Brandon had a happy childhood, but when he was 10, his safe and carefree world began to crumble. “My parents got arrested and went to jail, but I wasn’t told why,” he says. He lived with his grandmother until his parents were released. Then the family relocated to Las Vegas, taking Brandon away from his good school and lifelong friends. “Everything I knew was gone,” he says. His new school was subpar and he quickly lost interest, dropping out at 17 and going to work.
Then, the following year, he finally learned the reason his parents had gone to jail. They’d been selling drugs. Brandon’s world was shaken once again. He struggled to make sense of his life and began numbing his pain with alcohol. “By 24, I was drinking every day,” he says. For the next five years, he battled his addiction, costing him jobs and, finally, landing him in jail. “There were Bibles everywhere so I started reading and praying, asking God to get me out of trouble,” he says.
When he was released, he came to our Emergency Shelter, where he learned about our Christian Life Discipleship Program. He knew, immediately, it was God’s answer to his prayers. “I sensed Him say, ‘I want you here.’” Through faith-based addiction recovery and Christian counseling, Brandon found the firm foundation he’d been missing all his life. “I’ve been saved and I have the assurance that God is in control and everything’s going to be okay.”
Brandon graduated from the program five years ago, married and has a home. This year, Brandon will be celebrating Christmas filled with the great joy of God’s love and transforming power. “I was lost, but I found my faith at the Mission. Now I’m a redeemed child of God.”