Our greatest setbacks tend to become our greatest successes when we allow the healing power of Christ to enter our lives; we may not see it in the moment, but it's often only in those moments of darkness that we become willing to be still and look for the light. When we find it, it changes us, and that change is exactly what we celebrate every Transformation Tuesday.
Today we celebrate the capacity to find purpose in pain and light in the darkness through the powerful testimony of Hope Center graduate Jeremy Choate!
Jeremy's struggles with addiction began when he was only 12, with the death of his father. After his passing Jeremy struggled with a sense of direction; lacking the proper guidance of his parent that he would have had otherwise, he fell into drinking with older teens at the age of 13, quickly finding that his drinking would escalate both in volume and frequency beyond that of his peers. By 15 he discovered marijuana, and in his early 20s pain pills, before finally being introduced to meth at the age of 26.
The company that Jeremy kept made having access to drugs simple for him: he'd always been personable with everyone, so making friends with a number of meth manufacturers and distributors meant that drugs were always readily available when he wanted them — which as his addiction worsened, was evermore frequently.
Eventually this lifestyle led to consequences, and in 2013 Jeremy was sent to prison for 10 years for meth manufacturing. He paroled out in 2015, ready to commit to a different way in life. He married his childhood sweetheart in 2016, found a reliable and steady job as a welder, and felt he'd truly turned a corner in life; but like many addicts, he found that his old life was simply waiting to rear its ugly head.
Over the course of the next few years Jeremy returned to prison 5 separate times, and while his wife stood by him, by court order he was no longer allowed to see his daughter starting in 2019, so he no longer had a home to return to. His meth and alcohol abuse continued to escalate, to the point he could no longer hold down a job, had no money to fix his truck when it broke down, and had resorted to living out of a friends camper just to have a place to stay. It was then that his wife gave him an ultimatum: either he sought recovery, or she was done. He was making no effort to improve his life or situation, so for her own sake, she was forced to cut contact.
It was at this point that Jeremy completely lost hope of ever getting better. He was sure that the bridges he'd burned were too far gone to ever be mended, and was resigned to drinking and using himself into an early grave. Little did he know however that behind the scenes, his loved ones were working on his behalf. With prayer and petition, his wife and friends were crying out to God to give Jeremy an opportunity to save himself.
The last time that Jeremy used was unlike any other instance, and in his own words, resulted in him 'completely losing his mind'. He was taken back to prison for multiple assaults on a police officer, on first responders, amongst other charges.
It took a few weeks for Jeremy to come back to his right mind, but once he had, he found himself with a completely new outlook on what it would take for him to get better. He reached out to his wife and asked for her help to get into a recovery program — he was finally ready to make a change.
Upon coming to Hope Center Jeremy very quickly adapted to a new way of life that he had never considered before: he became a Community Leader very early in his program, before eventually becoming House Leader. He learned about God, and what God can do for us, as well as what it takes to live a life that reflects His Word back onto the world. He spent his Vocational Training period at Summertown Metals, a materials supplier that he now works full-time at as a Lead in their metal shop. He is back home with his wife and daughter, and has found that everything that his addiction had taken from him has been restored ten times over.
As he puts it, "God worked through Hope Center Ministries to restore my life in ways I never imagined possible." He now volunteers for Hope Center as a phase 2 counselor, working to help others find the way to lasting recovery through Christ, just as he once did. After 27 years of addiction, he is now over 20 months sober by the power of God, and with a new outlook on life by way of what he learned in his time with Hope Center Ministries.
Jeremy's testimony is an incredible reminder of what's possible in our lives when we put aside the pain of our pasts and embrace a brighter future; as we read in Romans 8:31, "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Thank you Jeremy for your inspiring testimony, and to all, a happy Transformation Tuesday!
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