I doubt you’ve ever seen a 9-year-old drinking alcohol and partying. But that’s the harsh world Adan was born into.
“I was just following my brothers and my peers,” he says today. He followed them right into crack cocaine, crystal meth, opiates — and prison, again and again, as a drug dealer.
It was a lifestyle of violence and danger, drug deals with cartel members, and brushes with death. Even though he was technically alive, Adan’s life was killing him. Even when he was technically free, addiction and mental illness made him a slave.
“I would see shadows and people talking to me, people that weren’t there. They’d be behind me in the mirror. Like evil things. I’ve been suffering from that my whole life.”
But God wouldn’t let him go. Adan’s sister-in-law heard about Gospel Rescue Mission and urged him to give us a try.
Finally, Adan was so low — so battered by life, so wracked by PTSD from the violence he’d been engulfed by, so twisted by extreme mental health problems — he was ready to seek a better life.
Thanks to your generosity, we had the privilege of opening our doors to Adan.
Through our partnership with the Wellbeing Institute, he received stabilizing mental health treatment. And then he found new life in Christ. His transformation has been nothing short of miraculous.
“I have peace!” Adan joyously declares. “If you see me today, I’m a totally different person … I’m happy that they have doctors here on campus that could talk to me. As long as I take my medication, I don’t hear or see things anymore.”
His new relationship with God is a beautiful thing. “Now I seek Him,” Adan says. “He’s been taking care of me, providing for me.”
Adan completed our Recovery Program, he’s sober, released from probation, and has secured an apartment. “I’m going to have a better and brighter future,” he reports. “Those chains have been broken. That stronghold is gone.”
SET FREE. It’s the promise of Easter … it’s the promise Jesus makes to one and all. But so many are bound by their past, by crime, by addiction. Many are on the streets, struggling not only with poverty and homelessness but also with mental illness. They need help to connect to God’s love so they can finally, truly, be SET FREE.
This is why I ask for your help today. And as you give, your impact will be DOUBLED through our Easter Matching Challenge. Any donation you make today will be matched dollar-for-dollar. Your love will go twice as far, up to $75,000 … so twice as many people in need, people like Adan, can be set free!
Your gift by April 14th toward our Easter Blessings to Go event will provide more than just urgently needed meals for people facing hunger. You’ll provide REAL HOPE through Jesus Christ.
Plus, the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit will give you a dollar-for-dollar credit against your 2021 state tax liability. Up to $400 of your gifts to the Mission (one-time or cumulative throughout the year) can be claimed if you file singly, or $800 if you file jointly.
Please let me hear from you quickly! God bless you for caring enough to give, for the sake of those who need to connect to God’s love and be set free.
Thanking God for you,
Lisa Chastain
Chief Executive Officer
P.S. Being set free is not theory. We have seen it first-hand. We have seen it time and time again, in life after life. But it starts with you. Will you please give a generous Easter gift today?