{"id":1944,"date":"2023-01-12T09:50:34","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T14:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/?p=1944"},"modified":"2023-03-16T16:04:29","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T20:04:29","slug":"former-nba-star-lamar-odom-describes-surviving-a-drug-overdose-as-gods-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2023\/01\/former-nba-star-lamar-odom-describes-surviving-a-drug-overdose-as-gods-plan.html","title":{"rendered":"Former NBA Star Lamar Odom Describes Surviving a Drug Overdose as &#8220;God&#8217;s Plan&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_1953\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1953\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1953\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/410\/2023\/01\/lamar-odom-credit-youtube-tmz.png\" alt=\"lamar odom\" width=\"768\" height=\"590\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1953\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">TMZ\/YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Former NBA star Lamar Odom believes he is still alive because God has a plan for his life. Odom, 43, was the subject of a new TV special, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hulu.com\/series\/tmz-presents-lamar-odom-sex-drugs-kardashians-f2f58114-b788-4ce6-a27a-ab93fb454f51\">Sex, Drugs and Kardashians<\/a>,\u201d which premiered on FOX. In 2015 Odom survived a drug overdose following a visit to a legal brothel in Nevada, where he was found unresponsive. He was in a coma for several days before waking up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI guess I have a strong spirit,\u201d Odom shared in the documentary while speaking to TMZ\u2019s Harvey Levin. \u201cThey told me I was never going to walk or talk. I walked into this building, and I\u2019m talking to you right now, so everything that I\u2019m doing this is God\u2019s plan.\u201d The former NBA power forward said, \u201cI\u2019m His son, and I\u2019m just living.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The New York native defied his childhood upbringing with his father addicted to drugs and losing his mother at a young age. Odom went on to play for four NBA teams and even earned the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>The two-time NBA champion married into one of the world\u2019s most prominent reality TV families, The Kardashians. But the marriage ended amid his struggles with substance abuse and illicit sex.<\/p>\n<p>Odom lost everything following his death scare and hit rock bottom. He continued using drugs until he realized he wanted to change because of God. When asked what finally made him get clean, Odom responded: \u201cThe love of life and just telling the Lord thank you for sparing me. There\u2019s no other way to do it than to live life!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oEXuSMxS6oA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A 2019\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/lamar-odom-gets-saved-says-jesus-kept-him-alive-after-near-death-experience.html\">Instagram post<\/a>\u00a0revealed that the athlete \u201cgot saved\u201d at The Word Church in Warrensville Heights, Ohio. Odom said at the time that he was grateful to be \u201cwalking with the Lord\u201d and acknowledged The Word Church founder and Senior Pastor R.A. Vernon for leading him to dedicate his life to Christ. \u201cNowadays, I\u2019m doing the best I can in walking with the Lord,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThanks to Pastor Vernon @drravernon, I got saved at @thewordchurch this weekend,\u201d Odom wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>Odom praised Jesus for keeping him alive after the brothel incident.\u00a0\u201cI had to show Jesus my appreciation for keeping me alive!\u201d Odom testified. The basketball star posted a photo of himself with his hands lifted in surrender as the pastor laid hands on him.<\/p>\n<p>Odom was also candid about his struggles with sex and drug addiction in his memoir,\u00a0<em>Darkness to Light,<\/em>\u00a0released in\u00a0 2019. In May of that year, he told\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2019\/05\/30\/entertainment\/lamar-odom-interview-khloe-kardashian\/index.html\">CNN<\/a>\u00a0that God helped him through the darkest period of his life. \u201cThe strength in God, the strength in my family for never giving up on me, that\u2019s who I live for now,\u201d he testified. \u201cI lived selfishly for a long time. I\u2019ll be an addict for as long as I live.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When you&#8217;re sober, you&#8217;re present. And when you&#8217;re present, you kind of understand the consequences and repercussions of what you do, and therefore I have no will to do any drug that isn&#8217;t marijuana. I understand the consequences and repercussions of getting high.&#8221; He added, &#8220;I&#8217;m trying to go forward and trying to move forward. If I do drugs, that&#8217;s moving backyards. If I live moving backward, that means I&#8217;m living to die.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former NBA star Lamar Odom believes he is still alive because God has a plan for his life. Odom, 43, was the subject of a new TV special, \u201cSex, Drugs and Kardashians,\u201d which premiered on FOX. In 2015 Odom survived a drug overdose following a visit to a legal brothel in Nevada, where he was&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":1953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[158,10,17],"tags":[567,564],"class_list":["post-1944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-addiction","category-celebrity","category-faith-and-health","tag-drug-addiction","tag-lamar-odom"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former NBA Star Lamar Odom Describes Surviving a Drug Overdose as &quot;God&#039;s Plan&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former NBA star Lamar Odom recently sat down with TMZ&#039;s Harvey Levin to discuss a plethora of topics, from drug overdose to marriage.\" \/>\n<meta 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