I have a friend who used to huff methylene when he was on the street and it messed up his mind some. He told me that he used a bit after he met me, but he soon quit. I was glad he had stopped, because it was keeping him from God. He told me that even when he was using, God was still directing him and helping him. I shook my head. He asked me, “Do you believe that God was with me, even in my addiction?”

I thought about him losing his mother who meant everything to him. I thought about him spending his childhood and youth in various forms of prisons, because he was emotionally unstable. I thought about his marriage, which ended with him completely losing contact with his four sons. I thought about him feeling that he was forced to leave his community because he was attacked by his ex-wife’s religion.

I am sure that he made a lot of mistakes. Sometimes horrible ones. But he lived a life of trauma. And he had more to learn to survive than I ever did. He learned to ride on his bike hundreds of miles just to get his mind right. He learned to read the Bible and take notes, finding truth. He learned to live with others and to calmly work through his problems. It took him a long time. I realized that I had no right to question how a person works through their trauma. Especially when they were in a better place.

In response, I nodded my head and said, “I am sure God was with you every step of the way. Talking to you. Helping you get to this place.”

Since then, he got in contact with all four of his sons and his family, and they all love him.