My world had ended—and that was exactly what needed to happen
BY ALEX
I was fourteen years old, addicted to marijuana, filled with anger and rage,making wrong choices daily, on the brink of flunking my ninth grade year, and separated from my parents because of my actions.
Things were not good! I can see now that I was miserable and didn’t know it.
I had allowed my life to be taken over by my anger, disappointments, anxiety, and use of drugs. All of this was due to the choices that I made daily to please myself - and not God.
On April 19, my mother removed me from my classroom, and I was taken to a place that I did not want to be - Salem Ranch.
I thought that my world had ended.
“My” world had ended—and that was what needed to happen.
The Salem Ranch environment helped me adjust my thoughts and behavior through discipline, structure, accountability, and responsibility. Through the Ranch program, I have started to understand the high cost of my old behaviors , and I have learned to call them by their real name: sin.
These sins were destroying me, my relationships with others, and my relationship with God. Once I realized that I could change, with God’s help, I was able to take steps toward healing and reconciliation.
For the first time in my life I am not trying to please myself. I am allowing my perspective and my priorities to be molded by God, Salem Ranch, and my parents.
