PHOTOS BY BRAD PERSON
After years of alcoholism, Amber Leone Murphy now helps empower others to overcome their addictions.
Grace in
brokenness
Woman finds freedom from the grip of addiction By SCOTT NOBLE
6
REFRESHED | April 2014
S
he was only 8 years old when a family member gave her a sip of beer. That introduction to alcohol at an early age significantly impacted her life and left her searching for years—definitely for the alcohol, but also for something more fulfilling, more peaceful. “I just remember it was in a pink plastic cup,” she said. “I remember feeling very strange and warm and then after that it was kind of like a mental obsession to want to get more.” Imagine that experience and the “mental obsession” that followed when you are just a child. Most kids that age are trying to sneak an extra can of pop when their mom isn’t looking. Or maybe trying to play a few extra minutes of their favorite video game. That wasn’t the case for Amber Leone Murphy.
The trigger point
Amber’s family moved from Minnesota to Montana when she was 11 years old. Her mother had recently remarried and had herself become sober only a couple of years before the move. While in Montana, Amber’s grandmother, who still lived in Minnesota,