“I felt like I was about to die, but I couldn’t stop…”
When Everett was a little boy, he was in a tragic car accident that left him emotionally scarred. “Nobody in my family was seriously hurt, but someone in the other vehicle died, and it instilled in me a fear of everything,” he says. “It dominated my life.”
When he was in high school, Everett began numbing his fear with drugs, and over the years, his dependence grew. “Eventually, drugs controlled my life. I couldn’t hold a job or pay rent and I ended up homeless.”
Then, one night, in a run down, abandoned building, Everett came face-to-face with his mortality. “Every time I used that night, I felt like I was about to die, but I couldn’t stop,” he says. “I prayed, ‘God, help me. I don’t want to die.’”
Everett’s prayer was answered that night. It was the last time he ever used, and in the days to follow, God led him to our Men’s Community Center, where he found safe shelter, nutritious meals – everything he needed to grow physically strong.
But he wanted more. He wanted to change his life, so he entered our Transitional Housing Program, where his relationship with the Lord has grown strong. “My whole life is dependent on Him now. Without Him I’m nothing. I’m lost.”
With God’s guidance, case management, recovery services and life skills classes, Everett has found emotional healing, as well. He’s finally free from fear and addiction, and after graduating from the program, he plans to spend his days serving the Lord. “I just want to do God’s will for the rest of my life.”
“Now, I have joy and peace. I’m blessed.”
Everett is thankful for the way you have answered God’s calling to love your neighbor as yourself – and have helped him learn how to love himself. “I was lost, but the Mission gave me a clean, safe place to live, and the time and support I needed to build a spiritual foundation for the rest of my life. Now I’m found.”
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