Have you ever felt like giving up? Searita Jones shares her story on 100 Huntley Street with Cheryl Weber.

Cheryl Weber:
Have you ever felt like giving up, I know I have, that things are just too hard, too complicated, or your life is never going to change? My guest today hit that wall, but today she says she’s found a peace and a joy that keeps her going. Searita, thank you so much for joining us.

Searita Jones:
Thank you for having me, Cheryl.

Cheryl Weber:
So, what was it that you hit that bottom? I know you were married, you and your husband were addicted. Tell me about life, what life was like in those days?

Searita Jones:
Life was very difficult, it just felt like nothing was going right in our lives, everything was just falling down around us. We couldn’t keep our heads above water, financially. We were both working and employed, but life was just hard.

Cheryl Weber:
When I say you’re addicted, you were both addicted to crack cocaine, this wasn’t a small addiction.

Searita Jones:
No.

Cheryl Weber:
So, how was that driving things?

Searita Jones:
That was very difficult. We ended up losing everything. Ended up losing everything and having to start our lives all over again, in Massachusetts.

Cheryl Weber:
And you didn’t just lose everything, you ended up losing that marriage, being a single mom, three kids. Tell me about that.

Searita Jones:
That was a very difficult time in my life, too. I managed to stay employed. Also, managed to, miraculously, by the will of God, educate my children, my two sons. They actually were enrolled in private schools, went to private boarding schools during all of this.

Cheryl Weber:
Wow. How did you do that?

Searita Jones:
I just look back and I just say it was God. It was God that opened up those doors.

Cheryl Weber:
Now, you were not necessarily somebody who had a relationship with God during those years, so tell me about how you and God were relating, when now you say it was God?

Searita Jones:
I was always brought up in church, I used to sing in church, my mother was director of the Youth Department in our church, so I had a spiritual background, but I never gave my life to the Lord.

Cheryl Weber:
Now, you cried out to God at one point, so, obviously, because you grew up in that, that was kind of natural for you. So, tell me about that conversation.

Searita Jones:
Many nights, I would wake up in the middle of the night and just fall on my knees and just cry out to God and ask him for help because my life seemed like it was spiraling out of control.

Cheryl Weber:
Now, you said you were a crack addict when you were married. What happened to that addiction? Was that still following through in your single motherhood?

Searita Jones:
Yes.

Cheryl Weber:
Wow. How do you raise kids on one salary, pay for the crack addiction, got into some sketchy things, shall we say?

Searita Jones:
Yes. Like I said, it was just a dark part of my life, I can’t even tell you how I got through it, but I was not honest with people, I told lies, a lot of lies. When you have an addiction, you’ll do whatever you can to feed that addiction and that’s what I did.

Cheryl Weber:
So, you told a lot of lies. How did you get money for your addiction?

Searita Jones:
Work.

Cheryl Weber:
So, you worked?

Searita Jones:
I worked.

Cheryl Weber:
There was some fraudulent checks in there, too.

Searita Jones:
There were a lot of fraudulent checks. I used to write worthless checks, return the merchandise to the store and get the money; at one point, you could do that. You can’t do that today, but, at one point, you could do that.

Cheryl Weber:
And so it took a while for God to respond to you. You’re crying out to him in the middle of the night, saying, “My life is spiraling down, I’m losing everything,” but, initially, you were kind of like, “Where are you?” So, tell me about that because that’s tough.

Searita Jones:
I describe it as I felt like I was on a side of a cliff and was just holding on with one hand, and just as my hand, that one hand, was about to let go and I was about to fall to my death, God reached his hands out and he grabbed me.

Cheryl Weber:
And he did that through a very special coworker that you were working with, he moved right across from you.

Searita Jones:
Yes.

Cheryl Weber:
What was it about him that was piquing your interest?

Searita Jones:
I just saw, in his continence, something different. He was a very young man, in his early 20s, and he wasn’t like your average 20-year-old, and I just knew that there was something different about him, and he invited me to a revival at his church one night.

Cheryl Weber:
So, what was that like?

Searita Jones:
That was awesome. I could feel the spirit of the Lord as soon as I walked through the doors of the church, and what I experienced that night was people being delivered, they were being set free, they were being healed, and the presence of the Lord was definitely in the sanctuary that night.

Cheryl Weber:
Wow. And so you saw something different, but nothing immediately changed. You ended up going to a Bible study with your coworker at lunch because you wanted him to pray for you to be free from cigarette addiction, right? Tell me about this.

Searita Jones:
Yes. One day, I asked him what was he doing for lunch and he said he was going to the church for noon-day prayer, and I told him, with a cigarette in my hand, I said, “You know what? I need to stop smoking these cigarettes,” so he invited me to come along with him.

Cheryl Weber:
And what happened?

Searita Jones:
I was set free and delivered. When I walked into that sanctuary, the minister who was there, her name was Pastor Jesse White, and she came over and she started praying for me, and the next thing I remember, I was being helped up off the floor, but I remember feeling different.

Cheryl Weber:
Wow. What changed then, after that? You felt different?

Searita Jones:
Yes. My whole life changed, everything about me changed. From that moment, when I got up, I left my cigarettes and my lighter there, on the chair, and from that moment on, I knew I had been touched by the Lord.

Cheryl Weber:
Wow, that’s amazing. What would you say to somebody who is where you are, feeling like, “My life is going nowhere and I don’t think I can ever change”?

Searita Jones:
I would tell them to call out to God. Jeremiah 33, “The Lord says call unto me and I will answer you.” And even though I thought God didn’t answer, he answered my prayers, and God will answer their prayers, also, but he wants us to come to him under our own free will.

Cheryl Weber:
Thank you so much for coming to share your story today. You are a transformed woman. We so appreciate hearing from you. And transformation is possible.