Meet Daniel
A crippling addiction took over my life starting in my early teens. I grew up with a great family, and I never went without. My family was active in church; I really had a wonderful family life. I was introduced to drugs at the young age of 13. I started smoking weed, and then started using cocaine and alcohol, and then it just progressively got worse. I was a heavy drug abuser, and that is what led to me homelessness. I was homeless for two years, when I was involved in fight with four men. The fight led to me being hospitalized with traumatic brain injuries.
After being released from the hospital, I decided to get right, but I wanted to do it on my own. I actually found a great job; I had money, 401K, and great benefits. Despite all I had I was not content and had no joy. I know now that the Lord was missing from my life. I always felt alone, but on the outside, I looked like I had it all together. It was not long until I relapsed and I lost it all. I was homeless again, back in the same situation as before; I knew I needed to get help. My family had pulled back; they still loved me, but from afar. They didn’t know what to do, honestly, they couldn’t do anything, and I wouldn’t have accepted their help had they tried. There is nothing they could have told me that would have made me feel more hopeful about my future.
Being homeless, I learned how it feels to be incomprehensibly demoralized. I remember opening a door for a family, and the adults pulling their kids away from me because they were scared of me. I knew my intentions were good, and my heart was in the right place, but my daily actions didn’t speak to that. I was always looking for my next high, and I was willing to do anything to get it.
Early days at the mission were learning to get back into a routine. Getting up, taking a shower, brushing my teeth, making sure my bed got made, just lots things you don’t really think about when you are on the streets. I started really pressing into the Lord, praying daily and reading my bible. There was a lot of time for devotion and fellowship with my brothers in the program. The mission has given me a place to really be honest with others and myself. There are things in my past that I did not want to face, but I’ve been able to let it all out. I have been able to release myself from the bondage and hatred that was following me from my past, and give myself hope for my future.
I have a broader outlook on how real God’s love for me is. He has always been there, even when I felt separated from him, and he never left my side. I read about him and get to know him more every night. A lot of the conversation around the mission is about what God is doing in our hearts, in our lives and in our family’s lives. I really believe if I had not come to the mission, I would be in trouble with the law, and I wouldn’t have found the fulfilling joy of the Lord.
I believe that no matter how far gone you are, God will pull you out of that, if you call on him. You have to surrender to him, have faith in him, and he will bring you back in alignment with his will. I don’t think there is any distance you can drift that God cannot repair. I start school in January, I hope to find a job in healthcare, and I really want to help people. I’m excited for what the Lord has in store for my future.