#HopedealersSample

Day 6: There Is Hope To Find

Things were progressing well with Hope is Alive . I'd written and published my first two books, and more and more speaking opportunities were opening up at churches farther and farther afield from Oklahoma City. Which is how I wound up telling my story one Sunday morning at Canadian Valley Baptist Church in Yukon, Oklahoma. After the service, I had the great honor of speaking with different members of the congregation as they approached me, and one woman really leapt out.

As I had been telling my story that morning, I'd noticed this woman in the crowd. I could tell she was dealing with a lot of pain all through the service, holding back emotionally, though with tears in her eyes, and when she came to me afterward, that dam broke. She wept as she told me about how she and her husband had recently lost their son to addiction. She had heard that I was going to be speaking that day, so while her husband had to fulfill responsibilities at another church, she'd come on her own to hear what I'd have to say. Her name is Tanya Dorris, and I had no idea that she and her husband Mike were about to become incredible HopeDealers!

See, because of their experience with their son, Mike and Tanya were really wanting to help start to a support group for parents and spouses of addicts, too. They were letting that vision develop within them at the same time that God was developing it within me.

It wasn't long before we were launched the first class and had over 35 in attendance! We've had so many powerful moments since then. People have made their way into treatment and then into our homes. People have found out they aren't alone. People have found that hope isn't dependent on circumstances. We have classes meeting in both Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and many more are starting up in other parts of this country. Hundreds of people have attended Finding Hope and thousands of lives have been touched as a result of me speaking at a small church in Yukon, Oklahoma and Tanya and Mike opening their hearts up to God and saying YES.