My name is Brittany Marie Brewer.  I am 34 years old from St. Louis, Missouri.  My mother worked really hard to raise me and my sister.  I was in beauty pageants and dance classes.  All of that changed in my early teenage years when my father introduced me to methamphetamines. This landed me in and out of several rehabs over the years.  In 2008, I found myself in an extremely abusive relationship.  One day in 2014, we were both high, arguing and driving down the road at 90 mph.  I...

My name is Marissa Lesley.  I am 43 years old from Dexter, Missouri.  I have been on and off drugs since I was 12 years old.  I never really      felt like I fit in anywhere and I’ve always struggled with low self-esteem issues.  I came from a good family.  My parents divorced when I was      young, but they were both good and loving parents.  Neither one of my parents ever had addiction problems. I started hanging out with the      wrong crowd in school and that was my...

My name is Jerrod Hollis.  I’m 37 years old from Jonesboro, Arkansas.  I grew up with a fear of failure.  I always felt the need to be “perfect” and have carried that my whole life.  I thank God that now I understand that we all fall short, and Jesus loves us anyway.  When I was 14 years old, I started using pain pills to help these feelings of failure.  The pills made me not feel any emotion and I just became numb to the whole world.  They helped me not feel or care about...

Hi, my name is Nathan Dell.  I am 26 years old and I am no longer a methamphetamine addict!  I spent the last 4 to 6 years of my life using drugs and hanging out with the wrong groups of people.  During that time, I turned away from Jesus  and  lost sight of who I was.  I found myself alone and broken; for the first time in my life, I was afraid that  I  may  not  make it to see tomorrow.  I realized that I needed help because I no longer even knew who I was.  I found freedom in �...

My name is Ryan Burhans. I am 40 years old. I was born in Wisconsin. When I was around fifteen my parents got divorced and I was left alone
a lot and I felt rejected. That’s when my drinking started. I moved out when I was sixteen and had my first child. The drinking got worse because
it numbed the pain of rejection that I felt. I have had many jobs and two marriages that ended due to my drinking. All these years of drinking, I
only had one accident. I know it was because...

Hi, my name is Justin Finley and I am 33 years old. I was raised by my grandparents, which is a decision my mother made due to her addiction. I was raised in church and taught right from wrong. Whenever I visited my mother, I would get molested by her boyfriend. This led to anger and depression. I was bullied to the point where I had to change schools. I started to hang out with the wrong crowd, they accepted me with open arms. They introduced me to witchcraft at the age of 13 and by the age...

My name is Stephanie Ballard.  I am 25 years old and was born in Paragould, Arkansas.  Growing up I did not have what most children had growing up.  I was born into addiction and with that I witnessed more than I should have.  My mother got shot in the neck over a drug deal gone wrong.  I was only 3 years old and I was in the back seat sleeping.  I watched my parents do everything in front of me and I felt a sense of responsibility to keep them safe.  I started doing drugs at the age...

My name is Brandon Lee Norman. I was born in Missouri in 1994. My mother was an alcoholic and had several abusive boyfriends when I was growing up. She loved me the best she could. I ended up getting put into foster care. My mom passed away when I was 12 years old. I didn’t know how to cope so I began stealing, smoking and drinking. I went to juvenile detention and when I got out, I had the opportunity to go to college for construction engineering technology. I ended up dropping out...

       My name is Treyton Hartle.  I am 22 years old from Bloomfield, MO and this is how Jesus turned my life around.  On April 1st, 1998 I was born into a great family with loving parents who knew the Lord.  Following that was a life in church that was never appreciated like it should have been.  At 12 years old I gave my life to the Christ at church camp…then came high school.  The work was easy.  I wasn’t good enough to play college sports, and I found out I loved having...

My name is Laura Burroughs. I am 40 years old. I was born and raised in Jonesboro, AR. I enjoyed a happy childhood. Although I never met my biological father, my stepdad adopted me when I was two years old. When I was fifteen, he committed suicide which sent me down a dark path. I started seeking approval and affirmation through men. I never felt like I had any worth and I always tried to fit into the crowd. I knew the way I was living was wrong, so shame and guilt set in. I tried to numb my...

