Growing up, Brandon moved around a lot due to his father’s military career. His dad was constantly absent from his life, and when he was around, his father’s anger often resulted in physical and emotional abuse. The absence of a caring father left a hole that Brandon could not fill.
As a teenager, he became addicted to video games which served as an escape from reality. But one day, that escape came to an end. His father grabbed him by the hair, threw him on the ground, got on top of him, and began to choke him. Brandon got so angry that he started crying.
He got up and went into the kitchen, grabbed a knife and told his father that if he called the cops, he was going to kill himself. Shortly after that, the cops came to the house. His father was being abusive towards him, but Brandon was the one that got arrested and was taken to a juvenile detention center.
When he was eventually released, he moved into his friend’s house where his life continued to spiral out of control. He started smoking weed, skipping school and living a life of rebellion. He eventually rejoined his family when they moved to Georgia, but shortly after they arrived, his father moved out.
After his father left, he discovered a box in his house that would turn his life upside down: his birth certificate. He discovered that the man he had grown to know as his father was not his biological father. He sought acceptance wherever he could find it. He was introduced to crack cocaine by a co-worker, and eventually, he started partying, drinking, and using heroin.
One night, he cried out to God, saying, “I hate my life. Every time I try to stay clean and do better I go back to the same thing. And if that is how my life is going to be, I want to die.” He heard God’s audible voice saying to him, “Are you ready?” He said he was ready and accepted God there.
Even though he had an encounter with God, he continued to struggle to break the strongholds that drugs and alcohol had over his life. One day, he overdosed on heroin and ended up in the hospital. At the end of his rope, he enrolled in a faith-based recovery program that found the root of his problems.
He reconciled his relationship with his father and spent four years in a ministry that helped him. He hopes someday to become a minister so he can continue the miraculous work that God has done in his life by helping others.
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