Unlocking the Key to Freedom from Addiction

“I learned about snorting methamphetamines and then smoking it out of a pipe, and then eventually the methamphetamine was going in a needle and I started shooting methamphetamines into my veins every single day,” says Liberty.

At twenty-one-years old, Liberty Crouch-Taylor was a mother of three. She was also an addict.

Liberty’s childhood was far from happy and carefree. As a three-year-old, she was sexually abused by a babysitter…then again at the age of five. During that time her parents divorced, leaving Liberty rejected, confused and longing for love.

“I don't know that I could put love in the same sentence with relationship at that point or even really consider what would love be.”

The chaos in her heart and mind expressed itself in rebellion and anger. Before she was even a teenager, Liberty decided to end her life.

“I just hated my life. I didn't understand it. I hated myself. Hated everyone…I took a whole bunch of aspirin, I don't know how many aspirins that I took, but I just – I wanted to go to sleep and never wake up. By the time that I realized I'm not dead, I'm not dying, I'm not going to die, I woke up like, 'Why am I still here? What am I going to do now?'"

In her teens she thought she found love in a sexual relationship. By sixteen she had her first child. Then at eighteen, she found financial security as a stripper.

“Working in the adult entertainment industry it—first of all, I got a lot of attention. I got a lot of attention, and I got paid to have all eyes on me.”

To calm her nerves Liberty began snorting cocaine.

“In order to do my job, I had to get high and the more cocaine –I'd make even more money. It went from just making money to now making it a career and to now making it a lifestyle.”

At twenty-one, after the birth of her third child, Liberty dove even further into drugs, using ecstasy and LSD. When she found out her boyfriend had cheated on her, she needed an escape.

“I just decided, ‘I'm not doing life anymore.’ And I went to-to a familiar drug dealer and I stayed at this one drug house getting high, traveling to Miami, traveling wherever I wanted to go to work at the clubs to make more – to make money, to do more drugs, just be carefree. I forgot about my family, I forgot about everything."

Two years later she wanted to get clean. She reunited with her children and moved to her father’s home in North Carolina. However, she brought her addictions with her. Now she was shooting up meth.

“It was never recreational. It was more of a necessity. Being a junkie is – it's the lowest, I think, because – but then, you know, of course, I had my kids. So, I’m doing it all undercover, so I thought.”

When the father of her children found out she was using, he called the department of child services.

“I had to say, ‘Kids, you're gonna go with your dad now, and I'll see you in a little bit.’ That was hard.”

On July 4, 2010, Liberty showed up at her father’s house again, this time suffering from meth withdrawals. Overcome by her circumstances, she prayed. "I didn't know what to do. I just looked all around and it's so quiet and peaceful and I dropped to my knees and I said, ‘God, if you're real, help me.’"

Over the next two years, Liberty got completely sober. One night she found a bible in some of her belongings.

“And I opened it up and I started flipping through the pages and it says something like, ‘If you want Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, say these scriptures, believe in your heart, and confess this with your mouth.’ I believed in my heart and confessed Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and Jesus is the God of the Bible. God is saving me; He is bringing this new life to me just like that.”

Today, Liberty has been sober for twelve years. She has reunited with her children and is active in her local church.  

“I remember there were times nobody would trust me with anything. Now I'm a keyholder of much. And today I'm a children's church leader. I mean, talk about redemption!”

The love and acceptance Liberty always longed for, she finally found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

“I found acceptance and love in Christ. I found that everything I had been searching for, truth and love is found in the love of Christ, it's found in the person of Jesus. I know today that I'm an heir of righteous. I know today that I'm a child of God. I am accepted. I've been adopted into His family.  He is true and He's faithful. I have just found that God is who He says He is.”