My Testimony

My name is Troy, and I stand here today as living proof that God can take what was meant to destroy you and turn it into something powerful.

For years, I lived in addiction. My choices led me to seven years in prison for meth. And I’ll be honest—when I got locked up, I was angry at God. While I was in prison, my wife got back on meth and we lost our kids. I was hurting, confused, and furious. I felt abandoned. So I turned my back on God completely. I started looking into other beliefs and alternate religions, trying to find answers anywhere except the One I felt had let me down. I wanted nothing to do with Him.

When I got out, I tried to stay clean in my own strength. For a while I managed… until the day my wife left. That broke me all over again. Full of guilt and shame, I slipped right back into the darkness I thought I’d escaped. Every time I tried to handle life by myself, I fell apart.

Eventually, I moved to a new state, hoping for a fresh start. But instead of meth, I turned to alcohol. What started as drinking when we went out slowly became drinking at home, alone. I didn’t want to face my pain, so I numbed it. I thought I was in control, but I was losing myself all over again.

Then came the moment that shook me awake. One day on a construction site, I found a meth pipe—still loaded. The old thoughts came rushing back: “You can get high. No one will know.” But something held me back. I didn’t use. And right there, I realized the truth: I had simply traded one addiction for another. I was pretending I was okay, but inside I was drowning.

And then something only God could orchestrate happened: two different friends—who didn’t even know each other—invited me to the same church.

Around this time, one of the friends I worked with prayed for me. He asked God to give me a sign—something so clear that even I couldn’t miss it. As soon as I left the jobsite that day and pulled up to an intersection, I saw him—a man standing on the corner holding a huge yellow sign that said “Jesus Saves.” I had never seen him before. But in that moment, I knew God was talking to me. That was my sign.

After that I walked through those doors, joined an addiction recovery program, and for the first time in a long time… I felt hope.

Today, I’ve been clean from alcohol for over 5 months and counting. But more important than the number, I have surrendered my life to Jesus Christ.

Looking back now, I see it clearly:
God never abandoned me.
Even when I was angry.
Even when I chased other religions.
Even when I ran.
He was still working.

I believe God set everything up—my move to Georgia, the job I took, the moment I found that meth pipe, the friends He connected me with. He arranged it all to bring me back to Him, to show me that I was doing it wrong on my own. To show me that I needed Him.

He loved me in my darkest.

And today, I want to use my story—my pain, my addiction, my brokenness, and the new life He’s given me—to help others find the same hope I found. I’m not who I used to be. By the grace of God, I am who He is making me to be.