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From Drug Addiction to Purpose: Anthony Samuels’ Journey to Sobriety and Hope | Wake Up With Marci · Wake Up with Marci

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The voice of God speak to me and says, hey,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I want you to dedicate your life to help others.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: And Danny says, Marcy, one day you're going to be
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: over this whole organization.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: I'm like me, I don't, I don't. You must have
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: got the wrong guy.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: So I'm like that blew me away because I have
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: never even thought about that. I tucked it away. What
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I heard was to me, it was like a prophecy.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: So I tucked it away and I said, I'll just
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: that's something that he has to make happen.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: So I finished the program.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: There was a lot of legal stuff waiting for me
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: when I got out, so I had to go face
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the music on some stuff, a lot of fines to
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: be paid. And the Lord put some dear people in
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: my life that were financially able and they were able
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to help me out with a lot of messages that
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I made.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: Yes, this is Wake Up with Marcy, a space for
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: honest conversations about healing, recovery, and women's wellness. I'm Marcy Hopkins.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Take a breath, You're safe here. Let's begin. Addiction doesn't
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: just take something from your life, it can take everything,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: your identity, your relationships, your sense of purpose. But what
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: happens when someone reaches their lowest point and chooses something different.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Today's conversation is about redemption, transformation, and discovering purpose after addiction.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Welcome everyone to Wake Up with Marcy. I'm your host,
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: Marcy Hopkins. I'm an author, TV host, motivational speaker, and
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: mental health advocate. And on the show, we have honest
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: conversations about healing, recovery, mental health relationships and what it
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: really takes to rebuild your life. And if today's conversation
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: resonates with you, please make sure to hit that like button,
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: comment and share this episode with someone who may need
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: to hear it, because these conversations are conversations that help
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: people feel less alone. My guest today is Anthony Samuels,
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: President of Lighthouse Gospel Mission and Senior pastor of Lighthouse
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: Freedom Center in Tampa, Florida. His ministry includes an eighteen
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: month recovery and discipleship program called the Faith Home, helping
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: men and women break free from addiction and rebuild their lives.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: But what makes Anthony's story so powerful is that he
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: once sat on the other side of that journey, struggling
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: with addiction. Crime and ultimately incarceration, until one moment changed everything. Anthony,
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Welcome to Wake Up with Marcy.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Thank you Marcy for having me.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: So you have quite a story, Anthony, and I remember
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: us speaking before we jumped on the interview and you
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: sharing with me, and I was just blown away, Like
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: it just shows you, no matter what where you are
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: in addiction or mental health or in this disease, that
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: you don't have to stay stuck in that and there
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: is the possibility to be able to recover and find
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: the light. And that your story is truly about being
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: in the darkness and finding that light and then now
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: helping so many others through it. So can you take
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: us back to well, I know you were incarcerated, but
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: where really did your journey into addiction start?
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So to get to that point, I've had a
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: lot of time to really think about that. It started
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: probably when I was thirteen years old and I was
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: asking myself what triggered that event and my when I
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: was brought up, my mother and my father had a
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: rough relationship, and then there was a point in my
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: childhood where my mother just it was just too much
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: and she ended up leaving me and my brother and
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I think that was the door that opened it up,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: because I perceived it as a rejection, even though you know,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: I'm just a kid. And I think that's when I
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: started exploring other things, and that door was open for
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: other influences to begun to come into my life. And
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: I remember initially going to a park and there was
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: these guys hanging out and they were smoking marijuana, and
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: I remember they called me over and said, do you
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: want to try some? And I tried. That was my
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: first time trying drugs, and I remember walking home and
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: feeling there's a weird feeling. But that was the that
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: was actually the trigger point in the first time that
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I actually got involved with illegal drugs.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: So you did you say you were thirteen?
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Yes?
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And so did you feel like like a sense
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: of like release, right, like you didn't have to feel
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: all the emotions that you had been feeling and kind
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: of like almost like a freedom, a freedom of your
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: life exactly.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: And I think that that is the trap, It's a
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: false freedom. So yeah, it made me stop having to
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: feel the pain, the non pain in my heart of
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: my mother not being there. And now you know, of course,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: it wears off eventually, so now you're forced to go
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: back to it. And now that's how you get trapped
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: in this cycle of addiction. And of course you start
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: with one drug and eventually you're gonna want to go
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: to stronger drugs. And that's exactly what happened. It went
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: from marijuana to alcohol, drinking, skip in school, getting drunk,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: and then from there I started moving into more hardcore
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: drugs like cocaine and crack, cooking up cocaine, mixing it
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: with weed and tobacco. So but that was the starting point,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: and you're right, it created this false sense of freedom
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: for me.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: There was a lie, and so it escalated and you
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: were using more and more, and you were using harder drugs,
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: and now you're getting through high school skipping school. What
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: happened after high school?
