April 21, 2025 • 19 mins
What happens when decades of addiction disappear in a moment without withdrawal symptoms? Dr. Rachael Cannon's extraordinary testimony reveals the transformative power of encountering divine love after 25 years of severe drug addiction.
Growing up as the granddaughter of a Baptist preacher and daughter of a minister, Rachael understood religious principles but found herself trapped in a cycle of addiction that led to eight felony arrests. At her lowest point—weighing just 100 pounds, battling suicidal thoughts, and facing another potential prison sentence—she reluctantly attended church where another woman's testimony sparked a flicker of hope. Three days later, when told she "didn't have to suffer anymore because Jesus already suffered for her," every chain broke instantly. Nine years later, she remains completely free without a single relapse.
The heart of Rachael isn't about will power or rule-following but about identity transformation through love. "Once I realized God loved me, all of a sudden I could make my bed. All of a sudden I wanted to obey the rules. My desires changed when I fell in love with the Lord." This revelation led her to prison ministry just four months into her recovery, where she helps incarcerated women see themselves beyond their circumstances. Rather than focusing on wrong behavior, she reminds them "what God's done right."
Connect with Dr. Rachel Cannon on Facebook or explore her five devotional books on Amazon, including "The Woman at the Well." Her story proves that no matter how hopeless your situation appears, transformation is possible when you discover who you truly are in the eyes of love.
For more information contact us at
rtrdestiny@gmail.com
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Road to Redemption, a show sharing
powerful life testimonies,giving hope to those on their
own road to redemption.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is Road to Redemption.
I'm Valerie Peterson and I wantto welcome you to the show
today.
John Martin and I have beentalking about having Rachel
Cannon back on the show and Ihave her here in the studio
today and I just want to welcomeher.
Welcome, rachel.
Thank you so much, val.
It's so wonderful to be here.
(00:29):
It's so good to have you here.
You know, can we start off andtalk about your testimony today?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yes, I would love to share my story.
I do want to say that I loveyou so much, val, and the way
that you value people andbelieve in people is so
important, and it's what Godsees about people also, and I
love your heart to help peopleget their story out there and to
help people.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, thank you, and I want to say to you, because we
are so connected in differentthings in the community, is
thank you for being a lighthouseon the hill, thank you for the
way you minister to people sowell, and I can't wait for our
listeners today to hear aboutwhat you do.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
So share your testimony All right, I'll just
jump right in.
I would like to start off bysaying I'm a super happy
believer.
I have a lot of joy.
I was dead and now I know whatit feels like to be alive and I
am just living so free and inunion with Father, son and Holy
Spirit, which is the source ofmy inward joy that comes out
(01:35):
this joy truly is my life.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
It is my life.
It is joy, unspeakable and fullof glory, yes, and I just love
it so much.
And now that I know what theglory is, the glory is the
opinion of God and I really likewhat God believes about me.
It makes me very happy.
It's so good, you're right.
So nine years ago I was strungout on drugs again.
(02:03):
I was a drug addict for 25 yearsof my life.
I was born basically on thefront row of Baptist Church.
My grandfather was a Baptistpreacher, my father is still in
the ministry over at DestinMethodist now, and I was born
into the family of church, thefamily of believers.
I was raised knowing God andbelieving in God.
(02:27):
But growing up is hard to do itis super hard to do really.
And so somewhere along the wayin my teenage years I kind of
had some wounds and some hurtsand started going with the wrong
crowd and began to numb myselfwith drugs and alcohol.
And so for 25 years I lived alife of severe addiction.
(02:51):
I'm talking so severe that Iwent to jail eight different
times, I was arrested eightdifferent times and charged with
eight different felonies withina 25-year period and cut to the
chase the redemption road, soto speak.
The Lord was really followingme and chasing me down from the
(03:11):
inside out.
I will say I love it.
And so, nine years ago, I metthe love of my life.
I met Jesus Christ, and hechanged my whole life Really in
a moment.
I was delivered and set freefrom drugs and alcohol in one
instant and had no withdrawals.
(03:32):
And now I think for the rest ofmy life I'm on this journey of
knowing what love is anddiscovering this love of God.
