The conclusion of Matthew Anderson's amazing story. It's a happy ending all thanks to Jesus.
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(00:00):
Life is great.
(00:01):
Life life is so fun sober.
Like you saw, you get to livelife like, uh, you, you, you
sobriety just you really realizewhat you've been missing.
Phil Shuler (00:10):
HellO, and welcome to Renew, Restore, Rejoice, the
Safe House Ministries podcast,where we share stories of the
power of God to change livesthrough Safe House Ministries.
Safe House Ministries is basedout of Columbus, Georgia, and we
are a ministry that exists tolove and serve people who have
been affected by addiction,homelessness, and incarceration.
I'm your host, Phil Shuler, theDirector of Development for Safe
(00:33):
House Ministries here inColumbus, Georgia.
Safe House serves over 1, 100people each month as they
transition back into ourcommunity.
Safe House provides an abundanceof services including 213 beds
for homeless individuals andfamilies, case management for
obtaining job skills and longterm employment.
Over 300 hot meals every day,free clothing, and so much more.
(00:53):
One of the most incredibleservices that Safe House
provides is our free 9 12 monthintensive outpatient substance
abuse program, which is statelicensed, CARF accredited, and
has no wait list.
Almost 100 percent ofindividuals staying in our
shelters who follow our threephase program become fully
employed within a few months.
And 68 percent of individualswho stay at least one night with
(01:15):
us End up finding work andmoving into their own home.
Thank you for being with ustoday and listening to our
podcast.
We hope you enjoy this week'sepisode.
Welcome back to the Safe HouseMinistries.
Renew Restore, rejoice podcast.
Thank you so much for being heretoday.
You will hear the conclusion ofMatthew Anderson's.
Incredible story.
(01:35):
And in episode one, if youremember, he shares with us how
it all started, the crazy lifethat he had as a teenager,
partying, running a teenagenightclub, bringing 30 people to
his house, in the evenings foran after party.
Then he shares about hisaddiction to drugs and how
everything came to a crashinghalt when he had a crazy
(01:56):
accident swerving off the sideof the road because he fell
asleep.
And his truck, uh, flew off abridge and crashed down in a
ravine.
He was then in a coma and thedoctors didn't even expect him
to live, but the Lord did Amiracle.
Brought him back throughmultiple surgeries.
Uh, he ended up just with fullcognitive recovery, But the Lord
(02:18):
brought him back multiplesurgeries and what an amazing
recovery he had.
He moved in with his mom.
Things then went from gettingbetter to getting worse again,
out of control.
Drug addiction decided that heneeded to get clean, and in the
midst of all that.
Had a crazy situation when thesheriff's deputies came to his
(02:41):
house, he did not want to letthem in, Proceeded to email the
sheriff a threatening emailwhere he showed a picture of all
his guns and gave the threatthat if any deputies trespassed
on his property again, that hewould kill them.
As you remember last week, thatdid not end well.
He was able to get out after 19months and since then has been
(03:04):
on a true journey of.
Living a better life.
He moved back in with his momfor a little bit, but that did
not, uh, end well and he wasessentially kicked out.
the door was opened by the Lordwhere he had an opportunity to
get into Safe House Ministries,men's shelter, the Freedom
House, and From there, he hasjoined the staff at Safe House
(03:28):
and is giving back in so manyways.
He's driving the van, helpingothers, paying it forward,
continuing on his own journey ofjust living in sobriety and
loving life, being free from thebondage of addiction.
He's a coach and a help to somany others at the shelter and
others that he interacts with toencourage them to get on a path
(03:51):
to recovery and to stay insobriety for the rest of their
lives.
You will also hear Matthewmention the one person that has
been more influential in hisstory than anyone else, and that
is Jesus to whom Matthew givesall the credit and all the glory
and all the praise.
You'll love this episode.
It's a wonderful conclusion toMatthew's story.
(04:12):
He's doing so well.
All thanks to Jesus and what a,what an amazing.
Blessing that he is now able tobe in the lives of so many
others.
So thank you for listening andenjoy this week's episode.
Okay.
So you show up at Freedom Houseand I hate it.
Oh, I'm just telling you now.
What was the initial.
Like showing up.
What was that like?
I mean, that was fine.
(04:32):
They all the, all the, all thepeople there, there were nice,
but I get there during the dayand there's a couple guys
walking through the hallways whoare most of us have mental
issues, um, but the ones thatdon't go out there in the day
are a little more severe thanthe rest of us.
Um, so I thought they put me ina crazy hospital.
And, and so I did.
I didn't know what to think.
I'm just like, no, no, no.
(04:54):
And then I got a roommate on topof that, so I don't know who the
guy is.
He ain't home yet.
I don't know what's gonnahappen.
So I just hated it.
I, I, I thought it was gonna beawful.
Wow.
I thought it was gonna be worstexperience of my life.
But, um, you know, I I, you dothe right things and you get
your foot in the right doors andthings tend to open up and your
eyes to open up.
And the Freedom House is reallya great place to be.
(05:16):
Uh, you know, they got rulesjust like any other place.
And as long as you follow therules, and I have I I, I
constantly moving that up at theFreedom House.
Within the month I had my ownroom by myself with a little,
little porch area.
Um, wow.
So you're, you're continuingdrug court.
That's right.
Settling into Freedom House.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and, and at Freedom House,which is the men's shelter for
(05:38):
Safe House, they're, they'retaking care of all your living
needs.
That's right.
Food.
And, and that's right.
All of the things shower, likeeverything you need.
And they're giving youtransportation to get to drug
court as well.
Well, I had my own truck comingoutta jail.
Okay.
I had my job.
My job was offered back to mewhenever I got out.
Um.
