It is such a privilege to share my testimony of how drug addiction ruined my life, and how the saving power of God found me and restored me.  My story is a story of a son who was lost and was found. My name is JoselitoDiores, married and currently serving as a staff in the ministry of the House of Hope.  I have been serving this ministry for the past 18 years now.

It was in the year 1986 when I had a first taste of illegal drugs.  My friends introduced me these things and I got hooked in no time.  By 1990, despite my growing addiction, I was able to get a job in one of the companies in Cebu (MCWD) where I became a regular employee.  For most of us, this should be a turning point in one’s life like starting to plan for a bright future especially if you already have a family to support.  But unfortunately I never even considered this idea.  In fact I became more engrossed on my addiction.  My life was now slowly disintegrating before my eyes.  Every day was centered on drugs and became a slave to it.  I was lost, and I couldn’t find my way out.

I was even hospitalized twice during this time, and all in connection to my drug use.  First I suffered internal bleeding and second I had been stabbed in a deal gone wrong.  My family also suffered so much from all of these that my wife decided to separate from me later on.  Although I still continued my work as I was assigned on a team doing surveys on the field.  Sometimes, instead of going straight to my assignments, I would find myself in drug dens.  Signs of constant drug use now can be noticed in my physical body and face.  I became pale, sickly and thin.  My absences accumulated and my values of work became so poor.  I slowly learned to lie and even tampered with my daily records.  I even became very good in manufacturing false field reports just to show my supervisors that I am doing what I am supposed to do but in reality have not.  As a result my supervisors can now notice my incompetence in my work, but even then I would always be in denial of my growing problem of addiction.  Telling myself that I am doing it on my own, that this is a personal business, none of theirs to meddle in.

Then my addiction became ever more intense that nobody, not even the people closest to me, could ever stop me in this vicious cycle of addiction.  I drifted aimlessly into a spell that in no time I was promptly declared AWOL from my work.  That’s because I would be more frequenting drug dens and houses of drug pushers than time with my work and my family.  I was offered forced resignation from my work early 1997.  Slowly drifting in a river of hopelessness and desperation, my family given up on me, I would be wandering around without a purpose, isolated, lonely, and lost.

Then my sister offered one “last chance” to change and urged me to seek help and undergo rehabilitation.  Deep inside me I really felt that I needed to change but cannot do it on my own.  I didn’t have any choice but to concede and surrendered.  With the help of a friend I was brought to the gates of House of Hope.  Looking back now, I would consider this time as the most decisive moment in my life.  My turning point, my way back.  From the brink of destruction, I was given a new lease in life and have learned to stand up again.  God has found me when I was lost.  Slowly, God opened my eyes to realities I have not known before, and I have realized how close I am to my creator.  God in all his majestic splendor and mystery has taken me back home.  Then I suddenly knew that in all this time, he never surrendered on me, never gave up on me, his son, his prodigal son who was lost has now has been found.

By God’s saving grace I have overcome my addiction.  But most of all I learned to know more about Him, about Jesus, and finally I was able to receive Him as my Lord and Savior.  Ever since then He has been showering me with His blessings, slowly restoring back my family, my relationship with my wife and my children, and I have never felt more loved and the warmth than ever before.  Indeed God is so good, merciful and kind.  My once hardened unsentimental heart was now full of forgiveness, love, and joy.

I am a fully recovered drug addict, and out of my gratefulness to Him who has rescued me, I serve in His ministry to glorify Him.  I will continue to serve in this ministry by the testimony of His goodness in my life and my loved ones, by urging and helping other drug addicts like me before to come and submit themselves to God, for nothing is impossible for Him.  It is my hope and my prayer that this testimony will be an eye opener for others who are still in the bondage of drug addiction.  For we are all His sons, and He is just waiting for us to come back to Him and be finally home.