Jerry* has a loving family who stopped at nothing to try to help him leave drugs and alcohol behind for years. But one by one, he burned every bridge. Then God led him to Nashville Rescue Mission, where he has found hope, healing, and a fresh start in life!
Jerry had nowhere else to go. His last family member turned him away after he passed out drunk while babysitting his nephew, who was just a toddler.
“My mother had a friend who went through the Women’s [Life Recovery] Program some years back. So, she told me about Nashville Rescue Mission, but ultimately, she said, ‘I’m not going to keep telling you what to do. You’ve got to decide for yourself if this is something you want.’”
The very next day, Jerry came through the Mission doors for the first time. “I was scared. I didn’t know if I was making the right choice,” he says. “But I worried that if I didn’t do something, I’d wind up worse than I was.”
The only thing Jerry knew for sure was that he didn’t want to be an addict. “Seeing people that live that lifestyle, getting high or drinking every day, they don’t have any purpose or any passion in life. I didn’t want to be one of those people.”
“I’m very family-centered. My biggest fear has always been that I will lose my family . . . and I was hanging on by a thread,” Jerry says, shaking his head sadly. “Nashville Rescue Mission was my chance to start fixing the bridges that I burned. I had to prove to myself that I could commit to something and see it through.”
Jerry was eager to learn about our Life Recovery Program—the same program that helped his mother’s friend rebuild her life 14 years ago. This proven program helps men and women develop tools to make realistic, achievable changes that lead to a better quality of life, with God’s love at the center of it all.
“It’s been good. Really eye-opening. I’ve had time to do some soul-searching and unpack issues in my life. It has taught me to deal with my emotions and not just bottle them up.”
“There are really good people here. They’re here to help you. They want to see [you become] the best you possible, and they want you to get the most that you can from this program.”
Jerry is excited for his new beginning and the bright future that lies ahead. And he’s looking forward to sharing his new self with his family, especially his mother. “She’s done everything for me in life. She made sure I never went without, and I’ve dragged her through the mud. I want to show her that I can do something for myself in life.”
“And I want to get back to being [a great uncle] to my three nephews and a niece. I look at those kids as sort of my own and have a strong love for them. I want to show them that you can overcome hard things in life. There will be situations that you don’t want to deal with, things you don’t want to do, but, in the end, if you want it, you can do it.”
Jerry has done the hard work and recently graduated from our Life Recovery Program. “When I first came here, I told myself, ‘I’m going to make this commitment. I’m going to see it through. I’m going to graduate,’ and that’s what’s happening. I’m ready to get my life back on track, to get back to the real world, and get back into society.”
“I’m making the steps to becoming the man that I’m supposed to be,” Jerry says with a confident smile.
“God put me in the place where I needed to be to find the help that I needed and the peace and comfort that I was asking for. This place has been a blessing, and it’s been able to change my understanding of, first, God and life in general, that there is hope.”
Thank you for your ongoing support of Nashville Rescue Mission, which helps people like Jerry receive the life-changing help they urgently need, plus hope for today, hope for tomorrow, and hope for eternity!
*Name changed for privacy.