So you were back working whileyou were going to drug court?
Absolutely.
I Okay, so they let you do that?
(05:59):
Oh, they, they, they, they wantyou to do that.
Okay.
They, they want you to move backand be, be independent as soon
as possible, you know, as earlyas, as early as is good.
And I sometimes people do thewrong things and they're getting
out for the wrong reason.
They're going living on theirown in their own apartments.
They're getting the wrong jobs,and they'll let you try it, but
(06:20):
you do the wrong thing andyou'll end up back in jail.
But yeah, so I, I had my owntruck and I had my, I got out on
Thursday.
I was back to work on Saturday.
Wow.
Um, and so I, I'm blessedcompared to a lot of people that
get in there, a lot of peopleget in there, they don't have a
job, they don't have, they havea vehicle.
And it's gotta be a little bitharder on them.
So I can't speak for their ownexperience, but as far as me,
(06:41):
you know, I just, I hadeverything.
Put in front of me that I neededto be successful right away.
Yeah.
Um, so you're working, you'resaving, you're going to drug
court, you're following therules that's doing well at
Freedom House.
Mm-hmm.
So much so that the supervisorsand leadership at Freedom House
noticed.
And they started, you started toget, you said you
responsibilities.
(07:01):
Yeah.
Responsibilities and Yeah.
Yeah.
I, I, I took it.
Uh, you're given a chore whenyou're there.
You get to live there, you gottado chores.
So everybody's got, has theirown chore.
They had me picking on trash inthe parking lot, which was
stupid simple.
Um, I noticed that the landscapeand then one really take being
taken care of.
I was like, look, I said, whydon't y'all, I still got some
(07:22):
equipment from brand mybusiness.
Why don't y'all just let me takecare of the landscaping?
Um, so that ended up happening.
Wow.
So I helped them out in thearea.
So, they appreciated that andthey see, saw that I could do
more and that I was willing todo more.
Yeah.
So, uh, I, I end up stepping upto where I'm now working for
Safe House Ministries.
Wow.
So now what was that time periodof like how many months?
(07:45):
It's been five months I thinkI've been there.
Okay.
So you're still in drug court?
Yes, sir.
Um, staying clean, doing well.
I have no, I don't have onesanction with them at all.
And most people got severalsanctions by now.
You know, everything I do is on,on, on the right.
You know, I'm early foreverything, everywhere I go and
I've always been like thatanyway.
But um, I think they reallyappreciate me in drug court too
(08:07):
'cause they don't have to messaround with me too much.
Wow.
That's good.
So what's your total clean timein sobriety now?
20 months.
Okay.
I'll be 21 months in two weeks.
That's awesome.
Yes sir.
'cause you had stopped in jail.
That's right.
And kind of on that right path.
That's awesome.
So you, so it sounds like you'vebeen at Freedom House, you've
(08:27):
shown initiative, you've takenresponsibility, you've, you've
tried to really give back.
Yes, sir.
How about in the arena of maybejust, um, encouraging others or,
oh, well, you know, it's, uh,there's a no threaten, there's
not as impossibly, and that'swith in Drug Court and Freedom
House.
Um, now I got a buddy that I waslocked up with in jail.
(08:48):
We read the Bible every morning.
When I was still in jail, he gotreleased.
He got a part, he got into drugcourt too.
Um, but he was not doing good.
He come back and forth to jaileven when I got out.
And we're still, we're in thesame program.
He's still going to jail every,every couple weeks because you
gotta go to court every twoweeks.
Yeah.
Every, every few weeks he'sgoing back to jail for a
(09:09):
sanction.
Well, he gets put at a freehouse.
He was over at Journey toRecovery with Midtown, but he
gets put outta free of mouth'cause he gets kicked out.
They put us next door to eachother and, uh, he really
respected me.
He really respected me and he,uh, I started helping him
through the program even thoughI wasn't released, supposed to
be fraternized with him.
Um, the court saw that it was abenefit to him and saw that I, I
(09:31):
could show him how to do thethings right.
And, uh, they off record, gaveme permission to Fraternize.
Um, and showed.
Showed because he never, henever ended up back in jail.
As long as he was, he wasrunning with me.
Wow.
That's good.
So you are helping others?
Absolutely.
Awesome.
things are still going well.
You're still at Freedom House.
(09:52):
Yes, sir.
Um, drug court's going well.
Yes, sir.
What is next for you?
Couldn't really tell you.
No, just, uh, I just startedwith Safe House Ministries and I
really love him being there and,um, we'll see what God wants.
Now, what, uh, what are yourcurrent responsibilities with
Safe House?
I'm a, I'm the, I'm, I'm a, I'mthe, a house manager, which I
(10:13):
don't really, honestly do toomuch as a house manager.
I haven't got my schedule withy'all yet.
Um, because he's, like I said,I'm brand new to it, but my main
responsibility is driving theclients to their classes and to
the meetings.
Okay.
Night and morning.
Okay.
Alright.
So you're driving people drugclasses, rehab classes,
meetings.
That's right.
Awesome.
(10:33):
Awesome.
You enjoy that?
I love it.
Yeah.
I love it.
And are you still working yourother job now or?
I'm not.
She actually, she, she asked meif I, she asked me if I wanted
to continue working, but.
I work from seven 30 in themorning to 9 30, 10 o'clock
house at, at Safe house.
I really don't have too muchtime drive you.
So you're driving a lot.
I mean, not, I'm, I don'tactually work that much,
(10:55):
honestly.
Don't tell Neil that.
But, uh, um, no, I mean, butit's, I, I'm, I'm, I gotta be
available, so it's, it is,whenever, whenever they get
outta their classes need to betaking their classes taken to
meetings.
