I just love Mike's spirit of humility, joy, and life! In this conclusion episode of Mike's story, Mike shares how he finally grabbed hold of the Lord's hand and allowed him to pull him up out of the darkness for good. Mike offers some truly profound wisdom about the power of unconditional love and how to help others without enabling them. Mike's transformational story is a powerful testament to a God who truly loves us more than we could ever understand!
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Episode Transcript
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Phil Shuler (00:00):
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
(00:22):
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.
(00:43):
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
(01:04):
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.
I went down that rabbit holeagain, back smoking weed again.
I was, wow.
And I was mad at myself forgetting back, being, getting
back to where I was.
And it was just a rabbit hole Icouldn't pull myself out of.
And I was on probation.
(01:26):
And I ended up popping dirty ona urine screen for marijuana.
And they put me in a DRC programthat was a pop dirty in August,
beginning of August of lastyear.
And then then you still livingon your own, just going through
the DCI was my own, but my myprobation officer said, you
couldn't work.
You couldn't work.
So I didn't know what to do.
Then I was gonna be homelessbecause of my addiction.
(01:47):
Yeah.
My addiction was actually gonnamake me homeless because I have
nobody, all I had was myself.
So I knew only one thing to dois just try to reach out to the
Grace House, which I didn't knowwas the Freedom House.
Yeah.
It had changed at that point, bythat point.
Yes, sir.
And but towards my end of timeat Grace House, Jamie Lee had
come in over there and her, shewould come into my restaurant.
Sometimes I would, my casemanager Matt would come in, so
(02:10):
they all knew me.
Yeah.
Downtown, the restaurant, westill kept connections that way.
God bless'em.
So when I called 2 1 1 to getput on the waiting list, they
told me it was gonna be abouttwo and a half months, three
months before I could get inthere.
And.
I was like, man, this is realitynow.
This is, I'm gonna be on thestreet.
Yeah.
So I prayed and prayed, and Igot a phone call a couple days
(02:31):
later.
It was like two days later, andit was it was a female voice.
And she said Mike, I said, yesma'am.
And she was she goes, how youdoing?
By that time, I knew it wasJamie.
I said it was no, even for me,even lie to her, I'm not doing
very well.
She goes, are you okay?
I said, no.
And I remember her saying, shegoes, just come home.
Wow.
Yeah.
She said, just come home.
(02:51):
And I just sat there and cried.
I think she might even cried andOh wow.
She told me what I had to do toget to come, to get in there.
And I think I was there probablytwo days later, three days
later.
Wow.
So just welcomed with love andacceptance to the Freedom House
is, yeah.
Not even saying what, howThrough Freedom House took me in
and saved my life.
(03:12):
Wow.
There's no other way to put it.
No other way to put it.
And that ain't it.
Lightly, man.
I got there I saw what, how thekitchen was being run there.
I saw how I could help outthere.
I wouldn't talk to Jamie.
Jamie goes, the kitchen's yours.
cause she knows I like to staybusy.
(03:32):
I can't just I'm a busy body.
Yeah.
And me being busy was therapy tome.
Yeah.
And, but I wasn't just doing thekitchen.
I was helping out doing otherthings around there.
Going to DRC every day, notmissing no classes doing what I
had to do, going to my meetings.
And then eventually I mean Igraduated DRC in four and a half
months.
Wow.
Four and a half, five months.
(03:54):
And which is unheard of, but Idid it.
It's possible guys.
That's awesome.
Yep.
So the DRC is like theoutpatient whereas our set was
like, you're, there you go.
You're in prison program.
That's right.
DRC was like, you gotta everyday be somewhere to live on your
own.
But you can come here to theprogram.
That's right.
You can't work.
But the Freedom House gave methat shelter I needed.
(04:16):
Yeah.
They gave me that protectiveshield that I needed to get
through this.
And it wasn't just a freedomhouse, it was God.
Yeah.
It was God who put me in thatsituation.
And and eventually I inFebruary, I got called into the
office, Mike Crews office, andJamie Lee was in there.
I'm like, oh Lord.
But they said, I had asked thembefore about me working there.
(04:39):
Yeah.
'cause I loved it.
I loved helping the other guysout.
I loved the accountability thatI was being held to.
I loved how I was given advice,not just getting it.
Really took to that.
And so they asked me if I wantedto be, if I wanted to work
there, asked me if I would, theysaid it was that time, wow.
I did it with open arms, loveit.
I love it.
(04:59):
I really do.
It's so beautiful.
I just to think about where youwere at and the hopelessness and
the man despair and beyonddespair.
I was in my sickness, deep in mysickness, and I didn't care
about anybody.
I didn't even care about myself.
Wow.
Yeah.
That the way you just sharedthat story, it just makes me
(05:22):
think about Jesus and the way heabsolutely no matter what we do,
no matter how big the mess isthat we create by our own.
Just bad choices.
He just loves us and he justputs his arms around us and he
just absolutely, he's alwaysthere.
Always there, absolutely nomatter what.
And my mom, she's veryreligious.
(05:43):
My whole time.
You grow growing up, she's veryreligious.
She's always had that instilledin us but I shunned that even
though, I can think back in myaddiction, looking at the Bible,
just pick it up.
Just pick the Bible up and readit.
But you find a reason not to.
Yeah.
Is he, I always would find areason not to.
And I'm guessing that changedand that Absolutely.
(06:04):
I'm, that's maybe some, when yougot back to the Freedom House,
that your heart was open to theLord again.
Absolutely.
My heart's always been open tothe Lord.
It's just, I didn't know how topractice it, if that makes
sense.
Yeah, it does make sense.
But the Freedom House, they gaveme that avenue to take that
path.
To take to where I was able to,yeah.
(06:25):
I've always was able to, butthey took the they took the
chains off of me, so to speak,and that gave me the avenue to
pick up my Bible every day.
Get on your knees, pray everymorning, read your Bible every
morning.
But don't only read about it,talk about it, practice it.
And how you go about your life,yeah.
Love other people as Jesus lovesyou.
(06:47):
Don't judge just practicing itand putting it into practice and
eventually it just be, itbecomes a part of your nature
without even thinking about it.
Yeah.
And wow.
And I'm just so thankful forthem opening up that door for me
to even get in because it couldhave took me months to get in
there.
I don't know how my name evencame across her desk, but it
did.
Thank the Lord.
(07:08):
The Lord did it.
It's only, I think she even saidit.
This is only the Lord.
Wow.
It is, this is only the Lord,God does so many things that are
so amazing.
I just, and I think if we'rehonest with ourselves, I could
look back at my life and see thehand of the Lord.
And as I hear you tell yourstory I can see the hand of the
Lord and he's always there.
(07:28):
And it just takes us a whilesometimes to recognize that it,
he's has definitely me gonethrough what I've gone through.
He has always been present in mylife, or I wouldn't be here
today.
He ultimately had the path forme to walk down.
He had already scripted for me.
Was it was never easy, me takingadvantage of my family
financially.
(07:49):
Playing on their emotions.
Me manipulate my friends, thepeople who were most important
to me.
I heard a lot of people, and theonly way that I could make me
feel better about it today,'cause I don't accept how I
lived in was just that he hadthe ultimate plan, and and just
to be at where I'm at today withit all.
