How Master’s Touch Christ-centered Recovery and Transitional Housing transforms lives…

Do Bible-based recovery programs actually work for PTSD?

These days, Dion walks with a limp. It’s one of the many scars he carries from growing up in Chicago’s South Side. But today, he’s standing on solid ground. A graduate resident of Master’s Touch, Wayside Cross Ministries’ Bible-based, Christ-centered recovery program, Dion finally found a place to rebuild his life and find new purpose. But his journey in faith and recovery wasn’t an easy one.

As a kid growing up in Chicago’s South Side, just getting to school every day in a gang-infested neighborhood was a challenge. But unfortunately, his home life wasn’t much safer. Dion’s father, an alcoholic, often put Dion in the position of having to defend his mother and younger brother. The rest of his family had already been lost to the streets. So he found himself running to and from school every day.

“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer…” ~ Psalm 18:2

Besides school, a city library nearby was the only other place of refuge in his young life. On his way home, he often used a 2nd floor window to sneak into his house to avoid his alcoholic father. One day while running along a rooftop, trying to escape gang members on his way home, he fell and broke his leg. Ever since, he has walked with a limp. But he wears it like a badge of honor as a daily reminder of where he’s come from. Still, It would take a long time to come to terms with that life and those memories.

“I’ve seen so many people get shot up, cut up, beat up that I just couldn’t get these visions out of my head. Even now, it gives me tremors. I’m the first brother out of all my brothers and sisters who ever finished school. None of them ever got to the tenth grade. Now, they’re all dead…and I’m still here.” 

As Dion describes these painful memories, his voice begins to crack. Again and again, no matter how hard he tried, it would take years to break that cycle. What tripped him up?

Drugs…

Crack Cocaine…

Dion started using drugs at the age of 21. It began as a way to escape because he didn’t have a way to deal with the emotion and trauma.

With no real coping skills or support to effectively deal with post-traumatic stress, Dion started using drugs. It gave him the ability to live in the eye of the storm that by now had consumed his life. Prison became a foregone conclusion.

The only question was when.

Unfortunately, the weight of the world was about to descend on him. Dion was passed out in some crack house when his younger brother died of an overdose. That hit hard because Dion wasn’t there to protect him. Later in prison Dion would learn his mother died alone at the kitchen table. Tears finally cracked his stone-like exterior at the realization he would never even get a chance to tell her that he was sorry…or ask her for forgiveness.

Prison became a revolving door. He tried to fix his life by controlling his habit. That lasted just long enough to marry and father a daughter—breaking a promise he made to never bring another life into this world. Eventually, depression and post-traumatic stress stemming from these unresolved childhood experiences forced Dion back to addiction and prison.

Where was his faith in all of this?

The mere ideas of God and faith were completely foreign to him. But that was all about to change.

“I got introduced to Christ when I was in Cook County Jail in Division Six… a preacher came up from Mississippi and he spoke from the book of Psalms, verse 25.”

His message was so impactful that Dion began to recall it from memory.

“Call out to the Lord…and he will show you the way. He would direct your path. He will teach you how to live. Do not remember the sins of my youth or let me be put to shame. But according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good…”

“I needed to hear that. In spite of all the stuff I was going through, I knew I needed something like that. I needed that kind of help. At my age I never heard anything like it before, that even in prison, a guy like me could still be worth saving.

“That’s when I turned my life over to Christ.”

One day while Dion was sitting in Cook County Jail watching television, a guy about 15 years older asked: “Hey man, what do you plan on doing when you get out of here?” Dion said, “You know what? That’s a very good question. I’m homeless for one thing. Before I came to prison, I was living out of my van but the cops confiscated it. So basically, I don’t have a home now.”

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” ~Proverbs 17:17

That’s when the older convict mentioned Wayside Cross Ministries. He told Dion about our housing, recovery and education programs. How someone could stay there for a couple years if they needed it and faithfully worked the program. “You know, let God work on you,” the man continued!

“Really?” Dion thought. He knew that he needed stability. “If they let me out of here and I don’t have that foundation…they might as well keep me locked up again. Because I know what I’m capable of. It was the first time I wanted anything more in my life than drugs. I had this desire I couldn’t explain, but I needed God more than anything else in my life. But I just knew I couldn’t go back to the city. I didn’t want to die. That’s when I called out, Lord…help me.”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

~ Proverbs 3:5-6

The very next morning, God made a way when Dion couldn’t see any.

A series of events that followed allowed Dion to reconnect with his daughter, whom he’d never met. In fact, she was instrumental in helping him reach out to Wayside’s Christ-centered recovery and transitional housing program. So many miracles along the way convinced him that it could only be God leading him to Wayside.

When Dion finally arrived, he made a commitment to himself to devour everything he could about who God was and about his newfound faith. Over the last eighteen months as a resident of Wayside Cross Ministries, Dion has graduated our Master’s Touch Bible-based recovery program. He continued working on job certifications while brushing up in other educational needs.

Moreover, Dion has developed a close relationship with his mentor while attending three churches. He was even made a Resident Assistant. But Dion still manages to find time to lend a helping hand when new residents come into the program.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”    

~Galatians 6:9

Now in Phase Three of Wayside’s multi-phase recovery system, Dion has held many roles in the recovery and work-training ministry, Hope Outreach. At the loading bay where donations come in, Dion has seen how clothing, furniture, and appliances that were discarded found new purpose at Wayside.

When his bad leg gets tired, he works in Wayside’s free laundry service at the men’s residential recovery center. Dion always makes sure everyone’s clothes are washed, pressed, folded, and stacked neatly at the foot of their beds before the other guys return from their studies. Doing laundry is how Dion made this powerful connection. No matter how broken and useless something may appear, if God made it, then it will never lose its value.

As Dion continued to walk in faith, his confidence grew. So did his relationship with his daughter. Eventually, he would learn he had two grandsons.

“I couldn’t believe the first time I heard that…Grandpa.

“You know, I don’t like to show my tears but just hearing them say that for the first time… It brought me great joy. I’ve never even been a daddy but here I am, a grandpa. Time in prison already robbed me of 30 years seeing my daughter grow up. I don’t want to miss another moment with her boys.”

“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”  ~Genesis 32:28

Today Dion says he is truly grateful…

“Every step along the way, I see now how God got me through all of it. He may not have given me a new name like Jacob, but through His son Jesus, he has given me a clean slate. None of it would be possible without the grace of God and those called to support this ministry.

“Your prayers and support make all the difference.”

If you think you need help, call Wayside Cross Ministries at 630-892-4239 and ask to speak with a chaplain

Help more people like Dion…

If you enjoyed this story and want to learn about other lives that were changed, click: Stories of Hope & Recovery