PARENTS OF ADDICTS TURN TO GOD

It's all about the prodigal's return.

"That is what I am staking my claim on," said Cindy Gilbert, one of the
founders of the Garland chapter of Mothers Against Methamphetamine. "I am
believing for that prodigal son experience, for my son to really come back
to the Lord."

Ms. Gilbert, 55, a career church lady, often smiles while blinking away tears.

Once, she felt God so near at hand that she fell to her knees in awe.

"God did that in preparation for the journey that I had to take," she said.

That journey began when she learned her son, Jason -- a former straight-A
student and scholarship athlete -- had been smoking crystal methamphetamine
and was facing felony drug charges.

Jason spent six months in jail and four months in a boot camp. He's
finishing the rest of a seven-year sentence on parole.

Now back at work and in recovery, he believes his parents' prayers paid off.

"It probably kept me alive," he said. "I should have been dead more than once."

The experience taught him lessons.

Support Is Key

For addicts, the word is that you'd better find something -- faith, family
or friends -- to help you through.

"The only way you're going to get out of it is with help," he said.
"Because you're not going to get out of it by yourself."

For family, his advice is simple.

"The main thing is, don't judge," he said. "Most parents haven't ever had
to face addiction. Give moral support."

It was a difficult lesson for his parents.

"It is just so devastating when you've raised your child and you know that
you've done all the things that you could," Ms. Gilbert said. "And then
they get to be an adult and they walk totally away from what they've been
taught. You go through so many emotions -- where did I fail?"

Her search for answers led her to Mothers Against Methamphetamine, a
national organization that began in Alabama in 2002 and now has more than
60 chapters across the country.

Faith-Based Approach

The groups preach a faith-based approach for families coping with meth
addiction. The six women and one man in the Garland chapter meet every
Wednesday evening for mutual support and group prayer.

And members believe their prayers are taking effect.

Jason and his wife and children are back together now.

"They are doing so much better," Ms. Gilbert said. "I don't believe they
would be if he had not been caught when he was."

Believers often see arrests as divine intervention.

"I know that two of my three sons went to jail, and both of them said the
same thing: 'Mom, if I had not been picked up that night, I would be dead
today. God put me here.' " said Connie Waldecker, 54, a member of Mothers
Against Methamphetamine.

She described her sons' dark bulging eyes, sunken faces, weight loss and
paranoia, their rotting teeth and incarceration.

"They were out of control, and I didn't know what it was," she said. "They
were knocking holes in the walls."

A Mother Takes Charge

But three years ago, she got it.

"I had a debilitating anxiety attack, and I did not go back to work," she
said. "I just felt that I had to stay here and guard my home."

Her home was a battleground, and her sons were going up in smoke -- bit by
bit, day by day.

"I believe it's easier to close the casket on your child than it is to
watch them deteriorate and die a slow death from the meth," she said.

She's been in Mothers Against Methamphetamine's Garland chapter since the
first meeting on April 4, 2004.

That's where she got the idea to anoint her house, daubing olive oil on the
doorframes.

"She got that from me," Ms. Gilbert said, the smile breaking out again.
"She's at peace in her own home again. And to me that's a miracle."

"I believe I see miracles happening all the time," Ms. Waldecker said. "I
mean, look -- there's no holes in our walls any more. Our house is looking
like a home again."

Two of her sons -- one of them just off a meth sentence at the state jail
at Hutchins -- live with her and her husband, James Waldecker.

She believes they are in recovery because of the mothers' prayers.

"I've never been a tough-love person," Ms. Waldecker said. "But I prayed.
And this is what I have asked of God: 'Let me see my children be happy and
overcome this evil that they have allowed into their lives.' "