“I’m tired,” Joe said the day he came to the Milwaukee Rescue Mission.

 

     Tired of trying to beat his problems on his own. Tired of pushing aside responsibilities. Tired of feeling sorry for himself.

 

     “I was just messing up and running away from my problems,” Joe explains now.

 

     He came to MRM thinking he’d just need a meal or two, a place to collect his thoughts while he figured out what to do next. But then he learned about our LifeSkills program and decided that he belonged here.

 

     “The program gives you different opportunities. It gives you a chance to be still and listen to the Lord.” Joe references the truth of Psalm 46:10--“Be still, and know that I am God”--because he realizes that in his life before MRM, he rarely took the time to quietly consider what he was doing or what he wanted.

 

     Before coming to the Milwaukee Rescue Mission, Joe tended to just push through the pain. For example, about 20 years ago, two of Joe’s brothers died within a short period of time. “I started drinking real heavy,” he says, sharing how he tried to rely on his own strength.

 

     The pain didn’t go away no matter how much he tried to avoid it, but Joe functioned like that for so long. Admitting that he was tired of running took a lot of courage for him--and because of your support, MRM was here for him when he took that first step towards help.

 

     Joe finished LifeSkills, our one-year program, and immediately went into FOCUS, a six-month transitional living program for LifeSkills graduates. He could’ve left after that first year, but Joe’s commitment to truly changing his life led him to FOCUS. “I am strong, but I need this program a little more. There is still temptation out there, and I want to be sure I’m ready to face it,” he said.

 

     With renewed energy and strength--because he’s leaning on God--Joe has joined a church and found a good job at Wisconsin Lutheran College. He hasn’t had a drink in two years; at MRM, he had the time and freedom, thanks to your generosity, to face the roots of his problems.

 

     Joe was tired when he came here. But he has found real rest for his soul and real help for his struggles, and he knows that’s partly because of you: “I want [you] to know the way [your] donations helped me--how they changed my life and what I’m able to do now.”

 

     He’s able to look forward to the future with hope and thanksgiving to God...thank you for caring about Joe and the other men like him in our programs!