(08:10):
It's a full circle and and Iknow it's the Lord, but my ulti,
I use my mother's motivation somuch because she would be so
proud of me today.
Working for a ministry.
What, who, who would even thinkthat?
My friends, you're not workingfor a ministry.
I'm definitely working for aministry now.
I'm definitely they'd be tooshocked.
What?
No way.
There's no way Mike real, you.
(08:32):
Yes.
Yeah.
Me.
It can happen to anybody.
If it can happen to me, it canhappen to anybody.
I'm more, I'm humble today.
I'm more loving today.
I'm more caring today.
I don't think of myself as Ishould.
Maybe I should think of myselfmore, but I don't hardly at all
anymore.
I sacrifice what I want now forother people.
(08:53):
I love helping people now.
I love helping the homeless guysthat come in, giving them life,
giving them, show them lovebecause they don't have that
love when they come in.
They don't have family when theycome in.
The situations that they're inwhen they come there or dire.
So letting them know, sittingdown with them and talking to
them, Hey, you could talk to me.
(09:14):
Let's talk, man.
How you doing today?
Now are they open to it?
At first, no.
But just being there for themevery day, feeding them,
clothing, them showing them loveunconditional no matter where
they at, what they've done orhow they are, just being
accepted again.
It gets, you can see the lightgo off in their head.
Does everybody accept it?
(09:34):
No, but a three quarters of'emdo, and then we have the
treatment side.
The guys that are going totreatment that come in there
hey, I've been there, I've beenthere, man.
I understand.
And and talking to those guysand letting them know that
somebody that's been down theirpath, somebody that's gone
through treatment it's it givesthem hope.
(09:55):
It gives them hope.
It gives me hope.
I love the accountability thatI'm held to.
And when you make theserelationships with these guys
they look up to you.
They start coming to you foradvice.
And that's what I need.
I need that for, I need that inmy life.
Because even though I've beenclean since August 21st, 19,
(10:15):
2024 I still have to be heldaccountable because this is just
the beginning of my sobriety.
And I understand that now orknow where before a couple
months not drinking, oh, I'mgood now I can go around it, or
I can go around my friends whoare drinking and I'll be fine.
But now I know the steps thatneed to be taken in order for me
(10:37):
to be sober.
And I take my sobriety veryserious now.
I won't put nothing in front ofmy sobriety, I wouldn't even put
my kids in front of my sobrietyright now.
'cause that's how important it'sto me.
And I think my kids wouldappreciate that, yeah.
Have to put your sobriety firstbecause that's all.
I wouldn't be where I'm at todayif I wasn't sober.
Yeah.
(10:58):
That's you beautifully, I think,have described an element of
wisdom.
and it's not necessarily justrelated to addiction, but in so
many ways in our lives, we.
We put chains around ourselvesand we behave in certain ways
and we just, it's we enter intojust darkness and then we think
arrogantly.
(11:18):
We're okay.
We're, but Absolutely.
But we're not, and it'sdefinitely not, wisdom is
accepting that and recognizingthat and just, I'm enjoying just
hearing you share and justthinking about what you're
saying and the truth that are soevident in it.
In my addiction, I would not besitting here with you talking
about this, I wouldn't be ableto even address it, yeah.
(11:41):
But it's just the lord, I givehim all the praise for the
things that are happening in mylife right now.
It would not be, it wouldn't bebecause it is him.
Yeah.
He will only allow things thathappen in your life that he
knows that you can handle.
He is the only one that reallycan bring about total
transformation.
And that's what it is, it is atotal transformation.
(12:03):
Just, there are many people whotry to just change their lives
on their own.
Yeah.
But none of us can achieve whatwe need in the form of a total
transformation without God.
He's done so much for me, theLord that I'm hungry.
I'm starving for him, because.
He deserves all the praise, andI'm just so hungry for what he
(12:27):
can provide and the love that hepro provides.
The security that he provides.
The Yeah.
The unconditional love that hejust, his mean, he gave his son,
his only son to us.
Yeah.
There's nothing more powerfulthan that.
I don't know if I could do that.
I'm be honest.
I don't know if I couldsacrifice my son for that.
I don't, who could do that buthim?
(12:48):
Yeah.
It's crazy.
'cause you think he did thatwhen we essentially hated him.
We didn't care nothing for him.
No.
We just Nope.
Do whatever we want.
We don't care about him.
And he loved us that much togive Jesus his son to die for
us.
Yep.
So that we could be transformed.
Yep.
So that, yeah.
So that we could be completelyand utterly forgiven of
(13:10):
everything.
Think about that.
I think about that so much.
That's, it's amazing to thinkabout.
How could you not get emotionalthinking, thinking about that?
Yeah.
And Yeah.
And I hope that as people listento your story and to the stories
that are on every weekend, it'snot that good of a story.
It's an amazing story.
I it is a, it is an example of.
A transformation of life thatcan only come from God.
(13:33):
Thank you.
It's, and it's beautiful.
Yeah.
He deserves that.
He deserves all the praise forthat.
And there's, there is hope nomatter how bad things are, no
matter how dark things are andit's, it hits hard when you
speak the truth that so manypeople that come into the
Freedom House are in thissimilar place where you were,
where they literally have noone, like everybody has written
(13:53):
them off.
That's right.
They're the way that they havebehaved, the way that they have
manipulated, the way that theyhave hurt and burned so many
bridges and just their family'sdone with them.
That's right.
And they have nothing.
That's right.
And to come into a place wherepeople love them Absolutely.
And where they can see the loveof Jesus so visibly and clearly
(14:15):
demonstrated.
It it's pretty powerful.
The transformation that you see,that, that goes to them.
It takes a sometimes it takes aweek, sometimes it's a day,
sometimes it's a month, becausethey're, they don't have trust,
yeah.
But once they see what's goingon around them and that we're
helping them do so many thingsto get on their feet, I, and I
tell them, don't use yourFreedom House as a stepping
(14:36):
stone.
Use it as a trampoline to tojump into where you need to be.
Launch it, yeah.
Use this place as a launchingpad to be where you need to be
at because we believe in you.
Start leaving yourself.
That's really good, man.
Wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You might could be a life coachtoo, man.
It's true though when you, youbreak it down to'em in that
(14:56):
aspect, don't use this as aplace just to sit here, to get a
job and just to do, just to getthrough these next few months
with a roof over your head.
Use it as a launching pad to setyourself up so that when you
leave here, you have a place tolive.
Yeah.
You have.
Yeah.
You have a job a not just a job,but a career, yeah.
(15:19):
Take a, take advantage of what'sthere.
But you have to swallow yourpride to do that though, that's
hard.
I know.
Hey, I knew it.
It is hard.
It was hard for me,'cause a lotof us come in there with pride
to where we don't wanna swallowthat, that gets in the way and
it gets in the way of a lot ofguys now, we have guys that come
two, two or three times beforethey, or before they acknowledge
(15:39):
that, but that's what we do.
We love unconditionally.
I'm so thankful for the FreedomHouse.
I'm so thankful for the SafeHouse Ministries.
And just in general because theyhave been a big part of my life.
Even when I was out.
Even after the Grace House, theywere a part of my life without
me even knowing it.