I feel like love is the onlything that can change our
behavior.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, I love it.
Would you be willing to justhighlight the point where you
were at one of your lowestpoints and someone invited you
to go to a church?
Can you talk about that?
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
You know, being raised in church and then kind
of falling away from church anddoing my own thing.
Every time I tried to go backto church I just never found
what I was looking for and so Ihad kind of thought I'll never
go back to church again.
And I had a gentleman inBirmingham Alabama, from where
I'm from, and I told him he wascounseling me and I him I'm.
(04:25):
It's really bad this time.
I'm strung out really bad.
I'm addicted, I'm suicidal.
I weighed 100 pounds, I was gayat the time and I had another
felony pending in BirminghamAlabama and I figured for sure I
was going to prison.
It was bad, I'm telling you.
I was at the rock bottom of therock bottom and I was hopeless.
(04:46):
And he said Rachel, I met awoman and she has a story a lot
like yours and she's speaking atour church in Birmingham
Alabama, church of the Highlands, and she was speaking to the
prison ministry team there andhe said you should come hear her
testimony.
Now I look back and I realizeit was Holy Spirit.
Thank you, holy Spirit.
(05:07):
I went to church and I sat inabout the fourth row and I got
up and listened to this amazingwoman give her testimony.
And what she said was if Godcan do it for me, he can do it
for you.
And I just started crying.
I thought I want him to do itfor me.
Oh, I believe that he would doit for me.
And I felt this little flowerof hope really just spring up in
(05:29):
my heart and I thought, maybe Ijust believe again.
And that's faith, that's faith.
I had just a wee bit of faithand, oh man.
So I met the lady that evening.
I found out that she hadwomen's homes, like discipleship
homes for women like me.
And the next morning I text, Igot up and I got high, I got
(05:50):
real high.
And then I text the guy whoinvited me to go listen to her
and I said I've got to have whatthat lady's got and I'll do
whatever it takes.
And he said Rachel, I'm sittingacross my dining room table
with Dawn and she said she wouldlove for you to be a daughter
in her home.
And I said yes.
And so three days later I packedmy bags, I got in the car with
(06:13):
her and I said I'm going to bereally sick.
You know, I've been doing thisfor 25 years.
And she just leaned her handover on me and she said you
don't have to suffer anymorebecause Jesus Christ already
suffered for you.
On me, and she said you don'thave to suffer anymore because
Jesus Christ already sufferedfor you.
And when she said that everyone of my chains were broken and
I never had one withdrawal,it's like I just believed
(06:35):
instantly.
I don't know what it was thatgot through to me, but I
believed it, you know, and itchanged my whole life.
And then the fact that I didn'thave withdrawals.
I thought, wow, god reallycares about me, he really loves
me, he really has listened to myheart, he's listened to my cry.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I bet I can't imagine .
And I look at you today.
You know, john, and I talkedabout having you back on because
you've been nine years sober,nine years, yeah, and you know
we would love for you to tell,like what has helped you to the
(07:13):
word is live in freedom.
Right, you know, I'm going tojust let you talk.
Talk about living in freedom.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
So for me, I feel like there is life after
addiction, life after the trauma, life after the wounding, and
to me, enjoying this love of Godchanges everything.
Most of the time I just sitback.
You know it says be still andknow that I am love.
(07:40):
God is love.
Be still and know that you areloved.
Be still and know that God islove.
God is love.
Be still and know that you areloved.
Be still and know that God islove.
And so I sit back and I justthink to myself wow, I am so
darn loved.
That's why enjoying this loveis essential.
Part of my daily routine tothis day is still getting up and
(08:02):
enjoying that time with theLord man.
It is my life, it is where allmy books come from.
Is this morning devotional time.
You know I'm an, I'm an author.
Now I'm working on my sixthbook and these books are all
about the love and therelationship and what love does
to change our behavior.
You know I'm falling in lovesure beats like just trying to
(08:25):
white knuckle yourself throughthe rules.
It's the difference betweenwillpower and love.
