’t know what it was. I asked, well what is it? They said, ‘this is coke.’ My response, so okay, what is that? So, they prepared it. So, I could ingest it. They had to show me how to do it. I didn’t know how. They said you don’t pull on it like a cigarette. You don’t smoke it like a joint. So, after tasting coke for the first time, I said okay, what’s the big deal?”
It wasn’t her first taste of the drug that would pull her down---for the next twelve years of her life—it was the second taste. She attempted it again, the same night, and that’s when it kicked her brain.
“And that’s what coke does, she explained. It kicks your brain. It’s that feeling that you are actually chasing. The feeling that you got the first time is what you are constantly trying to get. That’s why it’s so addictive. It’s very psychological.”
Again Denise warned of the role emotions play in addiction. She believes, the power of addiction is in the emotions. “You can love a person, really love a person, and commit to them. You can also be in love with a person. Similarly, you can be involved with a person and be emotionally bound to that person," she explained.
"You can also dislike a person and still be emotionally drawn to them. When you are in an emotional relationship with someone, that’s insecurity on your behalf. You will find yourself being with that person just because of emotions. You’ll find yourself doing what that person does, just because of emotions.
Yes, I heard that drugs were bad, but I just wanted to be involved with him. I was thinking if I just do what he’s doing; it would make him love me more. He’ll spend that time with me that he has been spending out on the street.”
But her emotional call to her husband did not work. She remembered that as long as she was dependent on him supplying her drugs, they were able to get along. She also remembered, the day he came home and she offered him the drugs, was the day their relationship ended.
“When I was no longer dependent on him, for whatever reason, he couldn’t handle it. That’s when he packed his bags and would soon be gone out of my life. But by now, I was already hooked,” said Denise.
Now alone, with two small children, and a 13-year-old, she had a new task of finding a way to feed her addiction. Before she was buying drugs, Denise was the primary source of the household income. Her husband was working, but he would use his money to buy drugs. Her money paid the bills. When she became addicted, her money no longer paid the responsible things. So, her relationship with her husband, really ended, when she stopped paying the bills including the rent. Eventually, the family found themselves evicted from their home.
“So he just took his bags and left us behind in Camden NJ. He left me high and dry with our two kids, one of his and one of my own. So the kids and I went to live with my mother.”
Denise’s addiction was getting worse. Now not only were her children brought into the addiction lifestyle but her mother also. It was one night while baking cookies, with the kids that a “friend” stopped by the house. He showed her a big bag of cocaine that he had stashed in a cigarette pack. Seeing it distracted her from baking the cookies. She told her mom that she would be right back. Her mom said okay. Denise left, with the friend, with the drugs. Her children were waiting for the cookies to finish baking. The next time they would see their mother was four years later.
"You can also dislike a person and still be emotionally drawn to them. When you are in an emotional relationship with someone, that’s insecurity on your behalf. You will find yourself being with that person just because of emotions. You’ll find yourself doing what that person does, just because of emotions.
Yes, I heard that drugs were bad, but I just wanted to be involved with him. I was thinking if I just do what he’s doing; it would make him love me more. He’ll spend that time with me that he has been spending out on the street.”
But her emotional call to her husband did not work. She remembered that as long as she was dependent on him supplying her drugs, they were able to get along. She also remembered, the day he came home and she offered him the drugs, was the day their relationship ended.
“When I was no longer dependent on him, for whatever reason, he couldn’t handle it. That’s when he packed his bags and would soon be gone out of my life. But by now, I was already hooked,” said Denise.
Now alone, with two small children, and a 13-year-old, she had a new task of finding a way to feed her addiction. Before she was buying drugs, Denise was the primary source of the household income. Her husband was working, but he would use his money to buy drugs. Her money paid the bills. When she became addicted, her money no longer paid the responsible things. So, her relationship with her husband, really ended, when she stopped paying the bills including the rent. Eventually, the family found themselves evicted from their home.
“So he just took his bags and left us behind in Camden NJ. He left me high and dry with our two kids, one of his and one of my own. So the kids and I went to live with my mother.”