And that's how powerful thisSafe House Ministries are.
Wow.
It's a it's a beautiful ministryto be a part of, and I'm
(16:01):
thankful to be an honor, to beemployed by them.
It gives me so much pride andalmost, I start tear up and
think about it, how if, it'sjust, it is powerful, to think
about where I was.
And I didn't really think aboutit until we're sitting her
talking about everything thatI've done, everything that I've
went through in life.
The people that I've hurt, thethe bridges that I've burned to
(16:23):
be at where I'm at today.
To be a part of a ministry.
It's, I love it.
I would never, ever take it forgranted.
Ever take it for granted.
Awesome.
Awesome.
And I'm assuming that you'retotally free and clear of the
cancer and Yes.
I've been in remission since2017.
Awesome.
Yeah.
I've been in remission since2017.
Another blessing I get, I goevery three months still.
(16:44):
I still have to, do what I haveto do as far as my health is
concerned, but yeah.
Awesome.
Yeah.
And you're, I'm so excited thatI it just brings me great joy
just to be here with you and tohear what the Lord has done in
your life and just where youwere.
Now where you are and where I'mgoing and where you're going.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So if you think back over thetime of your experience in your
(17:09):
life and all that you've gonethrough, what would you say
would be some of the key lessonsthat the Lord has taught you
that you feel like could be ahelp to others?
To be accepting to listen to thepeople that love you to swallow
your pride.
Because when we're in, when we,at some point in our addiction,
we know we're addicted.
(17:30):
We know that we can't controlit.
And when you have family membersor friends who you trust and who
love you unconditionally tellyou that you're dying because of
your addiction, listen, takethat advice.
Do something about it.
Swallow your pride, and let go.
'cause at that point, you haveno more control of your life.
(17:51):
You have to let somebody elsetake control of it for you for a
little bit, the right person,the right people, control it to
get you to where you need to beat.
Accept the Lord into your lifebecause he's the one, you can't
do it without him.
There's no way you can do itwithout him.
I couldn't do it without himthat's good.
That's a lot of good advice.
And I think of, the way youbegan just with the advice of
(18:15):
accepting listening to thepeople that love you.
And we probably, when we get ona path of doing things we
shouldn't be doing, messingthings up, hurting ourselves so
often we're blind to it.
Absolutely.
It's just, it's crazy.
I was reading this morning inMatthew 12, the life of Jesus
(18:35):
and the miracles that he did,and the way that the multitudes,
I came across a version.
The people said, how can thisnot be the son of David?
How can this not be the mess?
Like these miracles areimpossible.
Like this is God.
But yet the Pharisees saw all ofthose things, but they were
blind to the truth.
(18:57):
Yeah.
So blind to it and made methink, what could there be in my
life that God is trying to teachme that I'm just utterly blind
to it.
It's so clear, maybe toeverybody else, but I'm just
blind to it.
And I've had family and friendstry to help me my entire life.
You're outta control.
You know what is going on, man.
And you have to accept it.
(19:17):
You have to understand that thepeople that love you the most
really have your best interests.
Yeah.
But when you're in thataddiction, you know who's gonna,
you can't you don't want, youdon't wanna let go of that,
yeah.
Sad.
It's so sad to say, but it's thetruth.
I never had respect foraddiction until I got sober this
last time.
(19:38):
I never had respect foraddiction.
It's such a, it's such astronghold that the devil uses
to just keep people bound in thelies, the manipulation lies,
the, just how you treat folks.
How you don't care.
How you don't even care how theyeven think about you.
Where today for me, I care abouthow people think about me.
(20:01):
I care about the folks who I'vehurt in the past and how they
still won't have nothing to dowith me.
That hurts.
That hurts.
Yeah.
Today where, when I was in myaddiction, I could care less, or
if I did care, I would justdrink, get high es, escape it.
Just try to ignore it.
Yeah.
To get away with it, just to getby.
(20:22):
Until the, until that feelingwent away, and I'm just thankful
for the people I have in mylife.
Yeah.
Now the Freedom House, my, mygirlfriend just the people who
love me for who I am today,knowing how I was in my past.
I'm just thankful.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
And I would never take that,this for granted.
Where I'm at today.
(20:42):
I just won't, it, it means thatmuch to me.
Yeah.
Is there any advice that youmight give to someone who is not
in addiction themselves, butthat maybe they're a family
member, maybe they're a friend,they're someone who loves a
person that is in addiction.
What advice would you give tothem maybe on just what they can
(21:03):
do to have the greatestprobability of being able to
help that person that they love?
That's a good question.
Putting myself in my family'smember shoes, my father and my
mother in particular you can'tyou're not gonna be able to
change anybody until they wannachange for one but show them
unconditional love withoutenabling them.
(21:26):
Because the enabling part was myultimate downfall.
I knew that my parents weregonna take care of me.
I knew if I didn't, if I gotfired from my job for showing up
drunk, I knew my mom was gonnapay my rent.
So I wouldn't enable, but Iwould love.
I wouldn't cut nobody off, staypresent.
Don't disappear on them.
(21:46):
Yeah.
Just show'em love and just bepresent.
If you're not in addiction, thenyou can't really put yourself in
their shoes because you don'tknow what addiction's about.
You can't get somebody help ifthey don't want help.
You can't force somebody to goto rehab if they don't want to
go to rehab, because if you putsomebody in rehab that doesn't
want to be in rehab, they'rejust gonna manipulate this
(22:07):
process to get what they need toget until they get back to their
addiction.
I wouldn't say so.
So my advice ultimately wouldbe, is don't force nothing, show
unconditional love and bepresent without enabling their
addiction.
That's good advice.
That's good.
Thank you for that.
That's helpful.
And I think that would behelpful for so many people
(22:29):
because I think the reality isthat.
All of us could probably thinkof someone that's in our life
that is dealing with some typeof addiction.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
One way or another, whether itbe a family member or somebody,
one of your friend's, kids, yourfriend's parents.
There's somebody that is anaddiction, not necessarily
(22:50):
drugs, but there's an addictionsomewhere along the line.
Yeah.
And that they're having issueswith that, yeah.
Because with my family, whenthey were trying to help me when
I was in my addiction they weretrying to do so much for me to
get me outta my addiction, thatit ultimately took years off
their life.
I guarantee it.
Did.
And I wish I could tell mymother and my father that I
(23:15):
appreciated that, because it wasdone outta love.
But I wish I could just tellthem not to spend so much energy
trying to get me sober.
Because I didn't get sober untilI wanted to be sober.
I had to go through some thingsto to respect the addiction.
(23:35):
And you're not gonna hit rockbottom without letting go.
They have to let the, the familymembers have to let you go so
you can hit rock bottom.
And I tell guys now the FreedomHouse, the Lord's gonna let you
hit rock bottom to let you knowhe's the rock at the bottom.
That's good, man.
And it mean because you're notgonna realize that.
And he's the rock that willnever move.
(23:57):
That's right.
That you can actually stand onto rebuild.
Absolutely.
And I tell guys that all thetime, man, you, I think you are
a life coach, man.
Whatever, man.
But I do, I tell the guys that.
And and he'll let you hit rockbottom more than once.
