Testimonies

Hello, my name is Michael, 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.

I entered the Freedom Fighters program at 26 years old. This was my 7th recovery program, and it was vastly different from any recovery center I had attended or heard of. The program is Christ centered and faith based. It took me several months, but I accepted Jesus into my heart and he was able to finally get to work. What I can say is that I have never been mentally, physically, and emotionally tested like I was in the program. It chips away at all the hard exterior until you’re broken, and I mean that in the best way possible. You become broken and allow God, and the mentors in the program, to help put you back together. This is not for the alcoholic, addict, etc. that wants a quick fix. This is life changing, fate altering recovery. The results are incredible! I graduated from Freedom Fighters in March 2018 after 17 months. I decided to stay on for another 4 and a half years counseling and giving back what I had been given. I made the best friends in the world from my time there. I had a front row seat to God working and changing lives that were by all accounts over. I’ve seen hardened, hopeless men break down from what they’ve done to others, watched guys forgive abusers from their childhood, and broken families become restored. It doesn’t just get you clean, the program heals the person that started drinking/using in the first place. People don’t change right? Well if you graduate from Freedom Fighters, change is mandatory. On October 20th, 2026 I will have 10 continuous years of sobriety. Yes I did the work, but without God and Freedom Fighters it would have never happened. Today I am happily married to a wonderful woman that loves God. We have a house and a dog named Kylo! I work for a medical device company that works with surgeons, providing products and operating room consultation. My family and I owe Freedom Fighters so much. I’m grateful they took in a lost cause no one wanted and gave me a chance to truly live!