E26 Men Sharing Their Stroies

     My name is Austin, I’m from Sevierville, TN. I’m 26 years old and I want to share with you guys my story of how God saved and changed my life when I was at the lowest point in my life and I thought all hope was lost.

     Since I was born my life has had its ups and downs. My mom and dad split when I was 5 years old and being a young kid, that’s never easy on anyone. My mom has been an addict her whole life and has been in and out of rehabs and detention centers. My dad on the other hand was the complete opposite, didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, just worked hard and did everything he could to support me and raise me right.

     Growing up, my dad raised me all on his own and he did the best he could being a single father. I grew up in a Christian household and attended church every Sunday, so I knew about Christ but I didn’t know him on an intimate level. Like most young kids and teenagers, I had a very big Ego and a lot of pride in myself. My addiction trend started in middle school, I wanted to fit in and I always hung around an older crowd. Just like the majority of kids I started off messing around with weed at the age of 12. I never let it bother or affect me though throughout school, sports and my juvenile years. I thought I was perfectly fine. I watched my mom use and abuse pills and other narcotics growing up so I always told myself I’d never do more than weed.

     I made good grades, I played basketball all the way from 3rd grade to high school, I had smaller schools looking at me and offering me scholarships and I knew my dream was fixing to become reality. I finally was going to get my chance of going to play college basketball, which was always my dream growing up as a kid. Three days before I graduated high school when I was 18 years old my life changed drastically.

     On May 21st of 2017 I was involved in a car accident crossing over 3 lanes of traffic and flipping 7 total times putting my life at risk. I was high and under the influence of course, but by Gods grace, nobody got hurt, not even myself. I came out of the accident with not even a scratch, it’s a miracle right? But in that moment alone my dreams of playing college basketball were over with in a blink of an eye. I had took pride my whole life in being good at basketball, I had made it my “identity”. But, this was Gods first sign to me that he was using me for a purpose in this world far beyond basketball, but of course, I ignored it and continued living a reckless life.

     I ended up going to jail after that accident and got put on probation with a judicial diversion (which means it will be wiped clean from your record) now keep this in mind, you only get one of these your whole life and I used it at 18 years old. I managed to get through probation with having violated one time six months into it for, you guessed it, failing a drug test because I was smoking weed. Hard headed I was don’t you think? Doing that sent me back to jail but I managed to get out and “conform” and stay straight for the next six months. After I finally completed my 11/29 probation I lived recklessly for the next five years of my life. There in those 5 reckless years, my faith wavered drastically.

     I started doing pills, partying, selling drugs, you name it. I was doing all the things I said I would never do and I was being my own God and admiring all the things of this world. I fell in love with the fast money, cars, all of it. I stopped attending church, I was distancing myself far away from God without even realizing it. I was blinded to the patterns of this world. Being a burden to my family, ruining relationships and putting so many lives at risk including myself. On August 3rd of 2023, my selfish and fast living life came to an end.

     I was arrested and charged with numerous things including possession of a firearm during a felony, Drug Manufacturing, etc; I was facing a minimum of 10 years in prison. I went to jail and while in jail I called my sister and cried out for help. She told me “Austin, maybe this is your sign from God that you need to get back in touch with him” and that hit me hard. I was withdrawing off of drugs, having multiple seizures in the hospital and my life looked like it was nothing but over and my time here on earth was done. My aunt prayed over me in the hospital and at that moment I felt Gods presence and knew I had to cry out for help. I could no longer do it MY way anymore.

     On September 5th of 2023 I got accepted and enrolled in Adult & Teen Challenge Mid-South, which is a Christ centered yearlong discipleship program. I was scared and afraid. I had never been to rehab before and I hated the thought of it because I knew what people would think of me. I was embarrassed of what I had let myself become. Adult & Teen Challenge taught me to let go of the pride and Ego I’ve always had and to let God work and transform my life and he did just that. None of this was easy for me at first of course.

