I came to S2L a broken and defeated man. But God wasn't done with me yet. I struggled with alcohol, depression and my identity. This was an ongoing battle for 33 years of my life, beginning at the age of 13. I didn't like who I was or who I had become. I was raised up in church and knew about God and even said I wanted a relationship with Him, but the way I was living said otherwise. I always wanted to be someone other than who I was, but I would realize later that God made me in His image and He had a plan for me. It was ultimately my decision and free will that He had given me to make the choice to live for myself or to live for Him. It would seem that since I lived for myself for so many years, that I enjoyed the heartache, pain, depression, broken relationships, loneliness and chaos. This was far from true. It took one of the worst tragedies in my life to bring me to my knees and to the lowest point of my life. My 25 year old daughter went missing around mid to late June of 2022. She had been missing for around 2 months. We searched, put out missing person flyers and was on the news station in hopes that someone had seen her or that she would come home. Then on the day of August the 11th 2022 my life was turned upside down. My wife was the first one to tell me the police found Taylor, and my first response was "Is she ok"? By the look on her face I knew that wasn't the case. She said to me, No she's gone". The police had found her in the woods deceased. For 6 months after this happened, I fell into a deeper depression and alcohol, trying to numb the pain. This wasn't doing anything but taking me further down in the pit I was already in. Then in March of 2023, I cried out to the Lord and said either take me out of this world or let me live for you. This is when I decided that I needed to go into a faith based recovery program. In my heart I knew that my help would come from the Lord. This is when I made the decision to call S2L Recovery. For the first time in my life I felt like I was worth being loved. There had been many times in my past that I cried out to God thinking He hasn't heard me or isn't listening because nothing was changing. The truth is, God was wanting to give me peace, hope and a future. I just wasn't accepting what He was trying to give me. Then in April of 2023 I finally surrendered everything to God. This is when my whole life changed. It started with me allowing Jesus into my heart and life. The change in me impacted my entire family. Once upon a time those relationships where broken, but God restored them. Over the years even through my addiction, God placed it on my heart to help others with the same or similar problems I had went through. My response was, "God how can I, a person that has been drinking for so long and that is all that I know and am always depressed, hurting and lonely. How can I help others". Little did I know that when I stepped foot on S2L property almost 2 years ago, that I would be doing what God has called me to do. This is my story of hope for the lost and hurting people in the world to let them know that no matter what we face in this world and life. God loves us unconditionally and there is no limit to what God can do. I love you and may God bless you!