Like I said, they gotta be atclass at I think 8 45 in the
morning.
Then their last class, or lastmeeting is at eight o'clock at
night.
So, um, I, I drive a few times aday, but I gotta be available
(11:17):
for them to be there.
Yeah.
Now, when, when you take them toclasses, like, do you attend a
class like an A or NA oranything like that?
I do the meetings, but, uh, I,because I'm required to do one
meeting, meeting a week with,uh, with drug court.
Yeah.
But I also am in my, in my own,own IOP class with drug court.
I do my therapies with drugcourt and I'm, I.
(11:37):
Voluntarily go to the Midtownclasses on Friday.
'cause that's the only one I gotavailable.
But I'm not required to go.
But I love the Midtown classes,so I go anyway.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Tell me how you're feeling rightnow.
Like, uh, I'm assuming stillvery hopeful.
Life.
Life is great.
Life life is so fun sober.
Like you saw, you get to livelife like, uh, you, you, you
(11:59):
sobriety just you really realizewhat you've been missing.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
Tell me about your relationshipwith Jesus.
Do you have a personalrelationship with him or who,
who is he to you?
He is my savior.
He's, I mean, in all aspects ofmy life he's given me life so
many times.
I love, I love Jesus.
(12:19):
Jesus is God Jesus.
All Jesus is all over me.
Literally.
I see that literal with thetattoos.
Literally.
Yeah.
Literally.
I don't, so looks like it.
I think the way over one eye theword over another eye.
That's right.
That's right.
And now do you have the lifesomewhere else?
The life.
I, I don't, yeah.
But, um, it's, uh, I, yeah.
That's awesome.
Now, so it sounds like you showyour faith on your face.
(12:43):
Do you share your faith a lotwith others?
Always.
Every chance I get now we got a,we got the female van driver,
Shelly, who, uh, I work with,and we got the same schedule, so
we hang out a lot.
She's definite good influence onme.
Not, not that I was a bad personbefore meeting her, but this
woman goes out of her wages.
She, she works the streets a lotand this girl is all over the
(13:03):
place.
She sees somebody and she pulls'em out and tries to give'em as
much as she can.
So, uh, I try to, I try to hangand stay by her side as much as
possible so I can, I can workwith her with Yeah.
Like it is, uh, yeah, she'samazing.
That's, she's a good influence.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Do you have other goodinfluences, other good friends
that you, that help encourageyou in the right way?
(13:25):
Honestly, I don't like people,um, like I said, I like my dog,
but like I said, she's, she'sone person that just stands out
to me, you know?
Yeah.
She's amazing.
So she's my only real friend atthe moment.
Okay.
I don't trust too many people,so, uh, yeah.
When God puts'em in, we'll, wewill, we'll take'em in, if not,
yeah.
Yeah.
How much longer of drug court doyou have?
(13:46):
I think 13, 14 months.
Okay.
So a long road.
So you Yes, sir.
You kind of envision keeping oncruising.
Absolutely.
Giving back, helping,absolutely.
Just growing.
Are you going to church at allon the weekends or have you
plugged in anywhere?
I have.
I haven't found, I haven't had achurch in over 20 years.
Now here's the thing.
I just started at Fort in jail.
Everybody was telling me, go toFort the Fort's for you.
(14:09):
You need to be at Fort.
'cause I tell'em the same thing,that I don't trust churches
either.
They're all businesses.
I don't like it.
They do tell me, go to Fort.
When I got outta jail, peopleare telling me, go to Fort Jamie
Lee.
When I went in for my interview,says, try to fort uh, Shelly.
When I first met Shelly, try tofort everybody tell me, try to
fort.
Well, Shelly, finally, I, Istill didn't, I was listening.
(14:30):
I heard everybody, but I stilldid.
I I, Jamie Lee calls it Churchhurts.
Um, which I get it.
I've been hurt by the church.
I, I don't trust it.
But Shelly invited me to churchtwo weeks ago, church for Wow.
And, uh, I'm there front rowevery, every week from here on
out.
That's awesome.
I love it.
Oh that's great, man.
Yes, sir.
That is great.
(14:50):
Matthew, think for a second, andI would love for you to share
some principles of wisdom thatas you think about your journey
starting back from the beginningand kind of all that's happened,
different points along the way,what kind of wisdom can you
offer that others should reallythink about?
(15:11):
If they're maybe at thebeginning of a journey that
might be like that, or ifthey're in the midst of just not
doing things right?
I'd say choose your friends likecorrectly.
Um, make sure they have the samebeliefs and same wants that you
have.
Not even just your friends, yourcareer.
Make sure if you're, if you're aChristian, make sure that the
people that you work with makesure the people you're around
(15:33):
share all these same beliefs.
'cause it'll help you just it.
You want stray.
You want stray if everybody'sgot the same beliefs as you.
Yeah.
Um, and it's, that's, that's thebiggest thing in life, choosing
your friends wisely.
That's right.
Yeah.
If you, if you put yourselfaround people that are not doing
well, not doing good, you'regonna end up in that same way.
(15:54):
That's right.
And if you choose to putyourself around people who are
on a good path, doing goodthings, that'll influence you
significantly.
That's awesome.
Yeah, that's, that, that wisdomis timeless.
And it's been around since thebeginning.
Right.
But it's so crazy that.
People just don't listen to it.
It's the world.
This, this, this world is crazynow.
(16:14):
Yeah.
It's so tough.
I don't know what I'd do if Iwas a kid right now.
It's, uh, I can remember as akid I'd go play in my neighbor's
yard and they, they wouldn'teven worry about it.
You go play in your neighbor'syard, now you get a, a soda can
thrown at you something.
Yeah.
It is a crazy world.
So choosing your friends wisely.