My name is Gina Fugate, I am 48 years old from St. Louis, MO. I realized that I needed to make a change sitting under a bridge, after a tornado left parts of St. Louis destroyed. A couple of years prior I was laid off from work and faced with a breakup, repossession, and foreclosure which left me homeless and once again addicted. I was at a point in my life where I needed help and quick. I have 4 children, and I was always involved in their lives; it is strange how things can change overnight...

My name is Bo Sandefur and I am 23 years old. I’m from a small town in the hills of Kentucky called Horse Branch. I grew up in a good family. We always went to church, until I was 11 years old. At that time I fell out of a tree stand and I injured my back and was prescribed pain pills. That’s where my addiction began. In a very short time I learned how to synthesize methamphetamine and how to steal the ingredients for it, and I learned how to make moonshine and grow marijuana. I quit...

My name is Danny Washburn.  I am 50 years old and was born in Joplin, Missouri.  I had what I felt like was a pretty good childhood besides the fact that up until I was 12 years old, I saw my dad get drunk and beat up my mom.  I have 2 older brothers and they beat up on me like brothers do.  When I was very young, I learned to play pool which opened the door to a lifestyle of gambling, even if I was only playing with lunch money.  When I turned 18, I joined the Navy.  This really opened...

      My name is Whitney Burnette.  I am 29 years old from Wynne,...

My name is Jordon Daniel Rogers.  I am 26 years old, and I am from Puxico, Missouri.  My parents got divorced when I was young, and it really affected me.  They both got remarried, but it was still never the same.  I put all the hurt deep inside and turned to drugs instead of dealing with it.  By the time I turned 18, I was an active meth user.  The devil had me right where he wanted me.  I lost family relationships and burnt every bridge I came across. I got “clean” for a while,...

My name is Claude Essary, and I was born on July 27, 1977, in Bartow, FL. My mother was mentally ill, and my father was an alcoholic and a gambler, this made for a rough childhood. As I grew up, I had a lot of hate and anger from my upbringing that affected every part of my life. I just wanted to love people so much, because I didn’t want anyone to feel the way I felt inside. In November of last year, I was in jail for the fifteenth time; I was at a point in my life that I had never seen...

My name is Bradley D. Boyer.  I am 48 years old and was born in St. Louis, MO where I stayed until I was 5 years old and we moved to Bakersfield, CA.  I pray that the Lord gets the glory in this testimony and that it reaches and touches the person it is intended to.  When my family moved to California, it was all a crazy lifestyle.  My father let me drink and smoke pot with him.  One day I mentioned that to his boss and I began to get beat by my father.  My dad also beat my mother and...

Hi there! My name is Susan Flanagan. I am a 42 year old mother of 3 boys and I was born in Blytheville, Arkansas.  My father left when I was 2 years old, so my mother raised me and my brother and sister by herself.  We were very poor. I remember that my mom moved us around a lot because she was an          alcoholic and we went through several “stepdads.”  Because my mom wasn’t very responsible, I felt the need to become more responsible.  I was just a little girl and I was...

 My name is Jacob Barnes.  I was born in 1997 in Jackson, Tennessee.  When I was young, my parents moved us to Kennett, Missouri because my father was from there.  My parents were young, and my dad couldn’t handle the pressure, so he drank and used drugs and hung out with the wrong people, often leaving me and my mom and sisters to fend for ourselves.  Eventually, my parents split up and my mom ended up moving all of us in with her boyfriend in a nice house.  This didn’t last long...

My name is Greg Prater. I am 62 years old, from Jonesboro, AR. I can’t tell you the age when I took my first drink, I just did it because that’s what I saw my
father do. Since I was 16 years old, I have been an alcoholic, and it has caused one problem after another. By the time I called one of the other mission
teens centers in 2009, I was completely broken and miserable. I lost my job, my marriage of 13 years, and was about to lose my house. I didn’t see a future
ahead of me....

Hello!  My name is Marvin Hembree; I am 40 years old and was born and raised in a small town called Clinton, Tennessee.  I am the oldest of 4 boys.  I grew up in an amazing home with two very loving parents who are still together to this day. The 4 of us boys were raised in church our whole lives and came to know God from a very young age.  I always excelled in academics in school, up until my teenage years when I began to experiment with drugs.  I have always been of a very small...

