Thanks to you… Isaiah has been given a life-changing gift this Christmas.

Living in poverty, with both parents battling addiction, childhood was a struggle for Isaiah.

He began drinking as a teen to fit in with his friends, and realized that alcohol helped tone down the emotions he’d been pushing aside for years. He found the same numbing relief in Xanax, and soon developed an addiction.

A few years later, Isaiah was living in his own apartment and had an altercation with his roommate. He called and asked if he could live with his father for a while. To his surprise, his father agreed.

After Isaiah had detoxed, his father, who is a graduate of our recovery program, called and asked if we had space for his son. Then Isaiah got the call that changed everything: “Do you want to come and change your life?”

Isaiah decided to give our addiction recovery program a try. He didn’t want to be here at first – but once he stopped trying to control everything, he began noticing God working in his life.

“I started praying and asking for things to change and to be forgiven, and I started feeling different,” he says.

“I don’t have to carry this weight anymore.”

When he joined our program, Isaiah was angry and anxious. He didn’t think he could get better, and life didn’t seem worth living. But now, he trusts that God has a better plan for his life.

As a graduate of our program, Isaiah wants other struggling young people to share the hope he’s found. “I’d like to encourage anybody who’s young and going through these real problems to reach out and ask for help. Don’t let your situation paint a picture of you that’s not really you. At the end of the day, God forgives you for anything if you ask.”

It’s going to be a Christmas filled with joy for Isaiah – and he is so grateful to you for this wonderful gift of a new life found in Christ. “I’m starting to grow into myself as a person. I see that there’s more to life than I thought. I’m just glad to see another day every morning.”

To read our Holiday 2021 issue of The Lifeline, click here.