WITH GRATITUDE
Acknowledgments
No story is written alone.
Every story carries the fingerprints of those who were present along the way.
Some people help through their words, others through their prayers or presence. Still others teach us by allowing us to witness what they have endured and how they have overcome.
This book is shaped by the people whose love, prayers, and experiences have helped make this story meaningful.
TO MY FAMILY
To my family, thank you for remaining part of this story, even when the journey was difficult.
Families experience addiction in ways that can be difficult to explain to those outside them. The journey may bring fear, disappointment, confusion, anger, prayer, hope, and long periods of waiting.
Thank you to everyone who continued to love through those moments, kept hoping when hope felt difficult, and understood that loving someone does not mean pretending the struggle does not exist.
TO MY COUSIN
Thank you for allowing your story to become a testimony.
Some parts of this story are difficult because they are real. Others are beautiful because they reveal what redemption can look like.
Your life reminded me that the person we see during the struggle is not necessarily the person who will remain there.
Thank you for being part of a story that reminds us that restoration is possible.
TO THOSE WHO HAVE STRUGGLED
To everyone who has fought a battle others could not see, please remember that your life matters.
Your story matters even when you do not yet know how it will end. Your recovery matters, your return matters, and so does your decision to keep going.
You are not simply the worst thing you have ever done.
You are still a person worth loving.
TO THOSE WHO PRAYED
To everyone who has prayed for someone they love while wondering whether anything is changing, thank you for continuing to pray.
Sometimes we pray without knowing what God is doing.
Sometimes we pray through tears.
Sometimes we pray when we have no words left.
But prayer can continue even when circumstances have not changed yet.
What looks like the end of a story may only be the place where God begins writing something new.
ABOVE ALL
Above all, I give thanks to God.
He is the One who sees what people cannot see.
He is the One who knows what is underneath the brokenness.
He is the One who can reach into places that human hands cannot reach.
He is the One who can restore what seemed beyond restoration.
He sees the worshipper underneath the struggle.
He sees the person underneath the label.
He sees the future when we can only see the past.
To everyone who has played a part in this story, whether you realize it or not, thank you.
Some of you may recognize yourselves in these pages.
Others may simply recognize the struggle.
My hope is that when you reach the final page, you see what I have come to see.
Grace is still possible.
Bradley Hobbs
Author