Last updated October 28, 2009

My name is George.  I am a believer who struggles with alcohol and chemical dependency. I have been clean & sober since September 30, 2003. God revealed to me that an addiction was just the tip of my iceberg (what’s above the surface) and what lies below the surface is what holds me hostage to my own humanity. I tried for approximately 28 years to come to terms with my shortcomings, but to no avail. I have been in and out of twelve-step groups, individual and group therapy. I have spent time in jail. I have even been in prison twice! I have also been locked in long-term therapeutic communities.

July 23, 1983 I was involved in a head-on car accident, which left me dead on arrival at St. Anthony’s Central Hospital. The promise of pain that had been predicted by so many in my life had certainly come true. Besides pain, loneliness, lack of peace and loss of any self-control, I was promised incarceration, time spent in the “nut ward” and death if I continued to abuse alcohol and drugs. The problem was that this was the only way I’d ever known how to party and excess was all I had ever been shown. I didn’t pass-out, I blacked-out. I told myself things would be different next time, but it never was.

I don’t want to glorify who I was in this world or my actions, because who I was doesn’t glorify God. Instead I will tell you of God’s transforming power in my life:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17.

My last bout with drugs almost took everything. In the past I had given away households full of belongings due to my addictions, but this time it was different. I guess I was ready. I didn’t lose any belongings this time, I was not in trouble with the law again, but God had made me ready. I was worn out, hating myself and all else. I was ready, but I didn’t know how to accomplish this feat of recovery on my own. My abuse of drugs left me having Gran-Mal seizures and even sent me into respiratory arrest, but that was not enough to stop my desire (believing next time would be different). I knew only God had the power to stop me and keep me stopped. I went to Him in humble prayer:

“Dear Heavenly Father, my Gracious Lord, I am no longer able to refrain from cocaine. I know it is killing me and that is not the purpose you intended for my life. I need help! I need a support system that will give me tools and show me how to use them. Lord, open the doors you want me to go through and I will enter them. I trust that you will be with me and that you will close all doors you don’t want me to enter. I am aware of my “triggers” and I will do my best to avoid them at all costs. Fill me, Jesus, with your Holy Spirit. Allow the Spirit to stand guard at the door to my heart, not allowing in any thought that won’t bear good-fruit. Such thoughts must immediately be bound and cast to the bottom of the sea, not to return to me again today. Father, I hope my request is in Your will for me and I can move closer to the perfect purpose you created me for. In the precious name of Jesus, Amen."

God let me know I must come clean with all I was doing under the cover of darkness. It was presented to me, that if I held on to anything in darkness, it would most certainly be my downfall. I then spoke the truth about me to everyone!

I spent a month in Phoenix, AZ at the New Life Calvary Rehabilitation Center. It was not that I hadn’t already heard most of the stuff about recovery before, but I listened and took the advice they offered. Part of the program was to develop an aftercare plan and stick to it. I knew of Celebrate Recovery before Calvary and now had the chance to participate. After a while I eagerly anticipated Wednesday nights when our Celebrate group met. I connected at a deep level, as God granted me the tools to meet life on His terms. My relationship to Jesus began to change as my dependence on Him became greater. My knowledge of God went from my head to my heart and this was the start of the change He was working in me.

I followed through with all the suggestions I had been given in treatment. I created a personal safety plan and put it to work. Celebrate Recovery at Foothills Church was familiar to me and it was definitely part of my aftercare plan. I soon got involved in the Men’s Step Study Group and got to work on the obsessive-compulsive nature of my addictive tendencies. The Step Study Group is where you learn the tools to fight your hurts, habits and hang-ups. You form healthy relationships with the men you walk alongside in recovery. They hold you accountable, as you hold them accountable. They are always only a phone call away. You will know what a brother in Christ is truly all about. You will see changes in others, as you yourself will change. New attitudes will restore healthy relationships and a desire to live the abundant life as God has promised. I have gained full custody of my son and worked on our relationship. I went back to school at CCU, and maintained an “A” average. I am married to a beautiful, Godly wife, who is my partner in life and my best friend. I now have direction and purpose in my life and I will love God with my life by offering it to Him in service.

Life will not be without its challenges, but I find myself empowered to deal with it on God’s terms, knowing I am not alone. I hope my story has inspired you to count yourself as worthy. No one will do this for you, but if you desire a change, we will gladly walk beside you through recovery.

Thank you, my name is George and I am a believer.

Dominican Republic Mission Trip 2008