Daniel:
Who would have ever thought that my life would end up as it has today? I didn’t think I would ever be this happy and I didn’t think I would ever be able to experience God in the ways I have in my life time. I have so many things to be thankful for. My life hasn’t been easy but everything I have experienced has been worth it. My life has been full of God stories and blessings ever since the day my parents got married and tried to have children. My parents tried for years to have children when the doctors told my mom that she wouldn’t be able to have children. That is when my parents decided to adopt my sister. A few months after her adoption my mom and dad found out they were pregnant. I was their miracle baby, the son my mom feared she would never have and would never be able to provide for my dad.
My dad
is a pastor and we lived in Missouri on a farm. I saw my dad work really hard
my whole life, we were up at dawn working on the farm. A farm turned out to be
the perfect place for me. When I was little the doctors thought I had ADD,
after speaking with several doctors they told my mom to just keep me busy,
that’s what they did. Boy they kept me busy, we worked long hard hours on the
farm, but from what it instilled in me I’m so thankful. I saw my dad preach,
take care of my mom and our family and follow God fully. It was my parents who
taught me how to trust God fully and follow him no matter how hard that may be.
In 1975 dad got a call with the opportunity to preach in Oregon. It was amazing
to see my parents rally together and do what they had to do to fulfill that
call. My dad leased the farm and sold enough livestock to move out to the coast
and live off of for a month. We loaded up everything we owned and moved to
Oregon. I saw my dad step out on his faith, when we arrived in Oregon
everything began falling into place. That rocked my world and on Sunday
February 13, 1975 I accepted Christ into my life and asked him to be my savior.
On the following Sunday I was baptized, the Missionary Baptist way, in running
water. In very, very frigid cold water, I can still feel the goose bumps and
chills from that water, and I will never forget. We lived in Oregon for five
years and we saw God work in great ways throughout those five years. God
blessed us in powerful ways. It was incredible to see him work through that
little church. I know there were many times when my parents weren’t sure how
they were going to make it on dad’s small paycheck from the church, but we
always saw God provide. We never missed a meal in fact while we were there we
had some of the most incredible seafood I have ever had. Every once in a while
I still crave some of that fresh seafood.
In 1980
we moved back to our farm in Missouri, and my dad began preaching at a local church in Missouri and he also worked
at the university. This was a tough stretch for our family. Our garden thrived,
the church was doing great, it was during this time that some things went down
in our family that caused me to question how my dad, who had so much faith
before could make the decisions that he was making. I questioned my parents,
their decisions, how my family handled things and since they were who I saw God
through I questioned and doubted God. It was during this time that I was in
high school. Oh my, I was not a good kid in high school; it is incredible that
I didn’t get in more trouble than I did. Nonetheless, my senior year in high
school I met Janice.
Right after graduation I began
working at an engineering firm, nine months later Janice and I got married, and
while I was working at the engineering firm I began pursing my construction
management degree. Five years into my career in drilling and five years into
our marriage we were blessed with our sweet daughter, Tiffany. She is my pride
and joy I love her with all of my heart and the first several months of her
life were some of the coolest times I ever got to spend with her I learned a
lot during that time with her. A year after our daughter was born in October of
1990 Tiffany and I were leaving Janice’s dads house, we were on East Division
Street behind Union Hall in Springfield, Mo. I stopped to look for Tiffany’s
pacifier because she had dropped it and would not let me go any further until
she had it. While I was looking for her pacifier I heard something so I looked
up and saw this little boy jumping up and down screaming trying to wake up his
grandpa. They weren’t very far from us so I ran over to see what was going on
and to see if I could help. When I got over there I began to assess the
situation, it looked as if his grandfather had, had a heart attack he was blue
and unresponsive, I checked his pulse and I thought he was going to die. I told
the little boy to go call 911 and I began CPR. When the boy returned he asked
if there was any way he could help me, while I did the chest compressions he
was able to do the breathing. After a little bit I checked his pulse again and
he had a regular pulse again. Praise Jesus!! A few seconds later he started coughing and he
began breathing, about that time the paramedics had arrived and they took over.
The last seven years I worked for the engineering company I
became a driller because we needed the money, I didn’t want to but I did. That’s when my drinking habit started slowly;
I would drink to go to sleep, because I had to say good night to my baby girl
over the phone when I was traveling. In 1994 I was on the road for 100 days straight.
Then in 1995 Janice and I separated this was when Tiffany was six years old.
Over these next two years my alcohol and drug abuse got worse. The weekends I
had Tiffany were the toughest because at the end of the weekend I had to take Tiffany
back to Janice at the house I built for us. Toward the end of my career at Engineering
company I had a $300 a week habit I would use meth in the mornings to get going
and alcohol at night to feel numb and go to sleep. It was about this time that
some good christian friends of mine that I had kind of lost touch with, called
me and invited me over for some home cooked food. I love food, and I hadn’t had
a hot home cooked meal in weeks and possibly months so of course I agreed. At
the end of our first dinner they asked me if I wanted to come back the next two
weeks. I said, “of course this food is AMAZING.” On the third week they asked
if it was ok if they prayed for me, I agreed after all I grew up believing in
God so I thought what the heck. However, this was one of the most anointed
prayers I have ever heard, it blew me away. At that point God broke me it was a
surreal feeling, I asked for forgiveness and I asked him to take it all away,
all of the addictions. I was broken there in their living room, but had so much
peace. I left their house feeling whole, I felt like a new man, with a new
mission. I went home and flushed the rest of my meth down the toilet and poured
out all the alcohol. Then I locked myself in my home and went through the
stages of detoxification, I have never felt anything like that before in my
life, there were times that I didn’t think I would make it through the next
minute let alone survive being drug free. Every time I felt as though I was
going to die I would just pray and that peace I felt in my friend’s living room
came back. I could feel God wrap his arms around me and give me the strength to
make it through. I have no idea how I made it besides God. I told God that it
had to be me and him. I’m a living testament to the fact that our God is a
healer and he miraculously healed me. I
have talked to doctors and rehab facilities and they have said that I should
not have survived that on my own. All that to say if you are where I was please
seek help, don’t give up, you are worth it. I have no signs that I have ever
been addicted to these things. That is unheard of especially with meth. In fact
I have spoke to doctors and they have said that you don’t quit meth; it’s
something that people struggle with and then die. I have never gone back; in
fact even the smell of alcohol turns my stomach now.
Thanks for reading!
*just to let you know names have been changed! :)
Thanks for reading!
*just to let you know names have been changed! :)
