NEWSLETTERS

Terrence’s life has been made NEW this Easter! 

“I learned to let God take the lead.”

Terrence grew up feeling lost and alone. His father passed away when he was nine years old and his mother was trapped in addiction, leaving him without any guidance.

“She was more into the streets and often in jail, so she was in and out of my life,” he explains. “I thought it was normal – but there were things that weren’t normal for a little boy to be exposed to.”

Without structure at home, Terrence bounced around between family and friends, searching for a sense of direction.

“I didn’t realize how much resentment I had against my mother,” he reflects. “I felt abandoned, and it left a pretty big mark on me. Nothing ever felt like home.”

He decided from a young age that he would never do drugs, because he saw how it hurt his mother. But as a teenager, he discovered alcohol – and it soon took over his life.

“It was all fun and games, until it just wasn’t fun anymore,” he says. “I started to use drinking as a coping mechanism, trying to fill a void that could never be filled. Alcohol took me down. It took me to dark places. And even when I was in the dark places, I felt like if I could drink, everything would be alright.”

In the midst of his struggle with addiction, Terrence ended up homeless, staying in shelters for nearly a year. He knew his drinking was keeping him trapped, so he decided to try a recovery program – but his heart wasn’t in the right place.

“I only cared about my outer appearance: getting a job and making some money to get back on my feet. I wound up relapsing and started getting back into my old ways and toxic relationships, and I hit the bottom fast.”

Terrence knew he couldn’t keep living this way, so he went to detox. It was there that he heard about the Market Street Mission’s Life Change Addiction Recovery Program.

This time around, he knew he couldn’t just coast through the program – he needed to focus on healing. But he also realized he couldn’t do it on his own.

“My biggest challenge before coming to the Mission was actually surrendering,” he says. “I thought I could do it myself, and I would not let go.”

But as he spent time in our program, attending chapel services and counseling, and listening to the encouragement of the people around him, he began to learn more about God – and it changed his life.

“Everything started to click,” he says. “I learned that Jesus Christ laid down His life for me, and that actually blew my mind when I was able to put the puzzle together. That’s what really started to draw me in. It’s ok to take the mountain off your chest and let Him take the lead.”

As he began trusting Jesus, he also began to see the importance of community. He learned to let his guard down and lean on the people around him, and found meaning in walking the same path of recovery alongside other men in our program.

“I had good brothers here giving me advice and encouragement. It goes back to being the body of Christ. We definitely can’t do this alone,” he says.

Now, thanks to your prayers and support, Terrence is celebrating new life this Easter – and he’s sharing that hope with other people at the Mission in search of a fresh start!

Terrence graduated from our Life Change Addiction Recovery Program and took a course to become a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist. Looking forward, he plans to get his GED and study a trade like HVAC. He also hopes to have a place of his own where his kids can come visit and see all that God is doing in his life.

But for now, serving with the Mission as a Program Intern, he finds great joy in helping others the way the Mission helped him.

“I identify with a lot of what our guests go through and what they’re feeling, and I’m able to talk to them and make them happy,” he says. “Just little things, like giving them food, clothes, shoes, soap – making sure I can be there to meet their needs. I love to help the people who come here. It’s what I’m called to do.”

To read the rest of this issue of Market Street Mission Messenger, click here.