LISTEN ONLINE: Darin’s story
Depression is a powerful hinderance to living a full, free, Christ-centered life. For Darin, his battle cost him his job and much more. “Due to my depression, I screwed up my work, I just missed a day. I lost my job and in return I couldn’t afford to pay where I was living. I lived in my car for a few days.”
As one would expect, the loss of his job caused Darin considerable financial problems leading to a loss of housing. Darin began living in his car. “Cold. Because you can’t really run your car, because you don’t have money to put gas in it. You’re doing things you don’t really like to do. If I was hungry, I’d make up a scam and call a fast-food place and go get free food, saying they messed up the order or something along that line. I could sleep better in a car than I could on the road behind a building. There’s a big feeling of hopelessness because there ain’t much you can do. You can try to go to an interview, but you haven’t showered in who knows how many days, an interview aint going to go over very good. It don’t look good going into applying places when you look nasty and dirty and stinky.”
Thankfully, the Lord led a total stranger to talk with Darin telling him about the mission and encouraging him to come in. “It means a lot, you know. I mean, anybody can come in here. This place will help you find a job, they’ll help you do everything. I mean, I’ve done a lot of stuff I’m not proud of, and six felonies on me, I’ve done a lot of bad things. My kids don’t like to talk to me too much. There’s a lot I gotta deal with. I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs, but I do stupid stuff at the spur of the moment, without thinking about it. And by getting back into Christ, it’s helped me to actually stop and think about stuff before I do it.”
Your generous support helped Darin find healing and hope! His relationship with Christ is now a top priority and he counts the mission staff as close friends. “You know, good Christian people, I can always talk to them. I can always come back here and talk to staff here – it’s just a phone call away.”