Emily’s Recovery Journey

After battling addiction and homelessness, Emily Craig found hope and recovery through Operation Rise Again and The Oaks Recovery program. Now over a year sober, she shares her inspiring journey of faith, healing, and a second chance at life.

My name is Emily Craig. I'm 31 years old, and thanks to Operation Rise Again helping me get into treatment at Oaks Recovery in July of 2023, I am now one year and one month sober from all mood-altering substances. These days, I'm blessed to live a life full of joy, peace, and love—all things I thought didn't exist. If they did, they surely didn't exist for a hopeless heroin addict like myself. My goal in sharing my experience, strength, and hope is to show how much God can do when you finally surrender and allow someone to help you.

I grew up in a very broken and dysfunctional family full of alcoholics and addicts. So, I thought those things, along with chaos, were normal. I'm the youngest of four, and I never really fit in, so I found myself doing whatever my friends were doing because then I was accepted. Looking back now, I can see how my disease was there all along because I always wanted more—more attention, more alcohol, more weed, more cocaine—anything to fill the void I had. I was very promiscuous at a young age due to having a very distorted view of love. I found myself pregnant at 16 with my son. During that time, I was able to leave all the partying alone, but I was also in a very toxic relationship with very few options or choices.

After my son's birth, the craving for something to feel whole was back as if it never left. Pills for anxiety and depression became my comfort. Once I got out of that relationship, I felt free to do whatever I wanted, so I went back to partying, living a double life—working mom during the day, getting my fix and doing whatever to fit in at night. By July 2012, I found myself facing a high-class felony, my son being taken away, and it taking three days in the county jail for the fog to clear before I realized what I had done. After I got out on a plea bargain under the Youthful Offender Act, I didn't know how to cope without my son. I thank God that he was with my sister and not a ward of the state due to my selfish actions. Not only did I fail myself, but I had failed my child, and I didn't know which way to go or how to regain my footing in life. So, I went back to the only thing I knew would numb all the pain.

Within a year, I had violated my probation and was on my way to prison for the next three years. I made good use of the time that I was away: I got my GED, I got my work keys, I attended every self-help group they offered, I went through the addiction treatment program, but most of all, I found God in those three years. When I came home, I thought I was done with addiction. I thought I had been through enough, but I would soon find out that I was about to fall harder than I ever did. I did well for a while, but I was also doing everything to prove to everyone else that I was better, that I could change and be successful. I was seeking validation from everyone and everything else besides the only one who can validate me, which is God. I was miserable, and I felt so alone.

I started to slowly bend the rules. Even though I was on parole, I started to go out and drink. I got into a relationship and put a man before myself and everyone else. Over time, I was consumed in what turned out to be a very abusive, controlling, and toxic relationship. For the next six years, I was basically a hostage to it; I wasn't allowed to leave even if I wanted to. I got introduced to meth and then heroin. I started using needles, and slowly, I didn't even recognize myself until this past year. All the things I thought I could never bring myself to do, I did. All the people that I never wanted to hurt, I harmed. I was a slave in my own skin.

I got pregnant with my daughter in 2020. Since I was in jail for the first month, I managed to stay sober for the next two and a half months, but eventually, I relapsed during my pregnancy. I was too ashamed to seek help or be honest with anybody. I had my daughter at seven months; she only weighed three pounds. By God's grace in my life, she didn't detox or withdraw, and she got to go home with her dad's aunt. After that, my desire to live was non-existent. I figured that everybody would be better off if I wasn't around. But time and time again, overdose after overdose, I would keep waking up.

While living homeless on the streets, I met some wonderful people from Seacoast Church who came out to give food and resources to the homeless. One of the women who volunteered would always find me, show me love, give me her number, and let me know that I didn't have to live like that. She told me to call her whenever I was ready. I wanted to call; I wanted to be done with that life, but I also felt like I deserved the life I was living. Plus, how could a homeless addict with no insurance afford treatment anyway? Little did I know that God always had a plan. After about eight months of her telling me the same thing and giving me her number over and over, I finally called. I was so tired of living the way I was living. I figured whatever life she was talking about had to be better than this. What did I really have to lose?

“These days, I'm blessed to live a life full of joy, peace, and love—all things I thought didn't exist. My goal in sharing my experience, strength, and hope is to show how much God can do when you finally surrender and allow someone to help you.”

I was at my mom's house detoxing, so those few days are a blur, but I know that Operation Rise Again paved the way for me to have another chance in life. Willow House at the Oaks taught me all about the 12 Steps of AA. They taught me how to apply a program of recovery and action to my daily life, how to heal the pieces of myself that I was ashamed of, and how to use my experience to encourage others to do the same. Most importantly, they taught me how to rely on a power greater than myself, whom I call God. Today, I'm active in the recovery community. I go back to the Oaks from time to time as an alumna to share my story with newcomers and celebrate milestones of sobriety with my newfound family. I'm part of the same street ministry at Seacoast Church that helped save my life. I live with my mom and help take care of her. A year and a half ago, I wasn't even trusted to be in a room alone at her house. I work, and I go to school for welding.

Every day, the promises keep coming true in my life. I ask God to use me to spread His light and to guide my steps because His will for my life is so much sweeter than anything I could ever plan. I'm eternally grateful for Operation Rise Again and their mission to help those who are sick and suffering. It's because of their vision and their blind faith to view everyone as God does that I get to live a life beyond my wildest dreams.

Note: Emily Craig now sits on the Board of Directors of Operation Rise Again, continuing to share her story and help others find their way.