Yes, sir.
What else would you, would youshare, would you offer as by way
(16:35):
of wisdom, be one with Christ,pray often, pray, often.
Pray.
Pray.
Pray for his will.
You know, I pray for a long timeand it's not wrong to pray for
specifics.
And it, it works sometimes, butwhen you ask him really to do,
do his will, things really startopening up and, uh, the right
things start to open up.
He starts working through whathe wants and now what you want
(16:57):
and you realize in the end,really that is what I wanted.
Yeah, that's good.
So you're really growing in yourjourney with Christ and you walk
with Christ still, which Ididn't think was possible, but
Yes.
Still.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
That's huge.
I mean, that, that daily time inthe word, reading the Bible,
letting the Lord speak to youand, and just, just sitting and
(17:19):
trying to think and meditate.
Mm-hmm.
What are the lessons that Wellsee, that's the thing too,
reading the Bible, like peoplealways wonder how, how they, how
you get your answers from God,how you could talk to God, but
we can't hear him.
Some of us can, but uh, most ofyou, you read the Bible, that's
where you get your answers.
Read the Bible daily.
It just keeps you grounded inone with God.
Yeah.
(17:39):
Yeah.
That's so good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you know, this is a goodpoint.
If anybody's listening to thispodcast, and if you've never
come to the place where you'verealized you're a sinner and
you've messed up so many things,then today you can ask the
Lord's forgiveness.
You can trust in Jesus as yoursavior.
He came to this world 2000 yearsago, gave his life, died on a
(18:03):
cross, was buried, rose againthree days later, and is now
alive, sitting at the right handof God.
And he did all of that to paythe debt for our sins that we
couldn't pay for ourselves.
Absolutely.
Because we could never, we couldnever be good enough to get to
heaven.
Right.
But Jesus was perfect and hegave his life as a sacrifice to
pay the debt for sin.
And so if you're not saved rightnow, if you've never trusted in
(18:25):
Jesus, you can.
Receive him as your savior.
You can just say a simpleprayer, something like, God, I
messed up.
I'm sorry.
I realize I'm a sinner.
Please forgive me.
And I want to be saved.
I wanna trust in Jesus, and Ibelieve in Jesus.
And I'm asking you, God, to savemy soul.
I'm asking you, Jesus, to comeinto my heart and change my
(18:46):
life.
And I give it to you as just asimple prayer like that can make
all the difference, definitelywill, and change your life
forever.
And as you've heard Matthewspeaking his life is a
testimony.
It's an amazing testimony.
Uh, Matthew, thanks for beinghere this morning.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Um, so the, the two key pointsof wisdom, choosing your friends
(19:06):
wisely and.
Beginning a relationship withJesus if you haven't already
done that.
And then continuing deepeningthat relationship.
That's right.
Continuing and, and just walkingwith him.
Mm-hmm.
Anything else?
Like, and, and it gets easieronce you start doing the right
things.
Like, uh, it's so easy to do theright things at that.
Helping, helping other people,like really helping other
(19:27):
people.
Every opportunity you got don'tpass a blessing up.
Like it's, uh, I beat myself upif I ever do.
Like, wow, I missed out on that.
Help other people.
Like really just like be, be outthere for other people and it's
gonna help you.
Yeah.
Makes you, it'll make you happy.
I promise you that.
Yeah.
That's good.
Give back.
(19:47):
Give back.
That's um, I think it was theapostle Paul that said it is
more blessed to give than toreceive.
Yes.
Yes.
And it, it it is truth.
That's awesome.
I'm so excited for you, Matthew.
Thank you.
I'm so thrilled that you werewilling to come and share your
story.
Really an amazing story.
Well, thank you.
And you can see the hand of Godin your life.
(20:09):
And I mean, just to see yousitting here and just you're,
you seem fully functioning.
I'm sure you've got pains andchallenges and, but to be up and
around and your mind working andyour body working and your just,
it's a miracle and it's amazing.
It really is.
It really is a miracle.
Anything else you wanna share?
(20:30):
Anything else you want to add?
I don't think so.
I think I've got it all out.
You're like my therapist.
Awesome.
Um, you mind if I close this ina word of prayer?
Absolutely not.
Father, thank you for being herewith us.
Thank you for guiding us.
Thank you for your word.
Your word is so amazing and itgives us so much instruction and
so much guidance.
Thank you for Matthew'stestimony, for his life, for the
(20:52):
words that he shared, and I praythat those who've heard this
podcast would receive the wordsof truth.
Lord, if there's any that arediscouraged and disheartened,
even depressed Lord, bringencouragement.
Bring hope.
Lord.
Matthew started off by sayingthat he was hopeful.
Lord, I pray that those that arelistening to this podcast, if
(21:15):
they're in a place ofdiscouragement, that you would
bring hopefulness to theirhearts, no hopefulness that can
come in such a powerful waythrough Jesus.
Bless Matthew, bless his path,bless his future.
Use him to be a great help to somany others I pray, and a light
that would shine in the darknessthat many would be able to see.
(21:37):
I pray.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
We look forward to being with you again next week
as we share another testimonyabout the power and the goodness
of God to change lives throughSafe House Ministries.
if you are someone listening tothis podcast that loves to hear
these stories of the greatthings that God is doing in
changing people's lives for thebetter, and if you would like to
(21:58):
be a part of that work, pleasereach out to us You can reach us
at 2101 Hamilton Road, Columbus,Georgia, 31,904.
You can call us at seven oh sixthree two two.
3 7, 7 3, or you can email us atinfo@safehouse-ministries.com.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mi (22:17):
Thank you so much for being with us
this week for the renew restoreand rejoice podcast of safe
house ministries, we pray thatGod will bless you this week.
