Twenty years ago, I thought life as I knew it had ended. My husband had been fighting a mysterious, debilitating illness for two years. Suddenly, we discovered the source was an addiction to prescription medications.
The Breaking Point: A Physician’s Secret Struggle
Wendell was a well-respected physician, besides being a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. He had served as a leader in our church for decades. But a real illness and a series of shocking losses had awakened a long-buried addiction issue. One we didn’t even know existed.
Two trips to the emergency room, where he nearly died, and a three-week stay at the Mayo Clinic had not uncovered the true problem. No one in that process had run a drug screen or asked Wendell about drug use. He simply didn’t fit the profile.
God, in His kindness, revealed the problem in His way and His time. We were living in the Heartland community at the time, and we couldn’t have been in a better place. Our church, family, friends, and medical team came around us with ferocious faith and practical help.
The Road to Healing: Treatment, Faith, and New Purpose
Wendell spent sixty-two days in a treatment facility recommended by the state wellness organization for physicians. He threw himself into the process and onto the mercy of Jesus. I drove to visit him every two weeks, and together we started the road to recovery. It was such a revelation and brought so much freedom to both of us.
When he came home, Wendell reopened his clinic and submitted to all the requirements of drug testing, counseling, and meetings to maintain his license. Our entire family felt deep, deep gratitude for the healing that was taking place in each of us.
One afternoon in that process, Wendell mentioned something I considered a small issue from my past and suggested I might want to talk to someone about it. I was furious. I wasn’t the one who had resorted to drugs to cover my pain! I had worked that issue out with Jesus long ago.
Fast forward twenty years. We felt the nudge of God to move closer to the majority of our children after the pandemic. With the blessing of our friends, family, and church, we moved to the Omaha area and settled into a new church home called Lifegate.
In the second year of our Nebraska life, Lifegate started a ministry called re:generation, which comes out of Watermark Church in Texas. Wendell and I jumped on board, eager to help other people find the kind of freedom in Christ that we had found through recovery.
I had no idea this journey would take me back to that conversation in the car twenty years before. Wendell was right. I had things buried deeply that God wanted to mend. The first week in re:generation, I wrote in my workbook, “I would just like to wake up hopeful some morning instead of depressed.”
I never expected that prayer to be answered. Depression had been my constant companion for fifty years. I could usually crawl out of it by mid-morning, but I almost always awoke with darkness and dread.
Through the next ten months, God took me on a journey of discovery and healing that brought a freedom I couldn’t imagine. Things I had long buried came to the Light, where Jesus could help and heal. And the darkness fled. Honestly, in the past eighteen months, I can’t remember waking up feeling anything except hopeful. That may seem like a small thing, but to me it is a miracle.
And it turns out I was right all those years ago. When our world fell apart in 2005, the life I knew had ended, because God had a better life ahead.
I’m so grateful.
Originally from Missouri, the Nickersons were part of Heartland Community Church for twenty years before moving to Nebraska to be near grandchildren. They’ve experienced firsthand how addiction impacts the entire family system. You’ll find Kathy’s session from our 2025 Addiction & The Church seminar linked below, or on our YouTube playlist. Kathy is an author, speaker, and eternal optimist who believes all things do work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28.