Michael Yoast
Hello, my name is Michael Yoast, and I am from Orlando, FL. I started using drugs when I was 10 years old. I tried to hide it from everyone I knew for years as it progressed as I went through middle school and high school. When I started drinking it opened doors to mixing substances such as marijuana and pain pills and my addiction got severe. I was arrested when I was 16 for possession and that was the first time in six years I was sober for an extended amount of time. After 6 months I went back to drinking and immediately started using drugs again. Things were up and down through college and when I was 23 I lost three very close friends and that sent me into a downward spiral. I was using cocaine and ecstasy and drinking daily and when I was 26 my son was born. By the time he was 1 years old I had gotten my family evicted because of my using and lying. I split up with my son's mother, my parents were taking care of him, and I would disappear for days and sometimes weeks. Eventually I had no job, was forging checks from my family, and became homeless all due to me not being able to live my life without getting high and my deception. The Lord brought me out of that disfunction and brought me to Freedom Fighters of Georgia. During my program I have faced many challenges which I had to overcome, such as struggling with being manipulative like many addicts do. And with God's help I was able to overcome that, and now I have a phenomenal relationship with my son and my parents and God is still working miracles in my life and has given me a future and a hope to do anything that I set my mind to! After I had graduated the program I had decided to stay and give back what was given to me, and I have committed to stay on to be a Servant Leader and help out men in need and give them the same love and care that I was treated with when I came through these doors.