Columbus resident Courtney Jo Irvin’s life has turned from addiction to one of ministry.
Courtney Jo Irvin has superimposed Psalm 18:28-29 over a picture of herself on social media. The verse reads: “The Lord my God lights up my darkness. In his strength I can crush an army. With my God, I can scale any wall.”
She has capitalized the word “any”. And that seems perfectly legitimate.
Perhaps the biggest walls the Columbus resident has scaled have been addiction such as an alcohol habit as a preteen, trauma, including blurry details of sex trafficking nine years ago at the hands of an abusive boyfriend, the loss of two infants, drug charges and jail time, and codependency in a life that began with molestation in her youngest years in southern Illinois.
Today, at age 35, she has volunteered in the nonprofit drug resource program Recover Out Loud, is a certified drug recovery coach for Community Downtown, the host of a Christian podcast called “Holy Sabbath,” a leader in local Celebrate Recovery and an unabashed testament to the idea that dramatic changes are possible when the spiritual and the practical form a dynamic duo.
Plus, she recently added a motivational video series, “Factory 2 Fitness,” chronicling her journey back to health after falling into unwise personal habits after beginning to work third shift.
“All this is for a purpose that He can use,” Irvin said of God. “I believe in my heart that my story could become a movie … .”
It’s already become a small, self-published book with a vulnerability as disarming as Irvin herself.
The back cover of that work titled “Beautiful Death” about her dying to self and submitting to Christ six years ago succinctly summarizes part of her journey: “She turned to alcohol, sex and drugs for comfort. Her coping behaviors led to self-harm, destructiveness, codependency, negative self-talk, depression, anxiety and so much more.”
“God took her and molded her into an image like His son, Jesus Christ,” the book promo reads, but she is hardly bragging on herself.No, she is telling anyone who will listen that a supernatural power changed and reshaped her amid her willingness to live differently.
“For me, it’s Jesus who cleansed all that,” she said.
She can speak of all this without tears, she said, because Jesus has strengthened her — all so that she can help others who have agonized through much of the same. That’s why she recently organized a prayer event at Mill Race Park to join hands with others and to spiritually fight against sex trafficking.
“Yeah, it was a lot to overcome, and to try to learn how to live life as an adult with responsibilities,” she said of her past trauma and tribulations. “I am truly blessed to have caught on the way that I did.
“It is Jesus (who did this).”
It is also a mix of Christian recovery programs such as the very ones she now helps with, plus ample emotional and psychological support. One of her most recent podcast teachings serves as an example. It focuses on the topic “Jesus removes obstacles.”
“Now, of course, there’s still some trauma that’s hard for me to talk about,” she said. “There are still some things that I have to bring into the light.”
Clearly she knows what it’s like to ache with insecurity and a walking woundedness for a long time.
“That may be why God has called someone like me to do this,” she said of ministry outreach. “Because he doesn’t want people to continue hurting. He has confirmed to me over and over that he wants to use me to bring emotional healing to other people.
“I felt like that God said very clearly to me two years ago, ‘It’s time to take back your innocence.’”
In truth, she seems to be taking back her sobriety, piety, self-discipline, you name it.
And no one is prouder of her and her dramatic change from addict to aide of those struggling than her aunt, Columbus resident Susan Secrest.
“It’s like she has been two completely different people,” said Secrest, who was baptized by Irvin in 2022. “It’s like she has life again. I think part of it is that her jail time woke her up.”
A paragraph from “Beautiful Death” encapsulates her premeditated, step-by-step life these days: “I literally live one day at a time. I am a recovering alcoholic and drug addict who is fighting to stay sober … .”
And scale whatever walls may be in her way.
Watch or listen
- Hear Courtney Jo Irvin’s podcast “Holy Sabbath” at holysabbathpodcastwithcourtneyjo.buzzsprout.com.
- Hear the podcast and watch videos featuring Irvin on the Courtney Jo YouTube channel.
