Before he began using drugs, Dan was “doing great.” He was married with two young children, had his own home and a business.
Then, he started using cocaine and began living “two separate lives.” Eventually, he was using every day. When the cocaine didn’t give him the high he wanted, he switched to meth. And that’s when “the wheels fell off.”
His family didn’t know he was using cocaine, but his addiction to meth was a different story.
“Lost and hopeless….”
“I was in a constant state of confusion. Most of the time, you’d find me walking the streets with one shoe on – lost and hopeless.”
Dan slowly realized that he had no one on his side. “I burnt and exploded every bridge I ever had,” he says. “And I had a lot of resentment. I was hungry on the streets, calling people I’d done so much for in the past, and hoping they’d feed me a burger, and they didn’t want to have anything to do with me.”
“Going from light to dark.”
When Dan went through a local detox center and a sober living house, it helped, but there was nowhere left to go after he was released. So he arrived at the Mission broken and mad.
Though he’s taken his classes and done his work, Dan realizes that it’s his own willingness to work and change that’s making the biggest difference in his life.
“Nobody else can do this for me.”
“It’s really easy to stay sober in this program, because of the support and help,” Dan says. “But my ultimate goal is to be a passionate Christ follower. And as a passionate Christ follower, drugs and alcohol have no part in that. I’ve been able to definitely rebuild my relationship with God, and take refuge in the fact that He’s been faithful when I’ve been faithless.”
Now, Dan looks forward to getting a Sunday pass so he can spend time with his wife and kids, slowly rebuilding his relationship with them.
“I’m completely grateful to Hope of the Valley because I have a place to be that’s structured and God-centered. I’m grateful that I have a constant routine and people who care, because then I can work on me.”
To read the rest of the issue of Sharing Hope, click here.