Hear the stories of life change…

Ryan

Today I’m packing up and moving forward, but I couldn’t leave without sharing what this house means to me.

A little over 8 months ago, I walked into Recovery Refuge just days out after spending 8 months in jail from a relapse. I came here broken lost my family, my job, having lost everything not for the first time but as I had done many times before, but God had a plan through Recovery Refuge…

  • During my time here, He has completely changed my life! I’ve found REAL recovery, built a relationship with the Lord like never before, reconciled relationships I thought were gone, and even been able to use my story to help others. 

    One of the greatest blessings is that God has restored my relationship with my fiancée, Heather. In just over 30 days, on October 4, we’ll be getting married. Today I’m moving into our new house, and after the wedding, she’ll be joining me. 

    This house will always be “home” in a special way because it’s where God met me, worked on me, and showed me He has a future for me.

    I’m beyond grateful to Adam for leading this ministry, and to every donor and prayer warrior who keeps Recovery Refuge alive… your faithfulness has changed lives like mine.

    “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” — Jeremiah 29:11

Nick

Today is a milestone that honestly felt impossible just one year ago. When I failed as a husband and was served with divorce papers I was in an absolute pit of misery and was in so much pain I just wanted it to go away, so drinking until completely numb was the only thing I knew how to do. It was in this pain that I cried out to God to help me and even though in my addiction I certainly turned my back on God I know He never once abandoned me!

I had tried getting sober before using only AA meetings and working the steps and it failed. I had also tried getting sober using only my church and family support which did not work for me either and I ended up getting kicked out of my church and lost my family. I knew the only way I was going to stay sober was to wholeheartedly seek out a relationship with God and surrender my will and desire to drink once and for all…

  • Through the treatment process I was able to take responsibility and see my role in everything that happened to me and when I was really honest with myself I could see that I was trying to fill my longing heart with everything but God. I learned that I didn’t have a personal relationship with God and I relied on my wife and spiritual leaders to guide me in God’s will for me. God longs to have a personal connection with each of us and for me it took stripping away everything I put above Him to fill that emptiness (alcohol, my job, my church, my family). I can see now that God had a bigger plan for my life that I could not see in the moment and feel like all the pain I had to endure was an elaborate plan so that God could get me alone in the desert and there was nothing else I could do but seek Him. 

    Today marks one year since God freed me from the slavery to alcohol and there is not one area of my life that God has not come in and dramatically improved for the better! God has provided me an amazing job awhere I get to connect with and encourage others using the testimony God has given me everyday! I have been more than welcomed into the Long Hollow Church community and am part of an amazing fellowship group, I am a graduate of Adam French’s Recovery Refuge program and am plugged into the Celebrate Recovery family where I have no short of 50+ people I could call on for support at anytime! I am a home owner again and have been able to completely renovate the place and provide my kids with their own bedrooms again! I have gone from seeing my children just 3 hours a week for almost an entire year to having them spend overnights with me again and getting to go on a trip to Canada at the end of next week just the 3 of us! God has also blessed me with a new relationship with Cassie who is an absolutely amazingly beautiful person inside and out, and has shown me unwavering love, support and encouragement!

    One of these picture is the from the day I checked into treatment and the other picture is me getting to celebrate with my kids one year of sobriety! I know all this is nothing I did other than finally getting to the point that I had suffered enough pain from doing things my way and was ready to fully surrender my will and desire to drink to God and He took care of the rest and transformed and healed my heart! Recovery is possible and I am a living, breathing example of how God can truly perform a miracle!