Footprints in the Sand Bible Study
Serenity Testimony

Footprints in the Sand Bible Study - Serenity Testimony

Welcome to Footprints in the Sand Bible Study - Serenity Testimony. We hope you enjoy this Serenity Testimony. Within is a message to enhance your Christian walk.

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Footprints to Serenity

Serenity Testimony

Hello my name is Dwayne, I am a grateful recovering alcoholic/addict.

Today I want to share with you my experience strength and hope. I want to share what it was like, what happened and what it's like today. I do this, in hope that you will gain hope as well, in overcoming your addictions whatever they may be.

I remember very well my first drink and my last drunk, as it says in the big book of alcoholics anonymous if you don't remember your last drunk there is a chance you may drink again.

I grew up in a home where alcoholism was practiced on a regular basis, I can remember being dragged out to Church and Sunday School, only to come home and watch my elder family members get totally smashed by late afternoon. I became their waiter, so to speak; they always had me running to the fridge to fetch more beers for them. As I did this, I would drink the little bit left at the bottom of the bottles and cans and for a child it was enough to feel the affect that alcohol gives. This went on for a good number of years.

At some point, I discovered the the half gallon of Canadian whiskey which was kept under the sink cabinet in the kitchen. By this time, I was maybe 11 or 12 years old. I would take a swig from the bottle from time to time. Then one day it dawned on me to wait until after my stepfather left for work on nightshift, and my mother went to bed. We had these little Dixie cups in a dispenser, so I took like 10 of them down and starting mixing drinks and chugging them down, I did this until I felt intoxicated enough to sleep.

Sleeping has always been something that I have struggled with and still is, but it seemed that I had found a temporary cure to the problem. This went on for some time and when I was questioned about the disappearance of the whiskey, I would lie and say, "what are you talking about." They kept putting new bottles in the exact same place, so I kept right on drinking. By this point, I was also smoking weed. I loved the affect that the combination of the two substances mixed, gave me.

By the time age 15-16 came along I was well off to the races, and no longer welcome to stay in the house where I lived with my parents, so I lived a very rugged street life. Most days/nights I slept outside and it didn't matter whether it was summer or winter; I found a way to survive. I was still drinking and smoking my weed. I continued on this destructive path I was on.

By the time 1985 came along, I was about 23 years old and I met the women who would give birth to my children a few years later. She was from the inner city which I was totally green to. I was living more toward the country life at the time we met. Within a few months I had lost the apartment that I was living in and the job that I held due to my addictions. So she talked me into moving in with her, back to the inner city. This is where the real Hell began.

I started using heroine and cocaine as often as possible and it really got out of control. Before long, I was a full blown heroine/cocaine addict and alcohol was something that I only wanted if there were no drugs that I could get. I was smoking crack and shooting up heroine like there was no tomorrow.

In 1989, after a long night of drinking and drugging, I was a passenger in a car that was in a very bad accident. We were hit broadside on my door. I had to be cut out of the car by the jaws of life and laid aside. I woke up laying on the ground with a sheet over my head.

I had an after life experience. In my memory I was in a long dark tunnel and I noticed a very bright light at the end, that was brighter than any light that I had ever seen. I realized that the light was getting further and further away rather quickly. For the longest time I thought that meant that I was on my way to hell, but I now believe the reason the light was getting so far away is because God was bringing me back to my life form here on earth. God has a plan for me, there was a reason God kept me around ... to do his will.

When the paramedics saw that I was getting up, I will never forget that moment. They were so amazed. I was put on a helicopter and flown to the shock trauma unit at the university of Maryland in Baltimore Maryland where I spent the next seven weeks recovering from my injuries. I found out later on that I was revived 3 times during all of this.

The very day I got out of the hospital, there I was hobbling along on my crutches getting high.

In 1990 my son was born, but the insanity continued. My son's Mom was never around. It seems that the streets were more important to her. In late summer of 1991 my son's Mom went to jail for like the 10th time in the 6 years that we were together. I left her to raise my son alone.

By the time September of 1991 came around, I was really lost in my addictions and was very desperate to get clean, so I made a Geographical move. I met up with someone that helped me get a fresh start someplace else. My son and I got on a bus and moved to New Hampshire.

I did manage to stay clean and sober for about 3-4 months, until I met up with people that got me high, I was off to the races again and before long, I was drinking quite heavily.

In September of 1992, I received word that my son's Mother was killed, evidently she had a confrontation with another drug addict and he killed her. He stabbed her 26 times and cut her throat from ear to ear.

So on through the 90's I went on drinking very often, nearly every day, but managing to hold down full time work. Everything I did seemed to involve alcohol and or drugs. I did manage to stay clear from the harder drugs for the most part, but there were times I used them too. It don't matter tho, using is using.

This brings me to the year 2002. In April of that year, the girl I was with for 10 years and madly in love with ran off with another man. This totally crushed me and my drinking and drugging kicked into overdrive, I used to live and lived to use. My life was a mess.

In March of 2005, I did another geographical move. I moved to West Virginia to be close to my parents, which it seemed I barely knew anymore. By this time my son was 15 and getting in trouble with the law. In December of that year he was sent away to juvenile detention.

My drinking continued thru 2006 and I was very suicidal, I actually wanted to die. I was going to hang myself from the railroad trestle. But, I got drunk instead and couldn't make my way back to the trestle. A few days later while browsing the Internet, I typed in the words "Christian chat" into the Google search and it brought me to Christianity Oasis.

I went in and out for a few days. There was one night that I was feeling very suicidal and talked to a gentleman in private message about my thoughts of killing myself, and he talked to me very patiently for quite a while. It turned out that he was the administrator of the Christian site. He helped me a lot that night, but I kept on drinking for another couple of months, getting deeper into my depression.

This brings me to New years eve 2006. On this particular night, I went to the VFW with my parents and because my stepdad didn't drink anymore, he became the designated driver. We had dinner there and drank alcohol and brought in the New Year. At 1 AM, we left and they dropped me off at my apartment and they went on home.

As I'm in my apartment, my alcoholic mind took over and I got in my car and off to the bar I went. I left the bar around 3 AM or so, as the bars in West Virginia stay open till 4 AM. I vaguely remember falling on my face on the way out of the bar as I made my way to my car. The bar was only 1/2 mile to my apartment so I was sure I could make it. I passed out behind the wheel, and smashed into a concrete culvert totaling my car and myself, but I got out of the car and left on foot.

My face was a bloody mess, my back and both legs were black and blue for weeks. Over the course of the next few days I prayed like I never prayed before. I got on my knees and said "God please help me, I can't go on like this anymore. God please help me I'm begging you."

God laid it on my heart to call the Hotline for alcoholics anonymous, and this is where my journey into a sober life took over. The night I walked into an AA meeting people took one look at me and said "Oh my God what happened to you?" My face was still all busted up. They helped me and assured me it was going to be ok, one day at a time. They loved me until I was able to love myself. I got me an AA sponsor right away and began working the 12 steps. All this time I'm still praying daily.

God changed me like I never thought possible. For that I am forever grateful. I now been at Christianity Oasis for 3 years and will celebrate 3 years sober January 1st. With very little effort on my part. It was all God and I give Him all the glory for this wonderful gift of sobriety.

Today life is better than I ever thought it could be, I am forever grateful

Thank you all for reading my testimony.

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