I’ve lived in Eugene, Oregon or the close surrounding areas all of my life. Growing up, I never dreamed of having life-controlling addictions or making decisions to serve a life of slavery over my family.
I had what I considered to be a normal, even privileged childhood. I got to play sports, my family was very close, always going camping and enjoying lots of outdoor activities. This kept me pretty grounded throughout my adolescent and young adult years.
You could say I was pretty sheltered a little bit throughout my high school years. My parents kept me from venturing out to parties and anything of that sort. As soon as I was able to move out on my own, my path of destructive decisions began to interfere with those dreams I had as a child. I have always believed in God, but had never understood what accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior really was and meant.
The next 10 years might as well have been a nightmare. What hurts the most is that at the beginning of them, I had my son. He was forced to see his father experience all of that self-inflicted pain. My addictions went from A to Z throughout those years, ultimately leading to giving up custody of my son who I thought meant the most to me.
Getting to that point of complete brokenness was the best thing that has ever happened to me, only because it enabled me to clearly hear the call that God had been waiting for me to answer over the last decade.
I can’t say that everything magically got better, but that call led me to Adult & Teen Challenge and a personal relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ. In my obedience to Him and Him alone, doors have re-opened that I slammed shut long ago. It seems relationships are being restored almost daily. It only excites me to think of what is to come as I continue to walk out this journey of life with Jesus Christ at my side.
Chris