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: So I actually, Marcy, believe it or not, I actually
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade. And
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: it was a matter of because I was skipping school
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: so much, there was no way I was going to graduate.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: So I just decided to drop out of school. And
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: then now I.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Got more time to do more drugs, and my life
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: just really started escal out of control even more. And
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: then one day my grandmother asked me to could I
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: go with my grandfather to my uncle's house in Connecticut
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: to watch over my grandfather while he visited with him.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, I just thought it would
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: be a weekend deal. I had no idea that it
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: was going to be actually one of the pieces that
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: was going to eventually help me to get my life
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: back on track, even though that season was bad. So anyways,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: what happened was I ended up going to Connecticut staying
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: with my uncle, and then I met a family, a
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Christian family that he worked for that was very wealthy
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: and their kids.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Were around my age.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: So me and one of their sons really kicked it off,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: and I chared with them what I was going through
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and my life is going nowhere.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: You know, I dropped out of school.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: And so they started suggesting maybe should move to Connecticut,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: you know, from Massachusetts to cannnecticutt and and and.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Start a new life.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: So I thought about it, you know, and even though
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm dealing with addiction, I knew that was
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: not sustainable. Eventually, you know, I was going to get
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: you know, in trouble and you know, get out of
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: control with my life. So I was looking for an opportunity,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: so I took them up on it and so, but
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: at the same time I still had that addiction.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: So I was changing locations, going to another state, but
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: bringing my baggage with me.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: I would say, yeah, I kept moving, and I kept
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: changing people, places, and things, but the common denominator was me.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: The chaos always followed yes.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, So beautiful family let me in their house.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, I felt like the fresh prince of bel Air.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: I'm living in a fluent neighborhood in Connecticut, but still
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: dealing with addiction, and went to the high school. Was
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: able to finish my last year of high school very
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: just barely made it because I was partying after school,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: you know, And I just barely made it, by the
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: grace of God. So I finished high school, and at
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: that time I was I started working a job.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: And that end job. It was really going nowhere.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: And there was a girl that I was dating, and
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: she used to go to college in Florida, and she
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: would come home and tell me about Florida. And she
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: finally finished school and said she was going to make
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: the decision to move to Tampa, Florida. She said would
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: you come with me, And I said, I don't really
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: know anybody in Florida.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: I have a aunt that.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Lives in Orlando. But almost like the same situation that
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: happened from Connecticut to Massachusetts. Connecticut, I was like, you
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: know what Connecticut's going nowhere? Maybe I need to go
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: to another.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: State, right, I get it. I get it. Yeah.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: So She's like, listen, I'm moving with you or without you.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: So I said, okay, I came down in February, which
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: is very cold up in Connecticut and sunshine palm trees.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: I said, I'm staying here.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: I like this.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Florida absolutely, I get it. Same thing I'm coming down here.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: But now I got year round, good weather, beaches, bars.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, the whole nine was just a disaster.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: How old were you at that time when you moved.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I was about in my early twenties, probably like twenty three, yeah,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: twenty three years old.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: So I loved it.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: So I got a job immediately, but then started hanging
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: out with the wrong crowd, learned my way around, actually
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: started graduating and started hanging out in strip bars. So
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I was like alcohol, cocaine, and now I'm hanging out
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: because Tampa's known for strip clubs. So now I got
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: this new thing I'm adding to my portfolio, and I'm
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: just like, man, this is I'm thinking it's great, But
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: at the same time, it's really destroying my life and
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: destroying my relationship with my my my girlfriend that moved
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: down here. It was really I made life really rough
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: for her. Yes, so she thought life was gonna change
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: for me. I end up, you know, doing the same thing.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: I remember, I got my first d UI down here,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: got pulled over. Was actually looking for I was actually
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: looking for a drug spot that night. Somebody told me
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: go on Hillsborough Ad in Tampa and there's drugs there.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: I went to the wrong end of Hillsborough and ended
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: up doing a U turn, you know, too fast, and
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: you know sheriffter I didn't. I didn't even see him
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: and he pulled me over. I was intoxicated. But I
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: got pulled over all the time up north and always
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: got away with it. But I guess down in Florida
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: with the Mothers against drunk drivers that was really big
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: during that time. And he gave me a sobriety test
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: and says, man, I got to arrest you.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Like what arrest me?
