Six Years Sober, Relationships Restored: Brandy Fowler’s Testimony

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

“I struggled for the first 27 years of my life in chaos, dysfunction, and eventually became addicted to methamphetamines,” Brandy Fowler told the audience at last year’s Celebration of Hope gala. “I ruined relationships and trust, and if I’m being totally honest, I feel responsible for influencing others to do the same,” she said.

Like Chad Roberts (see the February 14th issue of the Sentinel), Fowler gives credit to God alone for saving her from a life of addiction. After spending time in the Dade County Jail, and beginning Celebrate Recovery, Fowler became the fourth woman to enter A Hand Up Ministry.

Originally from Summerville, Ga., Fowler’s mother was an addict which led to her and her twin sister being adopted by relatives. Fowler moved in with her aunt while her twin, Mandy, moved in with their uncle.

Fowler’s 20s began promisingly; she had a good job, she bought a new car, and she bought a house that she planned to pay off by age 28. However, she often drank alcohol with her friends, and one time, a friend brought meth to the party. She recalled, “It was the first time I’d ever seen meth. He asked me if I wanted to try it. I always said I would never be like my mother, but I ended up trying it.”

The addiction was immediate. “I didn’t sleep for two days,” Fowler said, “and coming down off it, I immediately wanted to do it again. It made me feel like I was important.”

After going through A Hand Up, Fowler can now look back on her childhood and see her deep desire to be valued and why the effect meth had on her was powerful. “I always felt like I wasn’t enough. In A Hand Up, through the leadership, discipleship, and all the programs, I learned where my hurt came from.”

After her addiction began, Fowler stopped going to work. “I didn’t care about work anymore. All I cared about was getting high. When I started using, it went from me buying it to me selling it because that was the lifestyle. Meth took over everything. I lost my house, my car, and I ended up homeless.”

Her biggest loss, however, was her relationship with Mandy. Through Fowler’s years of addiction, Mandy encouraged her sister to enter rehab. After many blows and disappointments, Mandy cut ties. With a cracking voice, Fowler said, “I hurt her so bad. She had given up on me completely. After the first time I overdosed, she told me she never wanted to speak to me again. She said, ‘If you can’t get sober for me, then you need to stay away.’ That hurt me, but I couldn’t stop using.”

A short five-day stint in rehab not long after her addiction began did not change Fowler. She explained, “My mindset was still focused on getting high.”

She spent time in the Floyd County Jail for possession and later the Cherokee County Jail. At her lowest point, she weighed under 100 pounds, slept in people’s cars, and stayed with strangers she’d never met, saying, “I would do things that I never thought I’d do.”

While unbeknownst to Fowler at the time, being arrested in Chattooga by the Lookout Mountain Drug Task Force set her on the path to A Hand Up. Chattooga’s jail didn’t have room to house women, so she was transferred to Dade County.

Through Bible studies in the Dade County Jail and Celebrate Recovery meetings, Fowler started learning what a relationship with God meant. “I’d always known of God, but I didn’t know Him. When going to church as a child, God was like a genie in a bottle to me: You pray when you want something from Him.”

At this point, Mandy began speaking to her sister again, trying to help her find rehab centers. Fowler applied for A Hand Up, and Rex Mayo (founder/director of the ministry) came to the jail to talk with Fowler.

Fowler recalled, “Rex asked me questions about if I believe in Jesus and what I want for my recovery. I told him I wanted to stay sober, I just couldn’t do it by myself. I’d been in and out of daily report, color code, different jails, and every time, I would have good intentions when I got out, but I’d go right back. You’re at rock bottom [when you get out], and the only people who claim they care about you are drugheads because they want something from you, like drugs and money.”

Fowler asked the judge to let her go to rehab. At the time, A Hand Up was a 501(c)(3) but not a licensed treatment facility, so the judge at first denied her request. (The program is now Georgia Association of Recovery Residences (GARR) certified and Transitional Housing for Offender Reentry (THOR) approved.) However, after a conversation with Mayo, the judge changed his mind, and after two months in the Dade County Jail, Fowler began the program.

Fowler emphasized how difficult her first few months in the program were as she adjusted to living with women she’d never met, started a new job, and began to deal with her shame.

She said, “With each Bible study and each Celebrate Recovery step, I began to see what caused me to want to do drugs and what hurts I had. Rex said it’s like an onion, you have to peel it back, but every layer was painful. It took about three months, and then I finally realized that God did want me here. I started opening up to the girls in the house. I started talking to Rex and Tammy and my mentor more. I started trusting God more, believing His word, believing in myself, and feeling like people loved me. ”

As she recounted at Celebration of Hope, “I was what most people consider a lost cause…The world kept telling me, ‘Brandy, you’re going to prison. Brandy, you’re never going to change. You’ll never amount to anything.’ But God was telling me, no, He has a plan for me. Through Him, I’m more than a conqueror. My weakness is His strength.”

She cited Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for the good of those who trust Him, who love Him, and are called according to His purpose,” and she is thankful for her final arrest in 2017 that brought her to Dade County.

While she was still in the jail, Vanguard interviewed Fowler, and she began her job there at the same time as beginning A Hand Up. She continues to work at Vanguard today and recently received a promotion. She now has a home and vehicle again.

At the time, though, “It was overwhelming with everything at one time: new job, classes all through the week, living in a house with a bunch of people–I would cry most nights wanting to quit, but I’m so thankful I didn’t.”

As she explained at Celebration of Hope, “Even when I couldn’t see it for myself, I now had a whole team of people behind me, believing, praying, and trusting in this promise…I had to allow God to renew my mind, and He did. Joel 2:25 says, ‘I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten.’ I now have healthy relationships, a great job, an amazing family, and people who trust me at my word. I’ll forever be grateful that Rex and the Hand Up family didn’t give up on me.”

Noting that continued sobriety takes intentionality and full reliance on God, Fowler said, “I try to distance myself from who I know is not good for me. Bad company corrupts good character. I choose to be around sober, godly, and loving people. God is the only reason I’m still sober because once you get out of Hand Up, you’re thrown back into the world and you have to make choices. I need Him on my best day just like I do on my worst day.”

This month, Fowler is six years sober. She graduated from A Hand Up on February 28th, 2018, and several years later on the same date, Mandy gave birth to Fowler’s niece. The sisters’ restored relationship and getting to be in her niece’s life is a highlight for Fowler, but this took time.

Fowler said, “I’m so thankful God has allowed me to be a part of my niece’s life when before, my sister would have nothing to do with me. Throughout my time in Hand Up, we rebuilt our relationship. She eventually started coming to see me. It took a while for her to believe me because I had lied so many times and made promises I knew I couldn’t keep. She’d say, ‘I believe you, but I don’t trust you.’ Now, she trusts me completely, and my niece gets to spend the night with me. I’m so thankful.”

If interested in hearing more stories like Roberts’ and Fowler’s, check out Hope Connection, a video series in which the Mayos talk with people involved in Celebrate Recovery, A Hand Up, and more. Visit www.ahandupministries.org or the YouTube channel @Hope-Connection.