My name is Thomas and this is my testimony on how god has awakened me! When I arrived her at the Elkhart County Jail I was an emotional wreck and a spiritually void individual that knew who God was but never actually accepted Him to be the ruler over my life. I came to jail because I hit rock bottom and had too much pride to actually ask for help. It’s taken over 12 years to finally realize that I can’t control my own life because I will always come back to the same thing.

I caught my first case at the age of 25 for dealing meth and went to prison for 5 years.  I was only out on probation for seven months before I caught another felony for the same thing and served another seven years.  When I was released I moved in with my sister and her family and everything was going good until boredom and loneliness set in and I started looking around for my old friends. I found them in the same place in the drug game and it only took three months for me to get kicked out and my life started the dramatic downward spiral into my old meth addicted ways.

I gave up on God and I gave up on myself and was hanging with the old crew ‘cause the drug game accepts anyone and everyone no matter the way you look or how scared you are inside.

It didn’t take long for the drug to take full control of my life and I stopped going to church, lost my job, lost my apartment and started over drafting my bank account. All for drugs.

I was homeless with no place to go so I called Faith Mission and they told me I had to go down to the police station and do a warrant check before checking into the mission. Well, they found a warrant for a parole violation and during the pat down the officer found a small bag of meth…and that leads me into how I found the Lord and became a follower of God.

When I was booked back into the Elkhart County Jail I I signed up for Bible study classes and met people who truly cared about me. I’ve been so blessed in my new awakening and am taking actions to change my life not only for myself but also for my family who I love so dearly. I’ve never had this amount of astounding love and happiness in my life! The volunteers have helped me move from a man who was an emotional wreck and spiritually void to a man who understands God has a purpose for my life. I know it will be hard, but with the help of my new mentors I truly can be a good brother to my sister, uncle to my nephews and a man of God. I’m proud to say I am a child of God.