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I found this prayer request in my local paper....
I wanted to share it here-- because I know the person who wrote it. We went to school together. He was one grade ahead of me. I knew him very well. His life has been just as he tells about in the letter. I just finished reading it, and I hope I can manage to see through my tears to read it again so that I can copy it here. I would like for anyone who would to pray for Tony.
I'm have cut the letter out of the paper, and will be taking it to my pastor Sunday. I know that there will be some of the ministry team from our church that will go visit him....
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This is his letter:
My name is Tony (*last name removed), most everyone who knows me knows I've been in trouble just about all my life. As I write this, I'm lying in a bunk in (*Name of county removed) jail. Laying here thinking about my life and how alcohol and drugs have taken everything away from me.
I have wasted my life, and hurt a lot of people. I don't know how many years I've done behind bars because my memory is bad from all the using I've done. I wanted to write this for a couple of reasons: one is to tell everyone that I'm sorry for all the things that I've done. I've let a lot of people down, run over people and broken the law most of my life, and I'm ashamed of myself and of the things that I've done. Another reason I'm writing this is that I hope and pray that this will help someone from going down the same road that I came down.
I feel like God would want me to do this to help someone, and I pray that this is the turning point in my life; that I'll be able to go home to my family, and live a peaceful life without drugs. For the first time in my life to be a citizen and not be ashamed of myself. I want to walk with my head up for a change.
I was an alcoholic most of my life. I started drinking with my friends when I was very young. By the time I was 16, I noticed I was having a problem with it. It was causing my family problems and I was starting to get in trouble with the law. I was sentenced to my first prison term when I was around 20 for burglary and I went downhill really fast from that point on. I couldn't stay out of trouble. I had no respect for myself and surely for no one else.
I can see how God has watched over me, because I know I should have died a lot of times from car wrecks, and close calls of overdoses. I got to where I hated myself. I was ashamed of that person looking back at me in the mirror. I went to prison about six times. I couldn't stay out of trouble, mostly because I stopped caring. I didn't care if I lived or died. I didn't know who I was anymore. I was constantly getting worse all the time. I had married a good woman and wanted good things for us. It seemed I was sinking lower and lower all the time.
About eight years ago, I found a cure for alcoholism....it was called Crystal Meth, and I began the start of a new nightmare in my already messed up life. Meth is the worst drug I've ever been on. It is the most cunning and persuasive drug that there is. It lies, and makes you think that everything is okay when in reality, life is going down the drain faster than it ever was before. I couldn't stay at home with my wife. I couldn't work. I was so messed up in my head that I thought everything was alright. In reality, my life was falling apart faster and faster.
I was addicted to the drug Meth the very first time I tried it and from that day, I never went a day without it for a long time. It would take forever to explain how crazy I had become-- and I could never explain how dangerous the drug Meth is. I said, I'm in jail as I write this, and thinking about all the bad things I've done... missing my wife and family...wishing I could stay clean from the drug. From experience, I know it's one drug that calls you back for more of the same nightmare.
I pray to God that this nightmare will end, and I can enjoy life before it's too late for me. I want to see what it feels like to have a normal life and enjoy it with the people I love. I'm sick of who I have become, and I'm sick of the nightmare. I apologize to everyone that I've hurt and done wrong. I need all the prayers I can get. I hope everyone can find it in their hearts to forgive me, because I'm truly sorry for the things that I've done.
Sincerely,
Tony (*last name removed)
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