Her life began as the daughter of American musical icon Ray Charles but almost ended because of a 20-year crack cocaine addiction.
    Sheila Raye Charles has survived early childhood sexual abuse by a family member, a near-fatal car wreck at age 16, three stints in federal prison and a crack cocaine addiction. It was during her last confinement that her life dramatically changed.
    Charles and her husband, Tony, appeared Friday night at the John Wesley Center of the Brooklet United Methodist Church and shared their miraculous story during Celebrate Recovery, which is an outreach ministry that meets at the John Wesley Center each Friday at 7 p.m.  The ministry’s goal is to promote and celebrate the victories of fellow Christians. It also provides a venue whereby participants can share testimonies as they move forward in their faith.
    Through a late notice, a member of the Celebrate Recovery program received a call that Charles had just appeared in a town nearby and was available to the Brooklet group for the Friday event. Through emails and phone calls, the Brooklet Recovery group rallied a crowd of nearly 75 to hear Charles.
    Sheila Raye and Tony are in sharing mode almost every night as they travel the country to share what God is doing in their lives. Sheila aims to lead many to Christianity through her passionate and powerful testimony.
    “God said that if I would stand for Him, He would take care of me,” she said.
    In her autobiography, “Behind the Shades,” Sheila Raye Charles shares how she finally found a ray of light at the end of her tunnel. Living with the constant pain, hurt and rejection of her family, Charles found herself turning to drugs for relief. During this time, she had five children by four different fathers. One child was born prematurely and weighed only 14 ounces. The baby was born with a hole in his heart and was a “crack baby,” she said. Her addiction caused her to lose contact with all of her children until two years ago when her husband was able to arrange a reunion with them.
    “I remember stealing presents from underneath the Christmas tree and selling them for another hit of crack,” Charles said. “It (crack cocaine) possesses your heart, soul and mind and will eventually destroy you. After my 20-year addiction and my third prison sentence, I found myself crawling around on the concrete floor of my cell in 2002, crying out to God in complete devastation. I had tied some sheets together and was contemplating suicide when God came to me in my moment of despair and led me back to the light.”
    Charles also has a newly recorded album of music with the same name as her book. She wrote some of the songs on the album and sings some of her father’s most popular songs. During her time of sharing, she performed the songs “Georgia” and “Hit the Road, Jack,” both made famous by her father. Her personal songs are a mixture of acoustic jazz and rhythm and blues, very similar to her father’s style. Her voice is melodic and smooth and carries tremendously without even needing a microphone.
     “I just loved her singing and testimony,” said Jeni Wright, of Brooklet. “She was a blessing.”
    Matt Cordell, a member of the Brooklet Recovery band said, “She was fantastic. I loved it all.”
    The Rev. Dr. Terry DeLoach, retired minister of Brooklet United Methodist, said: “I feel like she is very sincere in her faith and has been a blessing to so many people living on the edge of despair.”
    Sheila and Tony Charles created “One Way Up” prison ministries and travel to women’s prisons across the country sharing their stories, for it was in prison where Sheila Raye’s life turned around.
    “I know where I came from,” she said, “and without God helping me that night on the floor of my cell, I wouldn’t be with you here tonight.”
    It is that story that Charles shares day by day through her evangelistic ministry to churches, prisons and whoever will listen to how God has miraculously changed a life she said was destined for darkness and hell.
    In the last two songs of her performance, Charles changed the words to her father’s old songs by singing, “Hit the Road, Crack, and don’t you come back no more, no more . . .”  and “Just an old sweet song keeps Jesus on my mind . . .”