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and ended up getting arrested. I stayed in jail
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: for the whole weekend, and then I remember she picked
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: me up. She said, man, Tony Man, we are we
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: gonna do the same thing that we were doing in Connecticut.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: And I was like, nah, this is gonna make me right.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: I think I love my lesson. And it didn't just
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: continue to escalate and just getting involved in drugs and jobs.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: And just this vicious cycle once again.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: So what ultimately made the difference for you? What made
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: you want to change and get sober?
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: So what happened Marcy was I was getting in some
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: really dark.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Places.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: I was like getting involved in running fraudulent checks credit
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: cards and met these guys actually from Connecticut, and we
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: were running scams like back and forth, and I was
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: just I didn't realize I was digging a real bad
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: pit for my life. And there was actually one night
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: where I was got in the altercation with a guy
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: and so this guy ran to his car and pulled
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: out a gun and started chasing me, me and an
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: individual I was with, and I was able to get
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: away from it, and he went back and shot my
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: car up, and then they went to my apartment looking
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: for me. And actually destroyed my apartment. Thank god I
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: wasn't there, because I believe if I was there, I
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: want to be here talking to you right now. So
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I started realizing, So I'm like really getting it closely, Like, man,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: I'm really trending to either go to prison for a
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: long time or I'm going to get killed, you know,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: in Tampa. And I remember I was thinking that, but
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: at the same time, I still had that street thinking.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: And I remember I was upset with those guys that
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: did that to my car. And I went into Tampa
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: on Nebraska and there was some people I used to
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: meet with and cop drugs offer and I asked him,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I said, can you get me a gun? And I
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: was going to go get revenge on those guys. And
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: that night, Marcy, I was driving and I had been
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: up for about three days. Oh my goodness, full of drugs,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: drinking Bacardi one fifty one. I used to have a
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: bottle a fifth of it right in between my laps
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: while I drove the streets of Tampa, and my body
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: finally just shut down. It just while I'm driving and
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: my car goes out of the lane into the oncoming traffic,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: and I have a head on collision with a wrecord
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: and my head bust through the windshield.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: But I couldn't even feel that.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: I was so high with drugs and alcohol and I
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: had drugs on me, so I jumped out the car
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: and ran down the street, and because I knew if
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: the cops came, I was going to get arrested and
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: get a drug charge. But believe it or not, I
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: remember walking down the street and I said to myself,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: I'm tired. I can't do this no more. I have
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: to do something. I went to a own booth and
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I called the police on myself, so they they connected
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: and said do you own a told me the car
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: that was in that? I said, yeah, that's my car.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: It was me, sir, And he said, well you're in
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: the rest I said, I.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Said thank you.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: I just needed and believe it or not, Marcy Jail
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: became a sanctuary. It became a place where I was
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: There was no drugs there, and I was able to
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: start thinking clearly about my life and assess my life,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: about where I was at, at the age I was at,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: and what I've done with my life.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: And I realized I have to do something.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: And I remember getting on my knees and calling out
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: to Jesus, and I said, I need help.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: I need I heard about you.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: People used to tell me about you, but I have
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: destroyed the life you have given me, and I need
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: you to help me. And I don't want to say
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: anything appeared in the jail cell. But something Marcy came
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: in and change me, and all of a sudden, I
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: lost the desire to live that life. I lost the
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: desire to want to do drugs. All of a sudden,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: I wanted to live a righteous life, and I found
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: that I didn't even want I started. I knew I
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: was shamed because I would go back into the jail
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: community and they would be swearing and cursing, and all
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, that started bothering me.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: So I knew.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: I said, man, that used to never bother me, what's happening?
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: So I remember that that was the time I started changing.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: I couldn't put the Bible down. I kept reading it
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: every single day.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: Amazing, amazing, you know, Anthony, I too, am. I'm almost
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: eleven years sober. And it was when I got down
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: on my knees and prayed to Jesus and asked him
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: to take me in his arms and that he would
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: be my shepherd and I would be his lamb. That
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: everything started to change for me. And it is true,
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: like I still have always had to do the work,
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: and yes, very important to me, I stay spiritually connected.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: But the desire for alcohol completely changed, completely changed, and
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: and and the way I wanted to live my life
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: changed and it has changed significantly and and I live
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: a beautiful life today. So you know, we both have
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: that that Jesus story. And I always say, it's just
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: waiting waiting for you to ask, and and you know
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: there's anything just waiting for you to Yeah. Yeah. So
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: so once that happened for you, how long were you
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: incarcerated and and what happened after?
