Chelsea

Chelsea’s story is for those who have been in and out, in and out of addiction. There IS a way OUT and Chelsea is living that now. She’s seen in her life what addiction did to her and took from her after it kept returning even when she was in a Christian ministry, but let’s get to the positive first and that positive for Chelsea is The Bridge. “I had never been to a rehab, but The Bridge welcomed me with arms open wide, with no judgment or criticism,” she said. “You get the feeling they will not give up on you, like they still love you anyway.” 

Chelsea’s struggle started when she was 11 years old. She started drinking while living in a single parent home and gravitated to weed and then into pills and cocaine. “It just got worse, I was a truant from school and out of control at home. My Mom and Dad did the best they could with what they had,” she recalls. Chelsea was saved at age 17 after she hit her first rock bottom. Her Mom was a strong Christian and Chelsea decided to give Jesus a try. “I started just crying out to Him and knew He was what I needed. I was ready to give up partying and the darkness,” she said. From 17 to 21 she was on fire for the Lord while attending Calvary Monterey which her family had been going to. She also went to Bible college at age 19 and ended up interning for the Dean of Women to learn the behind the scenes of women’s ministry at age 21.

When graduating, she met her now ex-husband. He had come out of a men’s recovery home. While dating, they did pills, alcohol, and black tar heroine together. They got support from their church and college family to get married. He was promoted to executive chef of a conference center. On the outside their marriage and lives seemed like a dream, but both were abusing prescription medications, alcohol, and heroine. Chelsea didn’t think she was an addict. She thought she had it under control and they were still in ministry. She did ministry with Bible studies at her house but she had gotten into excessive drinking. Then the pastor noticed that her husband was going off the rails and told him to go to rehab or he was fired. The pastor didn’t realize Chelsea was using as she didn’t look or act like someone in addiction. They left and moved closer to his family who are believers in Jesus but downturn came again. A year and a half into their marriage they split up and their marriage was over. 

Chelsea decided to go into missionary work and went to Cambodia after her divorce was final. She had totally given up on taking anything that would bring her into addiction. “God was really changing my heart,” she recalls. After eight months she returned to California to take a break for a month but with her freedom back she went on a bender as she described it. Again, the Lord stepped in. “It was the first time I recognized I might be an addict,” she said. She truly discovered that she needed Jesus to stay sober. She could not do it alone. She found the 12 Step Program and put it into her life. She did go back to Cambodia to finish up helping there and also stayed true to the 12 steps. “I was happy and realized that I’m an alcoholic addict and I need to just stay sober. I was really passionate about working with a Christian program.” 

However, she thought she could still drink since she was receiving so much healing from God. She left Cambodia to spend a few months in New Zealand at the Father Heart Ministry there before coming back to California but that led her to another huge binge. Again the Hand of God began working in her life when she came to Calvary Monterey to work at the children’s ministry thinking that she would get sober but didn’t have to look for help outside of herself. Things got even worse. She started doing meth for the first time and continued with cocaine even though she was assisting in children’s ministry and was also a young adults leader. Then her parents both passed away which made her go downhill almost to the bottom. She was ready to take her life and called a friend. She remembers, “I just couldn’t keep it up anymore.” This great tragedy brought her to The Bridge. Looking back she said knew she needed to do this because God was filling her heart and she knew she had to stay away from certain things and have parameters. She is now growing and changing. She had never been to a rehab program before. 

Chelsea is nine months sober as of February and will graduate in April 2022 and go on to the Worker’s Phase. “I still have a heart for the missions field and ministry,” she said, thinking about what she will do in her future. The Bridge really helped her. “The Bridge is a ministry that welcomes you with arms wide open, with no judgment or criticism which is the number one reason why no addicts are coming out of the closet in churches. It’s not just rehab, it’s discipleship. You have one on one meetings. They correct you if you need correction and you also get the feeling they’re not going to give up on you. They’ve seen some pretty terrible sides of me but they’re not giving up on me. They still love me,” she says. She has a huge heart for youth and is working with Dr. Reb Close, an addiction medicine specialist, on a long-term youth project called “My Path Collaborative” with the goal of helping youth to stay clear and out of the path of addiction.

Chelsea looks at her future staying sober one day at a time.