After 13 years of sobriety, Darla Cone succumbed to life’s pressures and returned to using speed. Had she known the consequences, she might have had second thoughts. Within a year, she lost her apartment, moved in with her boyfriend, lost that apartment and found herself on the street. No longer fit to take proper care of her two children (Summer, now 13 and Joey, now 8), Darla relinquished custody of them to her ex-husband.

Early in 2002, Darla and her boyfriend recovered enough to get into a motel room. By April, Darla was pregnant with her son, Lucas, now 21 months. And still, the drug use continued. Her skewed sense of priorities had methamphetamines at the top of the list, and by default, her unborn child became a prime candidate for adoption.

As she approached the bottom of her slide, the now vague (yet impossible to ignore) underpinnings of her Christian upbringing began to tug at Darla’s heart and she reached out to God. “Even while I was on my descent,” she says, “I kept lifting my hands up like something’s going to grab me and keep me from going down.”

She was right. In August, Darla met George and Daniel of OCRM’s Strong Beginnings Program and was placed on the waiting list. Meanwhile, in October of 2002, she split up with her boyfriend and entered a shelter for pregnant women. During her two month stay there, the drug-induced fog that had clouded Darla’s thinking began to clear, and she suddenly realized, “I can’t give my baby up!” Darla hasn’t used speed since.

In December, her best friend opened her home to Darla, where she accumulated “clean time” and attended Narcotics Anonymous meetings. It was there, in January of 2003, that she gave birth to her son, Lucas. In March, Darla and her son moved (once again) into a motel, and in June she was contacted by Strong Beginnings Case Manager Pamela Chapman.

Over the next year, Pamela worked with Darla on setting goals and dealing with the obstacles to self-sufficiency: traffic violations, credit troubles, education, etc. During this time Darla served 30 hours of community service (at OCRM) for the traffic offenses, received credit counseling and attended classes in office technology training through the Regional Occupational Program. She was also greatly helped by OCRM’s War on Hunger Food Assistance Program.

In August 2004, Darla and her son, Lucas, moved into their own apartment! In addition, Darla attained one of her most important goals when she attended a mediation meeting for partial custody of her two older children. She now has them with her for half of each week.

When asked what she’s learned from all this, Darla talks about how God used even negative circumstances for her benefit. Five years ago, Darla was depressed and suicidal. “I look back at that girl and it’s almost like it’s another person,” she says. What changed? Darla found out that God loves her, regardless of the wrong choices she’s made. She’s learned, in fact, that she’s loveable. “And because I’ve allowed myself to be loved, and to love myself, I have a lot more compassion for other people.”