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: Okay, So for that.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: The trouble I got in with the car accident, I
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: was in jail at that time for about two months.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: And it was the weirdest thing because, like I said,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: I actually would go to work in jail. I don't
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: want to just sit around, so I would go to
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: work and work in the kitchen. And then I remember
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: there was a man that I met in jail, and
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: he was a Christian that he fell and he made
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: some mistake, but he was getting his life right in jail,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: but he had more experience with me. He served the
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Lord outside of jail. So he started teaching me about
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: faith and about trusting my life because I was like,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: what am I going to do when I get out
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: of here? He said, you have to trust your life
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: now in the hands of God, because if you really
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: gave your life to him, He's going to take care
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: of you now.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: So I'm like, that is it that easy?
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: So then when I found out I was going to
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: be released, I said, listen, I don't feel like I'm
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: strong enough to go back into the streets. I don't
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: think if somebody, if somebody put like some cocaine on
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: the table or some alcohol. There was a woman that
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: came at me, I think I would give in. I'm
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: just gonna be I'm not that strong yet. There's not
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: any place do you know that I can go to
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: get help? And he mentioned a place that was in Tampa,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and I felt that wasn't a place. And then he
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: mentioned the Lighthouse Gospel Mission and he says, then you're
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: gonna like about this place.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: It's away from Tampa. It's out in the country. It's
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: away from it.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: And when he said it Marcia was like, this piece
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: came to my heart and it was almost like God.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Was saying, that's where you need to go. So I
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: found my girlfriend at the time.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Did pick me up, and you know, we said our
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: goodbyes and she bought me out there, and I'm thinking,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: I'm just gonna go there, get my life right.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Eventually I wanted to be a stockbroker, so I said,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: get this wh this drug thing, and then I can
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: go back and be a stockbroker and live my life
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: happily ever after.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: That's what I'm thinking. So I had no idea.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: So the Lighthouse was a cipleship training ministry, so it
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: basically was a ministry that's designed to deal with guys
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: and girls now coming out of addiction, where they teach
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: you how to live your life according to the Bible
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: to keep away from drugs. So basically I finished the curriculum.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: But it was five months into my stay there that
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: I heard the voice of God speak to me and says, hey,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: I want you to dedicate your life to help others.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Like what yeah, And Danny says, Mercy, one day you're
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: going to be over this whole organization.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't I don't. You must have got
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: the wrong guy.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: So I'm like, that blew me away because I have
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: never even thought about that anyways, I just I tucked
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: it away. What I heard was to me it was
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: like a prophecy. So I tucked it away and I said,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: I'll just that's something that he has to make happen.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: So I finished the program.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: There was a lot of legal stuff waiting for me
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: when I got out, so I had to go face
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the music on some.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: Stuff, a lot of fines to be paid.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: And the Lord put some dear people in my life
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: that were financially able and they were able to help
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: me out with a lot of messages that I made
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: help me that yes, yes. So eventually I did make
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: it back to the lighthouse. It wasn't easy because I
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: was living out to have my own pattern. But then
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: the Lord reminded me, hey, remember I told you you're.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Going to dedicate your life. I was going to help
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: you with this.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: It was like we had a deal going, but you
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: were supposed to give your life to help others.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: So finally I made it.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Back to the lighthouse in nineteen ninety nine, and then
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: the pastor that was there I ended up serving him
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: and becoming his right hand man and served him for
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: about almost twenty years.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: So basically I learned in that seat and I learned
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: all about the organization the Lighthouse, learned it ins and.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: Out and know how to organization operates.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: And now you're the president of the Lighthouse.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: It came to Past Marson. I heard his voice. It
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: came the past.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: You know what I love and that I can relate
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: to also? Is that I mean listen, when I started
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: getting sober, I mean, first of all, it was about
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: discovering myself right and finding that love for myself, the
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: person that I had lost when I was young, right little,
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: and all the trauma I can relate to, the abandonment
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: and feeling that and feeling not lovable right like your
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: mom leaves you, your dad leaves you, like you know
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: who wants you right did the ones that should love you.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: So there was a lot of that I dealt with also.