Because for me, what happenedin the discipleship home is once
I realized that God loved me,all of a sudden I could make my
bed.
All of a sudden I wanted toobey the rules.
(08:46):
My desires changed when I fellin love with the Lord and I
realized that he was in lovewith me.
I wasn't white knuckling ortrying to be obedient anymore.
My whole desires changed.
My whole life changed.
If you're in addiction for 25years, your mind is pretty
jacked up and you don't have totell people that their mind is
(09:07):
messed up.
They already know it.
You know, they already know mythinking is really getting to me
, my thinking is bringing medown, and so part of this
journey of discovering love isthe enjoyment of my mind.
Now, now that my mind has beenrenewed, I really like the way
that I think Awesome.
(09:28):
And so it's been renewed,obviously with the Bible, but
mostly with the word of God, whois Jesus Christ, yes, yes.
So this living relationship Irealize.
Now, if I search myself, I'mlike there he is again.
There's Christ again.
(09:49):
I found more of him inside ofme.
When I search myself, I don'tfind junk anymore.
I find Christ, father, son andHoly Spirit living inside of me,
and that makes me very happy.
You know, no longer am Ipicking myself to pieces,
scrutinizing every little thingin my life.
I'm like man, christ is in me,he really enjoys living here and
(10:10):
so I'm just going to enjoy thislife also.
But I do find, like this,understanding love has changed
my whole behavior, because nowthat I know what love is, it's
easy for me to say I'm not doingthat, I'm not doing that.
If it has any stench of my oldlife on it, I turn up my nose
(10:33):
and walk away.
I'm serious, like I just know,and I know what I'm called to do
, and so it doesn't keep me busyin all these other lanes.
I pretty much stay in my laneof what I'm supposed to do.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, you know the verse in Nehemiah 8.10, the joy
of the Lord is my strength.
It's like you get that and canyou talk about it Like just joy
unspeakable.
Every time I see you, everytime we are in ministry in some
capacity together, your joy iscontagious.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Wow, you know I love that.
It should be.
And I'll tell you the reasonfor my joy.
Number one I'm clean, all byGod's doing, all by Christ Jesus
.
He has paid my debt andforgiven all of my sin past,
present and future, let alonethe sins of the world.
(11:27):
He is the Lamb of God who hastaken away the sins of the world
.
Number two he defeated thedevil, which makes me very happy
.
Which means you know, if youknow, what the word devil means,
it is the accuser.
He defeated all accusationright here.
My mind no longer condemns me.
In fact, there is nocondemnation anymore.
(11:54):
No more, no more condemnation,all right.
The third thing that I realizedis he defeated death.
We are eternal beings.
That makes me very happy.
I mean eternally loved, whoa,yay.
That just makes me so happy.
And all of this is, I mean, thejoy is on the inside.
It's not something that I'mlooking forward to in the future
.
I've got it now, which is allthat faith is.
(12:16):
Faith is just simply agreeingwith what God believes.
God believes that I'm clean.
God believes I'm righteous.
I can't get any holier than Iam sitting right here because I
didn't do it.
God did it, that's good, that'sgood.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Someone needs to hear that.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Right, and so what I do now is I go into jails.
I started prison ministry fourmonths into my new life, really
just by accident, and so Istarted prison ministry.
I've been doing prison ministrynow for, I guess, eight and a
half years and what I'verealized is that to see people
the way that God sees them,which is what you do to see
(12:56):
people beyond their humanbehavior this is our joy, man.
This is my joy comes fromknowing that my human behavior
can't mess up what God did.
It can't, and the proof of itis my life.
Look at my life.
A disaster in the past, and Godsaid I will come into that life
and I'll meet you in yourdarkest, gayest, most addicted
(13:19):
place and I'll meet you with mylove and I'll bring you out of
it.
And that's the gospel.
But he saw me as me, as me inthis girl.
Do you see what I'm saying?
He saw the me that I am nowinside of this woman right here,
and that's what I do.
I go into the jail and I seethese ladies who are trapped in
(13:43):
addiction or toxic relationshipsor whatever it is that has them
caged in their mental prison,right.
I see them for who they are.