If you choose to forget thathe's the rock at the bottom.
(24:17):
'cause he and Matt, he did inhis devotion yesterday he was
saying that he, the Lord wantsyou to part of his life.
He wants to be a part of yourlife.
Or was it chap, it was chaplainthat did this that did devotion.
If it takes you to go to jail,for you to study him, to be a
part of him to have him in yourlife, if that's the only time
(24:39):
that you're going to have him inyour life, then you're gonna go
to jail.
Keep putting, going to jail.
You're gonna keep going.
If you have him in your lifeevery day, give'em some time
every day.
Then he will open things up foryou to where you won't have to
go through that pain andsuffering, because that's what
he's on.
He's gonna, he's gonna put youthrough that if you don't,'cause
(24:59):
he wants you to know that he isthere for you.
And if you don't acknowledgethat, then he's gonna put things
in your life to where you'regonna have to do that.
And unfortunately in addiction,you don't really put the Lord in
your life until you're in jail.
I'm just gonna be honest.
I was that way for a long time.
I was that way, until recently,I didn't really have the Lord,
(25:20):
even though I love Jesus and Iknow what, the Lord had done for
us.
I didn't really have him in myeveryday life until I was at my
rock bottom.
And going to jail sometimes isnot your rock bottom.
Wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's so powerful.
It just, it reminds me again ofthe story.
I think it's Luke Chapter 15.
And what we would call theprodigal son.
(25:41):
The father that loves himunconditionally, but the son's I
don't care.
I want my money.
I wanna get outta here.
And he goes off just lives likea fool and a crazy person.
And then he comes to the placewhere he has nothing.
He is literally homeless.
He has no money, known friends,no nothing.
And he's, he finds himself as aJew eating out of.
A trough where pigs eat.
And I love the way the Bibledescribes that he came to
(26:03):
himself.
It's what am I doing?
What am I doing?
Yeah.
And so he goes back and he says,I'm just gonna be a servant to
my father.
'cause he knows his father willaccept him back.
That's right.
But he's humbled just like howyou, we started out and you said
the word humbled.
And he goes before the fathereven hears him, he sees him and
he runs and he hugs him and heembraces him.
(26:25):
And he throws a huge dinnerfeast and puts the robe and the
ring.
Yes.
And it's like the love was nevergone.
Like the love was always there.
It was always there.
It just, the sun just had toreceive it.
You have to receive it.
You have to receive it.
You have to accept it, and andthat's the bottom line.
And you have to practice it.
You just can't, you just can'tgo to church on Sundays.
(26:48):
I feel this, you can't go tochurch on Sundays and think that
you know that he's gonna bethrowing miracles for you.
You just can't go to Bible studyon Wednesdays and think that
he's gonna do miracles for you.
You have to have him a part ofyour everyday life in order to
stay true to yourself andunderstanding his unconditional
love.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's that's so true.
It's so many people I think justwant to make God a part of their
(27:12):
life.
Rather than give their wholelife That's right to God.
That's right.
And I was that way.
I was that way for a long time.
I'm, now the first thing I dowhen I wake up in the morning is
I get on my knees thanking him,and then I have my Bible study,
with myself.
I have me, I have a bible.
It's it's like a recovery bible.
So you scripture, then you readyour, then you read how recovery
(27:35):
will fit into that scripture.
You have to find ways to make itfun for yourself, and that's,
I'm having fun with it, rightnow.
Yeah.
I'm just so hungry for him, lovehow he's working in my life.
I love to see how he's workingin other people's lives in the
miracles that he works on aneveryday basis.
Just by working inside theFreedom House, the, miracles
(27:57):
every day, every day you see themiracles in there.
And, that's awesome.
And the acceptance of how peoplewill come in there, stubborn,
and then by the time they leavethere, where they're at, it's an
amazing transformation to watch.
It really is.
I, yeah, it is.
You're so right.
Wow.
Any last words or thoughts thatyou wanna share with anybody who
(28:18):
might be listening?
I hope that, that somebody Ihope that my story will touch
somebody.
Just one person would be enough,but I hope that, many folks will
will take my story, take heed toit, and understanding that some
people are, that it's okay notto be okay.
It's okay not to be okay.
And realizing that you can talkto somebody, don't hold nothing
(28:41):
in.
And especially people inaddiction, we're addicts for a
reason.
Something traumatic has happenedin our lives to where we've
turned to drugs and alcohol.
So it's okay.
That's okay.
Just talk to somebody about it.
Find somebody that you haveconfident in that, that you can
trust no matter who it is.
(29:03):
It doesn't have to be atherapist, a paid therapist you
lay in a bid with.
It could be anybody.
Talk about it.
Don't hold it into where it getsto a point to where you can't
come back from it.
Know that there's people thatlove you.
That there's there's folks whounderstand you.
(29:23):
That there's people who havewalked in your same shoes no
matter how bad it may seem.
That it's okay.
It's okay.
That's good.
That's good.
Thank you.
Thank you for being here, Mike.
Thank you for sharing yourstory.
Thank you for having me.
It's been an honor.
Yeah, it's been really good.
And your story, I know hasalready touched one me.
(29:45):
Thank you.
And yeah so now there's onlymore than one to go from that.
So praise the Lord.
Thank you.
Praise him.
Yep.
You mind if I close this in aword of prayer?
Absolutely, please.
Father, thank you for yourgrace.
Thank you for the miracle oftransformation and bringing so
much life into Mike's life.
Thank you, father.
Thank you for blessing him withthe kids he has and the
(30:08):
grandkids he has.
I just pray that you would guidehis path.
Thank you for what he's doingand how he's helping so many
others at Freedom House, howhe's being an encouragement, how
he's an example of theunconditional love that Jesus
shows all of us.
Bless him.
Give him wisdom, Lord.
And I know you, your word isclear that to those who hunger
(30:31):
and thirst after righteousness,they will be filled.
So fill Mike and bless Mike andguide Mike and do great things
with him and through him in thisworld, I pray, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you, Phil.
Amen.
Listening to Mike share hisstory was such a powerful impact
to my heart.
(30:52):
It's just amazing to, to hear,but also to see just on the face
of people like Mike that havegone through such hardship and
to see and hear thetransformation that God has done
and just the beautifulredemption that he's given them.
I love it.
(31:12):
I just love it so much and Ihope you enjoy listening to
these podcasts and I wannaencourage you.
I'd like to invite you tosubscribe to our weekly
newsletter and where we shareand give updates about what's
going on with Safe HouseMinistries.
We share a little bit about thestories of transformation that
you hear on the podcasts, and wealso give prayer requests that
(31:38):
many of the clients that we justshow love to every week, the
things that they're goingthrough, the things that they're
asking, prayer about, we sharethose and encourage others to
pray for them, to pray for ourministry.
So if you want to get our weeklynewsletter, just reach out to
us.
You can reach out to us at ouremail, which is
info@safehouseministries.com, oryou can just send an email
(32:03):
straight to me.
My email isphil@safehouseministries.com and
when you reach out to us, justlet us know that you wanna sign
up for the weekly newsletter,and give us your email and we
will be glad to add you to thatlist and keep you in the loop
and invite you to be a partnerwith us and pray for the
ministry, pray for the lives ofthe people that are going
(32:26):
through such hardship, and thatthe Lord will just do and
amazing work in their lives.
