Newsletter Archive

Butch’s Story

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“I’m in Heaven here”

A bad accident in the coal mine where he had worked for 17 years is where Butch’s addiction began 39 years ago. First, it was Tylenol with codeine. “It got to the point where God started telling me, ‘You’re taking those, and you really don’t need them. You’re taking them for how they’re making you feel.

I rebelled against that and it hardened my heart.”

Butch later started buying street drugs – OxyContin, then Percocet – anything he could get. Then he found cocaine and started shooting it. He quit going to church and teaching Sunday school. Eventually, he lost everything, including his marriage.

It was then that Butch remembered his first encounter with the Lord. He and a college friend were driving out of town to buy drugs when Butch heard a voice “out of nowhere. “Butch, I want you to turn around, go back home, look up Floyd and Joe” – guys Butch used to party with who had turned their lives over to Christ. “They’re going to pray for you, and I want you to give your life to Me.”

Butch finally listened to the voice. Two different 12-step programs rid him of his addiction to opiates, but something was still missing. Butch felt “a greater commitment with God to talk about Jesus, to talk about his Word and try to lead people to the true help for their needs.”

It was at the Mission that Bruce found the place where he belonged.

“This place is just different. I know God is going to use me. Every day I wake up, I can’t wait to do that walk. The whole time I’m just in fellowship with

Him. The Mission saved me. It gave me a haven to express my relationship with God and encouraged me to share and be open about it.”

“Nothing is impossible with God,” Butch says. “You do the right thing, God’s going to come back with you and He’s going to keep increasing and increasing. That’s the way it works”.

Thank you so much for making a difference in Butch’s life through your prayers and support!

Thank you for making a difference in Butch’s life through your partnership!