Because friends like you
care, men like Frank are finding the power
they need to battle addiction...by surrendering
to Christ. |
“I am not pointing fingers at anybody, but
I’m not
going to deny that my parents’ divorce really
hurt.”
Frank was just 8 years old when his mom and dad
split up. After that, without parental guidance his
childhood careened out of control.
By the age of 16, Frank was using drugs and alcohol
at school regularly. Drug use suppressed the pain
he was
feeling at home — and helped him forget the
empty holes
in his family. In spite of his drug use, he graduated
from
high school and landed a union job doing manual labor.
He was working full time to support his drug addiction.
His addiction gradually became worse. By the age
of
18, he graduated to cocaine, eventually finding himself
struggling with severe addiction on a daily basis.
Then something horrific happened that opened his
eyes and made him question what he was really
doing . . .
After a night out, he came home to find police
tape across his door. While he was gone, a gang had
broken into his home to steal drugs and money. “I
found my roommate’s blood all over the wall,
the
furniture, the carpet. My roommate did not die, but
he never fully recovered. This was all because of our
drug activity.”
Frank would soon lose everything — his
job, his
home, his friends. Then he was arrested.
"At that point in my life, I was so lost. I
did a
year at the county jail and swore things would be
different when I got out. I did a lot of thinking
while I was in there.”
Within the same week he was released, Frank
turned right back to using drugs. “I wanted
to stop
but I just didn’t know how.”
The whole family was worried about him. One
day Frank stopped by to visit his mother and his
92-year-old grandmother who was dying of cancer.
Mom took one look at her emaciated son and said,“You
are a drug addict. You have a problem. I love
you and I want you to see that you need help.” Her
words hit him like a brick between the eyes. He
thought he was hiding his substance abuse and
criminal behavior, but Mom saw right through him.
He sat quietly at his grandmother’s beside
as she
lay there sleeping peacefully. The cancer was
bringing her closer to passing away each day. He
thought about the drugs he had stashed in his
pockets. “This is going to be the end of me
right here,” he thought.
“I started thinking about the last 10 years
of my
life and what I had accomplished. Nothing. My
addiction was my life and I needed to find a way
out.”
Frank checked into a drug treatment center and
was a model student. But after finishing a short
rehabilitation program, he fell right back into
his
drug-use pattern.
Returning to the center he told them, “I am not
ready.”
For two years Frank lived in a Sober Living
Environment, towing the line and attending college
for the first time in his life. Then one day, an
old
friend happened to come by to visit for old times’
sake. They stopped by the friend’s house. “I
had no
intention of doing anything.” But within minutes
Frank was drawn back into drug use. He felt somuch
self defeat, and so much shame. “All my life
I
tried to fight against my addiction, but could not
do it
on my own. That’s when I came to CityTeam.
They
got me into the recovery program as quickly as they
could.”
“These past few months at CityTeam have been
the best for me. Through counseling, I have been
able
to go deeper into my past and see the issues. But
also
I have surrendered my life and my addiction to God.“This
time I am not doing it on my own. I know that God
is right behind me — helping me and
supporting me. God is softening my heart right now
and showing me the pains and problems I have
denied all my life. I don’t want to be stubborn
anymore. CityTeam has helped me so much. One day
I would like to be a drug and alcohol counselor.
“I believe my journey can help someone else
who is struggling." |
