"I was sentenced to life in prison in 2003, and I wanted to die. I never thought I would be able to make it through the sentence, and frankly, I did not want to."
Three years into the sentence I was in the punishment block in prison, and I had made plans for my death. I made a noose in the morning and I planned to use it after the night shift started and the staff had changed over.
I was sat on my bed waiting for the guards to go past for the last time when I heard a voice in my head say ‘just read that Bible on the shelf there’. That book was just an ornament to me and I had never given it a second thought, but knowing I had some time before all was quiet I picked it up and started to read.
I could not stop reading. When I got to the story of the Prodigal Son I just knew that God could forgive me. In a moment I went from hopelessness to hope. Looking back at that time in my life, deep down I needed to know that I could be forgiven. Finding that out changed everything for me, I felt alive.
"When I got out of prison I was excited, but after receiving rejection after rejection I started to lose that hope."
I could not get a job, I did not feel accepted in the church I joined and I was struggling to adapt to life after a long sentence. After a foot operation I was prescribed painkillers and through that I lapsed back into addiction, and that’s how I ended up on Liberty Farm and in Walk.
Being at Walk has restored my hope. I am learning new skills, I am in a great church and I am surrounded by the support of everyone in the ministry.
I think a lot of people in my situation would be scared. I am 58 now and I do not have any pension, any savings or anything financially to fall back on. But I have learned to trust God and. that gives me the courage to live one day at a time, knowing that my life is in His hands and He has a future for me.