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: But once I started, you know, healing and getting clean
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: and had the clarity and finding that love for myself
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: and that connection to my spirituality, it's like that's when
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: you start hearing, like what it is that you're supposed
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: to your purpose you're write like that's you're led, You
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: truly are lad, it's just are you going to listen?
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: And are you going to follow through? So like for me,
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: I mean starting starting a talk show like what are
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: you like me? You know, like I started this talk
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: show called Coffee with Marcy, which is a Facebook live show,
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: and then moved into a TV show called Wake Up
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: with Marcy and then writing write two books. What what
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: what are you talking about? Like right, You're like, yes,
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: what you're talking about? But so it's just crazy and
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: it's just like answering the calling. And it's so true
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: that when when it is meant to be and you
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: are open to it, I mean, the right people come
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: into your lives, you know, your life and the doors
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: open and and not that it's easy, but but it's available.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: But it's available. Yes, yeah, so I love I love that.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: And self discovery. Right, let's talk about that a little bit.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: So when it yeah, you go ahead, no, no, I
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: mean you know, for for those out there that that
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: are struggling right to connecting with them themselves and and
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: their purpose or even feeling that they have a purpose,
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, how how does someone start to start to
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: connect with themselves and get vulnerable enough to to discover
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: their purpose.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: I think one of the things that I had to
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: separate was my actions didn't determine my identity. That you know,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: I did it, but that's not who I was created
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: to be. So once I was able to reconcile that
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: and realize that I was a lot of stuff that
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: happened was I was a product of other people's decisions
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: and I had no way to nobody to leave me out.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: And then once you realize and.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Stop believing the lie, because in that when you're in
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: a struggle, you start believing the lie I'm less than
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: maybe I'm not going to measure up, and you start
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: believing all these things that are false because the Lord
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: don't create junk. Every person has a purpose, and it's
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: just a lie to enemy and that you know, if
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: they can really get to that point of come into
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: the light. And then when you come to the light,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: you hear that that right voice that's going to tell
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: you the truth about who you are. So I think
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: once that happens, then you're ready to move into purpose
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: and you'll find out that, wow, I wasn't created to
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: do the things I was doing that I am called
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: to do something great that's going to impact humanity and society.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: I believe every person has a great call in their lives.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: I do too, And and one of the things I
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: love is that we we were walking in fear and
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: today we walk in faith. Right, So if you have faith,
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: then you you don't walk in fear. And that is
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: something that is life changing. And there's a lot of
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: people out there that go to church or do the
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: things and you know, or live in the life, and
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: but they live in fear constantly. And you can't. You
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: can't have both. You can't have folk both, right. Yeah.
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: So let's talk a little bit about the Lighthouse and
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: Commission and who you're helping.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, Yeah.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: So the Life House, I gave you a little history
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: on it was a ministry that was there before me.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: It started in nineteen fifty two as a rescue mission
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: in downtown Tampa, reaching out to the alcoholics on skid roll.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: The founder was a man named Jane Leonard. He was
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: a street preacher and then an attorney. A Christian man
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: bought him a building in downtown Tampa and he started
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Lighthouse Gospel Mission and he basically just bought guys in.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: He gave him a shower, he fed them, preached the
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: gospel to them. They spend the night and they would
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: go back into town. But he noticed there wasn't no transformation,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: and he started asking God, what am I doing wrong?
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: And he said, you have to get them out of
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: this environment. So the property we're at in Riverview, he
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: purchased that in the sixties and then he ran both
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: locations simultaneously, and guys that were serious he would bring
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: them out to the Riverview property with the hopes of
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: discipleship training them. Eventually Downtown faded out, and then the
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: whole operation is out here now in Riverview. We're on
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: about five acres and basically the throat the bulk of
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: our ministry is eighteen month discipleship training program.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: Initially it was just for men.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: In twenty two thousand and five we started doing women.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: And these are men and women on the men's side
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: that come out of addiction, incarceration, any life controlling situation.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: We even had some people there that weren't bound by drugs.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: They were dealing with maybe you know, mental health stuff
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: and just needed a stable environment to help them. And
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: then we started doing ladies and the ladies we minister too,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: are coming out of addiction, prostitution, just the whole drug life,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: real hardcore stuff. Meth fanyl prescription drugs is the big
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: one now, believe it or not, crack heroin. So that's
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: what we're dealing is frontline ministry. So they come here
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: in it's eighteen months. They stay on the grounds for
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: the entire eighteen months. You know, they get passes stuff,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: But the program is for eighteen months. Then after the
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: eighteen months they can either do an internship or they
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: can transition out and we help them get a job.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Then they can start banking money up, either get their
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: license back, start paying child support, get them a card.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Then to transition them to get their own place, and
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: then we have accountability system set up even after the
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: program to get them connected to the church. We act
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: to have a local church. If they don't have a
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: church family to go to, they can connect with our church.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: And now we try to plug them in either ushering, greeting.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Some of my ministry team at the ministry are actually graduates.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: Our whole staff is graduates, except probably from my wife.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: She didn't graduate from the ministry. So basically that's the
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: thrust of our ministry.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: It's there.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: We also have a food bank, so we are actually
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: able to feed the ministry.
