Proverbs 14:12 12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

I was talking to a friend last night on the phone sharing my incredible week, there were so many opportunities to share God's Grace this past week :)

As I was talking I thought back to speaking to the students at Skyline. Those kids were so polite and respectful to me as I shared my story. No details were left out down to the most humiliating times in prison where I had to strip to nothing and squat and cough in front of a row of guards before cleaning the pig slabs. As I shared the tragic events that led to my addiction and ultimately prison I could see so many of these kids were touched as tears glistened in their eyes and they looked at me with compassion and empathy. Even the toughest boys in that room were moved. This took me a little by surprise because they are teenagers and I never know what to expect when I share with teens.

Again I was just so touched by their attentiveness and respect. After I was done and I went to the library to finish my interview for the Skyline Tribune, the sweet young girl photographing me was in tears telling me she could relate to many parts of my story. I don't know which parts but my heart was broken for her and I just wanted to just reach out and hug her. I looked in her eyes and said if you take anything from my story just don’t do it my way. There is always hope but life is so much easier when you aren’t carrying around two felony convictions and no one wants to go to prison. She smiled as tears rolled down her cheeks and nodded okay. That is my message to kids “Don’t do it my way, Do it God’s way!!”.
Then it reminded me of when I was reaching out to someone who was struggling and had relapsed. I begged him to stop and seek help before he got into legal trouble. He finally listened to me and check into treatment and now he is back on track living in freedom each day. He thanked me for my persistence and agreed that checking himself in for treatment was so much better than sitting in a jail cell with felony charges hanging over his head.

And I have another dear friend that I begged to stop and seek help because he was already on probation. I told him if he continued to use it would eventually end with a new charge and that is what happened. It is only a matter of time before it will all catch up with us. My message again is seek help while it is still your choice and your fate is not going to be determined by a judge or district attorney. It is never to late to start again, we serve a God of second, third, and fourth chances but the sooner we choose to change the better it will be. Our choices determine our consequences.

There is a voice of truth and sometimes it is hard to recognize it in the midst of our pain and addiction. There are many hopes I have with my message but one of the greatest is to help prevent others from going down the same road I did because although I stand in victory and freedom now it has been a long, tough, and winding road . I always had a choice to choose a different path but I didn’t so I am paying the consequences. There are always consequences to our choices, some good, some bad , and some can change your life forever.

Seek out and Listen to the Voice of Truth : )