Denise’s addiction was getting worse. Now not only were her children brought into the addiction lifestyle but her mother also. It was one night while baking cookies, with the kids that a “friend” stopped by the house. He showed her a big bag of cocaine that he had stashed in a cigarette pack. Seeing it distracted her from baking the cookies. She told her mom that she would be right back. Her mom said okay. Denise left, with the friend, with the drugs. Her children were waiting for the cookies to finish baking. The next time they would see their mother was four years later.
Denise explained, “I went to that friend’s house, and it turned into an all-nighter. And, then it became a mission. Someone else came over with some more drugs. I ended up going with them. And, somehow or another, I ended up in Atlantic City, NJ. I spent a good while in Atlantic City meeting people. I got involved in another relationship. And, it just snowballed. Before you know it, it was four years later.”
It was an accident that brought her back. There was a fire in her mother’s home that one of Denise’s children had started. Ironically, all the time she was away, she prayed that it would not be a tragedy that would make her go home.
“I know it may sound foolish to some, said Denise. I prayed that prayer because I knew, if something like that were to happen, the guilt would have riddled me for the rest of my life. I prayed and asked God, even though I knew I was wrong and absent from my family. God had mercy on me.
My nephew found me in Atlantic City NJ. He told me that the house had caught fire. I asked him first if anybody got hurt. He said no, but you can’t live in Nana’s house. He said the insurance company provided a trailer for her and the kids to live in. It was that incident that gave me enough nerve after four years to call home. After I asked was she alright, I said, Mommy can I come home. My mother being the type of mother she was, said, ‘You could have always come home.’"
So I did that. I mustered up everything I had---dealing with shame, humiliation, and all the guilt. I went home. I was able to help my mother get through that period. She had been caring for my young children when I was gone. Mom, a woman, in her late fifties, for four years, would get them up 6 in the morning, take them to a babysitter, while still working a job. She would pick them up at 6 in the evening.”
Denise said that after coming home, she was still using. It wasn’t until 1994 when she met a man who was truly committed to her that her life would take another transition. She remembers the contrast. In her past relationships, men just wanted to do things to her, take advantage of her. She said it was refreshing to meet someone who genuinely had a heart to give her, to be there for her, and be committed to her. After a year of courtship, she married her husband, Marco.
Detailing the courtship, Marco wasn’t addicted, but he was committed. In times when she needed money to pay the rent, he would provide that money, though he knew she was still messing up her money. She wanted to be, just friends. One day, he was acting strangely. She asked him, what was the matter? It was then, he confessed, he was in love with her. She replied, “Didn’t I tell you not to do that.”
“I had to realize that this man loved me in a way I needed, continued Denise. We got married, and he took me to Cancun Mexico for our honeymoon. And, I was still using.”
Denise said, on their honeymoon, because she couldn’t have the drug of choice---cocaine (she could have all the booze that she wanted), she began to act out. She became so erratic that Marco had to call the front desk and asked them to get this woman (her) out of their room. They didn’t come, but what came was the realization---she didn’t love her husband. She loved what he could do for her. It was a marriage of convenience.
“I liked that now I got my hair done; now I got my nails done, said Denise. Marco stepped me up a notch. But inside, I was still the same person, who had a craving for drugs. He stuck with me. He wasn’t addicted. He was committed.”
It was one year after. Cocaine was still accessible. Denise could get it because she had the money to get it. She went into her upstairs bathroom, to do the drug. It was like she had done, so many times before. On this day, when she ingested it, something more than a kick to her brain happened. Denise could see her heart jumping out of her chest. She knew cocaine was a stimulant. She knew if she panicked, her heart might have stopped beating.
HELP!
Again, Denise in her addiction prayed a prayer that wasn’t really for help. She prayed that the Lord wouldn’t let her children come up the stairs and find her in that state or dead. As she stood there trying to calm herself, she looked into the mirror and said—“this is it.” This time she prayed, it was for help and deliverance. And it was then, she surrendered her will to the Lord and began to pursue a way for help.
