Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Change can be tough
Changing your life can be tough. That’s what one of the young men graduating from our addiction recovery program said to me about a year ago. He was beginning to realize just how hard it was going to be to stay clean and sober.
He had a great upbringing: loving parents, good neighborhood, college degree from a prestigious school, and more than sufficient talent to land a job and climb a ladder to “success.” He simply was not the type of person most people envision of when you think of a rescue mission client. But a client he was, and he told me exactly how that came to be.
He said you must pay attention to what is happening in your daily life. Watch the little things. Those little habits that soon take over your life. His “habit” began with what he would describe as “recreational drug use.” He didn’t consider it drug abuse, after all, it was just a little thing. But after awhile, his drug use controlled everything about his day. He began that downward spiral so often associated with drug addiction. He lost his job, his wife divorced him, and his family said he couldn’t live with them if he continued to use drugs. It began to be apparent to him that he was an addict and that there needed to be a change in his life.
He came to Wheeler about 3 years ago and he began “a program of change” by entering Wheeler’s addiction recovery program. Now he says, everything looks new to him. Everything feels new, tastes new, and has new meaning. He has taken a step at a time and change has come. For the last several months, he has served as an intern at a church and continues to be discipled by the pastor. He has also applied for graduate school and in his words, “is seeking to build God’s kingdom, and not his own.”
Indeed, change has been tough, but change has come.
Rick
He had a great upbringing: loving parents, good neighborhood, college degree from a prestigious school, and more than sufficient talent to land a job and climb a ladder to “success.” He simply was not the type of person most people envision of when you think of a rescue mission client. But a client he was, and he told me exactly how that came to be.
He said you must pay attention to what is happening in your daily life. Watch the little things. Those little habits that soon take over your life. His “habit” began with what he would describe as “recreational drug use.” He didn’t consider it drug abuse, after all, it was just a little thing. But after awhile, his drug use controlled everything about his day. He began that downward spiral so often associated with drug addiction. He lost his job, his wife divorced him, and his family said he couldn’t live with them if he continued to use drugs. It began to be apparent to him that he was an addict and that there needed to be a change in his life.
He came to Wheeler about 3 years ago and he began “a program of change” by entering Wheeler’s addiction recovery program. Now he says, everything looks new to him. Everything feels new, tastes new, and has new meaning. He has taken a step at a time and change has come. For the last several months, he has served as an intern at a church and continues to be discipled by the pastor. He has also applied for graduate school and in his words, “is seeking to build God’s kingdom, and not his own.”
Indeed, change has been tough, but change has come.
Rick
Labels: testimony