And I say you know, actually,you're sitting here right now,
but did you know that you'realso enclosed in Christ?
Which one would you like tobelieve more?
You're sitting here right nowand you may have been accused of
(14:06):
a crime and you may have evendone it, but did you know that
God sees you as blameless?
This is the faith dimension,this is the spirit.
You know.
Faith is a spirit dimension,reality.
Righteousness is a spiritdimension, reality.
And so we walk by faith, right,not by sight how boring would
that be.
We walk by faith and remember.
(14:30):
Faith is simply agreeing withwhat God already believes about
people.
He doesn't see their humanbehavior, he sees them as the
person that he created them tobe Flawless, beautiful, radiant,
joyous.
And so I just go in and Iremind ladies not what they've
done wrong, I remind them whatGod's done right.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
And that's where your joy comes from.
Yeah, if there is, there'sprobably people listening today,
that are watching today, thatreally there's a lot of
self-condemnation, they're goingin and out of addiction.
What would you say to them?
Speaker 3 (15:09):
If you're looking to be free, part of it is if you've
been in addiction for a while,go somewhere and let somebody
help you change your mind.
Go somewhere again.
I went to rehab four times andgot kicked out of every one of
them and the fifth time was thecharm.
Baby, the fifth time was thecharm.
I went to jail eight times andthen I never went again.
(15:30):
So like when people kind of say, oh, I've relapsed again, I'm
back in jail again, I'm like,yay, maybe this is the last time
you know.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
If someone today really would love to get in
touch with you or find out moreabout your ministry, can you
share how they can?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Actually my name is Dr Rachel Cannon.
I'm on Facebook as Dr RachelCannon also, and on Amazon.
I've got five books availableon Amazon and they are
devotional books, they aremusings and they are filled with
love, innocence, likeness,redeemed.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I have to say my favorite book is the Woman at
the Well.
Oh, thank you.
And I'm just sitting herethinking, as we all are willing
to sit at the well.
Yeah, john, chapter four,that's when we're transformed,
right, that's right Into hisimage.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
That's right.
One look in his eyes and herwhole life was changed.
You know, something happened tothat woman and supposedly she
was glowing when she ran back toher city because the men who
wouldn't give her the time ofday she ran back to the city
told them come and meet a man.
He's told me all about my lifeand it must've been pretty good
(16:46):
news.
If somebody gives you bad newsabout your life, you're like I'm
not listening to that.
It must've been pretty goodnews.
And so the men in the town dropeverything they're doing and
they come out to meet this manwho is the Messiah.
And then this is the firstgroup of people who announced
(17:06):
that Jesus is the Savior of theworld.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I want to swing back around, because I think you said
something important to ourlisteners today, to our
listeners today find somebody,or a facility or a small group
that there's going to be peoplethat are going to speak into
your life, right?
Yes, absolutely.
Can you say a little bit moreabout that?
I mean you know, there'sCelebrate Recovery, there's AA.
(17:33):
What would you recommend?
How to start?
Speaker 3 (17:36):
I would say find someone who believes in you
wherever you are at.
You know one thing about Dawnat the discipleship home that I
went to, she was constantlybelieving in me.
She wasn't pointing out where Iwas right or wrong, she was
telling me who I was already.
It's kind of like how God seesus.
(17:57):
And so find somebody who willbelieve in you and remind you
over and over.
You know, we've beenbrainwashed in a way.
Our addiction brainwashes us.
So you actually have to come in, have somebody come in and
rewash your mental brain, towash your mind clean, and to
have somebody who knows thetruth.
It's only the truth that setsyou free.
(18:19):
So to have somebody who willspeak the truth to you and I'm
not talking about what you'redoing wrong, I'm talking about
what God's done right.
You know, I feel sometimes likewe've got it backwards.
We go in and talk about all ofthis behavior stuff, but really
we should be talking about whatGod has done right, because that
would actually change ourbehavior.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Love it, yeah.
So I want to add how importantit is to be in the word yes,
because you know he watches overhis word to perform it right.
