Revival of Hope - Carley Summers: Finding Hope and Identity

But I love this lady, and she's got a beautiful story. You might know her from Carly Summer's Interior Designs, and she's got a beautiful story of freedom that she has come to share with you today. Thank you, Carly. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Christy, for having me. I did yell at her a little bit earlier. For having me go after Renee and Dr. Fred, that's unfair. They had me weeping. The Holy Spirit is here. He's moved in my heart. I'm going to let y'all know. But I'm going to cry. God has done so much in my life, and I'm going to do my best to stick to my time. But I want to let the Holy Spirit flow and speak, and I want to tell you a little bit about my journey. But I do want to thank the speakers that spoke ahead of me and anointed this stage with the Holy Spirit. And what they said impacted me. I'm like, can you be my mentor, Renee? I mean, it was incredible. So I'm going to share a little bit about myself, how God set me free, and where I am today. But I'm a Greenville, North Carolina girl. I grew up here. I went to Elmhurst Elementary. I went to E.B.A. I went to Rock. I went to Rose High. I've got a little Rose High in me. And you know, I ended up going to East Carolina University.

And you know, as a child, I was extremely creative, and God had His hands all over me as a child. My family raised me to be creative. I remember redesigning my room, decorating things, Barbie houses. I mean, you name it, I was creating. I was painting, and that's who God had created me to be. But it also made me a little different. I was a little odd. I was a little goofy. I had ADHD. I had impulsivity control. So I struggled going through school. And what ended up happening with that is because I was different and because I was odd, I wasn't really accepted. I was bullied. And all I wanted was for people to like me. I wanted to be accepted. And instead of standing in the truth of my identity of who God made me to be, instead, I started to turn to the ways of the world. And I'll never forget, even now, talking to my mom. She would say when I was little, now, Carly, I know you're a little weird, but one day God's going to use it. And you're creative, and you're different, but God will use it. But you know, trying to fit in, you know, going to—I mean, I remember being at a party in ninth grade, and people were smoking and drinking, and that's when, you know, I felt like I have to stand out. I have to be different. I went up to a young man, and I took a cigarette out of his mouth, and I said, your body is a temple. We don't do that.

I was not invited to many more parties after that. I was a bit of a buzzkill. But after that, I just wanted so badly to be loved and to be liked, so I started to partake in drugs and alcohol. And that started to take me down a slippery slope. It started to change my identity of who I was. I wanted to fit in with the world instead of who God created me to be. Leading up to that, I go into ECU. Now, if you know about ECU, you know they like to party, so I went for it. I started making choices that I never thought I would have made, and some of those choices led me to when I was 18 years old being a victim of rape. After that incident, I remember waking up the next day, and the shame I felt, and the worthlessness that I felt. And I remember the devil telling me, you're worthless, you're dirty, no one's ever going to want you. You put yourself in that situation. You deserved it. And I continued that lifestyle. I continued a worthless lifestyle. I continued to party. I continued to do drugs. This led me to my first DUI, where I hit a transit bus in ECU and totaled my car. The devil wanted to take me out. I didn't die. I continued to party. I continued to do drugs. I continued down a worthless lifestyle. I ended up falling three stories from a window ledge. Ended up in the emergency room, my parents there, having to clean my body up from falling into a deep alleyway.

But the devil wanted to take me out. He knew I had a purpose. I continued then. I went to rehab after that at 19, 20 years old. I remember being in rehab, never talking about the sexual assault that had happened to me. I thought, well, that was my fault. That's not the reason why I'm doing these things. I'm worthless. I'll always be worthless. And I ended up becoming even a manipulator because of the sin, because of the feelings that I felt internally. And I manipulated even everyone around me. around me. I'm just a normal party girl. I'm just a little bit more extreme than other people. I did it, manipulated my parents and my family. And you know, they ended up letting me come back to Greenville going back to school, I ended up getting a second DUI. And the irony in it is that I was arrested by the same officer that arrested me for my first DUI, who now directs traffic at Covenant Church. So I remember my parents, the officer would be like, how's Carly doing? She's good. She's good. But during those times, you know, who would have thought you'd look at me now that I have been to jail twice, that I have sat behind bars twice, I was incarcerated in my sin, I sat filthy in my sin, and I did not see a way out for myself. And I remember after my second DUI, I was in jail. And I had no one to come pick me up. And I was too ashamed to call my parents. And I remember sitting there in old filth, thinking who is going to get me out of here. And I remember getting out and I remember feeling so low that like, you know, some people they they go through instances like

