Dusica

My dear Potential Church Family,

My son needs your prayers. He’s 23, brilliant, talented, plays his sax with heart & soul, received a partial music scholarship at an out-of-state University 2.5yrs. ago. He left for college full of hopes & dreams, excited to study music, study psychology, and fulfil his dream of using music as therapy to heal others’ pain. That dream within a year was crushed by drug use. He never tried drugs in high school, never gave me a hard time about anything, was a marching band captain for 3 yrs. and graduated high school with honors. What started out as just harmless marijuana (according to him) at a party in college, progressed to other drugs. First year in college he took 19 credits and held a 3.9 GPA. His second year, his GPA plummeted to 1.4.

I brought him home & tried everything I could as a single mother to get him to commit to a drug-rehab program. His father offered no support because he feels that our son can just give this up on his own will. My son actually carries many hurts due to his father’s lack of support about a lot of things in his life, including his desire to study music. My son attended a 6 week IOP (Intensive Outpatient Program) which I paid for by working two jobs. He did so well that he was allowed to stay for an additional 6weeks at no additional cost. He even began mentoring new members. However, around the 9th week, things started going downhill again. He went to a coworkers party, and that one night of marijuana smoking unraveled his sobriety. My son told me it was like a switch that was turned on and he could not stop. That was a little over a year ago. End of November of this past year (2020), he himself agreed to go into an in-house mental illness & drug rehab facility. I could not afford to pay the enormous fee, but God heard my prayers and the facility agreed to accept only my son’s insurance as payment. My son & I cried together for this blessing. He promised he will do everything he needs to do to get better. He received intensive group therapy every day, 2x day. Private therapy once a week. After 30 days the insurance was not willing to approve further treatment because his main drug of choice was marijuana, and the insurance company says that it is not an addictive substance and 30 days of treatment was enough time. The rehab facility felt that it was too soon for him to leave, and felt that a 90 day program would be better for him. I am not able to pay out of pocket, and his father refuses to help.

He came home on Monday of this week. On Tuesday, he played his sax for the first time in over a year. It was a beautiful sound to hear. On Wednesday, he started an online IOP that is held 3x week with the same rehab group, which his insurance company did approve, but I still don’t know for how long. By Saturday, he started vaping marijuana again. Because of his diagnosis, he is now on 3 different medications for depression, anxiety, and bipolar 2 disorder. The side effects of combining any drug, including CBD oil, with his bipolar medication is horrific. I already had a glimpse of the side effect and how it affected him. I worry about him dying from an overdose. Please, please, pray for him to gain strength and get back on track to sobriety. I am lost. I don’t know what else to do. I see him trying, but I also see him struggling. He has my support, and support of his sister, and friends and family. I feel like he needs a supportive village to gather around him to give him strength as well. Covid however, is making that difficult. I desperately ask for your prayers, for God to give him strength to get through this. I also ask for your forgiveness in posting this long, long, request. I guess I just needed to get this out, for you to hear this mother’s cries, so you have a full understanding of the situation. Thank you so much for your prayers. God Bless.

Potential, if you have a support group that deals with addictions, please let me know. I feel that my son will do better surrounded by those that have been there and who overcame their addiction with God’s help.

Received: January 4, 2021