Life Stories
I thought drinking and drugging would
take away the pain that resulting from my father taking his life and
seeing several other family members follow the same path soon
afterwards. My life became a cycle of being in and out of
jails, institutions and medical detox centers. I was looking
for sobriety and a life of recovery, and I wanted the life of
happiness that I saw in the eyes of other people. I finally
decided to call Standing Stones, and it was the most important call
for help I had ever made.
By a miracle of God and through the
prayers of my wife and others, I gave up smoking with no side
effects whatsoever and have been cured of the Hepatitis C that I
acquired though heroin and meth use. I have been freed from 25
years of bondage to drugs, alcohol and tobacco. I am now a
“doer of the word of God” and not just a “hearer” only. Jesus
washed my blood clean and I have received His healing! I never
thought that an unsteady, panhandling drunk could receive God’s
healing but I am living proof. My marriage has been restored
and I have a beautiful, praying wife who is strong in the Lord.
I am clean and sober because I have been broken and restored.
Standing Stones is a place of many
healings and blessings that I will be privileged to carry with me
for the rest of my life. I am now a living “Standing Stone”, a
soldier for Christ, and I will always cherish the inner healing that
comes with this brand new life. ~TP
Growing up without a father to help me
figure out this world and how to live by its laws was very difficult
for me. My mother did the best she could raising me, but without a
father around to teach me how to be a real man on this earth, it was
difficult. The last 15 years of my life have added up to nothing.
It was not until the Lord spoke to me
in jail and told me to look around and determine if this was the
life I wanted that my life began to change. I found a brochure for a
Christ-centered regeneration program for addicts called Standing
Stones Ministry. This program has been such a blessing to me - no
other program can compare to this one!
I have found that I have a calling in
life and that God has chosen me to do great things by spreading the
good news of the gospel. I am now a son to a Father larger
than life itself and it was He who chose me! The person I am today
is a new creation who will never be the same. The old has
gone, the new has come. I am extra-ordinary because I have
come from the gutters and into an inheritance called His almighty
kingdom. My spiritual walk will forever be on fire.
The Lord has established a fact in my
life that I am His living proof. I am evidence that He can, He
will, He does, and will continue to rearrange and change individual
lives to create miracles and answer prayers. ~NM
When I came to Standing Stones, I
arrived as a severely broken person. I had spent many years
battling depression and alcoholism which damaged many friendships,
landed me in trouble with the law, and effectively ended my
marriage. With my livelihood gone, my goals abandoned and my
future seeming beyond redemption, I was truly lost. I had taken to
finding my only solace in the bottom of a bottle. Having given
up almost everything that mattered in my life, I found myself on the
doorstep of the Standing Stones Orchard, where I was welcomed with
open arms as one of their own family members.
In my time here at the orchard I have
been given the opportunity to take a real hard look at my life and
how I have been living it. The program not only helped me overcome
my addiction, but also to regain a sense of trust and belonging that
I had lost so many years before. Through my studies, work, and
friendships here I have regained a sense of who I am and the
direction I want to be going in life. The staff members are by no
means easy teachers but they are fair, honest and kind. They have
helped me to recover a relationship that I had given up on over 20
years ago; a relationship with God.
The spiritual aspect that I had found
completely lacking in other addiction programs was the key component
to not only overcoming my addiction but regaining my life; not my
old tainted life, but a life that has a true sense of hope, security
and peace. The serenity that I now feel is a direct result of
regaining a relationship with the Lord and the people at Standing
Stones facilitated my reconciliation with Him. ~JN
With no family guidance and zero order
or accountability, I raised myself from the age of 14 and my choices
led me down a path of utter destruction. Since I was poor and from
the trailer park, most people didn’t have much time for me. I was
full of hate and anger and took it out on whoever I could. I
ended up at the age of 16 in prison doing a seven year prison
sentence.
That sentence was followed by two
more, and the last time I was in jail was a spiritual awakening for
me. The night before my sentencing, I prayed that God would put it
in the judge’s heart to give me what the Lord thought I needed.
I walked out of court with 300 days instead of 90 – and boy, was I
mad! I thought my prayer wasn’t answered, but I was wrong -
the “program” was a gift from God.
The officer in charge was a Christian
and added Bible stories and church services into the criteria.
At first I thought, “Don’t they realize this won’t work for me?”
But somewhere along the way I learned I was exactly who Jesus was
there for; the “blow-its”, the person others hated, He loved.
I started finding peace and rest in my heart and asked Him to save
me. He took away my old life and gave me hope. I was a
new person!
Before I was to be released I asked
the Lord to open door’s for me so that I could grow in my
relationship with Him and work with others with a past similar to
mine. I wanted a place where I could learn how to share what
Jesus has done for me and tell others that He wants to give them
hope also.
Now I am at Standing Stones, knowing
He put me here. I’m learning and growing in my walk with Him. I
don’t know exactly what He has in store for me, but I know He has an
awesome plan and that part of it is helping others come to Him.
By grace through faith, even I can be saved. ~CA