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: Student out of that.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Then we were doing outre each and actually right now
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: we're we're feeding the community. About one hundred and thirty
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: families pull up and we'll load their car up with
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: if they need any prayer, we'll pray with them, you know,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: invite them at the church if they want to come.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: We also have a thrift store and load prices and
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: all the money goes back into the program. And then
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: we have a food truck also and all that money
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: goes back into the program. But our church is actually
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: one of the biggest funding sources of our organization where
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: a lot of the members love what we do and
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: they just want to give back into it because they see.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: So when a man or woman graduates Mercy, what we do.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: We dedicate a Sunday service to have a graduation. So
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: I'll preach a little encouraging message. Then the graduates will
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: get up and they'll say, this is how I came,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: this is what I went through, and this is where
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: I'm going to and they I think that's what The
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: people that come to church love it because they see
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: the gospel in action. Wow, they're not just we're actually
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: seeing a life that was about that was near death.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Now now is a mother, a father, an employee, a
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: business owner. Now is a pastor or an evangelist. That's
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: what we're seeing. We're sticking with them from addiction into purpose.
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: I love that. What's the basis of the program, Like,
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: how are you helping others to move through through recovery
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: and healing? And you know so often it the basis
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: of addiction is trauma, So how are you helping them?
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: So one of the classes, that's a great point, Marcy.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: There's a class that we have that everybody goes. It's
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: called Inner Healing, and it's a powerful class. And what
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: it does we realize that a lot of times people
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: are acting out based on a trauma that happened to
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: them either in their childhood in a relationship, and a
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: lot of times they forget about those traumas, but the
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: reaction is still there and it's affecting them in there now.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: So we take them through that inner Healing class and
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: we just take them through there and a lot of
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: it is based on forgiveness, So you know, you have
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: to forgive the person that sexually abused you. You have
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: to forgive the parent that left you. You have to
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: forgive the dope dealer that beat you up, or the
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: cop that wasn't fear to you. And then when we
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: get them to that place of forgiveness, then healing can
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: come and freedom can come in that area.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: And now instead of.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: A protective thing that they have and that they react
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: out of those mechanisms, now they're free to love again,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: free to trust again, and it carries into their marriage,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: into the relationship with their children. So that is one
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: of the most important classes that we take them to
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: to deal with the past, because if we don't deal
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: with that past, as they can't move into that future.
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you can move forward, and if you don't forgive,
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: you do stay stuck, and you stay stuck in that
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: story and that pain. And I myself, I talk a
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: lot about forgiveness and it's you know, it's part of
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: my what I speak on because it's so dire that
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: you that you forgive those that harmed you and forgive yourself.
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: And like my mother, she kept me in an environment
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: where I was sexually abused, and even when she knew,
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: she didn't take me out of it, and it took
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: me a long time to forgive my mom. But what
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: I what I have learned is is looking at my
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: mother as taking off all the titles and looking at
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: her as a human and and by doing that, I
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: was it was I was able to separate and see
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: how she was raised and how she was programmed and
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: how she navigated life herself. And it just forgiveness is
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: not about saying what happened was okay. It's releasing you
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: from the power that it holds over you. That's what
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: it's about.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: So that's so yeah, I.
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: Remember that out there. Guys. It's like saying like it's
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: okay that you sexually abuse me. No, that's not okay,
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: But you have to forgive the act and the power
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: that it holds over you. And so yeah, I'm all
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: about that forgiveness.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: And what happens to Marcy like my mom, the thing
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: that happened with me and my mom. Yeah, you know, I,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: as a man, I had understanding she was in an
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: abusive relationship. So I didn't have that understanding. Now I
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: had it now because I'm able to forgive her. Now
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: we have a new relationship together. So now she's a
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: part of my life. We all we communicate, you know,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: so without forgiveness, I went and talked to her. Yeah,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: giveness has connected us back together.
