Helping
the Hurting
- Winter 2001 My name is Kevin. I was born in Hartford, Connecticut and I am 33 years old. I grew up in a good family setting, going to church with Mom and Dad and the rest of the family. But, I had my own personal struggle. At an early age, I struggled with an inferiority complex. Different peers ridiculed me about my bottom lip because it has a pinkish, red color. This led my self-esteem and motivation to spiral down even further. I tried to hide my lip by putting dark-flavored candy on it. (This may sound strange, but it is really strange where the seeds of addiction begin.) Using this simple candy started at age 14. But, from that time until the age of 28 I used, sold, and abused marijuana. At age 28 my life finally fell apart from using crack cocaine. Then a friend of mine spoke to me about Christ. Knowing what I knew, I started going to church. The drugs were gone for a while, but the candy on the lip remained. Eventually, the complex about my lip got the best of me. I was back dealing with drugs. Two months after my 30th birthday, I had two dreams of my own death. After the second dream, I woke up and caught myself saying, "God, I don't want to die." Something came over me that led me to the bathroom in my apartment. I looked at myself in the mirror and finally had the strength and courage to wipe the candy off my lip. Glory be to God! After 16 years the candy was able to come off. One week later I found myself back in church, candy off the lip and drug-free. Of course, it doesn’t end there. Addicted never ends so easily. Ten months later I found myself back sliding with crack cocaine use. Maybe it was a lack of fellowship or a lack of being planted firmly, but this last run was the worst. I did things I never imagined doing and I lost more than I had ever lost. In October of 1998, on my knees, with my face of my apartment floor, I asked God to help me. And He heard my cry! Because in less than two weeks my mom called me and told the about Youth Challenge. On October 12, 1998 I came through the doors and God had restored me. Since then I've been through Phase 1, The Ranch, and I'm presently part of the Promotion Team. All glory goes to God. I thank Him for His mercies, the chances that He's given me, His Word that lets me know who I am, and that I am fearfully in wonderfully made. Continue to pray for me as I pray for you. God bless. My name is Douglas. When I was very young, I heard Billy Graham preaching on TV. I remember accepting Jesus Christ as my personal savior. I was eight years old when my parents separated and then divorced due to my father becoming an alcoholic. The divorce caused a lot of emotional pain and turmoil in my life. I remember fighting with every kid in my elementary class! As a teenager in high school I saw other kids smoking marijuana between classes. They accepted me into their crowd and I started hanging out with them, getting high whenever I could. This led to rebellion at home and at school. After high school I was accepted into the University of Connecticut and received a student loan. I drove to Hartford to pick up the check at the bank and I felt the Lord prompting me that there was help for me in Hartford, but I ignored Him. I bought more drugs with the student loan money. In the meantime my mother had gotten saved and I saw the change in her life. She was having prayer meetings with her friends at our house every weekend. I knew they were praying for me. One night I went to a bar and got very high on drugs. I tried to drive home and fell asleep at the wheel. The car went off the road and tumbled 40 feet to the embankment and landed upside-down. I woke up the next morning sitting upside-down. I was hanging upside-down with No Seat Belt On! Something invisible was holding me safely in that seat - without a scratch on me. Then an ice cream man picked me up while I was hitch hiking home. But, he was more than ice cream man, he was a Christian. I prayed the sinner’s prayer with him. Then one day while I was wandering the streets when a man named Brian, now a good friend of mine, invited me to church. I started going to church and knew that I had a calling from God to help others with the same background of drug and alcohol abuse. God gave me Luke 4:18 - 19 while I was going to my former church: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." He started bringing me to hard-core drug addicts and hopeless alcoholics. I began bringing them to church. But, I needed the Youth Challenge program to bring structure and discipline into my life. Since graduating in 1993 I have been to the Y C. I. S. M. in Florida and received my bachelor’s degree in ministry. I am now a local missionary in Moosup, Connecticut. I minister the word of God at the local prisons and assist my Director, Rev. Tyrone Glaspie as an assistant supervisor at the Youth Challenge Ranch. Truly, God has been good to me. Psalm 84:11 "The Lord will give Grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly." My name is Jessie. When I was ten years old I saw my father punching my mother in the face and head. As a result of that she died. I promised myself I would kill him for that. The anger and bitterness grew stronger and stronger until I was not able to get it out of my mind. It became my dream and my every thought. I was full of sadness and sorrow. I began to drink to get rid of the problem, but it made the problem worse. So I tried something stronger. I started with marijuana and moved from one drug to another until I tried crack cocaine. That’s how my life became unmanageable. Out of control. I wanted to do nothing but smoke crack. I walked out on a lady that had been with me for 25 years. She had given me two beautiful daughters. I was now controlled and enslaved by crack cocaine. I once controlled the drugs in my life, but now they controlled me. I was ashamed of what I put my family through, ashamed to even face them. I began to stay in abandoned buildings, and living in the street, doing everything just for drugs. I was tired, hungry, and filthy, with no one to turn to. Finally, I cried out to the Lord and he heard my cry. From that day I have been free from drugs. Soon after, I entered the ministry of Youth Challenge. That was one year ago. The Lord has since restored my family back to me. I have learned to forgive and let go of all the anger and bitterness that once destroyed my heart. But, by the grace of God I have come back to life -- a life in the Lord Jesus!
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