And we look forward to havingyou back with us again next week
for a new episode.
Life is great.
(00:01):
Life life is so fun sober.
Like you saw, you get to livelife like, uh, you, you, you
sobriety just you really realizewhat you've been missing.
Phil Shuler (00:10):
HellO, and welcome to Renew, Restore, Rejoice, the
Safe House Ministries podcast,where we share stories of the
power of God to change livesthrough Safe House Ministries.
Safe House Ministries is basedout of Columbus, Georgia, and we
are a ministry that exists tolove and serve people who have
been affected by addiction,homelessness, and incarceration.
I'm your host, Phil Shuler, theDirector of Development for Safe
(00:33):
House Ministries here inColumbus, Georgia.
Safe House serves over 1, 100people each month as they
transition back into ourcommunity.
Safe House provides an abundanceof services including 213 beds
for homeless individuals andfamilies, case management for
obtaining job skills and longterm employment.
Over 300 hot meals every day,free clothing, and so much more.
(00:53):
One of the most incredibleservices that Safe House
provides is our free 9 12 monthintensive outpatient substance
abuse program, which is statelicensed, CARF accredited, and
has no wait list.
Almost 100 percent ofindividuals staying in our
shelters who follow our threephase program become fully
employed within a few months.
And 68 percent of individualswho stay at least one night with
(01:15):
us End up finding work andmoving into their own home.
Thank you for being with ustoday and listening to our
podcast.
We hope you enjoy this week'sepisode.
Welcome back to the Safe HouseMinistries.
Renew Restore, rejoice podcast.
Thank you so much for being heretoday.
You will hear the conclusion ofMatthew Anderson's.
Incredible story.
(01:35):
And in episode one, if youremember, he shares with us how
it all started, the crazy lifethat he had as a teenager,
partying, running a teenagenightclub, bringing 30 people to
his house, in the evenings foran after party.
Then he shares about hisaddiction to drugs and how
everything came to a crashinghalt when he had a crazy
(01:56):
accident swerving off the sideof the road because he fell
asleep.
And his truck, uh, flew off abridge and crashed down in a
ravine.
He was then in a coma and thedoctors didn't even expect him
to live, but the Lord did Amiracle.
Brought him back throughmultiple surgeries.
Uh, he ended up just with fullcognitive recovery, But the Lord
(02:18):
brought him back multiplesurgeries and what an amazing
recovery he had.
He moved in with his mom.
Things then went from gettingbetter to getting worse again,
out of control.
Drug addiction decided that heneeded to get clean, and in the
midst of all that.
Had a crazy situation when thesheriff's deputies came to his
(02:41):
house, he did not want to letthem in, Proceeded to email the
sheriff a threatening emailwhere he showed a picture of all
his guns and gave the threatthat if any deputies trespassed
on his property again, that hewould kill them.
As you remember last week, thatdid not end well.
He was able to get out after 19months and since then has been
(03:04):
on a true journey of.
Living a better life.
He moved back in with his momfor a little bit, but that did
not, uh, end well and he wasessentially kicked out.
the door was opened by the Lordwhere he had an opportunity to
get into Safe House Ministries,men's shelter, the Freedom
House, and From there, he hasjoined the staff at Safe House
(03:28):
and is giving back in so manyways.
He's driving the van, helpingothers, paying it forward,
continuing on his own journey ofjust living in sobriety and
loving life, being free from thebondage of addiction.
He's a coach and a help to somany others at the shelter and
others that he interacts with toencourage them to get on a path
(03:51):
to recovery and to stay insobriety for the rest of their
lives.
You will also hear Matthewmention the one person that has
been more influential in hisstory than anyone else, and that
is Jesus to whom Matthew givesall the credit and all the glory
and all the praise.
You'll love this episode.
It's a wonderful conclusion toMatthew's story.
(04:12):
He's doing so well.
All thanks to Jesus and what a,what an amazing.
Blessing that he is now able tobe in the lives of so many
others.
So thank you for listening andenjoy this week's episode.
Okay.
So you show up at Freedom Houseand I hate it.
Oh, I'm just telling you now.
What was the initial.
Like showing up.
What was that like?
I mean, that was fine.
(04:32):
They all the, all the, all thepeople there, there were nice,
but I get there during the dayand there's a couple guys
walking through the hallways whoare most of us have mental
issues, um, but the ones thatdon't go out there in the day
are a little more severe thanthe rest of us.
Um, so I thought they put me ina crazy hospital.
And, and so I did.
I didn't know what to think.
I'm just like, no, no, no.
(04:54):
And then I got a roommate on topof that, so I don't know who the
guy is.
He ain't home yet.
I don't know what's gonnahappen.
So I just hated it.
I, I, I thought it was gonna beawful.
Wow.
I thought it was gonna be worstexperience of my life.
But, um, you know, I I, you dothe right things and you get
your foot in the right doors andthings tend to open up and your
eyes to open up.
And the Freedom House is reallya great place to be.
(05:16):
Uh, you know, they got rulesjust like any other place.
And as long as you follow therules, and I have I I, I
constantly moving that up at theFreedom House.
Within the month I had my ownroom by myself with a little,
little porch area.
Um, wow.
So you're, you're continuingdrug court.
That's right.
Settling into Freedom House.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and, and at Freedom House,which is the men's shelter for
(05:38):
Safe House, they're, they'retaking care of all your living
needs.
That's right.
Food.
And, and that's right.
All of the things shower, likeeverything you need.
And they're giving youtransportation to get to drug
court as well.
Well, I had my own truck comingoutta jail.
Okay.
I had my job.
My job was offered back to mewhenever I got out.
Um.
So you were back working whileyou were going to drug court?
Absolutely.