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
(32:47):
changing people's lives for thebetter, and if you would like to
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 (33:10):
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.
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
(00:22):
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.
(00:43):
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
(01:04):
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.
I went down that rabbit holeagain, back smoking weed again.
I was, wow.
And I was mad at myself forgetting back, being, getting
back to where I was.
And it was just a rabbit hole Icouldn't pull myself out of.
And I was on probation.
(01:26):
And I ended up popping dirty ona urine screen for marijuana.
And they put me in a DRC programthat was a pop dirty in August,
beginning of August of lastyear.
And then then you still livingon your own, just going through
the DCI was my own, but my myprobation officer said, you
couldn't work.
You couldn't work.
So I didn't know what to do.
Then I was gonna be homelessbecause of my addiction.
(01:47):
Yeah.
My addiction was actually gonnamake me homeless because I have
nobody, all I had was myself.
So I knew only one thing to dois just try to reach out to the
Grace House, which I didn't knowwas the Freedom House.
Yeah.
It had changed at that point, bythat point.
Yes, sir.
And but towards my end of timeat Grace House, Jamie Lee had
come in over there and her, shewould come into my restaurant.
Sometimes I would, my casemanager Matt would come in, so
(02:10):
they all knew me.
Yeah.
Downtown, the restaurant, westill kept connections that way.
God bless'em.
So when I called 2 1 1 to getput on the waiting list, they
told me it was gonna be abouttwo and a half months, three
months before I could get inthere.
And.
I was like, man, this is realitynow.
This is, I'm gonna be on thestreet.
Yeah.
So I prayed and prayed, and Igot a phone call a couple days
(02:31):
later.
It was like two days later, andit was it was a female voice.
And she said Mike, I said, yesma'am.
And she was she goes, how youdoing?
By that time, I knew it wasJamie.
I said it was no, even for me,even lie to her, I'm not doing
very well.
She goes, are you okay?
I said, no.
And I remember her saying, shegoes, just come home.
Wow.
Yeah.
She said, just come home.
(02:51):
And I just sat there and cried.
I think she might even cried andOh wow.
She told me what I had to do toget to come, to get in there.
And I think I was there probablytwo days later, three days
later.
Wow.
So just welcomed with love andacceptance to the Freedom House
is, yeah.
Not even saying what, howThrough Freedom House took me in
and saved my life.
(03:12):
Wow.
There's no other way to put it.
No other way to put it.
And that ain't it.
Lightly, man.
I got there I saw what, how thekitchen was being run there.
I saw how I could help outthere.
I wouldn't talk to Jamie.
Jamie goes, the kitchen's yours.
cause she knows I like to staybusy.
(03:32):
I can't just I'm a busy body.
Yeah.
And me being busy was therapy tome.
Yeah.
And, but I wasn't just doing thekitchen.
I was helping out doing otherthings around there.
Going to DRC every day, notmissing no classes doing what I
had to do, going to my meetings.
And then eventually I mean Igraduated DRC in four and a half
months.
Wow.
Four and a half, five months.
(03:54):
And which is unheard of, but Idid it.
It's possible guys.
That's awesome.
Yep.
So the DRC is like theoutpatient whereas our set was
like, you're, there you go.
You're in prison program.
That's right.
DRC was like, you gotta everyday be somewhere to live on your
own.
But you can come here to theprogram.
That's right.
You can't work.
But the Freedom House gave methat shelter I needed.
(04:16):
Yeah.
They gave me that protectiveshield that I needed to get
through this.
And it wasn't just a freedomhouse, it was God.
Yeah.
It was God who put me in thatsituation.
And and eventually I inFebruary, I got called into the
office, Mike Crews office, andJamie Lee was in there.
I'm like, oh Lord.
But they said, I had asked thembefore about me working there.
(04:39):
Yeah.
'cause I loved it.
I loved helping the other guysout.
I loved the accountability thatI was being held to.
I loved how I was given advice,not just getting it.
Really took to that.
And so they asked me if I wantedto be, if I wanted to work
there, asked me if I would, theysaid it was that time, wow.
I did it with open arms, loveit.
I love it.
(04:59):
I really do.
It's so beautiful.
I just to think about where youwere at and the hopelessness and
the man despair and beyonddespair.
I was in my sickness, deep in mysickness, and I didn't care
about anybody.
I didn't even care about myself.
Wow.
Yeah.
That the way you just sharedthat story, it just makes me
(05:22):
think about Jesus and the way heabsolutely no matter what we do,
no matter how big the mess isthat we create by our own.
Just bad choices.
He just loves us and he justputs his arms around us and he
just absolutely, he's alwaysthere.
Always there, absolutely nomatter what.
And my mom, she's veryreligious.
(05:43):
My whole time.
You grow growing up, she's veryreligious.
She's always had that instilledin us but I shunned that even
though, I can think back in myaddiction, looking at the Bible,
just pick it up.
Just pick the Bible up and readit.
But you find a reason not to.
Yeah.
Is he, I always would find areason not to.
And I'm guessing that changedand that Absolutely.
(06:04):
I'm, that's maybe some, when yougot back to the Freedom House,
that your heart was open to theLord again.
Absolutely.
My heart's always been open tothe Lord.
It's just, I didn't know how topractice it, if that makes
sense.
Yeah, it does make sense.
But the Freedom House, they gaveme that avenue to take that
path.
To take to where I was able to,yeah.
(06:25):
I've always was able to, butthey took the they took the
chains off of me, so to speak,and that gave me the avenue to
pick up my Bible every day.
Get on your knees, pray everymorning, read your Bible every
morning.
But don't only read about it,talk about it, practice it.
And how you go about your life,yeah.
Love other people as Jesus lovesyou.
(06:47):
Don't judge just practicing itand putting it into practice and
eventually it just be, itbecomes a part of your nature
without even thinking about it.
Yeah.
And wow.
And I'm just so thankful forthem opening up that door for me
to even get in because it couldhave took me months to get in
there.
I don't know how my name evencame across her desk, but it
did.
Thank the Lord.
(07:08):
The Lord did it.
It's only, I think she even saidit.
This is only the Lord.
Wow.
It is, this is only the Lord,God does so many things that are
so amazing.
I just, and I think if we'rehonest with ourselves, I could
look back at my life and see thehand of the Lord.
And as I hear you tell yourstory I can see the hand of the
Lord and he's always there.
(07:28):
And it just takes us a whilesometimes to recognize that it,
he's has definitely me gonethrough what I've gone through.
He has always been present in mylife, or I wouldn't be here
today.
He ultimately had the path forme to walk down.
He had already scripted for me.
Was it was never easy, me takingadvantage of my family
financially.
(07:49):
Playing on their emotions.
Me manipulate my friends, thepeople who were most important
to me.
I heard a lot of people, and theonly way that I could make me
feel better about it today,'cause I don't accept how I
lived in was just that he hadthe ultimate plan, and and just
to be at where I'm at today withit all.
(08:10):
It's a full circle and and Iknow it's the Lord, but my ulti,
I use my mother's motivation somuch because she would be so
proud of me today.
Working for a ministry.
