I grew up with little to no discipline, restrictions, or consequences for my behavior. Despite being around a lot of people, I was still lonely. I gravitated to books which I romanticized drugs, travel, and solitude. In my early teen age years I started to follow various bands around the country and developed an intravenous drug habit. The next decade I was raised by people who loved me and accepted me and watched over me, but even when surrounded by 40,000 people I was always lonely. I met a woman whom I thought was the love of my life and we had a child that I wasn’t ready for. This led to years of bitterness and resentment because I felt trapped, not blessed. Some years later I met the actual love of my life. She and I named our daughter Penelope. She is a precocious child that made me want to be sober. I lasted 5 years and then sunk into a pit of darkness so deep I have trouble remembering it today. After years of overdoses, a divine meeting, and God’s grace, I ended up here at ATC Vermont. I was expecting nothing, but instead got everything. Discipline, Accountability, Self-respect, Self-worth, and a purpose for life. That hole of loneliness is being filled with the love of God and the ability to serve Him. I have the blessing to witness the miracles He is working in my brothers' lives, as well as mine.  

  My daughter sees me regularly and is watching me become the man God wants me to be and the father she deserves. Because of this program I am able to work on my relationship with my family; a mother I haven’t seen in over 12 years, my kids who love me despite watching me fall so far into despair, and God in whom I am learning to put all my trust. I don’t know what I’m being led to do, but I know I get to serve the kingdom of God. I am driven by God’s love that I get to share with people for His glory.

"But whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers." Psalm 1:2,3