“At my age, starting over is hard.” What should have been a joyous occasion turned to tragedy for Tom. While he was leaving the hospital after the birth of his first grandson, Tom got hit by a car. “I was on a motorcycle and was run over...
Enrico bitterly regrets trying alcohol at age 14. “I hung around the wrong types of people, trying to fit in. Whatever the group was doing, I did. It just took hold of me more than the others.” Enrico had other close family members who suffered from alcohol...
“I was lost and feeling pretty low.” While James was in the hospital having heart surgery, his girlfriend took off with their clothes, furniture… everything. He was left without a relationship, home, and job all at once. He was devastated by her betrayal and abandonment. “She moved...
“At the Mission, God changed me.” Kevin was working as an electrician when his ladder broke. His spine was severely damaged from the fall, leading to nearly a dozen surgeries and countless pain pills. “In my mind, it wasn’t a big deal because the doctor had...
“Now I know He is always there for me. God is my everything.” “The Mission helped me draw closer to God.” John felt like he was losing everything he’d always held dear. “My wife divorced me, I lost my job, my brother passed away… my life fell apart.” The...
“Now I know He is always there for me. God is my everything.” “I had exhausted all my friends and family, and alienated myself from everything,” Mike says. Mike started drinking as a teenager to cope with the abuse he experienced at a young age. “I had...
“No matter what you do, God doesn’t give up on you.” Bill grew up in a dysfunctional family, and he thought that was how love should be. “I decided no woman was going to treat me the way my mom treated my dad. I had trouble...
Shawn was only 10 years old when his father passed away and his family fell apart. “My mom started drinking heavily, and I had to take care of myself. I moved in with my older sister when I was 15 because my mom and I...
“I don’t have to worry about sleeping outside anymore.” Shawn was raised by his mother after his parents divorced, and church wasn’t a big part of his life. “The whole going to church thing was more about appearance than a spiritual thing. We had to look...
“I was starting to drift in the wrong direction,” Ricki says. Though he had a good job as an accountant, Ricki started getting complacent as he grew closer to retirement age and began drinking more heavily. When the friends who owned the cabin he was living...