What, who, who would even thinkthat?
My friends, you're not workingfor a ministry.
I'm definitely working for aministry now.
I'm definitely they'd be tooshocked.
What?
No way.
There's no way Mike real, you.
(08:32):
Yes.
Yeah.
Me.
It can happen to anybody.
If it can happen to me, it canhappen to anybody.
I'm more, I'm humble today.
I'm more loving today.
I'm more caring today.
I don't think of myself as Ishould.
Maybe I should think of myselfmore, but I don't hardly at all
anymore.
I sacrifice what I want now forother people.
(08:53):
I love helping people now.
I love helping the homeless guysthat come in, giving them life,
giving them, show them lovebecause they don't have that
love when they come in.
They don't have family when theycome in.
The situations that they're inwhen they come there or dire.
So letting them know, sittingdown with them and talking to
them, Hey, you could talk to me.
(09:14):
Let's talk, man.
How you doing today?
Now are they open to it?
At first, no.
But just being there for themevery day, feeding them,
clothing, them showing them loveunconditional no matter where
they at, what they've done orhow they are, just being
accepted again.
It gets, you can see the lightgo off in their head.
Does everybody accept it?
(09:34):
No, but a three quarters of'emdo, and then we have the
treatment side.
The guys that are going totreatment that come in there
hey, I've been there, I've beenthere, man.
I understand.
And and talking to those guysand letting them know that
somebody that's been down theirpath, somebody that's gone
through treatment it's it givesthem hope.
(09:55):
It gives them hope.
It gives me hope.
I love the accountability thatI'm held to.
And when you make theserelationships with these guys
they look up to you.
They start coming to you foradvice.
And that's what I need.
I need that for, I need that inmy life.
Because even though I've beenclean since August 21st, 19,
(10:15):
2024 I still have to be heldaccountable because this is just
the beginning of my sobriety.
And I understand that now orknow where before a couple
months not drinking, oh, I'mgood now I can go around it, or
I can go around my friends whoare drinking and I'll be fine.
But now I know the steps thatneed to be taken in order for me
(10:37):
to be sober.
And I take my sobriety veryserious now.
I won't put nothing in front ofmy sobriety, I wouldn't even put
my kids in front of my sobrietyright now.
'cause that's how important it'sto me.
And I think my kids wouldappreciate that, yeah.
Have to put your sobriety firstbecause that's all.
I wouldn't be where I'm at todayif I wasn't sober.
Yeah.
(10:58):
That's you beautifully, I think,have described an element of
wisdom.
and it's not necessarily justrelated to addiction, but in so
many ways in our lives, we.
We put chains around ourselvesand we behave in certain ways
and we just, it's we enter intojust darkness and then we think
arrogantly.
(11:18):
We're okay.
We're, but Absolutely.
But we're not, and it'sdefinitely not, wisdom is
accepting that and recognizingthat and just, I'm enjoying just
hearing you share and justthinking about what you're
saying and the truth that are soevident in it.
In my addiction, I would not besitting here with you talking
about this, I wouldn't be ableto even address it, yeah.
(11:41):
But it's just the lord, I givehim all the praise for the
things that are happening in mylife right now.
It would not be, it wouldn't bebecause it is him.
Yeah.
He will only allow things thathappen in your life that he
knows that you can handle.
He is the only one that reallycan bring about total
transformation.
And that's what it is, it is atotal transformation.
(12:03):
Just, there are many people whotry to just change their lives
on their own.
Yeah.
But none of us can achieve whatwe need in the form of a total
transformation without God.
He's done so much for me, theLord that I'm hungry.
I'm starving for him, because.
He deserves all the praise, andI'm just so hungry for what he
(12:27):
can provide and the love that hepro provides.
The security that he provides.
The Yeah.
The unconditional love that hejust, his mean, he gave his son,
his only son to us.
Yeah.
There's nothing more powerfulthan that.
I don't know if I could do that.
I'm be honest.
I don't know if I couldsacrifice my son for that.
I don't, who could do that buthim?
(12:48):
Yeah.
It's crazy.
'cause you think he did thatwhen we essentially hated him.
We didn't care nothing for him.
No.
We just Nope.
Do whatever we want.
We don't care about him.
And he loved us that much togive Jesus his son to die for
us.
Yep.
So that we could be transformed.
Yep.
So that, yeah.
So that we could be completelyand utterly forgiven of
(13:10):
everything.
Think about that.
I think about that so much.
That's, it's amazing to thinkabout.
How could you not get emotionalthinking, thinking about that?
Yeah.
And Yeah.
And I hope that as people listento your story and to the stories
that are on every weekend, it'snot that good of a story.
It's an amazing story.
I it is a, it is an example of.
A transformation of life thatcan only come from God.
(13:33):
Thank you.
It's, and it's beautiful.
Yeah.
He deserves that.
He deserves all the praise forthat.
And there's, there is hope nomatter how bad things are, no
matter how dark things are andit's, it hits hard when you
speak the truth that so manypeople that come into the
Freedom House are in thissimilar place where you were,
where they literally have noone, like everybody has written
(13:53):
them off.
That's right.
They're the way that they havebehaved, the way that they have
manipulated, the way that theyhave hurt and burned so many
bridges and just their family'sdone with them.
That's right.
And they have nothing.
That's right.
And to come into a place wherepeople love them Absolutely.
And where they can see the loveof Jesus so visibly and clearly
(14:15):
demonstrated.
It it's pretty powerful.
The transformation that you see,that, that goes to them.
It takes a sometimes it takes aweek, sometimes it's a day,
sometimes it's a month, becausethey're, they don't have trust,
yeah.
But once they see what's goingon around them and that we're
helping them do so many thingsto get on their feet, I, and I
tell them, don't use yourFreedom House as a stepping
(14:36):
stone.
Use it as a trampoline to tojump into where you need to be.
Launch it, yeah.
Use this place as a launchingpad to be where you need to be
at because we believe in you.
Start leaving yourself.
That's really good, man.
Wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You might could be a life coachtoo, man.
It's true though when you, youbreak it down to'em in that
(14:56):
aspect, don't use this as aplace just to sit here, to get a
job and just to do, just to getthrough these next few months
with a roof over your head.
Use it as a launching pad to setyourself up so that when you
leave here, you have a place tolive.
Yeah.
You have.
Yeah.
You have a job a not just a job,but a career, yeah.
(15:19):
Take a, take advantage of what'sthere.
But you have to swallow yourpride to do that though, that's
hard.
I know.
Hey, I knew it.
It is hard.
It was hard for me,'cause a lotof us come in there with pride
to where we don't wanna swallowthat, that gets in the way and
it gets in the way of a lot ofguys now, we have guys that come
two, two or three times beforethey, or before they acknowledge
(15:39):
that, but that's what we do.
We love unconditionally.
I'm so thankful for the FreedomHouse.
I'm so thankful for the SafeHouse Ministries.
And just in general because theyhave been a big part of my life.
Even when I was out.
Even after the Grace House, theywere a part of my life without
me even knowing it.
And that's how powerful thisSafe House Ministries are.
Wow.
It's a it's a beautiful ministryto be a part of, and I'm
(16:01):
thankful to be an honor, to beemployed by them.
