When she was 18 years old, Kami Scott wanted to be the life of the party!

”I would say I was lost. I hadn’t experienced a lot of acceptance in high school and I was looking for a place to be accepted. I found that life in the bar scene was where I felt comfortable. I drank a lot. We did what’s called the “death march” in Appleton, Wisconsin on my 18th birthday. It’s where you do a shot and a beer in every bar. I made it through thirty plus bars! Then I went back to my home bar. The bartender set up 13 shots of tequila and I drank every one of them. How I didn’t die from alcohol poisoning I don’t know. That became a way of life for me…I was a waitress and would work until mid afternoon. Then, I’d go home, take a quick nap and hit the clubs and stay until closing. I’d get up and start it all over again the next day.”

In 1983, Kami married and got divorced two years later. It was then when Kami’s bout with the bottle returned with a vengeance.

“I turned once again to the clubs. I really believed I needed someone to complete me. People talk about finding your better half. That’s not true. God’s word says---we’re complete in Him. I kept looking for that man to complete my life and thinking I’d find him in the clubs. After each relationship and there were many, I drank more. I became really lonely and very angry. There was so much infidelity in the men in my life as well as my own. At one point, I was restless and hopeless. I felt rejected by life! I started writing good-bye notes to people. Somebody thankfully called my parents. They came without judgment to the bar I was at and got me some help. But, I kept drinking. I just didn’t want to be here anymore.”

The drinking escalated until one night Kami ended up in a hotel room with a man.

“I had been drinking since 2 in the afternoon. Around midnight, so much of the anger started to surface. He said something that really triggered the outburst. I had met with my parent’s pastor several months before. He told me I could call him at any time day or night. In the haze of the rage, I wanted to really hurt this man. It was then when I remembered I still have the minister’s phone number in my purse. I found it and called him. There was no condemnation. Most pastors aren’t going to take a call from a drunken woman at 12 o’clock at night. But, he was able to talk me out of the rage. Although he offered to come get me, I walked home. I cried out to God: I can’t live like this anymore. I just can’t. In what appeared to be a blessing from Above, the Lord surrounded me with so many good people who cared and loved for me. My mom prayed for me so much when I got home. That was the last night I drank.”

Since the life-changing night, Kami Scott has worked with people who are battling addictions in their lives, including alcoholism.

“First of all, I would tell them it’s not hopeless. There is help even if they’ve been in treatment 12 or 14 times. They’ve got to keep trying. Without Christ in my life, I firmly believe I might be sober, but I wouldn’t be whole and healed from the inside out. I believe Christ can do that. I recommend getting in a Bible preaching church where people who care and really love you surround you. The first is to reach out to God and say I can’t do it by myself and I don’t want to live this way. That’s the first step. Just remember, there’s so much help in our communities. Just don’t give up. There is hope!”


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