Jenny Hamilton will be the guest speaker at the upcoming annual Celebrate Recovery Christmas Dinner at Community Church of Columbus.
Photo provided
Jenny Hamilton offers a simple explanation nearly every time someone asks her how she got clean after almost 20 years years of meth addiction and trips in and out of jail and correctional facilities.
“I didn’t do it,” she says. “It’s not about me. It’s about God.”
No wonder her email is [email protected].
That theme will form much of her focus when she speaks of her painful-yet-persevering journey at the annual, local Celebrate Recovery Christmas Dinner Dec. 20 at Community Church of Columbus, 3850 S. Marr Road in Columbus. A worship group known as the Columbus Collective featuring Ryan Furr will lead the music at a post-dinner gathering.
Hamilton has been told there could be perhaps 90 people in attendance — a slightly larger group than the once self-conscious person is accustomed to addressing. Like nearly any beginning public speaker, she battles nerves and butterflies.
“But I realize that if my story touches even one person, then it’s all worth it,” Hamilton said.
Celebrate Recovery, among the more popular options among Christians for living free from addiction, has been a key ministry tool among area churches for a number of years, offering people practical, scriptural help in an encouraging environment.
The date of the event is special to the 48-year-old Taylorsville resident. The day before, Dec. 19, will mark 12 years that Hamilton has been sober.
“We want to celebrate with her,” said Courtney Irvin, Community Church of Columbus’ Celebrate Recovery coordinator.
Hamilton acknowledged that she celebrates more than her anniversary.
“Jesus has taken my mess and used it for his message,” Hamilton said. “And he has taken my every test and allowed it to be turned into a testimony.
“It’s a matter of my story for his glory.”
She has grown so much as a believer and just as a responsible person that she leads a Life Recovery Bible Study group at First Christian Church. She is aiming herself toward training and a career as a recovery coach. She couldn’t have imagined anything of the sort a number of years ago.
“I would have thought someone was crazy,” Hamilton said. “For years, I was always very self-conscious and thought for a long time that I would never amount to much. I never truly thought that God could bring me this far.”
She remembers calling out in desperate surrender to God on Dec. 19, 2010, in the Bartholomew County Jail during a lockdown period.
“I cried out to him to send me something to help me,” Hamilton said.
Literally moments later, a jail guard dropped off a letter for her that had been missed earlier. It was a brief note from a friend with a notation from 2 Corinthians 4:8-9: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
The words somehow roused her spirit and gave her hope that she cannot fully describe.
“I suddenly went from a feeling of devastation to praising God,” she said. “I felt that this was clearly God speaking to me. I felt that this was my answer.”
She hardly pretends that her journey since then has been easy or simple. But she is proud of accomplishments such as being the first-ever local graduate of the Women Recovering With a Purpose program in 2011. She recently spoke at a gathering of the local jail’s REC program about her life changes.
Her words pierced hearts.
“A lot of people cried,” she said. “I just love the way God is willing to move. And I am just in awe at how he transforms lives.”
Especially hers.
About the gathering
What: Celebrate Recovery Annual Christmas Dinner and worship time.
When: 5:45 p.m Dec. 20.
Where: Community Church of Columbus, 3850 N. Marr Road in Columbus.
Information: No need to register, but for further information, (317) 884-7627.Child care is provided.
No need to register, but for further information 317-884-7627
