You might remember Brian. He spent his first Christmas at the mission last year. This Christmas, he has a job, a place to call home and a renewed purpose.

Brian’s story began when he and his future wife moved up to Oregon after high school. He went to culinary school; they got married, bought a house, and had two little girls. They were very active in their local church. It looked like the picture perfect life. “I became a part of the leadership at our church,” he said. “My favorite part was being a part of the worship team—setting up, running sound—being a part of that was one of the greatest highlights of my life.”

Everything might have looked alright from the outside, but Brian was battling his demons on the inside. “I was still lingering with a foot in both worlds,” he said. “Before going on stage to worship, I would smoke a little weed. It never really became an addiction, but it was lingering in the background. I was living like a hypocrite.”

As long as everything appeared okay, Brian assumed God was blessing him, so he didn’t feel the need to change. “Well, everything’s lining up in life, what’s wrong with this, God?’ I kind of challenged him. And then I started losing those things in life that I considered most precious.”

Brian found himself turning to marijuana when he was uneasy or nervous. “Whenever I was out of my comfort zone, I’d use it to calm my anxiety,” he said. “I was using that as an excuse. I was bringing it home also, and into work. My wife just got fed up. She didn’t want it in the house with the kids around. She said ‘I need you all in, or not at all.’ We chose not at all for a moment.” But a moment turned into forever in 2012.

Brian moved back to California to stay with his father and, a couple months later, he received divorce papers. Within a year, his wife had remarried. After a stint in jail and his father’s passing, Brian was yearning for a change. He was looking to regain what was lost.

He joined the Life Recovery Program and graduated this year. He then moved into the mission’s transitional living program. Looking back on his time at the mission, Brian is grateful for the opportunity he has been given to reclaim his life. “I’m all in now. I have both hands up for the Lord in a surrendered position. This program has given me the time and space for 9 months to hear the Holy Spirit,” he said.

Brian is in now working at a janitorial supply company owned by a donor of the rescue mission and is making preparations to move into his own place. He is communicating regularly with his daughters and their relationships are mending. Brian has built a good support system around him too. He is staying connected to the men at the mission, keeping in touch with his brother and sister who live out of state, and is getting involved in a local church. This Christmas is looking a lot brighter for Brian thanks to you.