“Wasted potential.”

That’s how Craig saw his life. Despite growing up in a stable household, he rebelled as a teenager — he started hanging out with the wrong crowd, and began using drugs and alcohol. What started as youthful defiance led him down a heartbreaking path of brokenness, addiction, homelessness … and nearly a decade in jail.

For 30 years, he felt “like a tumbleweed” — bouncing around from institution to institution, from one treatment center to another. He was able to work, but because of his addiction, he inevitably lost every job. “My family didn’t raise me to be like that,” Craig remembers. “It really destroyed a lot of relationships.”

Disowned by his family, addicted to cocaine, unemployed, alone and desperate for forgiveness, Craig finally came to MRM. “I just got sick and tired of doing what I was doing. I felt tired, desperate, broken.”

Finding His True Value

And though he once felt tired, desperate and broken, it was by God’s grace at MRM that Craig began feeling new life, joy and wholeness. Here, Craig found not only stability, recovery services and community, but the hope of a fresh start. As he learned more and more about God’s forgiveness, Craig also learned that he has redemption because of a Savior who loves him.

All these years, Craig explains, “I believe God’s been shaking me, saying, ‘Wake up.’” Immersed in our Gospel-centered recovery programs, which include education, counseling and job training, he says he feels transformed. “I’ve learned to see my value really lies in Christ. It’s definitely freeing,” he said.

Today, Craig’s not only sober and reconnecting with his family — he has a steady job, he’s growing in faith, he’s using his musical gifts to serve in his church worship band and, most importantly, he’s enjoying a restored life.

“I’m extremely grateful,” Craig says. “The grace that I’ve experienced from the love of Christ and from donors, through their generosity … it causes me to want to give back and give it to somebody else.”

Craig is looking towards the future, and the future is bright. “If I can live out the rest of my life and be able to help somebody else, I think I’m on the right path.” Craig is deeply grateful for it all — and for friends like you who helped him discover a transformed life!