I saw her rebel heart from the start.
I looked and then I looked again and felt my heart drop. She looked like a friend I love dearly. She had a Punky Brewster exterior but I saw her eyes – a mixture of sadness and fear. She was tough and I felt it.
Life had tried to knock her down and she was still standing.
I walked to the back of the room and starting the dialogue with Jesus, “Did you send that girl in here ? I know this is you because she reminds me of (my friend, that I love dearly). I don’t want to get attached to her and I will. Send her to someone else.”
I still laugh at the times I think I can argue with Jesus.
I introduced myself to her. Shortly after I found out she lived with a woman I have known for decades. The lady, Kathy, was going to be camping and she asked me to check on Diedra. I did and we laugh about it now. I could always hear hesitation in her voice. Later she told me she was thinking “why is she always calling me. I don’t know her.”
Here is the reason God sent her to us.
She had gotten out of rehab on Friday and we met her that Sunday at Celebrate Recovery.
That was February 2019.
On October 30, 2018, Jesus rescued Diedra. She overdosed in a parking lot in Galax at 3pm. She woke up to paramedics beating on her window. She says she remembers waking up like she was in tunnel and seeing a church. She swallowed two more grams of meth before the cops got there and arrested her.
She had the choice of rehab or jail and she chose rehab. That’s where God started her healing. Then after she left, God led her to us. She started hanging out in the soup kitchen. My mom saw that rebel heart and she tough-loved Diedra. Now, she’s one of my mom’s babies.
We got to see her reconnect with her children and fall in love with Jesus.
She accepted salvation sitting on my couch. She is one of the best fishermen I know. She’s also such a natural encourager and she is a Peter( Peter the discipline was mouthy and tough. If you don’t know about him, look him up)
This is just a glimpse into why we stay so encouraged around people who have been in active addiction. They are rescued people and their passion for Jesus is contagious.
Very quickly Diedra became the little sister I used to long for – spunky as ever and an upcoming powerhouse for Jesus! She changed my life. She took me under her wing and taught me about addiction. Addiction is a painful disease – the choice until it no longer isn’t. The robber of life.
We made a deal. She would teach me about addiction and in turn I taught her about this man I worshipped named Jesus.
She let me into her world, a world so foreign that kept calling out to me. She took me to my first trap house and it’s the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen before. Needles on the floor. Rooms in disarray. No lights or water. I will forever look at people who have overcome addiction in awe. They are the modern Lazarus.
Diedra, you light up my life you dime piece!! Your faith inspires me. I also appreciate your complete honesty with me. Thank you for keeping me accountable to God. I’m thankful I get to run into battle with you.
She’s a walking miracle.
“I got clean for my kids. I wanted to be a mom and get my identity back because I lost who I was. There was this void I couldn’t heal until I learned about Jesus.” Diedra Cooke, the “hopedealer.”
God is good ya’ll. A miracle worker. I see it every day.