I Okay, so they let you do that?
(05:59):
Oh, they, they, they, they wantyou to do that.
Okay.
They, they want you to move backand be, be independent as soon
as possible, you know, as earlyas, as early as is good.
And I sometimes people do thewrong things and they're getting
out for the wrong reason.
They're going living on theirown in their own apartments.
They're getting the wrong jobs,and they'll let you try it, but
(06:20):
you do the wrong thing andyou'll end up back in jail.
But yeah, so I, I had my owntruck and I had my, I got out on
Thursday.
I was back to work on Saturday.
Wow.
Um, and so I, I'm blessedcompared to a lot of people that
get in there, a lot of peopleget in there, they don't have a
job, they don't have, they havea vehicle.
And it's gotta be a little bitharder on them.
So I can't speak for their ownexperience, but as far as me,
(06:41):
you know, I just, I hadeverything.
Put in front of me that I neededto be successful right away.
Yeah.
Um, so you're working, you'resaving, you're going to drug
court, you're following therules that's doing well at
Freedom House.
Mm-hmm.
So much so that the supervisorsand leadership at Freedom House
noticed.
And they started, you started toget, you said you
responsibilities.
(07:01):
Yeah.
Responsibilities and Yeah.
Yeah.
I, I, I took it.
Uh, you're given a chore whenyou're there.
You get to live there, you gottado chores.
So everybody's got, has theirown chore.
They had me picking on trash inthe parking lot, which was
stupid simple.
Um, I noticed that the landscapeand then one really take being
taken care of.
I was like, look, I said, whydon't y'all, I still got some
(07:22):
equipment from brand mybusiness.
Why don't y'all just let me takecare of the landscaping?
Um, so that ended up happening.
Wow.
So I helped them out in thearea.
So, they appreciated that andthey see, saw that I could do
more and that I was willing todo more.
Yeah.
So, uh, I, I end up stepping upto where I'm now working for
Safe House Ministries.
Wow.
So now what was that time periodof like how many months?
(07:45):
It's been five months I thinkI've been there.
Okay.
So you're still in drug court?
Yes, sir.
Um, staying clean, doing well.
I have no, I don't have onesanction with them at all.
And most people got severalsanctions by now.
You know, everything I do is on,on, on the right.
You know, I'm early foreverything, everywhere I go and
I've always been like thatanyway.
But um, I think they reallyappreciate me in drug court too
(08:07):
'cause they don't have to messaround with me too much.
Wow.
That's good.
So what's your total clean timein sobriety now?
20 months.
Okay.
I'll be 21 months in two weeks.
That's awesome.
Yes sir.
'cause you had stopped in jail.
That's right.
And kind of on that right path.
That's awesome.
So you, so it sounds like you'vebeen at Freedom House, you've
(08:27):
shown initiative, you've takenresponsibility, you've, you've
tried to really give back.
Yes, sir.
How about in the arena of maybejust, um, encouraging others or,
oh, well, you know, it's, uh,there's a no threaten, there's
not as impossibly, and that'swith in Drug Court and Freedom
House.
Um, now I got a buddy that I waslocked up with in jail.
(08:48):
We read the Bible every morning.
When I was still in jail, he gotreleased.
He got a part, he got into drugcourt too.
Um, but he was not doing good.
He come back and forth to jaileven when I got out.
And we're still, we're in thesame program.
He's still going to jail every,every couple weeks because you
gotta go to court every twoweeks.
Yeah.
Every, every few weeks he'sgoing back to jail for a
(09:09):
sanction.
Well, he gets put at a freehouse.
He was over at Journey toRecovery with Midtown, but he
gets put outta free of mouth'cause he gets kicked out.
They put us next door to eachother and, uh, he really
respected me.
He really respected me and he,uh, I started helping him
through the program even thoughI wasn't released, supposed to
be fraternized with him.
Um, the court saw that it was abenefit to him and saw that I, I
(09:31):
could show him how to do thethings right.
And, uh, they off record, gaveme permission to Fraternize.
Um, and showed.
Showed because he never, henever ended up back in jail.
As long as he was, he wasrunning with me.
Wow.
That's good.
So you are helping others?
Absolutely.
Awesome.
things are still going well.
You're still at Freedom House.
(09:52):
Yes, sir.
Um, drug court's going well.
Yes, sir.
What is next for you?
Couldn't really tell you.
No, just, uh, I just startedwith Safe House Ministries and I
really love him being there and,um, we'll see what God wants.
Now, what, uh, what are yourcurrent responsibilities with
Safe House?
I'm a, I'm the, I'm, I'm a, I'mthe, a house manager, which I
(10:13):
don't really, honestly do toomuch as a house manager.
I haven't got my schedule withy'all yet.
Um, because he's, like I said,I'm brand new to it, but my main
responsibility is driving theclients to their classes and to
the meetings.
Okay.
Night and morning.
Okay.
Alright.
So you're driving people drugclasses, rehab classes,
meetings.
That's right.
Awesome.
(10:33):
Awesome.
You enjoy that?
I love it.
Yeah.
I love it.
And are you still working yourother job now or?
I'm not.
She actually, she, she asked meif I, she asked me if I wanted
to continue working, but.
I work from seven 30 in themorning to 9 30, 10 o'clock
house at, at Safe house.
I really don't have too muchtime drive you.
So you're driving a lot.
I mean, not, I'm, I don'tactually work that much,
(10:55):
honestly.
Don't tell Neil that.
But, uh, um, no, I mean, butit's, I, I'm, I'm, I gotta be
available, so it's, it is,whenever, whenever they get
outta their classes need to betaking their classes taken to
meetings.
Like I said, they gotta be atclass at I think 8 45 in the
morning.
