My life wasn’t the greatest growing up. My parents split when I was young and for a long time, I carried it thinking it was my fault.
In school, I excelled in academics, especially in my high school years. Life in school was great during those years, but my home life – not so much.
I was bullied by my mother’s boyfriend. This is what made me turn to alcohol. I started to sneak booze all around the house, drinking any chance I got to fill myself with what I thought was liquid happiness. That went on until after I graduated when I moved in with my father which led to a whole year of partying, with my father joining in buying me booze and drugs.
I worked construction, which was good, but then I got laid off. That’s when the drinking reached an all-time high. I got a job at a local pizza place, I met a girl, and more partying more arguing with the family again…all I wanted was to be left alone to drink. Then the money was running low, and I couldn’t afford my booze. So, I decided to try and stop drinking and I told myself I didn’t need it. And that led me to going through a withdrawal. I was shaking so badly that I felt like I was dying. I had hated myself and what I had become…an alcoholic.
Last February, I remembered crying out to God, begging to stop drinking, and for Him to take it away from me. I was in so much pain, and I didn’t know what else to do.
Then I was told about the Westminster Rescue Mission. The first 30 days went by very slowly. At the end of month 3, I joined an evening chapel group. That’s when I started to take God seriously. I started to write to God on a daily basis in my journal, praying every day, and thanking Him for all He does for me. I started feeling the love that I was looking for and I started to learn all the amazing things God does for me.
And now I have graduated from the Mission. I’ve gained so much being here. Through God all of this happened. I don’t need alcohol or drugs to be happy – I just need God and He is enough. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, “But He said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness, therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses.”
I made this my life verse because God loves me through the highs and lows, and through my strongest moments and my lowest points, no matter what. He is always there for me.