Twenty Six Years an Addict: 1985 - 2011

By Ricky Cooks

If you had met me or had any type of relationship with me in the years from 1985 to 2011, you really never knew me. You only encountered a façade covering the residue of what I used to be and were witness to the onset of my withdrawal from reality. My life goals and accomplishments were becoming meaningless. They were dissipating into a cloud of smoke coming from the end of a pipe that was never satisfied as it consumed my life. After recognizing my plight and realizing the finality of the dilemma I was in, I cried out to Jesus. About one month later (January 1, 2012, 12:30 a.m.), my eyes were opened. I was led away from darkness to light. I changed from a fornicating crack smoker (I had incorporated drug use and sex into a single act) to a celibate and sober man with a hunger for the truth. On that same day (January 1, 2012, 1:30 p.m.), I entered into Mama Delta's Love House. I have thrown away years of my life and I would like to help others from making and/or maintaining the same mistakes by sharing my feelings, situations, confrontations, and resolutions. I pray that I can make a positive impact on those who have become entangled in one or more of Satan's devices that are designed to draw us away from the divine light of God into eternal darkness. He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098033668

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Twenty Six Years an Addict

1985–2011

Ricky Cooks

ISBN 978-1-0980-3365-1 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-0980-3366-8 (digital)

Copyright © 2020 by Ricky Cooks

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

To Lena Jackie Taylor, aka Ms. Jackie, the founder and leader of Mama Delta’s Love House; to her daughter, Senator Lena C. Taylor; to my children and others who on my behalf interceded in prayer.

Note: Poem titles preceded by an asterisk (*) symbol were inspired by the cadence of a popular song.

Acknowledgments

Mama Delta’s Love House is a spiritually based place of residence. Although sobriety is achieved, it is not a rehab facility, mental stability is addressed, but there are no counselors. There is only Ms. Jackie who has dedicated her life to the rescuing of forgotten and broken people by providing them with the basic necessities that God has promised, by introducing them to God, and by guiding as the Lord dictates to fulfill their God-ordained predestination.

At seventy-four years young, Ms. Jackie cooks, clean, shops, teaches, admonishes, and finds jobs through temporary agencies for seventeen to twenty-five people (mostly men) at any given time. The Love House motto is Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt. 6:33).

Even though the testimonies are powerful and astounding, everyone who comes into the Love House is not receptive to the idea of Ms. Jackie’s one-step plan, that is, step into salvation through Jesus Christ.

People who come here have been brokenhearted, deceived, abused, cheated, rejected, misled, addicted, shot, stabbed, set on fire, thrown off bridges, and molested.

The Love House has no major funding source. It has been maintained and sustained by prayer and fasting for over twenty years.

These poems are a culmination of the truths that were revealed to me through my experiences after being exposed to and living a life of lies. I wrote this book to demonstrate what God can do to and for a broken person. I went from bricklayer, to city building inspector, to crack addict, to homeless, to being made free, to poet, to minister.

I write to inspire all people to relinquish and turn from whatever it is that tethers them to the death and destruction of this world and to accept their eternal citizenship. God’s restoration and plan of redemption is so complete that now it is almost impossible to tell that I was Twenty-Six Years an Addict.

A special thanks to Mildred Prescott (Pee Wee) and Earl and Louise Thompson for urging me to publish my gift.

In all this confusion there is work to do

Stop fighting, stop wavering, stop resisting don’t wrestle

You are a part of God’s plans. He wants to use you.

You are his creation, his workmanship, his chosen vessel.

My Personal Experiences

What Daddy Did

When I was just a young little boy

I didn’t know my father very well

He was there for four Christmases and two birthdays with toys

But mostly he lived in his own personal hell

His own personal hell was killing him

Subtle and consuming it was eating him alive

With desire and determination he fought back

With God’s love and guidance he survived

He finished turning his life around when I was twelve years old

I saw God at work but I did not understand

He died to the old and Jesus made him bold

Before my eyes, God changed him into a mighty man

He put on the whole armor of God

And with his sword he went back into that hell

And pulled his brothers and sisters from the flames

At the point where he almost fell

The soul of James Cooks is resting in heaven

His body is in the ground turned to dust

What God did for him he also did for others

What God did for others he can also do for us.

Confess and Repent

Like a battle-scarred plane about to burst into flames

Leaving a battle fighting on the side of sin

I had seen heavy action while seeking satisfaction

Consorting with the enemy, impersonating as friends

The satisfaction that I was seeking I thought I be reaching

Over the next hill, around the next corner, in the next bend

They sounded so inspiring while we were conspiring

To follow our desires to the end

Another foiled plan, lick your wounds, be a man

Sometimes you have to take one on the chin

It didn’t turn out too bad, we gained more than we had

Sometimes you have to steal from your own kin

Wait one doggone minute; I remember how I got in it

I heard about this place that I’m in

I took many little steps to descend to this depth

I am in the depths of sin

I neglected to pray and Lord I must say

I should have seen it when it all first began

That really doesn’t matter, the important thing is this