Then their last class, or lastmeeting is at eight o'clock at
night.
So, um, I, I drive a few times aday, but I gotta be available
(11:17):
for them to be there.
Yeah.
Now, when, when you take them toclasses, like, do you attend a
class like an A or NA oranything like that?
I do the meetings, but, uh, I,because I'm required to do one
meeting, meeting a week with,uh, with drug court.
Yeah.
But I also am in my, in my own,own IOP class with drug court.
I do my therapies with drugcourt and I'm, I.
(11:37):
Voluntarily go to the Midtownclasses on Friday.
'cause that's the only one I gotavailable.
But I'm not required to go.
But I love the Midtown classes,so I go anyway.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Tell me how you're feeling rightnow.
Like, uh, I'm assuming stillvery hopeful.
Life.
Life is great.
Life life is so fun sober.
Like you saw, you get to livelife like, uh, you, you, you
(11:59):
sobriety just you really realizewhat you've been missing.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
Tell me about your relationshipwith Jesus.
Do you have a personalrelationship with him or who,
who is he to you?
He is my savior.
He's, I mean, in all aspects ofmy life he's given me life so
many times.
I love, I love Jesus.
(12:19):
Jesus is God Jesus.
All Jesus is all over me.
Literally.
I see that literal with thetattoos.
Literally.
Yeah.
Literally.
I don't, so looks like it.
I think the way over one eye theword over another eye.
That's right.
That's right.
And now do you have the lifesomewhere else?
The life.
I, I don't, yeah.
But, um, it's, uh, I, yeah.
That's awesome.
Now, so it sounds like you showyour faith on your face.
(12:43):
Do you share your faith a lotwith others?
Always.
Every chance I get now we got a,we got the female van driver,
Shelly, who, uh, I work with,and we got the same schedule, so
we hang out a lot.
She's definite good influence onme.
Not, not that I was a bad personbefore meeting her, but this
woman goes out of her wages.
She, she works the streets a lotand this girl is all over the
(13:03):
place.
She sees somebody and she pulls'em out and tries to give'em as
much as she can.
So, uh, I try to, I try to hangand stay by her side as much as
possible so I can, I can workwith her with Yeah.
Like it is, uh, yeah, she'samazing.
That's, she's a good influence.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Do you have other goodinfluences, other good friends
that you, that help encourageyou in the right way?
(13:25):
Honestly, I don't like people,um, like I said, I like my dog,
but like I said, she's, she'sone person that just stands out
to me, you know?
Yeah.
She's amazing.
So she's my only real friend atthe moment.
Okay.
I don't trust too many people,so, uh, yeah.
When God puts'em in, we'll, wewill, we'll take'em in, if not,
yeah.
Yeah.
How much longer of drug court doyou have?
(13:46):
I think 13, 14 months.
Okay.
So a long road.
So you Yes, sir.
You kind of envision keeping oncruising.
Absolutely.
Giving back, helping,absolutely.
Just growing.
Are you going to church at allon the weekends or have you
plugged in anywhere?
I have.
I haven't found, I haven't had achurch in over 20 years.
Now here's the thing.
I just started at Fort in jail.
Everybody was telling me, go toFort the Fort's for you.
(14:09):
You need to be at Fort.
'cause I tell'em the same thing,that I don't trust churches
either.
They're all businesses.
I don't like it.
They do tell me, go to Fort.
When I got outta jail, peopleare telling me, go to Fort Jamie
Lee.
When I went in for my interview,says, try to fort uh, Shelly.
When I first met Shelly, try tofort everybody tell me, try to
fort.
Well, Shelly, finally, I, Istill didn't, I was listening.
(14:30):
I heard everybody, but I stilldid.
I I, Jamie Lee calls it Churchhurts.
Um, which I get it.
I've been hurt by the church.
I, I don't trust it.
But Shelly invited me to churchtwo weeks ago, church for Wow.
And, uh, I'm there front rowevery, every week from here on
out.
That's awesome.
I love it.
Oh that's great, man.
Yes, sir.
That is great.
(14:50):
Matthew, think for a second, andI would love for you to share
some principles of wisdom thatas you think about your journey
starting back from the beginningand kind of all that's happened,
different points along the way,what kind of wisdom can you
offer that others should reallythink about?
(15:11):
If they're maybe at thebeginning of a journey that
might be like that, or ifthey're in the midst of just not
doing things right?
I'd say choose your friends likecorrectly.
Um, make sure they have the samebeliefs and same wants that you
have.
Not even just your friends, yourcareer.
Make sure if you're, if you're aChristian, make sure that the
people that you work with makesure the people you're around
(15:33):
share all these same beliefs.
'cause it'll help you just it.
You want stray.
You want stray if everybody'sgot the same beliefs as you.
Yeah.
Um, and it's, that's, that's thebiggest thing in life, choosing
your friends wisely.
That's right.
Yeah.
If you, if you put yourselfaround people that are not doing
well, not doing good, you'regonna end up in that same way.
(15:54):
That's right.
And if you choose to putyourself around people who are
on a good path, doing goodthings, that'll influence you
significantly.
That's awesome.
Yeah, that's, that, that wisdomis timeless.
And it's been around since thebeginning.
Right.
But it's so crazy that.
People just don't listen to it.
It's the world.
This, this, this world is crazynow.
(16:14):
Yeah.
It's so tough.
I don't know what I'd do if Iwas a kid right now.
It's, uh, I can remember as akid I'd go play in my neighbor's
yard and they, they wouldn'teven worry about it.
You go play in your neighbor'syard, now you get a, a soda can
thrown at you something.
Yeah.
It is a crazy world.
So choosing your friends wisely.
Yes, sir.