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: Now I know it's it is beautiful. It is a
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: beautiful thing. And and sometimes you forgive and you don't
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: have that person in your life anymore. And that's okay too.
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: But I've had Yeah, but you but you let it,
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: you release yourself of it. Now would you say that
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: the twelve step program is a basis or how like
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: someone does they continue the work, like if they leave
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: the program, like, what's the foundation?
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: So basically it's application. So and I believe what the
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: what the program did, what it did for me. It
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: brought a structure into my life. And we tell them
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: that that there's no lasting freedom without structure. So you
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: need a structure. So we provide a structure. But it
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: would do you no good if you don't at the
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: structure when you leave. So if they stay in the
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: framework of that structure where they have their devotion time,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: they're not going to the wrong places. They have boundaries
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: around their life, the right relationships, the right friends, you know,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: staying connected to the right group of people. If they
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: stay in that structure, they'll maintain their freedom. Those that
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: don't and violate it are the ones that usually end
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: up relapsing and are coming back. But even in that,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: it's easy get back up and get back into the structure,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: get back into the blueprint that that you receive for
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: your life.
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: I love it. I love it. Yeah, I listen. I
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: didn't go through your program, but I had to change
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: everything about the structure of my life everything.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: Yes, And it.
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: Truly is about the people that you surround yourself with.
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, I always It's one of the
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: things I talk about in my book. You know, as
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: far as triggers go, wake up, you're not broken because
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: those triggers are. It's that muscle memory, right, Because if
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: if you have one cup or one place that you
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: go and that's where you did your drugs or your
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: drink or whatever, I mean, it's going to trigger you
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: to want to do it. And and and then those
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: people that you drink with, or did drugs with, or
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: broke the law with. I mean, that's just what you're
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: going to do if you continue to surround yourself with
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: those people. So you know, absolutely you've got to change
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: those people, places and things.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's it. So it sounds so simple.
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: Right, yeah, and you know what I mean, It sounds simple,
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: but god, it's hard to do. But it's a simple
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: structure as long as you can follow it and do it.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: Because Marcia, I'm in the same city that I used to.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: I know exactly what the dope hole is right now.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: If I wonder, yeah, so I just don't. I don't
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: go there or if I'm diving there, I'm not entertaining thoughts.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: Oh remember the old days. Notice, no old days now,
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: I want to go back to the old days.
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: Well, listen and listen, I listen. I drank that was
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: my drug of choice. That was my But I have
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: wine in the house today. I can have it. I
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: went in the beginning, I took everything out of the
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: house and all. But you know it's it's I have
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: a very different mindset and I'm just wired very differently,
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: and I hold sacred my my recovery and yes, yes, yes,
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: And the thing is is one of my I have
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: all these tools that I learned, right, and one of
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: them is that that pop in the tape. So if
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: you have like when in the beginning, like if you
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: ever like choose like you're thinking you want to have
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: a drink or it'll be different, Like, just pop in
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: the tape and play it out, right, Like, what is
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: that going to look like?
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: That's it? Yeah, because it always started off fun. Yeah,
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: then we're ended was not fun?
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah exactly, So just play it out before you take
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: that first step or do that first drug. Right. Yeah. So,
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: so tell me today, like how many how many people
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: are there today that are going through the program.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Between the men and women, we have probably about seventy
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: five individuals.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: That were responsible for They actually live on the grounds
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: and they're all in different phases.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: Some are in the eighteen month spot, some are in internships,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: and some of them are actually out working like today,
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: they're out working. Then they'll come back and we set
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: up an account for them in house, and then once
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: we feel they're ready, then we get them to open
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: up their own bank account, write them a check, give
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: them teaching.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: Them to live life productively. Which yes, those life skills, right,
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: I mean we all need to learn them. And and
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: just because you're thirty five years old doesn't mean you
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: know how to you have the life skills, right.
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: Exactly, you know.
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: So what about somebody out there that's dealing there their
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: in addiction, and they're they're so fearful. They're so fearful
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: of living life without alcohol the unknown, right, Like, how
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: can life be good without it?
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: What would you say to that person that's stuck, who's fearful?