“I said Lord Somebody is going to help me today.” I got the phone book and the phone, and I went into the bedroom. I set on the floor. I began to research detox and rehabs. All the places that I called, everyone, turned me down, for one reason or another, reflected Denise. Some said I didn’t have a court order to be there. Others said, I was the wrong sex, or I was addicted to the wrong chemical. And others said that entrance was based on a seniority system. And those places that were considered all male said it would have been a tough place for me to survive.”
Denise wouldn’t give up convinced that help was coming her way that day. She believed that desperate times do call for desperate measures. This is when she opened the bedroom window and climbed out on the roof. She shut the window behind her so that her husband wouldn’t know that she was out there. She just stood out there out on the roof.
“I wasn’t going to jump, explained Denise. I was standing there because I didn’t know what else to do. So I stood there, on the roof, on the second floor, of that house. I knew this was the day that someone was going to help me. If they had to put me in a straitjacket and carry me off to some place to be helped, that’s exactly what I was looking for.
"My husband had started looking for me and calling for me. He couldn’t find me. He stood out on the porch and called me. I wouldn’t answer. He was getting desperate. I guess it was the Spirit of the Lord that told him to look up and see me, said Denise. He asked me, why was I up there? He asked me to come down. I told him. I’m not coming down. I was going to get some help today.”
HE CALLED 911
“Imagine the people who responded to the 911 call. It was people from work. These were people I knew—their sons and husbands. I worked in the school district. I worked in the classroom teaching kids.”
Denise recalled, in her addiction, some of the students would bring her drugs. The people who came this day were the family of the people with whom she worked. They knew her name. Seeing her on the roof they asked, what was the matter? She told them her problem. They assured her they were going to get her help.
And that was the blessing, and that started the process. Denise was taken into a rehab. It was a 90-day program. After forty-five days, she was torn with a different struggle. She explained, she had sought society’s way of deliverance, by going into a rehab. She began to feel a struggle between what God’s Word said and society’s answers. She yielded to God again and went to the instructor of the center.
“I thanked the instructor for all the help since I had been there. I told him, I’m going back to my Father’s house. It was then, I went back to church and gave my life back to the Lord, said Denise, and that was 11 years ago.”
THE STRUGGLE DEFINED
Denise detailed her struggle in the rehab center. “The Word of God declares---who we are, how much God loves us, the purpose for our lives, and all of that. In a rehab, they want to reprogram you. They want to give you and fill you with a lot of medical terminology. They use certain logic and psychological perspective as opposed to the real deal. Drug Addiction is a spirit. It’s a mood-changing substance that affects your spirit. Everything has a spiritual root. You can’t treat a spiritual problem with a natural remedy. So, that’s where the struggle was. They were giving me a natural remedy for a spiritual problem.”
MINISTRY DEFINED
Denise was raised in church from a little girl. Her father sang in church. Her mom went to church. Her grandmother brought her up in church. She sang in church. “Then you reach a certain age, said Denise, and you get out there, and start doing your thing.”
She had her first child at 16. Her father died when she was 21. So she lost his strong, strict, influence in her life. Although he had instilled in her certain values, she still holds on too, his hand or his watchful eye wasn’t there. Accordingly, she deviated from the things she was taught.
Today Denise is a minister, evangelist, church elder, devoted wife, and mother, and other things. Things have changed quite a bit. She now works in a Christian shelter ministry that provides shelter for homeless people regardless of why they are homeless. The shelter provides a Christian environment, a haven---with a short period to give them Jesus. Some come in knowing about Jesus, so there’s a short time to get them into a relationship with Jesus.
“And that’s not always easy, says Denise. Some come in just to get a few days’ rest because they have been sleeping under the bridge. They need a place to get some hot meals, a bath, and a safe place to sleep at night. Some people come in because they are tired and they’re ready for help. We can make some changes in their life.
MISS MIMI
In October of 20---- there was an audition for a children television program. “I wasn’t thinking about auditioning, said Denise. They were looking for an African-American grandmotherly type of woman to play the main character. I said to myself that’s me.”