What else would you, would youshare, would you offer as by way
(16:35):
of wisdom, be one with Christ,pray often, pray, often.
Pray.
Pray.
Pray for his will.
You know, I pray for a long timeand it's not wrong to pray for
specifics.
And it, it works sometimes, butwhen you ask him really to do,
do his will, things really startopening up and, uh, the right
things start to open up.
He starts working through whathe wants and now what you want
(16:57):
and you realize in the end,really that is what I wanted.
Yeah, that's good.
So you're really growing in yourjourney with Christ and you walk
with Christ still, which Ididn't think was possible, but
Yes.
Still.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
That's huge.
I mean, that, that daily time inthe word, reading the Bible,
letting the Lord speak to youand, and just, just sitting and
(17:19):
trying to think and meditate.
Mm-hmm.
What are the lessons that Wellsee, that's the thing too,
reading the Bible, like peoplealways wonder how, how they, how
you get your answers from God,how you could talk to God, but
we can't hear him.
Some of us can, but uh, most ofyou, you read the Bible, that's
where you get your answers.
Read the Bible daily.
It just keeps you grounded inone with God.
Yeah.
(17:39):
Yeah.
That's so good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you know, this is a goodpoint.
If anybody's listening to thispodcast, and if you've never
come to the place where you'verealized you're a sinner and
you've messed up so many things,then today you can ask the
Lord's forgiveness.
You can trust in Jesus as yoursavior.
He came to this world 2000 yearsago, gave his life, died on a
(18:03):
cross, was buried, rose againthree days later, and is now
alive, sitting at the right handof God.
And he did all of that to paythe debt for our sins that we
couldn't pay for ourselves.
Absolutely.
Because we could never, we couldnever be good enough to get to
heaven.
Right.
But Jesus was perfect and hegave his life as a sacrifice to
pay the debt for sin.
And so if you're not saved rightnow, if you've never trusted in
(18:25):
Jesus, you can.
Receive him as your savior.
You can just say a simpleprayer, something like, God, I
messed up.
I'm sorry.
I realize I'm a sinner.
Please forgive me.
And I want to be saved.
I wanna trust in Jesus, and Ibelieve in Jesus.
And I'm asking you, God, to savemy soul.
I'm asking you, Jesus, to comeinto my heart and change my
(18:46):
life.
And I give it to you as just asimple prayer like that can make
all the difference, definitelywill, and change your life
forever.
And as you've heard Matthewspeaking his life is a
testimony.
It's an amazing testimony.
Uh, Matthew, thanks for beinghere this morning.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Um, so the, the two key pointsof wisdom, choosing your friends
(19:06):
wisely and.
Beginning a relationship withJesus if you haven't already
done that.
And then continuing deepeningthat relationship.
That's right.
Continuing and, and just walkingwith him.
Mm-hmm.
Anything else?
Like, and, and it gets easieronce you start doing the right
things.
Like, uh, it's so easy to do theright things at that.
Helping, helping other people,like really helping other
(19:27):
people.
Every opportunity you got don'tpass a blessing up.
Like it's, uh, I beat myself upif I ever do.
Like, wow, I missed out on that.
Help other people.
Like really just like be, be outthere for other people and it's
gonna help you.
Yeah.
Makes you, it'll make you happy.
I promise you that.
Yeah.
That's good.
Give back.
(19:47):
Give back.
That's um, I think it was theapostle Paul that said it is
more blessed to give than toreceive.
Yes.
Yes.
And it, it it is truth.
That's awesome.
I'm so excited for you, Matthew.
Thank you.
I'm so thrilled that you werewilling to come and share your
story.
Really an amazing story.
Well, thank you.
And you can see the hand of Godin your life.
(20:09):
And I mean, just to see yousitting here and just you're,
you seem fully functioning.
I'm sure you've got pains andchallenges and, but to be up and
around and your mind working andyour body working and your just,
it's a miracle and it's amazing.
It really is.
It really is a miracle.
Anything else you wanna share?
(20:30):
Anything else you want to add?
I don't think so.
I think I've got it all out.
You're like my therapist.
Awesome.
Um, you mind if I close this ina word of prayer?
Absolutely not.
Father, thank you for being herewith us.
Thank you for guiding us.
Thank you for your word.
Your word is so amazing and itgives us so much instruction and
so much guidance.
Thank you for Matthew'stestimony, for his life, for the
(20:52):
words that he shared, and I praythat those who've heard this
podcast would receive the wordsof truth.
Lord, if there's any that arediscouraged and disheartened,
even depressed Lord, bringencouragement.
Bring hope.
Lord.
Matthew started off by sayingthat he was hopeful.
Lord, I pray that those that arelistening to this podcast, if
(21:15):
they're in a place ofdiscouragement, that you would
bring hopefulness to theirhearts, no hopefulness that can
come in such a powerful waythrough Jesus.
Bless Matthew, bless his path,bless his future.
Use him to be a great help to somany others I pray, and a light
that would shine in the darknessthat many would be able to see.
(21:37):
I pray.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
We look forward to being with you again next week
as we share another testimonyabout the power and the goodness
of God to change lives throughSafe House Ministries.
if you are someone listening tothis podcast that loves to hear
these stories of the greatthings that God is doing in
changing people's lives for thebetter, and if you would like to
(21:58):
be a part of that work, pleasereach out to us You can reach us
at 2101 Hamilton Road, Columbus,Georgia, 31,904.
You can call us at seven oh sixthree two two.
3 7, 7 3, or you can email us atinfo@safehouse-ministries.com.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mi (22:17):
Thank you so much for being with us
this week for the renew restoreand rejoice podcast of safe
house ministries, we pray thatGod will bless you this week.
And we look forward to havingyou back with us again next week
for a new episode.
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