It gives me so much pride andalmost, I start tear up and
think about it, how if, it'sjust, it is powerful, to think
about where I was.
And I didn't really think aboutit until we're sitting her
talking about everything thatI've done, everything that I've
went through in life.
The people that I've hurt, thethe bridges that I've burned to
(16:23):
be at where I'm at today.
To be a part of a ministry.
It's, I love it.
I would never, ever take it forgranted.
Ever take it for granted.
Awesome.
Awesome.
And I'm assuming that you'retotally free and clear of the
cancer and Yes.
I've been in remission since2017.
Awesome.
Yeah.
I've been in remission since2017.
Another blessing I get, I goevery three months still.
(16:44):
I still have to, do what I haveto do as far as my health is
concerned, but yeah.
Awesome.
Yeah.
And you're, I'm so excited thatI it just brings me great joy
just to be here with you and tohear what the Lord has done in
your life and just where youwere.
Now where you are and where I'mgoing and where you're going.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So if you think back over thetime of your experience in your
(17:09):
life and all that you've gonethrough, what would you say
would be some of the key lessonsthat the Lord has taught you
that you feel like could be ahelp to others?
To be accepting to listen to thepeople that love you to swallow
your pride.
Because when we're in, when we,at some point in our addiction,
we know we're addicted.
(17:30):
We know that we can't controlit.
And when you have family membersor friends who you trust and who
love you unconditionally tellyou that you're dying because of
your addiction, listen, takethat advice.
Do something about it.
Swallow your pride, and let go.
'cause at that point, you haveno more control of your life.
(17:51):
You have to let somebody elsetake control of it for you for a
little bit, the right person,the right people, control it to
get you to where you need to beat.
Accept the Lord into your lifebecause he's the one, you can't
do it without him.
There's no way you can do itwithout him.
I couldn't do it without himthat's good.
That's a lot of good advice.
And I think of, the way youbegan just with the advice of
(18:15):
accepting listening to thepeople that love you.
And we probably, when we get ona path of doing things we
shouldn't be doing, messingthings up, hurting ourselves so
often we're blind to it.
Absolutely.
It's just, it's crazy.
I was reading this morning inMatthew 12, the life of Jesus
(18:35):
and the miracles that he did,and the way that the multitudes,
I came across a version.
The people said, how can thisnot be the son of David?
How can this not be the mess?
Like these miracles areimpossible.
Like this is God.
But yet the Pharisees saw all ofthose things, but they were
blind to the truth.
(18:57):
Yeah.
So blind to it and made methink, what could there be in my
life that God is trying to teachme that I'm just utterly blind
to it.
It's so clear, maybe toeverybody else, but I'm just
blind to it.
And I've had family and friendstry to help me my entire life.
You're outta control.
You know what is going on, man.
And you have to accept it.
(19:17):
You have to understand that thepeople that love you the most
really have your best interests.
Yeah.
But when you're in thataddiction, you know who's gonna,
you can't you don't want, youdon't wanna let go of that,
yeah.
Sad.
It's so sad to say, but it's thetruth.
I never had respect foraddiction until I got sober this
last time.
(19:38):
I never had respect foraddiction.
It's such a, it's such astronghold that the devil uses
to just keep people bound in thelies, the manipulation lies,
the, just how you treat folks.
How you don't care.
How you don't even care how theyeven think about you.
Where today for me, I care abouthow people think about me.
(20:01):
I care about the folks who I'vehurt in the past and how they
still won't have nothing to dowith me.
That hurts.
That hurts.
Yeah.
Today where, when I was in myaddiction, I could care less, or
if I did care, I would justdrink, get high es, escape it.
Just try to ignore it.
Yeah.
To get away with it, just to getby.
(20:22):
Until the, until that feelingwent away, and I'm just thankful
for the people I have in mylife.
Yeah.
Now the Freedom House, my, mygirlfriend just the people who
love me for who I am today,knowing how I was in my past.
I'm just thankful.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
And I would never take that,this for granted.
Where I'm at today.
(20:42):
I just won't, it, it means thatmuch to me.
Yeah.
Is there any advice that youmight give to someone who is not
in addiction themselves, butthat maybe they're a family
member, maybe they're a friend,they're someone who loves a
person that is in addiction.
What advice would you give tothem maybe on just what they can
(21:03):
do to have the greatestprobability of being able to
help that person that they love?
That's a good question.
Putting myself in my family'smember shoes, my father and my
mother in particular you can'tyou're not gonna be able to
change anybody until they wannachange for one but show them
unconditional love withoutenabling them.
(21:26):
Because the enabling part was myultimate downfall.
I knew that my parents weregonna take care of me.
I knew if I didn't, if I gotfired from my job for showing up
drunk, I knew my mom was gonnapay my rent.
So I wouldn't enable, but Iwould love.
I wouldn't cut nobody off, staypresent.
Don't disappear on them.
(21:46):
Yeah.
Just show'em love and just bepresent.
If you're not in addiction, thenyou can't really put yourself in
their shoes because you don'tknow what addiction's about.
You can't get somebody help ifthey don't want help.
You can't force somebody to goto rehab if they don't want to
go to rehab, because if you putsomebody in rehab that doesn't
want to be in rehab, they'rejust gonna manipulate this
(22:07):
process to get what they need toget until they get back to their
addiction.
I wouldn't say so.
So my advice ultimately wouldbe, is don't force nothing, show
unconditional love and bepresent without enabling their
addiction.
That's good advice.
That's good.
Thank you for that.
That's helpful.
And I think that would behelpful for so many people
(22:29):
because I think the reality isthat.
All of us could probably thinkof someone that's in our life
that is dealing with some typeof addiction.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
One way or another, whether itbe a family member or somebody,
one of your friend's, kids, yourfriend's parents.
There's somebody that is anaddiction, not necessarily
(22:50):
drugs, but there's an addictionsomewhere along the line.
Yeah.
And that they're having issueswith that, yeah.
Because with my family, whenthey were trying to help me when
I was in my addiction they weretrying to do so much for me to
get me outta my addiction, thatit ultimately took years off
their life.
I guarantee it.
Did.
And I wish I could tell mymother and my father that I
(23:15):
appreciated that, because it wasdone outta love.
But I wish I could just tellthem not to spend so much energy
trying to get me sober.
Because I didn't get sober untilI wanted to be sober.
I had to go through some thingsto to respect the addiction.
(23:35):
And you're not gonna hit rockbottom without letting go.
They have to let the, the familymembers have to let you go so
you can hit rock bottom.
And I tell guys now the FreedomHouse, the Lord's gonna let you
hit rock bottom to let you knowhe's the rock at the bottom.
That's good, man.
And it mean because you're notgonna realize that.
And he's the rock that willnever move.
(23:57):
That's right.
That you can actually stand onto rebuild.
Absolutely.
And I tell guys that all thetime, man, you, I think you are
a life coach, man.
Whatever, man.
But I do, I tell the guys that.
And and he'll let you hit rockbottom more than once.
If you choose to forget thathe's the rock at the bottom.
(24:17):
'cause he and Matt, he did inhis devotion yesterday he was
saying that he, the Lord wantsyou to part of his life.
He wants to be a part of yourlife.