Drama has always been an underlying passion of hers having performed with the renowned Evelyn Grave Drama Ministry of Philadelphia. Her resume includes performances as The Crucifixion and the Rapture.
Mimi’s House is based on a daycare in this African American woman’s home. Denise was cast for the lead character, Mimi. The show was created to affect children in a very positive way. She explains that children today are so inundated with negativity.
“They see it everywhere, said Denise. They see it at home, and at school. They see it on the street, and they see on TV & video. This show is going to instill positive principles for the children that watch and for the children on the show.
The show uses real life children as oppose to professional actors."We have children who are physically there, doing these positive things with Mimi, explained Denise. The children range between the ages of three-and-a-half, six-and-a-half and preschool age. Children will learn things like proper hand washing procedures and good manners. We bring in different people who tell the children different things that they may know.
For example, some people may have a negative opinion of police officers, so we bring in a state trooper who tells them about car and seat belt safety. He’ll read a story to them. He’ll spend time with them on a personal level, as opposed to being a cop. He’ll come down on a daddy level or an uncle level and share quality time with them.
There’s an episode that features staff from the Salisbury Zoo, who bring in animals that had been injured and rescued. We teach them, you just don’t kill it, because it got hurt. You take it in, and you nurture it. You bring it back to health. You take it in and care for it the best as you can.
Another episode has a visit from an American Indian, who shows different things he was able to do, with things we throw away. He went into the backyard and picked what we call weeds. He taught that if we were stranded, we could eat them to survive for a few days. So we teach them things that will broaden their understanding and knowledge. We do fun things as well as, like having an indoor picnic, when it’s raining outside. "
She says the show, although using a script, is full of spontaneity and open conversation with the children. The show was scheduled to air sometime in the fall. [editor note-the Miss Mimi Show is currently on hold]
God has also given Denise a passion for ministering to women. She uses her gift to network. “Because I am a woman, says Denise, I want to show other women how to network. Women as a whole don’t network. I wanted to teach other women how to network. I believe when women come together with an idea, we can birth that thing.”
"Deliverer," is how Denise most emphatically describes the Lord in her life. “Yes, He’s my Savior. He’s my provider. He’s my healer. And, He is so much more. Still, the one personal word from Him to me is He’s My Deliverer! For if He had not delivered me from something that I could not deliver myself from—I just don’t know where I would be. All I had done in the past twelve years---was to supply my habit, to do what I wanted to do. I ended in the places that I ended up. He had mercy on me.
"'He didn’t allow me to come out of that HIV positive. I have never been in jail. Although I did things that would throw bricks at the penitentiary---if you will. I thank God because He was my deliverer from everything that I had gone through. The bible talks about a woman who had been bowed over for 18 years. The Bible says it wasn’t a physical thing. It was a spirit of infirmity that caused her situation. Sometimes, we are gripped by the spirit of something that happened so long ago that we are still stuck in a crippled place.
"I thank God. It was not just enough to take the taste out of my mouth or the habit out of my will. I needed Him also to deliver me from the behavior. The behavior associated with using. Deliverance is a process. It’s a continuation. Yes, God delivered me from the active usage of drugs. The same time, He delivered me from the spirit of drugs. I thank God that He is still doing that. When you are in addiction, you have a manipulative spirit. You have an---I want, what I want, when I want it spirit. You throw those tantrums. You can’t manage your money. These are things that from, God is still helping me.
"Another sign of addiction can be impulsiveness. You have no intention to go by drugs, but because you saw somebody, or you smelled something, or you thought about some place where you were, the next thing you know, you are out looking for a drug. If you are not buying drugs, you might get mad or upset about something, so instead of drugs, you spend money on something else for no reason at all.
"God says in the Bible; you have to 'first' believe that I am (God) before you can even come to me (God). It’s like the prodigal son, who got to the place that the pig slop looked like steak and potatoes. He didn’t know his father was waiting for him. We are no different from that prodigal son in the Bible. You can still come home to our Heavenly Father’s house. It doesn’t matter where you have been or what you have done. You can still come home.
