Don has been at “Teen Challenge”–a rehab facility in Texas, for several months.  It has changed his life.  He told me last night that everthing he has been through in his life….all the struggles, all the addictions…led him to the place he is now and it’s right where he is supposed to be.

He told me of this little lady preacher he’s listened to and she is a fireball.  He said that she’ll be preaching up a storm…..preaching about how life is hard, “but God”…..preaching how the world will try to steal your soul away, “but God”…..preaching that we think we can do it all in our own strength, “but God”.  He said sometimes she just stops when she’s preaching and looks up to heaven and says “But God”……meaning if it weren’t for Him, nothing good would be accomplished.

Don is living that first hand.  When he first got to rehab he was trying hard to do right, but within two months, he made a mistake.  He had been allowed to play in a praise band and when he got in trouble they took that “right” away from him.  He told me last night, “Donna, that was the worst thing they could have done to me.  I felt like the Lord was telling me that He was trying to get my attention and so I said, ’okay Lord, i’m listening.’  After that, I never wanted to mess up again.”

Now Don is in leadership in the Teen Challenge program.  They are about to open a new facility in Dallas and Don is going to be part of that.  He’ll be the marketing director.  Part of his job was to contact Wal-mart stores in the local area and set up times for the program participants to stand outside of their store and raise money.  Don said they’ll earn $1,000 every time they do that.  He made some phone calls and booked their calendar for 74 days!

I listened in amazement as he talked about what God was doing and how God works.  I can still remember what he looked like when he left…..dark circles under his eyes from sleepless nights of doing drugs, an almost empty look in his eyes, like you were looking into this soul through them and it was just a deep well of despair.  He was constantly sick those last few weeks and we all knew that something had to happen.  And by a miracle, we had a revival scheduled with Russell Coffee….who happens to be a huge supporter of Teen Challenge.  Russell saw all the “signs” in Don’s life in those few days he was here and when Don went up to pray at the altar one night……it ended in saving grace and a suggestion that Don try to get into Teen Challenge.  We all knew that it was exactly what Don needed…..a real answer to prayer.

Within just a few weeks, the money was raised and Don was on the plane.