Water Street Life: A Journey to Christ

This post is part of our current Blog Series - focusing on Addiction! As you read these stories we invite you to share your thoughts, reflections and insights. This series will include stories on addiction, along with 8 articles from our most recent Messenger magazine. Our hope is that as we engage in conversation together, we can gain a deeper understanding in the midst of trials and celebrations of overcoming addiction.

When I look back at it now, I see that God guided me to Him. Each step of my journey led to the next. Each step was needed to get me to where I am today. Each step I was given a choice, yes or no, good or bad, right or wrong. Even the bad decisions I made were necessary to bring me to where I needed to be. They were lessons I needed to learn. I can look back now and see God working through it all. The times when I thought to myself; is this all there is, isn’t there anything more in life, these are the moments that God gave me to realize that He was what I needed. Even though I didn’t turn to Him, He still continued to guide me and protect me. He knew where, when, why, and how. And He knew in the end, I would be His.

Me, being a mortal man, did not want to give up my will. I kept telling myself I can do it, I don’t need any help. All the while I kept spiraling down, falling farther into a pit of despair and hopelessness. I knew the whole time that I was falling deeper, yet I was unable to stop myself. I even came to the realization that I wanted to see the bottom, I wanted to see just how far down I could go.

Well, I found the bottom; I saw what it looked like to me. It wasn’t the suicide attempts, or living on the streets, or 3 weeks in a mental hospital, or Lancaster County Prison, or even walking into Water Street Mission. The bottom for me was my wife telling me that I was not the man she married. That was when I realized that not only did I need help, but I also wanted the help. I saw the bottom, now there was nowhere else to go but up.

The question that now remained was, how do I climb back up. At the time it seemed impossible. I didn’t even know how or where to begin. How do I begin to rebuild a life that I deliberately tried to destroy? Unbelievably, the answer to that question came from a doctor at the Water Street Health Services. Through a conversation with him, I learned that Christ was the Way. While the doctor prayed, I accepted Christ as my Savior. At that moment I actually felt a giant weight being lifted from my shoulders. I found my place to start, it was with God, and Jesus was the Way.

Since that day in April, 2010, the transformation has been incredible. It can be summed up in one word, hope. Although I am still homeless, unemployed, and estranged from my family, I now know there is hope. I feel there is a purpose to my life, a reason to go on. At this point I don’t know what all God has planned for me, I don’t know what his purpose for me is. But the one thing I do know is that there is hope, and that my life has been and will continue to be, A Journey To Christ. - From a Resident