"We heard over and over before—Man’s infirmities are God’s opportunity. God will bring you from the gutter-most to the uttermost, and that’s the success in Him. As long as you got breath, there is hope. Deliverance is not only from where God has brought you out of, but where he has taken you into. My images of the Father house, continued Denise, have always been the strong, loving embrace of the waiting Father.”
It was an accident that brought her back. There was a fire in her mother’s home that one of Denise’s children had started. Ironically, all the time she was away, she prayed that it would not be a tragedy that would make her go home.
“I know it may sound foolish to some, said Denise. I prayed that prayer because I knew, if something like that were to happen, the guilt would have riddled me for the rest of my life. I prayed and asked God, even though I knew I was wrong and absent from my family. God had mercy on me.
My nephew found me in Atlantic City NJ. He told me that the house had caught fire. I asked him first if anybody got hurt. He said no, but you can’t live in Nana’s house. He said the insurance company provided a trailer for her and the kids to live in. It was that incident that gave me enough nerve after four years to call home. After I asked was she alright, I said, Mommy can I come home. My mother being the type of mother she was, said, ‘You could have always come home.’"
So I did that. I mustered up everything I had---dealing with shame, humiliation, and all the guilt. I went home. I was able to help my mother get through that period. She had been caring for my young children when I was gone. Mom, a woman, in her late fifties, for four years, would get them up 6 in the morning, take them to a babysitter, while still working a job. She would pick them up at 6 in the evening.”
Denise said that after coming home, she was still using. It wasn’t until 1994 when she met a man who was truly committed to her that her life would take another transition. She remembers the contrast. In her past relationships, men just wanted to do things to her, take advantage of her. She said it was refreshing to meet someone who genuinely had a heart to give her, to be there for her, and be committed to her. After a year of courtship, she married her husband, Marco.
Detailing the courtship, Marco wasn’t addicted, but he was committed. In times when she needed money to pay the rent, he would provide that money, though he knew she was still messing up her money. She wanted to be, just friends. One day, he was acting strangely. She asked him, what was the matter? It was then, he confessed, he was in love with her. She replied, “Didn’t I tell you not to do that.”
“I had to realize that this man loved me in a way I needed, continued Denise. We got married, and he took me to Cancun Mexico for our honeymoon. And, I was still using.”
Denise said, on their honeymoon, because she couldn’t have the drug of choice---cocaine (she could have all the booze that she wanted), she began to act out. She became so erratic that Marco had to call the front desk and asked them to get this woman (her) out of their room. They didn’t come, but what came was the realization---she didn’t love her husband. She loved what he could do for her. It was a marriage of convenience.
“I liked that now I got my hair done; now I got my nails done, said Denise. Marco stepped me up a notch. But inside, I was still the same person, who had a craving for drugs. He stuck with me. He wasn’t addicted. He was committed.”
It was one year after. Cocaine was still accessible. Denise could get it because she had the money to get it. She went into her upstairs bathroom, to do the drug. It was like she had done, so many times before. On this day, when she ingested it, something more than a kick to her brain happened. Denise could see her heart jumping out of her chest. She knew cocaine was a stimulant. She knew if she panicked, her heart might have stopped beating.
HELP!
Again, Denise in her addiction prayed a prayer that wasn’t really for help. She prayed that the Lord wouldn’t let her children come up the stairs and find her in that state or dead. As she stood there trying to calm herself, she looked into the mirror and said—“this is it.” This time she prayed, it was for help and deliverance. And it was then, she surrendered her will to the Lord and began to pursue a way for help.
“I said Lord Somebody is going to help me today.” I got the phone book and the phone, and I went into the bedroom. I set on the floor. I began to research detox and rehabs. All the places that I called, everyone, turned me down, for one reason or another, reflected Denise. Some said I didn’t have a court order to be there. Others said, I was the wrong sex, or I was addicted to the wrong chemical. And others said that entrance was based on a seniority system. And those places that were considered all male said it would have been a tough place for me to survive.”
