A HELPING HAND

All the years of abuse. All that wasted time. How can I make all things right? There is too much damage I’ve caused with myself and others... I’ll just get high this one last time...

Fortunately that “one last time” wasn’t my end.
Somewhere inside all my pain there was a lesson I learned at a very young age, a lesson of love. However complex at the time I knew even as a child that this word “God” really meant something to me.

More than anything that word represented a feeling of hope but I never knew why.
It took many years of abuse to my body, the loss of my Father and best friend, and of course many many relationships to realize just what hope was. Hope is the reality of God’s never dying love for us. In every situation in life he is available. Through joy and suffering. A true friend.

My need for soberly brought me to California. Where I knew no one. My loving family was always behind me but this time I was alone. On the inside.

Kneeling bedside, working programs, begging for forgiveness. Not knowing if I’d ever feel that peace,that love I once had as a child ever again. That’s when it happened.

I gave up my fight, lowered my defenses and surrendered my life to God. The tears brought it on. I found myself drowning with emotion. In this place of hurt my freedom came. My misery was removed. By the hand of God. As if a warm hand reached with in and pulled out the hurt. Spiritually awakening me. Quite a rush yes, a rush of love. Never to be forgotten. The day my life was saved, the day my life began again.

I have a best friend, his name is Jesus. He loves me. I love him. Side by side we go through life as friends. In every situation I include Him, even when I’m too stubborn to realize it, a helping hand, a never ending commitment to each other, my hope.

Dan

A Path in the Light of God

Like most addicts my problems with drugs started early in life. A foolish kid experimenting with pills, and booze. Before I knew it, my young adult life was consumed with struggles, pain, lies, and deceit. The path I was on bore no light, only darkness. The once happy child with a promising future was now a young man who seemed destined to fall into an endless pit of despair. Deep down inside I wanted out. I needed to be free of it's grasp, yet despite that yearning and the cries of my family and loved ones to stop I struggled on. I tried to stop here and there, but never made it more than a few days at a time. I became more withdrawn and detached from the world around me, to the point where I convinced myself that nobody could help me. I was alone in my own mind, lost in the dark.........
An old friend of mine contacted me, he knew of my issues and he could relate. He had once walked in the same darkness and now he lives strong in the light of the Lord. He told me his story and how the folks at the Chruch his Mom attended were praying for him back when he was still addicted. He said " these people I don't even know were praying for me and I could not ignore the offer towards salvation". Shortly after learning this, he was clean and sober, saved, and still is to this day.
I was inspired by his story yet still reluctant to believe it could happen for me. There was too much damage done, too much pain caused. How could I ask for Gods forgivness if I could not forgive myself?
By changing my path thats how. By accepting an invitation to attend a prayer group. By being embraced by a group of fellow Christians. By listening to them pray for me that evening, praying for ME, for MY freedom. By opening my heart, my mind and my soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. By kneeling down at his alter and letting his light shine upon me.
I accepted Jesus as my savior and turned my problems over to him. I set myself free that summer night and have never felt so strong in my life.
I pray now for those still out there walking on the dark path. I pray with my Christian brothers and sisters as they prayed for me. With faith and with hope that I may pass on the gift that was given to me.

Scott