“I was lost, but now I’m found.”
John was a lonely little boy. He’d never met his father, his mother was too sick to spend time with him and his half brothers and sisters ostracized him because he had a different dad. “There was always something in me longing to be loved,” he says.
When he was 12, John began numbing his pain with drugs, but it didn’t heal his heart. Instead, his depression only grew. For nearly 37 years, he struggled with addiction, costing him jobs, destroying his marriage and leading him to attempt suicide. “I was on such a destructive path. I was losing everything and I didn’t want to live anymore,” he says.
Finally, he found himself homeless, with nowhere to turn. “I didn’t want to be in the streets, but I didn’t know what to do,” he says. “I was lost and afraid.”
Then John remembered hearing about the Mission and came to stay in our Emergency Shelter, where he found a warm bed, food and the support of our compassionate staff. It was then that he learned about our Christian Life Training Discipleship Program and decided it was for him. “I knew I needed something more in my life. I needed to change my direction. I needed Jesus.”
Through Bible studies, chapel services and Christian counseling, John found the love he’d always been looking for. “I have a father now. God is the father to the fatherless. I love Him for that,” he says. “I’d do anything for Him.”
“The Mission gave me a new lease on life.”
John graduated from the program, lives in our transitional housing and is on our staff, running our maintenance department as a Missionary in Training. “Now I get to see the Mission do miracles for others,” he says.
Thanks to the blessing of your support, John is celebrating Easter as a new creation in Christ. “I was lost, but now I’m found. Jesus is my Savior. The Mission gave me a new way to live.”