Margaret Schilke's Testimony

Margaret Schilke's Testimony

When I came to the Lord, I was at the lowest point of my life. I struggled with addiction, was kicked out of my home and was unable to care for my children.

After my son was born, I started having severe back pain. I went to multiple doctors and ended up in pain management. I was prescribed pain killers and was told I would probably be on them for the rest of my life. I quickly became dependent on them and before I knew it I was addicted.

When I moved back to Maryland from Delaware I lost my insurance. I soon found myself searching for painkillers in Baltimore. When they couldn’t be found, I moved on to heroin.

I didn’t realize my life was crumbling around me until my mom confronted me with an at home drug test. I broke down in tears and told her it wasn’t necessary. I told her everything that had been going on and that I wanted to stop. The next day my dad took me to the hospital where I spent 2 days in detox. When I released, I had no home to go to. I also started going to a methadone clinic, as suggested by the hospital.

I called my friend, Darrell, shortly after I got out of the hospital. He told me about a ranch in Texas and recommended that my husband (Corey) and I go there. He was friends with one of the ministers living there and told me that he trusted them.

June 23, 2014, I moved to Grace Ranch. Corey came out 2 days later. I remember the first thing Davy said to me when I got here. He told me that he didn’t care what I did in my past. I had a clean slate.

The next day, I spoke to Davy again and told him about the issues I’ve had with my back. He prayed over it and the pain was immediately gone. That was the first time I saw the Lord work in my life.

When I moved to Grace Ranch, I was transferred to another methadone clinic in El Paso. Ann would get up every morning to drive me and, after a month, it was getting too expensive. I knew I had to stop. I called my counselor in Maryland and he told me that if I didn’t come off gradually, I would get very sick. That day, Ann and I prayed that I wouldn’t get sick and that there would be no issues with me stopping the medication. Praise God, because that is exactly what happened. There was no pain, no sickness…nothing.

Once I was completely off all opiates, I was ready to get my children back. Corey and I were told to talk to Steve, and it wasn’t looking good. Between Corey’s legal issues and being addicts when we left Maryland, there were alot of things that needed to be addressed before we could get the children back.

I was so upset because I was told I had to wait another year, and another year. I started to think that we were never going to have our family together again until Davy sat me down and asked how I felt about taking a trip to Maryland. We left in June of 2016 to get Corey’s legal issues taken care of and in hopes of bringing our children to Texas.

The Lord moved mightily that summer and my relationship with my mother was restored. My step father and I have a relationship now and they both love Corey, which I never thought was possible. I was not happy when I was told I would have to wait yet another year for the children to move out to Texas but I understood that there were things that needed to be done in preparation for them to live here.

That November, my mom, step dad and the children came to the ranch to visit which was the turning point for my mom and step dad. They saw how well respected my husband was and knew the children would be ok.

We left the ranch on May 23rd, 2017 to head out to Maryland to pack up the children things and move them to Texas. The Lord made my family whole again. I was always told the Lord has perfect timing and my testimony is a perfect example of that. I thank him everyday for all of the blessings in my life.