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: I think what happens and we deal with a lot
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: on our end. Some people have a fear of success
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: because they're so used to getting to a point in
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: life and then having that addiction sabotage it, so in
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: their mind they don't believe that they can overcome it. Yeah,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: but I'm a testimony that you can overcome it, you
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: can be free of it all. There is life without it,
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: you know, there is victory without it. And you don't
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: have to be afraid of success if you would just
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: lay it down and come out and try something new,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: and it won't be something. There's a scripture says the
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: blessing of the Lord makes rich and he adds no
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: sorrow with it. So this will be a success with
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: no sorrow with it. So they just have to be
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: willing to go into the unknown. You know, when I
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: came to the organization to get something I never had,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: I have to do something I never did. So I knew,
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: I said, I never did anything like this. So but
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: to get that thing that I want, I have to
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: do something I've never done before. And I did it,
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: and I submitted to people that fought the battles I
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: fought overcame the things. And I was at that time
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: and still now, I'm ready to listen. I'm ready to
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: listen and learn teach me. And you got to be teachable.
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: You've got to become teachable, right and you've got to
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: break that ego down. And that was definitely something that
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: I had to learn myself. What's what's one truth about addiction?
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: Maybe a lot of people out there don't know.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: It's false.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: It's a false happiness, it's a false joy, and it's
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: a it's a trap that makes you feel good. And
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: at the same time, you're having a good time over here,
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: but it's robbing you over here. It's destroying your your
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: your health, it's destroying your relationships, it's destroying your finances.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: So at the same.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Time, while you're having this good time over here, it's
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: destroying something over here. And I think I kind of
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: knew that, But then when I really sat down and
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: examined my life and I was like, it's a miracle.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: I'm still alive because that thing was destroying me and
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: I'm actually putting it in my body while it's.
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: Just yeah, one hundred percent. Well, we're just going to
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: take a quick break. I want to share about my
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: new book that came out, wake Up You're Not Broken,
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: a companion for your first thirty days of sobriety. So
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: we'll be right back. Welcome back everyone. Thank you so
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: much for being here, and Anthony, thank you so much
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: for being a part of wake Up. You have had
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: such an incredible journey and just what you have experienced
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: and now how you are helping others and listening to
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: your calling and how can people learn more about Lighthouse.
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: We have a social media you know, we have a website.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: Lighthouse Got Submission dot org or Lighthouse Freedom Center dot
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: org is our website.
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: We're also on Facebook. You can follow us there and
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: on YouTube.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: Also you can see graduations or services, uh testimonies, real
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: life testimonies, So that's the best way, or you can
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: if you're in a local.
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: Area or even beyond. We have a lot of.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: Marching with the organization has expanded. We used to be
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: just solely focused on Tampa. But now we have people
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: coming from all all around the country coming to the lighthouse,
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: people from California, Michigan, the northeast Tennessee. So people find
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: us on social media or on our website and they're
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: they're right here, you know.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: Getting out The.
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: Word is getting out there, the awareness is getting out there,
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: and people are seeking help. People need help. So what
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: would you say to somebody out there right now? They're
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: they're ready for a change, they're ready to surrender, but
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: they don't know what to do. What's the first step
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: they can take.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: Listen, if you feel like you're supposed to come to
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: the lighthouse, pick up the phone eight one three six
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: seven seven five to two zero.
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: Don't delay.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: One of the things we get a lot mercy is
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: people call and they're like, okay, we're telling them about
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: the program. They say, all right, let me think about it.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: Don't think about it. Yeah, change needs to happen immediately,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: because in that thinking about it is usually you go back.
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: So if you have that desire, act on it immediately.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: Don't don't waste time.
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: Act on that desire because believe me, and I've done it.
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: You can convince yourself that you don't need it, and
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: then it then the consequences really do come. And there's
• 46:15
  Speaker 3: a lot of us out there that we even lose
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: our lives over this and our families. I mean, it
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: is a family disease and we all need the support
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: and help throughout this recovery journey. And yeah, so thank
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: you again Anthony for coming on Wake Up with Marthy.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: Awesome. Yeah, been exciting, I feel like fired up.
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's wonderful. And thank you all out there for
• 46:45
  Speaker 3: listening or watching. And if this resonated with you or
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: you know this could help someone, please share, like comment,
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: and just remember that you are not alone, you are
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: not hopeless, you are not broken, and you are beginning.
• 47:03
  Speaker 3: And I'm so grateful again that you share this time
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: with us. And I will see you with a new
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: episode next Thursday. Bye.