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Heather Margiotta is a blogger, author, and speaker about her 4 passions: Faith, Adoption, Grief, and Relationships.
As a woman with experience with all of these core passions, her heart for the Lord is the continual thread that runs through her thoughts and writings.
Heather and I instantly connected because we both have brothers who died from a drug overdose with heroin but our connection is deeper than a tragedy. I truly believe it’s our love for Jesus and the way He has shaped our lives.
Heather’s brother was her best friend. A funny, vibrant guy that ‘would try anything once’ is how she describes him. Her love for him is evident as she recounts his good-nature and her big brother affection for him. He even shared with her the treasure of salvation in Jesus. As teens, they both learned to walk the path as new Christians.
Heather says they remained best friends even when he pulled away from walking the “church life”.
The turning point for Heather’s brother was when he got a Staph infection. The medication that was prescribed started him on the road to pill additcion, which funneled into an addiction of heroin.
Heather recounts the first time she heard of his addiction and was shocked. Because she felt so uninformed and was naive to drugs, it was hard to accept the reality of how deeply trapped her brother was by addiction.
He lied and manipulated for drugs. Drugs took him to crime. Stealing to get money for more drugs, he was eventually caught and sent to prison.
During this time, Heather got a chance to remind her brother of who Jesus is and who he is in Jesus. This was a turning point for her him. He started rehab and not only changed his actions but his heart. He declared his dependence on God.
Teen Challenge was the rehab center when her brother rededicated his life to Christ. He had many opportunities to see hope and live hope. He was open to a new life. A life where drugs didn’t rule his every thought.
But suddenly. Everything changed.
Heather’s brother had gone missing. Rumors circulated that he had a chance to connect with a girlfriend who was also addicted to drugs and left his rehabilitation home to run away with her. Heather and her mom had just happened to come to Teen Challenge to visit when he was gone. He left on a Friday and the family pursued him searching for him over the weekend. By Wednesday, a body was found.
Four days before Christmas, tragedy struck the family when they got the phone call that he was, in fact, the body that the police had found. A drug overdose took him.
Heather was in total denial. The horrific moments just couldn’t be real. Being a jokester, this has to be a trick that he was playing on the family.
But, as reality set in, the family began to experience the brokenness of death.
Even in this horrible circumstance, Heather has so much hope and peace knowing that he rededicated his life to the Lord before he died. And her parents have had the sweet blessing of becoming closer through their loss.
I’m incredibly grateful for Heather’s bravery in sharing a story that continues to break her heart. Her faith in Jesus sheds light on any darkness and comforts her through the questions we don’t have answers to. Through losing her brother, Heather has a connection with grief that is nestled between hope and healing. She sees God’s promises even in the hardship.
Heather talks about the difference between a drug addict and the core of a person. Through everything that Heather learned from loss, one pinnacle lesson has to do with choosing to see the core of the person and not their human-ness. The core of the person is who God created them to be. Their human-ness is connected to our shortcomings, our struggles, our sin. This resonates with me, obviously because I also had a brother who died from an overdose. But it also speaks to how we love people in general. No matter our sin struggle, we are His precious creation. And in accepting that we are loved by God for who He created us to be, helps us accept the same for our people.
Mark 12:30-31 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.