He does Find a good,bible-based church, that you're
going to grow, you're going tolearn, and those are the things
that I just wanted to say and wejust so appreciate you coming
(19:03):
on air today, isn't shewonderful folks that your, your
willingness to, to minister, notonly here but beyond.
Rachel, thank you.
Thank you that you'refulfilling what God has called
you.
Jeremiah one five.
He knew you before, he did youin your mother's womb and you're
willing to fulfill the call.
(19:24):
Thank you, thank you so much.
Thank you for coming on today.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
You've been listening to Road to Redemption, sharing
powerful life testimonies,giving hope to those on their
own road to redemption.
If you have any comments orquestions, we would love to
connect with you.
You can reach out to us atdestinyradiolive.
Thank you for listening andwe'll see you next week on Road
to Redemption.
Welcome to Road to Redemption, a show sharing
powerful life testimonies,giving hope to those on their
own road to redemption.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is Road to Redemption.
I'm Valerie Peterson and I wantto welcome you to the show
today.
John Martin and I have beentalking about having Rachel
Cannon back on the show and Ihave her here in the studio
today and I just want to welcomeher.
Welcome, rachel.
Thank you so much, val.
It's so wonderful to be here.
(00:29):
It's so good to have you here.
You know, can we start off andtalk about your testimony today?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yes, I would love to share my story.
I do want to say that I loveyou so much, val, and the way
that you value people andbelieve in people is so
important, and it's what Godsees about people also, and I
love your heart to help peopleget their story out there and to
help people.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, thank you, and I want to say to you, because we
are so connected in differentthings in the community, is
thank you for being a lighthouseon the hill, thank you for the
way you minister to people sowell, and I can't wait for our
listeners today to hear aboutwhat you do.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
So share your testimony All right, I'll just
jump right in.
I would like to start off bysaying I'm a super happy
believer.
I have a lot of joy.
I was dead and now I know whatit feels like to be alive and I
am just living so free and inunion with Father, son and Holy
Spirit, which is the source ofmy inward joy that comes out
(01:35):
this joy truly is my life.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
It is my life.
It is joy, unspeakable and fullof glory, yes, and I just love
it so much.
And now that I know what theglory is, the glory is the
opinion of God and I really likewhat God believes about me.
It makes me very happy.
It's so good, you're right.
So nine years ago I was strungout on drugs again.
(02:03):
I was a drug addict for 25 yearsof my life.
I was born basically on thefront row of Baptist Church.
My grandfather was a Baptistpreacher, my father is still in
the ministry over at DestinMethodist now, and I was born
into the family of church, thefamily of believers.
I was raised knowing God andbelieving in God.
(02:27):
But growing up is hard to do itis super hard to do really.
And so somewhere along the wayin my teenage years I kind of
had some wounds and some hurtsand started going with the wrong
crowd and began to numb myselfwith drugs and alcohol.
And so for 25 years I lived alife of severe addiction.
(02:51):
I'm talking so severe that Iwent to jail eight different
times, I was arrested eightdifferent times and charged with
eight different felonies withina 25-year period and cut to the
chase the redemption road, soto speak.
The Lord was really followingme and chasing me down from the
(03:11):
inside out.
I will say I love it.
And so, nine years ago, I metthe love of my life.
I met Jesus Christ, and hechanged my whole life Really in
a moment.
I was delivered and set freefrom drugs and alcohol in one
instant and had no withdrawals.
(03:32):
And now I think for the rest ofmy life I'm on this journey of
knowing what love is anddiscovering this love of God.
I feel like love is the onlything that can change our
behavior.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, I love it.
Would you be willing to justhighlight the point where you
were at one of your lowestpoints and someone invited you
to go to a church?
Can you talk about that?
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
You know, being raised in church and then kind
of falling away from church anddoing my own thing.
Every time I tried to go backto church I just never found
what I was looking for and so Ihad kind of thought I'll never
go back to church again.
And I had a gentleman inBirmingham Alabama, from where
I'm from, and I told him he wascounseling me and I him I'm.
(04:25):
It's really bad this time.
I'm strung out really bad.
I'm addicted, I'm suicidal.
