Bob started drinking when he was 13—his habit snowballed from there. “I had a string of failed relationships as a result of my alcohol abuse, but it got really bad about seven years ago. I had a great loss.”

That death sent him over the edge. “I decided that was the best way to cover how I was feeling. Just to make it go away,” said Bob, now 52. “It was work, come home, drink, drink, drink—every day. It got really bad.”

Within a couple years, Bob started experiencing health problems. He tried the traditional 12-step program, as well as an outpatient program through his health insurance. “It kept me dry, but it wasn’t fulfilling,” Bob said. “I’m looking at it a little differently now. The alcoholism was killing me, but it’s a symptom of what’s really wrong with me. That’s the way I’m coming to feel.”

Bob’s brother graduated from the mission’s program two years ago and encouraged him to come. Bob was two days from graduating an outpatient program when a bed opened up at the mission. “I left immediately and came here. I’ve always believed in God, but I never had that relationship with him. This program and the staff is amazing. They tolerate all my questions,” Bob said with a laugh. “I’m in their face all day long. At first I thought I was being a bug, but they are providing me all the answers.”

Recently Bob approached Pastor John, the mission’s program manager. “I told him, ‘I have a hunger. I believe, but I don’t have that fire. How do I get that?’ That day, I was saved. I was trembling. I felt, for a lack of another word, intoxicated. I could feel the Holy Spirit. Since then, everything has changed.”

Bob has a lot to look forward to in his future, including marrying his fiancé. “I want to show my future wife what a husband is supposed to be,” he said. “And I just want to keep growing and get closer and closer with Christ.

“These other programs I went to, although I was staying dry, it was nothing spiritual. It was all clinical. That’s not what I needed. I didn’t need a 12-step program, I needed a one-step program,” Bob said with a smile, referring to God. “Right now, I’m focused on him.”