My name is Weston Moon.  I’m 30 years old and I’m from Trumann, Arkansas.  My mom and dad  were  great parents, but  their  marriage got taken over by Satan, drugs and lies and they got divorced when I was just 6 years old. I started playing sports when I  was  5  years old and that seemed to keep me busy and out of trouble for a long time.   Not knowing at the time that these years would be the   best  years of my life and not seeing that the road up ahead was paved with...

My name is Katelyn Walker. I am 22 years old. I am from Belden, Mississippi. I had a little bit of a rough start growing up. From the time I was born I was exposed to drugs. My biological mother was an addict and so was all of her immediate family.  The earliest memory that I have of my mom is when the police had busted my mom and her, at the time husband, for cooking meth in mine and my little sisters’ room. That is also when we were taken away from her, from there we went into the foster...

My name is Jason Freeman.  I was born In Poplar Bluff, Missouri in 1982 and I was raised in Dexter, Missouri.  I have an older sister and an adopted brother and sister. My childhood was what I would consider normal.  I went to a Baptist church and I played all sports but was especially good at baseball.  When I was 13, I stopped going to church and started experimenting with drugs and alcohol.  In no time, I got in trouble for bringing drugs to school.  I got put on probation and...

My name is Robert Jones.  I am 36 years old from Jackson, MS.  My life has been hard from the very start.  I was born with a hole in my heart and 2 ruptured hernias in my abdomen; I am told that during this time, I contracted scarlet fever.  I was a very sick baby.  I survived this only to be abandoned by my father at age 2, and I was physically and sexually assaulted by someone close to me until age 8.  My mother  re-married during this time to a man who would adopt me, but again I...

My name is Van Blain McCoy. I am 38 years old and the youngest of 3 boys. I’m from the small town of Corinth, MS. I grew up like most country kids, going to school during the week, working with my grandpa after school, and church with grandma on Sundays. I was always driven by money, no matter where I was or what I was doing money was always at the forefront of my mind. After I graduated, I moved to Kansas to work then came back and started a family. I went to church but, never had a...

My name is Earl Gyger and I’m 42 years old from Forsyth, MO. My childhood was great, but at the age of 14, I was introduced to “crank”, which is                             now known as crystal methamphetamine. That choice I made back then led to an emotional roller coaster of bad relationships and a very dark and                            ugly lifestyle. I stopped using meth for a short time and got married. She had a 2-year-old daughter and...

My name is Mike Shepherd. I’m 64 years old and from St. Louis, MO. As a kid I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a professional
soccer player, and I played a lot. When I got to high school I got hurt and my dream ended. I had difficultly handling this and resented the other guys who got to
play. I felt “less than” because I wasn’t playing, but my grades remained good. I started drinking when I was a junior. This took away any shyness or social ...

My name is Katlyn Juergensmeyer. I’m 27 years old from Troy, Missouri.  I grew up with 2 amazing parents and 3 siblings.  Growing up life was good.  I never needed for anything in my life, or so I thought.  I soon realized that I needed Jesus. At age 16 I went on a mission trip and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.  I was on fire for God and went to church every time I could. All through High school I struggled to find out who I was.  That soon brought on depression,anxiety and...

My name is Kent Anderson.  I am the youngest of 3 boys from a loving stay at home mother and a hard working father.  Wanting to fit in to what the world called popular was my downfall.  I wanted to do all the things other kids did who had material things.  I was spoiled and didn’t even know it because others had more material things than I had but they didn’t have a father who took them fishing and hunting or a mother who spent time working in the yard or catching butterflies or going...

my name is Felisha Thompson. I am 34 years old and from Lagrange, Georgia. I am the youngest of four kids and
had to grow up quickly. My dad was in prison for drugs, so my mom was a single parent, and my brother helped to
raise us. I started smoking weed at twelve years old and I was using meth by time I was sixteen. I have battled with
addiction most of my life, which led to me going to prison when I was 29 for meth. I was released and two days later
went right back to that...

My name is Dezirae Starcher.  I’m 27 years old, I’m from Akron, OH.  I...