     While I was in the program we attended Element26, a camp hosted in Ocoee, TN with a weekend filled with Gospel music, Sermons, bonding with other individuals, and learning more about Jesus. Without that weekend I don’t know if I could’ve completed Teen Challenge. Being around so many people that weekend and hearing them share their story and testimony inspired me to want to seek God even more. It showed me Gods mercy and grace he has for us and how God moves through people’s testimonies and touches others. From that moment I knew that if I let go and let God take control of my life that I could not only change my life, but make a difference in other people's lives as well. I’ve done it MY way my whole life and it’s never worked out, so for once let me try it GODS way.

     After that weekend at Element26 I went back to Teen Challenge diving into Gods word more than ever before. I wanted to learn more about Christ, I wanted to learn more of how to be like Christ. I give a lot of the credit to Element26 and that whole weekend for showing me that it’s okay to have messed up, there are plenty of people in this world that have done wrong and none of us are perfect people. It’s all about how you respond and admit to your wrongs and allow God to change you and share your experience with others through Gods word. You have to be willing to forgive yourself for all your wrongs before you can begin to forgive others. I stopped trying to see life from my perspective and instead try to see life and others in Gods perspective.

     Everything I do I give the glory to him no matter what it is, even if it’s completing a small task I thank God for allowing me to be able to finish that task because without God nothing is possible. Now, I’ve been in this spiritual bubble for a year now at Teen Challenge but I knew after graduating Teen Challenge I had a lot of things to face. I still have my court dates, I’m still looking at facing a substantial amount of prison time, I have relationships to restore and overall even after the program I have to stay in my Bible and stay seeking God. Because this world we live in will always try to drag you back to your old ways and the things you used to do, I was very aware of that now thanks to ATC and God himself.

     The enemy wants us to be as far away from God as he can possibly get us. I learned to put my faith in God and rely on him through everything. Everyday in Teen Challenge I prayed every night and said “God, I trust you with my life, I trust the plans you have for me and whatever it is that you have set up for me in my future, I will give you all the glory.” September 5th, 2024, I graduated from Teen Challenge. Just one week before I graduated the program my attorney had called me and told me that they had changed DA’s on my case and the new DA is someone my attorney was very familiar with. With that being said he told me “Your first offer on the table is no prison time and 5 years of probation but I think we can get it down to 3 years of probation”. On top of that I was offered a judicial diversion if I completed my probation, my record could be wiped clean all over again. How is that possible? How do I manage to get blessed with a SECOND judicial diversion? Especially with the charges I have brought upon myself including already having a record from my past. Because GOD is bigger and more powerful than anything or anyone placed on this earth.

     God was listening to my prayers every night asking for a second chance and a fresh start again. So of course I was ecstatic to hear that! I hung up the phone and immediately started to thank God, It was a miracle! I was told before I went to rehab that it didn’t matter what I did, there was no chance in this world that I wouldn’t do at least 10 years in federal prison, nothing less. I say all this to say, God has been with me my whole entire life watching over me. Even when I was doing all the wrong things and living a reckless life, he was still right there holding me and watching over me. Loving me then just as much as he does now. We upset God by ignoring him and doing all these wrong things but in the end God knows there will be a time in our lives where we are at rock bottom and have no hope left. In that time he will be waiting patiently for us to call out his name and ask for his help, and with open arms he will pick us up out of the horrible pit we’ve put ourselves in and pick us up out of the miry clay and set our feet upon a rock.

     God has showed me how to love, how to forgive and how to be transformed. 2 Corinthians 5:17- “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!”. Through Christ we are new creations, he sacrificed his blood so that we would be washed free from all of our sins. We don’t have to let our past stand in the way of the person who God has called us to be. Instead, learn from it and grow from it. Ask Jesus to guide you through each day step by step and to protect you from anything that stands in the way of the will that God has planned for your life.

     Being a recovering addict isn’t easy by any means, it’s a fight everyday but you have to stay strong and stay in Gods word and remember where you were at and the position you were in before you cried out for help. Give your life to God and trust in him with no doubt in your heart and watch what he can do for you! If he can take a sinner like myself and transform my life into something new and wonderful, I promise he can do the same for you.