I weighed 100 pounds, I was gayat the time and I had another
felony pending in BirminghamAlabama and I figured for sure I
was going to prison.
It was bad, I'm telling you.
I was at the rock bottom of therock bottom and I was hopeless.
(04:46):
And he said Rachel, I met awoman and she has a story a lot
like yours and she's speaking atour church in Birmingham
Alabama, church of the Highlands, and she was speaking to the
prison ministry team there andhe said you should come hear her
testimony.
Now I look back and I realizeit was Holy Spirit.
Thank you, holy Spirit.
(05:07):
I went to church and I sat inabout the fourth row and I got
up and listened to this amazingwoman give her testimony.
And what she said was if Godcan do it for me, he can do it
for you.
And I just started crying.
I thought I want him to do itfor me.
Oh, I believe that he would doit for me.
And I felt this little flowerof hope really just spring up in
(05:29):
my heart and I thought, maybe Ijust believe again.
And that's faith, that's faith.
I had just a wee bit of faithand, oh man.
So I met the lady that evening.
I found out that she hadwomen's homes, like discipleship
homes for women like me.
And the next morning I text, Igot up and I got high, I got
(05:50):
real high.
And then I text the guy whoinvited me to go listen to her
and I said I've got to have whatthat lady's got and I'll do
whatever it takes.
And he said Rachel, I'm sittingacross my dining room table
with Dawn and she said she wouldlove for you to be a daughter
in her home.
And I said yes.
And so three days later I packedmy bags, I got in the car with
(06:13):
her and I said I'm going to bereally sick.
You know, I've been doing thisfor 25 years.
And she just leaned her handover on me and she said you
don't have to suffer anymorebecause Jesus Christ already
suffered for you.
On me, and she said you don'thave to suffer anymore because
Jesus Christ already sufferedfor you.
And when she said that everyone of my chains were broken and
I never had one withdrawal,it's like I just believed
(06:35):
instantly.
I don't know what it was thatgot through to me, but I
believed it, you know, and itchanged my whole life.
And then the fact that I didn'thave withdrawals.
I thought, wow, god reallycares about me, he really loves
me, he really has listened to myheart, he's listened to my cry.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I bet I can't imagine .
And I look at you today.
You know, john, and I talkedabout having you back on because
you've been nine years sober,nine years, yeah, and you know
we would love for you to tell,like what has helped you to the
(07:13):
word is live in freedom.
Right, you know, I'm going tojust let you talk.
Talk about living in freedom.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
So for me, I feel like there is life after
addiction, life after the trauma, life after the wounding, and
to me, enjoying this love of Godchanges everything.
Most of the time I just sitback.
You know it says be still andknow that I am love.
(07:40):
God is love.
Be still and know that you areloved.
Be still and know that God islove.
God is love.
Be still and know that you areloved.
Be still and know that God islove.
And so I sit back and I justthink to myself wow, I am so
darn loved.
That's why enjoying this loveis essential.
Part of my daily routine tothis day is still getting up and
(08:02):
enjoying that time with theLord man.
It is my life, it is where allmy books come from.
Is this morning devotional time.
You know I'm an, I'm an author.
Now I'm working on my sixthbook and these books are all
about the love and therelationship and what love does
to change our behavior.
You know I'm falling in lovesure beats like just trying to
(08:25):
white knuckle yourself throughthe rules.
It's the difference betweenwillpower and love.
Because for me, what happenedin the discipleship home is once
I realized that God loved me,all of a sudden I could make my
bed.
All of a sudden I wanted toobey the rules.
(08:46):
My desires changed when I fellin love with the Lord and I
realized that he was in lovewith me.
I wasn't white knuckling ortrying to be obedient anymore.
My whole desires changed.
My whole life changed.
If you're in addiction for 25years, your mind is pretty
jacked up and you don't have totell people that their mind is
(09:07):
messed up.
They already know it.
You know, they already know mythinking is really getting to me
, my thinking is bringing medown, and so part of this
journey of discovering love isthe enjoyment of my mind.
Now, now that my mind has beenrenewed, I really like the way
that I think Awesome.
