Hometown Madison - January & February 2017

job or maybe they just need someone to
talk to. Maybe they need to be at a different
school. Maybe they just need proper support
from their parents. Or maybe they just need
to figure out what they like to do that makes
them happy. Maybe they need to go to rehab
or maybe they just need go to church more.
The list of “maybes” can go on and on
and on. So, what is the answer? Maybe you
yourself have struggled with addiction or
maybe you personally know of someone that
has. If so, you know that trying to find the
solution can be an endless maze of confusion
that always brings you back to the beginning.
Often, the one thing that may seem to
work for a while one day, doesn’t. And the
one struggling is back at it again as if they
never stopped—and are probably getting
worse. It’s as if they can’t see what they’re
doing to themselves and the people around
them and, if they can see, they don’t seem to
care because they just keep doing it. It’s as if
they’ve lost all care about life in general and
no longer have any hopes or desires. All they
seem to be concerned about is themselves
and whatever substance it is that they are
addicted to. If they actually cared about
themselves and everyone else around them
wouldn’t they just stop? Why do they keep
doing this?
I have one reason for writing this
story. That one reason is to somehow grab
someone’s attention that needs to hear this.
Whether it’s the addicted or someone trying
to help the addicted, here’s the point: I spent
years “trying” to get sober. I tried so hard
to get my life together and failed time after
time, which only made things worse. I was
furious at myself for continually failing—over
and over and over again.
Finally, two years ago, I found myself
sitting in rehab for the fifth time. I was at
a very rough place—a low-point in my life
where I didn’t know what to do anymore. I
was miserable and no longer cared about
anything. I wasn’t sure how much longer
I could even try. I was so low in life that I
seriously considered becoming homeless
and just doing drugs until I died. I hated
myself. I was done.
I made a call to my parents from rehab
and they mentioned a place called Teen
Challenge. They said it was different and that
I should try it. I called another friend from
rehab and, ironically, he mentioned this Teen
Challenge place, too. He had heard about it
on the radio. I had absolutely no desire to go
but, for whatever reason, agreed to at least
look into it.
I wound up at Teen Challenge of the
Dakotas in Brookings, South Dakota. It’s the
best place I could’ve ever “wound up” and it
was at just the right time. When I got there I
was so broken and at such a bad place in my
life that I was willing to listen to practically
anything they had to say.
This is when things changed.
They told me that there was actually
nothing wrong with me. They said I didn’t
have any disorders like many doctors had
told me. They taught me God’s word, inside
and out. They showed me that all along I
had been searching for God’s love and didn’t
even realize it—I was just searching in the
wrong places.
I had fallen prey to believing the devil’s
lies. I believed that drugs were the only
thing I had to help me cope. I thought that
without them I couldn’t make it and that
nobody understood the things going on with
me. Ended up that was all just a big lie.
I had begun to rely on drugs in the
same way I was supposed to be relying on
God. The drugs may have helped me feel
better for a while but they always ended up
bringing disaster. God doesn’t do that. God
always works for our good, but I didn’t know
how to rely on Him.
It didn’t make much sense to me. I
literally had to be taught how to rely on
God. Through scripture and through leaders
teaching us by example, I learned to talk
to God. I learned to read God’s word. And I
12 • Jan/Feb 2017