🔥 Mamas in the Fire: When Love Isn’t Enough, but Hope Still Burns

I never imagined I’d become an expert in things like Narcan, fentanyl test strips, or the look in a child’s eyes when they’re trying to convince you they’re sober—and they’re not.

But here I am.

A mama in the fire.

Not just any fire, either.

The kind that singes your soul.

The kind you can’t run from—because your child is still in it.

Addiction doesn’t knock politely.

It crashes through the door.

It brings shame, fear, sleepless nights, and an ache in your chest that no one else seems to understand.

People say, “You can’t love them sober.”

And as much as I hate that truth… I’ve lived it.

Because I tried.

Oh, I tried.

I prayed, pleaded, begged, bribed, cried, and collapsed.

I offered rides to rehab and ultimatums. I whispered, “Just please stay alive.”

I looked in my son’s face and wondered if I’d be planning a funeral instead of a future.

But in that fire… I found something else.

I found purpose.

And purpose doesn’t take the pain away, but it gives it direction.

That’s how Hope Dealer Outreach was born.

Not from perfection.

From ashes.

Now I carry Narcan in my purse.

I hand out test strips at community events.

I hold space for other mamas who’ve been told to “just let them hit rock bottom.”

(As if death is the only teacher.)

I know this fire intimately. And I know one thing for sure:

🔥 It’s not the fire that defines you.

It’s what you do inside it.

If you’re a mama in the fire right now—whether your child is using, incarcerated, missing, or gone—please hear me:

You are not alone.

You are not crazy.

You are not weak.

You are a warrior wrapped in love, walking through flames, trying to carry your child to safety.

And I see you.

⸻

This post marks the first in a series called “Mamas in the Fire”—a space for stories, strength, and sacred resilience from mothers navigating the unthinkable.

💛 If you have a story to share, message me.

Your voice could be the one another mama needs to survive the heat.

⸻

With you in the fire,

Desiree

#HopeInOneHand

#ResourcesInTheOther

#MamasInTheFire

#HealingStartsHere