(09:28):
And so it's been renewed,obviously with the Bible, but
mostly with the word of God, whois Jesus Christ, yes, yes.
So this living relationship Irealize.
Now, if I search myself, I'mlike there he is again.
There's Christ again.
(09:49):
I found more of him inside ofme.
When I search myself, I don'tfind junk anymore.
I find Christ, father, son andHoly Spirit living inside of me,
and that makes me very happy.
You know, no longer am Ipicking myself to pieces,
scrutinizing every little thingin my life.
I'm like man, christ is in me,he really enjoys living here and
(10:10):
so I'm just going to enjoy thislife also.
But I do find, like this,understanding love has changed
my whole behavior, because nowthat I know what love is, it's
easy for me to say I'm not doingthat, I'm not doing that.
If it has any stench of my oldlife on it, I turn up my nose
(10:33):
and walk away.
I'm serious, like I just know,and I know what I'm called to do
, and so it doesn't keep me busyin all these other lanes.
I pretty much stay in my laneof what I'm supposed to do.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, you know the verse in Nehemiah 8.10, the joy
of the Lord is my strength.
It's like you get that and canyou talk about it Like just joy
unspeakable.
Every time I see you, everytime we are in ministry in some
capacity together, your joy iscontagious.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Wow, you know I love that.
It should be.
And I'll tell you the reasonfor my joy.
Number one I'm clean, all byGod's doing, all by Christ Jesus
.
He has paid my debt andforgiven all of my sin past,
present and future, let alonethe sins of the world.
(11:27):
He is the Lamb of God who hastaken away the sins of the world
.
Number two he defeated thedevil, which makes me very happy
.
Which means you know, if youknow, what the word devil means,
it is the accuser.
He defeated all accusationright here.
My mind no longer condemns me.
In fact, there is nocondemnation anymore.
(11:54):
No more, no more condemnation,all right.
The third thing that I realizedis he defeated death.
We are eternal beings.
That makes me very happy.
I mean eternally loved, whoa,yay.
That just makes me so happy.
And all of this is, I mean, thejoy is on the inside.
It's not something that I'mlooking forward to in the future
.
I've got it now, which is allthat faith is.
(12:16):
Faith is just simply agreeingwith what God believes.
God believes that I'm clean.
God believes I'm righteous.
I can't get any holier than Iam sitting right here because I
didn't do it.
God did it, that's good, that'sgood.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Someone needs to hear that.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Right, and so what I do now is I go into jails.
I started prison ministry fourmonths into my new life, really
just by accident, and so Istarted prison ministry.
I've been doing prison ministrynow for, I guess, eight and a
half years and what I'verealized is that to see people
the way that God sees them,which is what you do to see
(12:56):
people beyond their humanbehavior this is our joy, man.
This is my joy comes fromknowing that my human behavior
can't mess up what God did.
It can't, and the proof of itis my life.
Look at my life.
A disaster in the past, and Godsaid I will come into that life
and I'll meet you in yourdarkest, gayest, most addicted
(13:19):
place and I'll meet you with mylove and I'll bring you out of
it.
And that's the gospel.
But he saw me as me, as me inthis girl.
Do you see what I'm saying?
He saw the me that I am nowinside of this woman right here,
and that's what I do.
I go into the jail and I seethese ladies who are trapped in
(13:43):
addiction or toxic relationshipsor whatever it is that has them
caged in their mental prison,right.
I see them for who they are.
And I say you know, actually,you're sitting here right now,
but did you know that you'realso enclosed in Christ?
Which one would you like tobelieve more?
You're sitting here right nowand you may have been accused of
(14:06):
a crime and you may have evendone it, but did you know that
God sees you as blameless?
This is the faith dimension,this is the spirit.
You know.
Faith is a spirit dimension,reality.
Righteousness is a spiritdimension, reality.
And so we walk by faith, right,not by sight how boring would
that be.
We walk by faith and remember.
(14:30):
Faith is simply agreeing withwhat God already believes about
people.
He doesn't see their humanbehavior, he sees them as the
person that he created them tobe Flawless, beautiful, radiant,
joyous.
