“I took the cops on a high-speed chase and was using drugs badly. I thought I was going away for a while,” said Doug McMullen as he spoke about the grace of God and His caring nature introduced to him through M28.
Doug and Nikki McMullen have been together for over twenty years, side-by-side through the good and the bad of drug use and recovery. Both Nikki and Doug became caught up in years of drug use and knew something had to change when they ended up spending time in jail for these habits. When Nikki exited jail, she started putting her life together in preparation for Doug’s return. Doug was required to go to a halfway house out of jail, and he chose Daystar Center for Recovery to be close to his wife, which led him and his wife Nikki to M28.
When Doug started going to M28 on Sundays, Nikki would meet him there. Their focus was to get their lives back together by any means possible; the fellowship they found at M28 was one of their many blessings.
“Drugs completely got us away from going to church for a long time,” Nikki shared, and Doug chimed in that “Drugs made us selfish and only worried about ourselves.”
A caring God.
Through her introduction to M28, Nikki has a renewed relationship with God and a sense of morality that puts God first in her decision-making. M28 helped her and Doug find an affordable job, find a house, and turn it into a home.
Doug’s relationship with God has grown “100 times over” from coming out of jail to his introduction to M28; he realized God was always there to open the door for him.
“God opened a lot more doors for me than I ever thought possible.”
Another big part of Doug and Nikki’s story.
Their kids and grandchildren. Doug has two kids from a prior relationship, and while Doug was in and out of jail, Nikki raised his kids as her own. While he focused on drugs, his relationship with his kids got away from him. Now that God is back in his life, another door has opened for Doug: the opportunity to have his kids back in his life.
Struggling with drugs led Doug to be in and out of jail, which took a toll on the relationships that he had with his children. God’s opening door put him back in a relationship with his children and family. Doug credits a faithful wife who has also been on a similar journey and is willing to stand by him as a crucial element to his success.
Goals for the future.
Doug and Nikki do everything together, from where they work to their personal goal of improving their credit score and building for the future. Their future looks bright, with Doug on a path to building his landscaping business and planning to hire others in the same situation he and Nikki were in a few years ago.
Doug has learned that when you give back, God will bless you more. He and Nikki have a renewed sense of thankfulness for the blessings and faithfulness of God. And they are intent on giving back to others.