that. And they're like, well, I've got to get out of this. I've got to redeem this. I still felt so low. I continued to do drugs and alcohol, even after my second arrest. And I remember because of my court, they said, she either has to go to rehab and be rehabilitated, or she will go to prison. And I remember I was so low. I said, just send me to prison. There was no hope for me. That's where I wanted to be. And I remember my mom and dad just couldn't believe it. And I remember sitting on the floor of their kitchen, weeping, and they were about to send me to rehab, which is a luxury to go to rehab and for someone to help you and to help you work through those things. And I remember hearing this whisper, saying you're a burden to those around you. Take your life. No one wants you here. Your parents will be better off if you're not here. Nothing's going to be of your life. You're always going to be worthless. You're never going to amount to anything. Just end it now. And I remember a louder whisper saying, I have a plan for you. Don't give up. You are my child. I have a plan for your life. And I remember looking at my parents and saying, please, can I have one more chance? And I have some godly parents, y'all, and they're here today. And they gave me one more chance. And they said, one more, because we're done. And they sent me on a plane and I went to a detox center. And I remember having a Jesus calling, a couple pairs of clothes and a Bible. And I sat in my bed and I said, God, if you're real, show me. I want to be obedient. I want to change my life. Can you help me? And the Holy Spirit moved. I started to understand that what had happened to me did not have to be my future, that the creativity that God had put inside of me would come alive one day. And I continued to follow the path. I was called a

superstar client in rehab. It's almost like I refound my identity in the confinements of a rehab center. And after that, I remember at the rehab center, they said, we want you to go to a halfway house. We need you to go work on yourself. We need you to go and continue to heal what's going on with you. But my dad had been ministering in Haiti to a group of men, and there was an organization there. And he said, hey, there's this organization that said they'd take you as an intern. They don't know you're in rehab, so don't tell them. But I'd love for you to go there. I said, well, dad, everyone in rehab is telling me I need to go to a halfway house. But I had done that before, and it had not been successful for me. I continued to use drugs and alcohol in my first halfway house. And I remember asking someone, what's the best way to find obedience? And she said, the best place is on your face. So I laid in my rehab room. I'm sure my roommate thought I was crazy. I laid on my face, and I said, God, I want to be obedient for the first time in my life. Tell me where to go. I didn't hear anything. But then I got up, and I read my Jesus calling, and it said, I don't want to take you down well-rooted paths of routine. I want to take you on an adventure for me. I remember calling my dad at 11 o'clock at night. I said, dad, I've made my choice. I'm going to Haiti. He said, good. I already booked your plane flight. That's where God did a work in me. I worked with women who had been through sexual abuse. God used my testimony to help set other people free for the first time in my life. I realized that what had happened to me and have to be dirty and useless, that it could be giving glory to God and that God could use what I had walked through.

And after that, I ended up going to college, finishing college, never thought I would finish college. I ended up meeting a husband who loves me. I never thought, the lies of the enemy told me forever that I would be worthless and unlovable. And God gave me a beautiful husband who I met at church. And he was the hot drummer. And I continued down this lifestyle of following and thriving for Jesus. I ended up leading a Bible study of women who have gone through the same thing as me. And here I am today in Eastern North Carolina. Never in my life did I think that God would bring me back to the place that the enemy stole so much ground in my life. But I remember 10 years ago, I was living in Florida and God says, I want to redeem all that has been stolen from you. So me and my husband came back to Eastern North Carolina and a Bible study was thrown in my lap of young college-aged women that I am able to lead every Wednesday night. Some of them show up hungover, but that's the best place to be. And God has allowed me to be in their lives, to minister to them in the areas where I felt like I needed to be ministered to, the area that the devil stole. God is bringing back tenfold, not only for myself, but for other people because of the surrender that I made 14 years ago.

Next week, I will have 14 years of sobriety from drug and alcohol addiction. God is good. God is good. God is good. God is good. Thank you. And it wouldn't have been possible if I had not released my shackles, if God had not set me free. I remember feeling so weighed down and burdened by my shackles and God delivered me from them so that I could be here today. And I think that if any of you today are feeling worthlessness or shame, it's where God wants to replace it with truth. I remember being a child, knowing that God had a purpose for me to be creative because he was a creator. And I get to go now and design homes when I was almost homeless from drug addiction. How beautiful is our God that he replaces things that are lost and redeems it with things that are new. So I wanna thank y'all. Thank you, Chrissy, for having me. And God is so good and thank y'all so much for being here today. Thank you. Thank you for watching our broadcast. Are you an incarcerated brother or sister

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