Or was it chap, it was chaplainthat did this that did devotion.
If it takes you to go to jail,for you to study him, to be a
part of him to have him in yourlife, if that's the only time
(24:39):
that you're going to have him inyour life, then you're gonna go
to jail.
Keep putting, going to jail.
You're gonna keep going.
If you have him in your lifeevery day, give'em some time
every day.
Then he will open things up foryou to where you won't have to
go through that pain andsuffering, because that's what
he's on.
He's gonna, he's gonna put youthrough that if you don't,'cause
(24:59):
he wants you to know that he isthere for you.
And if you don't acknowledgethat, then he's gonna put things
in your life to where you'regonna have to do that.
And unfortunately in addiction,you don't really put the Lord in
your life until you're in jail.
I'm just gonna be honest.
I was that way for a long time.
I was that way, until recently,I didn't really have the Lord,
(25:20):
even though I love Jesus and Iknow what, the Lord had done for
us.
I didn't really have him in myeveryday life until I was at my
rock bottom.
And going to jail sometimes isnot your rock bottom.
Wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's so powerful.
It just, it reminds me again ofthe story.
I think it's Luke Chapter 15.
And what we would call theprodigal son.
(25:41):
The father that loves himunconditionally, but the son's I
don't care.
I want my money.
I wanna get outta here.
And he goes off just lives likea fool and a crazy person.
And then he comes to the placewhere he has nothing.
He is literally homeless.
He has no money, known friends,no nothing.
And he's, he finds himself as aJew eating out of.
A trough where pigs eat.
And I love the way the Bibledescribes that he came to
(26:03):
himself.
It's what am I doing?
What am I doing?
Yeah.
And so he goes back and he says,I'm just gonna be a servant to
my father.
'cause he knows his father willaccept him back.
That's right.
But he's humbled just like howyou, we started out and you said
the word humbled.
And he goes before the fathereven hears him, he sees him and
he runs and he hugs him and heembraces him.
(26:25):
And he throws a huge dinnerfeast and puts the robe and the
ring.
Yes.
And it's like the love was nevergone.
Like the love was always there.
It was always there.
It just, the sun just had toreceive it.
You have to receive it.
You have to receive it.
You have to accept it, and andthat's the bottom line.
And you have to practice it.
You just can't, you just can'tgo to church on Sundays.
(26:48):
I feel this, you can't go tochurch on Sundays and think that
you know that he's gonna bethrowing miracles for you.
You just can't go to Bible studyon Wednesdays and think that
he's gonna do miracles for you.
You have to have him a part ofyour everyday life in order to
stay true to yourself andunderstanding his unconditional
love.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's that's so true.
It's so many people I think justwant to make God a part of their
(27:12):
life.
Rather than give their wholelife That's right to God.
That's right.
And I was that way.
I was that way for a long time.
I'm, now the first thing I dowhen I wake up in the morning is
I get on my knees thanking him,and then I have my Bible study,
with myself.
I have me, I have a bible.
It's it's like a recovery bible.
So you scripture, then you readyour, then you read how recovery
(27:35):
will fit into that scripture.
You have to find ways to make itfun for yourself, and that's,
I'm having fun with it, rightnow.
Yeah.
I'm just so hungry for him, lovehow he's working in my life.
I love to see how he's workingin other people's lives in the
miracles that he works on aneveryday basis.
Just by working inside theFreedom House, the, miracles
(27:57):
every day, every day you see themiracles in there.
And, that's awesome.
And the acceptance of how peoplewill come in there, stubborn,
and then by the time they leavethere, where they're at, it's an
amazing transformation to watch.
It really is.
I, yeah, it is.
You're so right.
Wow.
Any last words or thoughts thatyou wanna share with anybody who
(28:18):
might be listening?
I hope that, that somebody Ihope that my story will touch
somebody.
Just one person would be enough,but I hope that, many folks will
will take my story, take heed toit, and understanding that some
people are, that it's okay notto be okay.
It's okay not to be okay.
And realizing that you can talkto somebody, don't hold nothing
(28:41):
in.
And especially people inaddiction, we're addicts for a
reason.
Something traumatic has happenedin our lives to where we've
turned to drugs and alcohol.
So it's okay.
That's okay.
Just talk to somebody about it.
Find somebody that you haveconfident in that, that you can
trust no matter who it is.
(29:03):
It doesn't have to be atherapist, a paid therapist you
lay in a bid with.
It could be anybody.
Talk about it.
Don't hold it into where it getsto a point to where you can't
come back from it.
Know that there's people thatlove you.
That there's there's folks whounderstand you.
(29:23):
That there's people who havewalked in your same shoes no
matter how bad it may seem.
That it's okay.
It's okay.
That's good.
That's good.
Thank you.
Thank you for being here, Mike.
Thank you for sharing yourstory.
Thank you for having me.
It's been an honor.
Yeah, it's been really good.
And your story, I know hasalready touched one me.
(29:45):
Thank you.
And yeah so now there's onlymore than one to go from that.
So praise the Lord.
Thank you.
Praise him.
Yep.
You mind if I close this in aword of prayer?
Absolutely, please.
Father, thank you for yourgrace.
Thank you for the miracle oftransformation and bringing so
much life into Mike's life.
Thank you, father.
Thank you for blessing him withthe kids he has and the
(30:08):
grandkids he has.
I just pray that you would guidehis path.
Thank you for what he's doingand how he's helping so many
others at Freedom House, howhe's being an encouragement, how
he's an example of theunconditional love that Jesus
shows all of us.
Bless him.
Give him wisdom, Lord.
And I know you, your word isclear that to those who hunger
(30:31):
and thirst after righteousness,they will be filled.
So fill Mike and bless Mike andguide Mike and do great things
with him and through him in thisworld, I pray, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you, Phil.
Amen.
Listening to Mike share hisstory was such a powerful impact
to my heart.
(30:52):
It's just amazing to, to hear,but also to see just on the face
of people like Mike that havegone through such hardship and
to see and hear thetransformation that God has done
and just the beautifulredemption that he's given them.
I love it.
(31:12):
I just love it so much and Ihope you enjoy listening to
these podcasts and I wannaencourage you.
I'd like to invite you tosubscribe to our weekly
newsletter and where we shareand give updates about what's
going on with Safe HouseMinistries.
We share a little bit about thestories of transformation that
you hear on the podcasts, and wealso give prayer requests that
(31:38):
many of the clients that we justshow love to every week, the
things that they're goingthrough, the things that they're
asking, prayer about, we sharethose and encourage others to
pray for them, to pray for ourministry.
So if you want to get our weeklynewsletter, just reach out to
us.
You can reach out to us at ouremail, which is
info@safehouseministries.com, oryou can just send an email
(32:03):
straight to me.
My email isphil@safehouseministries.com and
when you reach out to us, justlet us know that you wanna sign
up for the weekly newsletter,and give us your email and we
will be glad to add you to thatlist and keep you in the loop
and invite you to be a partnerwith us and pray for the
ministry, pray for the lives ofthe people that are going
(32:26):
through such hardship, and thatthe Lord will just do and
amazing work in their lives.
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
(32:47):
changing people's lives for thebetter, and if you would like to
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 (33:10):
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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