From Selling Drugs to Building a Recovery Movement | Dr. Kristi Isaacson

Dr. Kristi Isaacson grew up in an addicted household in Crossville, Tennessee. She was selling drugs by her late teens. On New Year's Eve 1994, her sister talked her into going to a church service. She showed up loaded, planning to leave for the real party after. She ended up on her knees at the altar instead — and literally opened her purse, dumped out everything she had, and walked out the door. She hasn't used since.Thirty years later, Kristi holds a bachelor's in pastoral counseling, a master's in chaplaincy, and a doctorate whose dissertation was a blueprint for Crossville's recovery community. That blueprint became reality: a 24/7 call line, jail interviews, twice-weekly court advocacy, transport relationships spanning 8 states, semi-independent transitional housing, and now a women's residential facility — the Tisdale House — designed to make every woman feel like a princess while doing the hardest work of her life.In this conversation, she and Austin talk about never having seen love and creating a child just to feel it, what it actually takes to build recovery infrastructure in rural America, why long-term engagement is the only thing that works, and — for anyone who feels too far gone — why God wasn't surprised by any of it and why your story isn't wasted.The Way Podcast — stories of recovery, faith, and second chances.