“I’m tired of getting high. My journey lands me at Emerge.”

In part two of this three-part series, Anthony realizes that he is tired of running from life. He reaches out for help and gets connected to the team at Emerge. We hope Anthony’s story will inspire you to make a year-end gift to Emerge. The Gift of Recovery will give more people true freedom from addiction and allow them to follow God’s Plan for their lives.

“I was tired of getting high, so I called this referral place. I said, ‘How can y’all help me stop getting high?’ Well, we can get you in treatment. We will look for a place for you. It was the start of a new journey.

The first place that accepted me was Emerge. Mandy called me and said I’ll come get you. Before I left for treatment I told my mother I was leaving town. I didn’t want her to know I was going because she didn’t really know I was on drugs. Well, she knew I drank too much and I smoked too much weed. But she didn’t know the extent of the drugs I was on and I did a lot of cocaine. 

So Mandy came and got me in a couple of hours. I remember coming here and seeing that lake for the first time. I got into the program, got me a bed and I prayed to God, this is where you want me to be. I’m very much a spiritual person.

I knew I wanted to get clean but I did not know what to do and in the first few days, it didn’t seem like it was working. So I prayed to God and I was like, dude, I’m going to go home. This is no fun. But I just got to reading, listening to the Bible, listening to people, and I started going to every meeting I could, and I found a sponsor.

Pastor Aaron was my first sponsor, and we are great friends today. After I had been at Emerge for five or six weeks, I was asked to help cook. No one knew that I was a chef. I said, oh, I would love to help you cook. Then I was offered a job cooking but I would have to leave the program. I was still in the program and could not work. So he said, ‘You could volunteer.’ So I catered my first event at Emerge.

That’s right. Last March, I catered for that event by myself. And I realized I could cook. This is what I do. This is my living. This is the one thing I know how to do well without drugs. So, I started working at the Arise Cafe and got to know the guys there. One of the guys helped me build my catering business and I started getting a log of catering jobs. Eventually, it was just Sean and I running the cafe and I knew I could do that by myself. I wasn’t bragging or boasting, but I said, I can do all this by myself. Sean was considering leaving so he said, save all your money, do all the things you need to do. And I did that. 

Then I got a job offer to work at a different restaurant and they offered me $75, 000. I asked my sponsor and counselor what I should do. It’s a lot of money. And then I actually prayed to God. And He gave me the answer!

Check out Part Three to read how Anthony created a support system, continued his sobriety, and allowed God to accompany him on his journey.