Denise wouldn’t give up convinced that help was coming her way that day. She believed that desperate times do call for desperate measures. This is when she opened the bedroom window and climbed out on the roof. She shut the window behind her so that her husband wouldn’t know that she was out there. She just stood out there out on the roof.
“I wasn’t going to jump, explained Denise. I was standing there because I didn’t know what else to do. So I stood there, on the roof, on the second floor, of that house. I knew this was the day that someone was going to help me. If they had to put me in a straitjacket and carry me off to some place to be helped, that’s exactly what I was looking for.
"My husband had started looking for me and calling for me. He couldn’t find me. He stood out on the porch and called me. I wouldn’t answer. He was getting desperate. I guess it was the Spirit of the Lord that told him to look up and see me, said Denise. He asked me, why was I up there? He asked me to come down. I told him. I’m not coming down. I was going to get some help today.”
HE CALLED 911
“Imagine the people who responded to the 911 call. It was people from work. These were people I knew—their sons and husbands. I worked in the school district. I worked in the classroom teaching kids.”
Denise recalled, in her addiction, some of the students would bring her drugs. The people who came this day were the family of the people with whom she worked. They knew her name. Seeing her on the roof they asked, what was the matter? She told them her problem. They assured her they were going to get her help.
And that was the blessing, and that started the process. Denise was taken into a rehab. It was a 90-day program. After forty-five days, she was torn with a different struggle. She explained, she had sought society’s way of deliverance, by going into a rehab. She began to feel a struggle between what God’s Word said and society’s answers. She yielded to God again and went to the instructor of the center.
“I thanked the instructor for all the help since I had been there. I told him, I’m going back to my Father’s house. It was then, I went back to church and gave my life back to the Lord, said Denise, and that was 11 years ago.”
THE STRUGGLE DEFINED
Denise detailed her struggle in the rehab center. “The Word of God declares---who we are, how much God loves us, the purpose for our lives, and all of that. In a rehab, they want to reprogram you. They want to give you and fill you with a lot of medical terminology. They use certain logic and psychological perspective as opposed to the real deal. Drug Addiction is a spirit. It’s a mood-changing substance that affects your spirit. Everything has a spiritual root. You can’t treat a spiritual problem with a natural remedy. So, that’s where the struggle was. They were giving me a natural remedy for a spiritual problem.”
MINISTRY DEFINED
Denise was raised in church from a little girl. Her father sang in church. Her mom went to church. Her grandmother brought her up in church. She sang in church. “Then you reach a certain age, said Denise, and you get out there, and start doing your thing.”
She had her first child at 16. Her father died when she was 21. So she lost his strong, strict, influence in her life. Although he had instilled in her certain values, she still holds on too, his hand or his watchful eye wasn’t there. Accordingly, she deviated from the things she was taught.
Today Denise is a minister, evangelist, church elder, devoted wife, and mother, and other things. Things have changed quite a bit. She now works in a Christian shelter ministry that provides shelter for homeless people regardless of why they are homeless. The shelter provides a Christian environment, a haven---with a short period to give them Jesus. Some come in knowing about Jesus, so there’s a short time to get them into a relationship with Jesus.
“And that’s not always easy, says Denise. Some come in just to get a few days’ rest because they have been sleeping under the bridge. They need a place to get some hot meals, a bath, and a safe place to sleep at night. Some people come in because they are tired and they’re ready for help. We can make some changes in their life.
MISS MIMI
In October of 20---- there was an audition for a children television program. “I wasn’t thinking about auditioning, said Denise. They were looking for an African-American grandmotherly type of woman to play the main character. I said to myself that’s me.”
Drama has always been an underlying passion of hers having performed with the renowned Evelyn Grave Drama Ministry of Philadelphia. Her resume includes performances as The Crucifixion and the Rapture.
Mimi’s House is based on a daycare in this African American woman’s home. Denise was cast for the lead character, Mimi. The show was created to affect children in a very positive way. She explains that children today are so inundated with negativity.