My name is Matthew Montgomery.  I am from Springfield, Missouri. I was raised by my father and stepmother in a healthy, supportive home. In my early teenage years, I was always seeking attention and looking for acceptance from others. I started experimenting with drugs and alcohol. In the party crowd, I finally felt like I was accepted. I went to college, but eventually got kicked out. Then I had to move back to my parents.  I felt very lost, rejected, and confused about my future. I...

My name is Kenna Chenoa Cashion. I am…a child of God. I could tell you about how I was married with kids or how I was teased as a kid, how my family was poor and broken or even how I was abused but all of these things are so small but necessary parts of my life. See I am now a 34-year-old divorced mother of 3 whom after being married and without a husband and home of my own, struggling to become a single parent lost my way, myself, my children and my life. No, I didn’t die physically but...

My name is Paige Weiss. I am 24 years old from Farmington, MO. Growing up, I had rejection and abandonment issues, this led to depression
and anxiety. After I graduated high school, I started experimenting with drugs, but they soon overtook my life. I got into a serious car accident
and miraculously walked away with only a scratch. After the accident, I realized how deadly the situation could have been. This scared me into
sobriety for 6 months, but it’s not really about...

Garrison Bowen, I am 27 years old and from Hinesville, GA. I realized I needed to change my way of living when I just lost my job and had no money because of all the drugs and alcohol. It was consuming my life. Over the past 5 years, I have been in and out of Christian programs and lost many jobs due to my anger or other actions. After the last program, I thought I had it all figured out. However, I was still drinking, smoking weed and trying to help my brother who was also in a mess. Living...

My name is LeeAnn Woods. I am 48 years old from Reyno, AR.  I’ve been blessed with two wonderful sons, Marcus and Chandler; a daughter in law, Emily and two grandsons, Chase and Ryder.  When I think about my life up until now, the scripture John 10:10 comes to mind, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.  My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” I grew up in a Christian home, going to church. I always wanted to do what was right.  My dream when I was...

My name is Stewart Kerr. I am 24 years old from Muncie, Indiana. I grew up in a good home with good parents, two older sisters, and two younger brothers. We grew up going to a church where my parents were very involved, as I got older, they stopped forcing me to go and I started to stray away. Then I got into sports and got busy, and I stopped going to church completely. When I was 15, I began drinking with my friends and a year later I began to smoke weed. I smoked weed for a few years and...

My name is Jason Motter.  I am 46 years old and I am from Millville, New Jersey.  I had a pretty normal childhood.  I am the middle child of divorced parents and we were all raised by my father.  I played a lot of sports growing up like baseball and football.  When I was 13, I got into a fight at school and got hurt.  I was prescribed painkillers and that opened a door that would take a very long time to close.  I took pain medication and chased that high for years until one day in...

My name is Melissa Jones.  I am 46 years old.  My life has never been what some call “normal”.  My dad was in prison until  I was around 12  years old.  Then when he  came home,  he was a  drug dealer  which  was   my introduction to cocaine, meth, marijuana and even the needle.  By the time I was 15, I was injecting cocaine and meth daily and had dropped out of school.  My dad ended up back in prison which left me with my mom who basically could not control me.  I ran...

My name is Courtney Freer. I am 29 years old from Piggott, Arkansas. Growing up, I had a good childhood with 2 siblings, and we were raised by a single mother. My mom tried to make sure that we always had everything we needed. I was raised up going to church, but I just never developed that personal relationship with Jesus that I needed. I started smoking pot in the 6th grade and continued until I was 17 years old. I
used to dream about going to college and making something of my life...

My name is Kenna Cashion.  I am 32 years old.  I was raised by a stay-at-home mom and a truck driver dad.  I was always called a “miracle” baby. I was the first child of their marriage and came later in their lives. We always thought our family looked a little like the Brady bunch.  My mom had 4 children from a previous marriage and so did my dad. Being a “miracle” baby, they had given me to the Lord in their hearts before I was even born. The enemy has always been out to get me...

My name is Eric Wood.  I am 26 years old from Dexter, Missouri.  I’ve always had the feeling that I was going to do something “big” in this life, even though I grew up feeling rejected by my father who was very abusive and controlling because he was addicted to pain medication.  I always felt like he treated me different than he treated my 2 older brothers.  I never felt loved.  My father overdosed and we found him dead in our dining room when I was 15 years old.  At the time, I...

