One cold day, my dad was out looking for me.  I was out walking the streets.  I didn’t even have a jacket.  When he pulled up next to me, I started crying.  I was homeless, and had isolated myself from everyone who loved me.

I guess I was just trying to fit in with the crowd, and I became a drug user. When I started smoking ‘crack’, from that point on, I lost everything.  That’s how I shot down my future - by my own bad choices.

For six years I had a serious drug problem.   I’d tell myself ‘I’ll be able to stop when I want.’  But I was just lying to myself and believing those lies. 

After my dad found me, he brought me to City Gospel Mission, and said I could either go into the Exodus program, or go back out to the streets.  At first I didn’t want to do it.  I did not want to listen to God - but I was so ashamed of what I had done, I really didn’t have a choice.  I joined the Exodus program here at City Gospel Mission, and became a completely new person.

Now, when I see people coming off the streets, I say to myself, ‘that was me’ - and it scares me.  I never want to go back to the old ways.  Through God’s power, my life has been restored. I’m very grateful.