“They see it everywhere, said Denise. They see it at home, and at school. They see it on the street, and they see on TV & video. This show is going to instill positive principles for the children that watch and for the children on the show.
The show uses real life children as oppose to professional actors."We have children who are physically there, doing these positive things with Mimi, explained Denise. The children range between the ages of three-and-a-half, six-and-a-half and preschool age. Children will learn things like proper hand washing procedures and good manners. We bring in different people who tell the children different things that they may know.
For example, some people may have a negative opinion of police officers, so we bring in a state trooper who tells them about car and seat belt safety. He’ll read a story to them. He’ll spend time with them on a personal level, as opposed to being a cop. He’ll come down on a daddy level or an uncle level and share quality time with them.
There’s an episode that features staff from the Salisbury Zoo, who bring in animals that had been injured and rescued. We teach them, you just don’t kill it, because it got hurt. You take it in, and you nurture it. You bring it back to health. You take it in and care for it the best as you can.
Another episode has a visit from an American Indian, who shows different things he was able to do, with things we throw away. He went into the backyard and picked what we call weeds. He taught that if we were stranded, we could eat them to survive for a few days. So we teach them things that will broaden their understanding and knowledge. We do fun things as well as, like having an indoor picnic, when it’s raining outside. "
She says the show, although using a script, is full of spontaneity and open conversation with the children. The show was scheduled to air sometime in the fall. [editor note-the Miss Mimi Show is currently on hold]
God has also given Denise a passion for ministering to women. She uses her gift to network. “Because I am a woman, says Denise, I want to show other women how to network. Women as a whole don’t network. I wanted to teach other women how to network. I believe when women come together with an idea, we can birth that thing.”
"Deliverer," is how Denise most emphatically describes the Lord in her life. “Yes, He’s my Savior. He’s my provider. He’s my healer. And, He is so much more. Still, the one personal word from Him to me is He’s My Deliverer! For if He had not delivered me from something that I could not deliver myself from—I just don’t know where I would be. All I had done in the past twelve years---was to supply my habit, to do what I wanted to do. I ended in the places that I ended up. He had mercy on me.
"'He didn’t allow me to come out of that HIV positive. I have never been in jail. Although I did things that would throw bricks at the penitentiary---if you will. I thank God because He was my deliverer from everything that I had gone through. The bible talks about a woman who had been bowed over for 18 years. The Bible says it wasn’t a physical thing. It was a spirit of infirmity that caused her situation. Sometimes, we are gripped by the spirit of something that happened so long ago that we are still stuck in a crippled place.
"I thank God. It was not just enough to take the taste out of my mouth or the habit out of my will. I needed Him also to deliver me from the behavior. The behavior associated with using. Deliverance is a process. It’s a continuation. Yes, God delivered me from the active usage of drugs. The same time, He delivered me from the spirit of drugs. I thank God that He is still doing that. When you are in addiction, you have a manipulative spirit. You have an---I want, what I want, when I want it spirit. You throw those tantrums. You can’t manage your money. These are things that from, God is still helping me.
"Another sign of addiction can be impulsiveness. You have no intention to go by drugs, but because you saw somebody, or you smelled something, or you thought about some place where you were, the next thing you know, you are out looking for a drug. If you are not buying drugs, you might get mad or upset about something, so instead of drugs, you spend money on something else for no reason at all.
"God says in the Bible; you have to 'first' believe that I am (God) before you can even come to me (God). It’s like the prodigal son, who got to the place that the pig slop looked like steak and potatoes. He didn’t know his father was waiting for him. We are no different from that prodigal son in the Bible. You can still come home to our Heavenly Father’s house. It doesn’t matter where you have been or what you have done. You can still come home.
"We heard over and over before—Man’s infirmities are God’s opportunity. God will bring you from the gutter-most to the uttermost, and that’s the success in Him. As long as you got breath, there is hope. Deliverance is not only from where God has brought you out of, but where he has taken you into. My images of the Father house, continued Denise, have always been the strong, loving embrace of the waiting Father.”