{"id":1846,"date":"2022-09-30T16:40:34","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T16:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/?p=1846"},"modified":"2022-09-30T16:40:35","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T16:40:35","slug":"tamara-spencer-walking-in-newness-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/2022\/09\/30\/tamara-spencer-walking-in-newness-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Tamara Spencer, Walking in Newness of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tamara Spencer, Walking in Newness of Life<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This month we talked to CORE\u2019s own Tamara Spencer!  She\u2019s been with us for a mere 18 months, but her recovery resume already is impressive \u2013 house manager, Second Mile membership, Common Solution Recovery (CSR) instructor, recovery meeting chairperson, children\u2019s ministry, and a CORE employee, too.  Whew!  It sounds like a lot.  It is, actually, but she handles her recovery activities with such newness, awe, and appreciation that her enthusiasm melts even the hardest of hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One little known fact about Tamara is that she gets excited about helping to make the City of Branson look beautiful:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m in Second Mile, a program offered here at CORE which, after you commence, you can become part of.  We do lots of stuff . . . .  We also have a stretch of road out there by Walmart [i.e., Highway 65] that we keep clean every month.  It’s a big job, but it’s part of giving back to our community.  Making sure everything looks nice.  That stretch is so important \u2013 it’s got to look nice for people who come to Branson every year. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamara has been transformed.  She\u2019s not the same person who arrived to us in March 2021, whose entire life before then had been anything but normal.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI grew up in addiction<\/em>,\u201d she says, \u201cthe people I looked up to, everybody around me, was using drugs and alcohol.  My mom said, if there’s anything you want to try, just bring it home where you can be safe.  We’ll do it together<\/em>.\u201d  She also spent her childhood in the shadow of abusive male figures.  To escape, Tamara emancipated herself at the age of 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thereafter, she lived the life of a weekend warrior, while remaining close to her mother.  Tamara had her share of abusive relationships, and she had children, too.   \u201cThrough all these ups and downs, in these bad relationships and all, my mom and I were all each other really had<\/em>,\u201d she remembers.  Then, her mother died:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real addiction started when mom passed away.  I was 26.  There was no more here and there, weekend warrior using.  It was every day, nonstop, all the time.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What followed was a decades-long odyssey of drugs and alcohol.  Tamara hit more so-called rock bottoms than she can count.  She also went through numerous treatments and rehabs, all to no avail.  Finally, in early 2021, her life reached an impasse.  Tamara\u2019s daughter and family returned home from a weekend outing to find her, intoxicated and passed out, in their home.  Her daughter gave her the classic \u201cI can\u2019t do this with you any more<\/em>\u201d talk, and strongly suggested that her mom go to CORE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamara agreed even though at that time she wasn\u2019t entirely sold on the idea.  She\u2019d never really been sober, or thought about remaining sober, during her entire adult life.  On top of that, \u201cI was fearful; I didn’t know what to expect<\/em>,\u201d she says, \u201cI just did it \u2013 that’s what I was told to do.  I did it because that’s what my daughter wanted<\/em>.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s greatest miracles happen when we least expect them.  In fact, CORE\u2019s clients come to us from a myriad of circumstances.  They come from all walks of life, and all socioeconomic strata.  Notwithstanding, every client who recovers can pinpoint a pivotal moment at CORE that changes their lives forever.  The particulars will differ, but each has sudden insight or discovery that opens their hearts to listening, learning, and applying the lessons of the Big Book.  For Tamara, this happened on her third day here, and involved something she overheard from one of her new house mates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I’m laying in my bed and hear some of the girls doing a Big Book study in the kitchen.  They were on the 3rd Step, and I heard someone talking about conceding that your life is unmanageable and declaring this prayer, making a declaration to God, that you\u2019re going to turn your will and your life over to Him.  It was an \u201caha moment\u201d for me.  I got up out of bed and I asked if I could join them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just think what would have happened had I not heard that.  It just clicked.  So when I said my 3rd Step Prayer, it was a contract, a contract between God and me, for me to sit down, read the Big Book, and see what the 12 Steps have to offer.  It was a huge step, because nothing in my entire life had ever worked.  In that moment, my life took a turn.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once her heart was in the right place, Tamara began studying her Big Book in earnest, and she would “carry it around wherever I went.  Any chance I got, I’m in those first 164 pages<\/em>.\u201d  Within a couple weeks, she started writing on Step Four to discover her character defects.  By the time she completed Step Five, Tamara told us, her experience already had shown her why the 12 Steps were important to recovery.  \u201cThings just started waking up for me<\/em>,\u201d she said, and \u201cI\u2019ve been in the solution ever since<\/em>.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamara credits her recovery to two things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming here to CORE, and reading the Big Book.  Flat out, that’s what led to my spiritual awakening.  In that order, too.  Could I have one without the other?  I don’t think so.  I needed that combination to have this miracle in my life.  And the AA Big Book opened up the conception of God for me.  The book laid it out in a way that I could accept \u2013 or that was acceptable to me, and that I was worthy of.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, she sees herself as “a happy balance of Christianity \u2013 maybe a little more spiritual than religious<\/em>.”  Tamara also spends time in daily prayer and meditation to improve her conscious contact with God.  \u201cI took the 11th Step literally, and I ran with it, doing it every day since my 5th Step<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamara describes her recovery experience as amazing but, for her, good things were yet to come.  For one, she commenced CORE\u2019s one-year recovery program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also became a CSR instructor.  Tamara went through our CSR presenter\u2019s training, where clients learn to formally teach the 12 Steps in a classroom setting.   \u201cMy first time [teaching] was super scary, my ears were red as apples,<\/em>\u201d she remembers, \u201cbut it’s God’s will that I share.  I have a story to tell, and it might help save a life.  We have a duty, as recovered addicts and alcoholics, to help the newcomer.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamara manages our 6th<\/sup> Street House, too.  The responsibility is completely rewarding, she says.  If she makes a mistake, she gives an apology where due.  Nevertheless, she sees herself as decisive, telling us \u201cI don’t hesitate in anything that I do<\/em>.\u201d  She continually emphasizes to her women the positives of being at CORE:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some see being sent here as a punishment.  This is an opportunity.  CORE provides you with the structure.  They take out all the guesswork.  You make this one small payment a week, and you don’t have to worry about electric, water, cable \u2013 any of those living things that used to baffle us.  You get a job, and you go to classes.  When you have that aha moment, you can\u2019t place a price on what you gain here.  I’m in awe of it.  This is God giving you a shot.  It’s a really big opportunity, to change your entire existence into someone you didn’t even think you could be. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamara positively beamed while telling us about her two women from 6th Street House who commenced just this past month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, she\u2019s been working for CORE for almost a year.  \u201cI love my job<\/em>,\u201d she says, \u201cI’m grateful and take pride in what I do<\/em>.\u201d  When asked if she sees herself with CORE in five years, Tamara replied, \u201cAbsolutely!  I’m happy here, and content.  Any time I can help somebody, I’m here.  All they have to do is ask.  I’m all for being here<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We at CORE are so very happy for Tamara!  Our hope and prayer are that she will continue to build a solid spiritual foundation and share her experience, strength and hope with the newcomer.  We\u2019re with her in the fellowship of the spirit, as we walk the road of happy destiny together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tamara Spencer, Walking in Newness of Life This month we talked to CORE\u2019s own Tamara Spencer!  She\u2019s been with us for a mere 18 months, but her recovery resume already is impressive \u2013 house manager, Second Mile membership, Common Solution Recovery (CSR) instructor, recovery meeting chairperson, children\u2019s ministry, and a CORE employee, too.  Whew!  It…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}