My name is Jamie Black.  I’m 38 years old.  I grew up in a small town, Russellville, Alabama.  I had a good life with a very loving mother that was always there for me and worked really hard to provide for me.  When I was 4 years old, my father took his own life as a result of drug use, so I never really had a dad in my life.  My mother has 3 brothers and they were the ones who really raised me to be a man.  Like I said I had a good life, always played sports in school but never...

My name is John Van Loan, I am 42 years old and I live in southwest Missouri.   I never realized the devastation alcohol would cause in my life when I started drinking at the age of 16.  I always just wanted to have fun and party. Little did I know that the alcohol and partying would eventually consume me with sin and shame that was taking me down a road that would kill me, and a road that did destroy my hope in life, along with shattering the hope and dreams of my wife Jana, my daughter...

My name is Cameron Collins. I’m 28 years old and I was born and raised in Mount Ida, AR. I have a brother that’s 2 years older than me and                            parents that got divorced when I was 4. I really don’t have many memories of them together. Both of my parents got remarried and my brother and I                          stayed with our aunt and uncle as well as my grandmother. I was raised in church until I was about 14. At the age of 14 I...

My name is Stacy Jane Bannon.  I am 45 years old.  I am a native Texan.  I came from a broken home and an extremely dysfunctional childhood. As difficult as it was, I know my parents did the best they could.  I came to know the Lord and  Jesus at a very young age, attending vacation Bible school, regular church services, and church youth camps.  However, I began at a very young age feeling lonely, empty and confused seeking out anything to change the way I felt.  I went to my first...

Hello, my name is Derrick Mitchell.  I’m 39 years old from Dexter, Missouri.  I was raised by my mother, Joan.  She worked most of the time to provide me and my sisters with everything we needed and with the things we wanted.  I was a really busy kid and I remember thinking that you needed money to get anywhere in life.  My grandma used to take me to church, but the only thing I  really remember is the play where the Roman soldiers beat up Jesus.  I was never taught to rely on...

My name is Jody Thompson, and I am a 42-year-old mom to 3 amazing kids. I was raised in church and got saved and baptized when I was young. There was
a lot of love in my family, but there was pain as well. My dad was an alcoholic which caused turmoil in our home. As I got older, there were more and more
“excuses” not to go to church. I started experiencing anxiety, depression and tension headaches and was prescribed psych and pain meds as a cure. This was
the beginning...

   My name is Brian Nix.  I am 45 years old and was raised in Birmingham,...

    Hello, my name is Omar Mitchell, and I am from St. Charles, Missouri.  I grew up and in a very loving but strict household.  My parents were great to us but volatile to each other.  I grew up seeing them argue a lot and it really affected me.  I was full of joy on the outside, but anger on the inside.  I started stealing things because I wanted attention.  It started with candy and escalated to joy rides in stolen cars.  By the time I was 20 years old, I had 6 felonies.  I spent...

Hello, my name is Dezirae Russell. I call Missouri home, but I’m originally from Akron, OH. I came to Freedom House when I was 27 years old, I am now 34. I
spent my life looking for something or someone to fill the void I felt inside. I listened to the lies from the enemy that I was depressed, rejected, had PTSD, and
needed psych meds to fix all my problems, this only made things worse. By the time I was 20 I was introduced to opiates, which temporarily eased my pain.
However, in...

Hello everyone, my name is Carrie Mitchell.  I am 47 years old.  I was born in Memphis, TN but I was raised in New Braunfels, TX.  I had a good childhood with good parents that taught me morals and values and the importance of making good grades.  I listened and did what they told me to do.  When I was 15, I developed a rebellious streak and started drinking.  I also seemed to take the partying just a little further and a little further.  I had many other drugs involved in my...

My name is Casey Barker, I am from Jonesboro, AR. I grew up as an only child. My father was verbally abusive, and my mother was strict, so I rebelled as I got
older. When I graduated high school, I moved out to do it my way. I tried everything I could alcohol, drugs, sex, and music, and loved them all. I had an excellent
job, had a cattle farm, built a big house, had a wife and kids, but I was out of control. It took time, but my lifestyle caught up with me. It drove me to insanity, and...