And so I just go in and Iremind ladies not what they've
done wrong, I remind them whatGod's done right.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
And that's where your joy comes from.
Yeah, if there is, there'sprobably people listening today,
that are watching today, thatreally there's a lot of
self-condemnation, they're goingin and out of addiction.
What would you say to them?
Speaker 3 (15:09):
If you're looking to be free, part of it is if you've
been in addiction for a while,go somewhere and let somebody
help you change your mind.
Go somewhere again.
I went to rehab four times andgot kicked out of every one of
them and the fifth time was thecharm.
Baby, the fifth time was thecharm.
I went to jail eight times andthen I never went again.
(15:30):
So like when people kind of say, oh, I've relapsed again, I'm
back in jail again, I'm like,yay, maybe this is the last time
you know.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
If someone today really would love to get in
touch with you or find out moreabout your ministry, can you
share how they can?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Actually my name is Dr Rachel Cannon.
I'm on Facebook as Dr RachelCannon also, and on Amazon.
I've got five books availableon Amazon and they are
devotional books, they aremusings and they are filled with
love, innocence, likeness,redeemed.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I have to say my favorite book is the Woman at
the Well.
Oh, thank you.
And I'm just sitting herethinking, as we all are willing
to sit at the well.
Yeah, john, chapter four,that's when we're transformed,
right, that's right Into hisimage.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
That's right.
One look in his eyes and herwhole life was changed.
You know, something happened tothat woman and supposedly she
was glowing when she ran back toher city because the men who
wouldn't give her the time ofday she ran back to the city
told them come and meet a man.
He's told me all about my lifeand it must've been pretty good
(16:46):
news.
If somebody gives you bad newsabout your life, you're like I'm
not listening to that.
It must've been pretty goodnews.
And so the men in the town dropeverything they're doing and
they come out to meet this manwho is the Messiah.
And then this is the firstgroup of people who announced
(17:06):
that Jesus is the Savior of theworld.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I want to swing back around, because I think you said
something important to ourlisteners today, to our
listeners today find somebody,or a facility or a small group
that there's going to be peoplethat are going to speak into
your life, right?
Yes, absolutely.
Can you say a little bit moreabout that?
I mean you know, there'sCelebrate Recovery, there's AA.
(17:33):
What would you recommend?
How to start?
Speaker 3 (17:36):
I would say find someone who believes in you
wherever you are at.
You know one thing about Dawnat the discipleship home that I
went to, she was constantlybelieving in me.
She wasn't pointing out where Iwas right or wrong, she was
telling me who I was already.
It's kind of like how God seesus.
(17:57):
And so find somebody who willbelieve in you and remind you
over and over.
You know, we've beenbrainwashed in a way.
Our addiction brainwashes us.
So you actually have to come in, have somebody come in and
rewash your mental brain, towash your mind clean, and to
have somebody who knows thetruth.
It's only the truth that setsyou free.
(18:19):
So to have somebody who willspeak the truth to you and I'm
not talking about what you'redoing wrong, I'm talking about
what God's done right.
You know, I feel sometimes likewe've got it backwards.
We go in and talk about all ofthis behavior stuff, but really
we should be talking about whatGod has done right, because that
would actually change ourbehavior.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Love it, yeah.
So I want to add how importantit is to be in the word yes,
because you know he watches overhis word to perform it right.
He does Find a good,bible-based church, that you're
going to grow, you're going tolearn, and those are the things
that I just wanted to say and wejust so appreciate you coming
(19:03):
on air today, isn't shewonderful folks that your, your
willingness to, to minister, notonly here but beyond.
Rachel, thank you.
Thank you that you'refulfilling what God has called
you.
Jeremiah one five.
He knew you before, he did youin your mother's womb and you're
willing to fulfill the call.
(19:24):
Thank you, thank you so much.
Thank you for coming on today.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
You've been listening to Road to Redemption, sharing
powerful life testimonies,giving hope to those on their
own road to redemption.
If you have any comments orquestions, we would love to
connect with you.
You can reach out to us atdestinyradiolive.
Thank you for listening andwe'll see you next week on Road
to Redemption.
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