From Running to Redemption: Tommy’s Story

For most of his life, Tommy believed the solution to every problem was to run. His family moved often, and avoiding pain became a learned behavior. Instead of dealing with wounds, he covered them up and kept going. That pattern eventually pulled him into more than three decades of addiction, homelessness, jail time, and broken relationships. He convinced himself he loved his children, yet the addiction always came first because deep down he didn’t believe he was worth true love or healing. He saw darkness up close — hunger, violence, overdoses — and lived with shame that convinced him change wasn’t possible.

Everything began to shift in a jail cell when he learned his father had died a year earlier, and he never even knew. On the 18th of the month, he remembered that his dad always read Proverbs 18. When he opened it, he sensed God speaking directly to him, asking, “Haven’t you had enough?” Tommy was angry and full of excuses, but God wasn’t offering condemnation. He was offering rescue.

God opened a door to True Purpose Ministries, where men who had walked similar roads challenged him to drop the masks and stop pretending. As he finally surrendered instead of running, his life began to change. His kids came back. He found opportunity, stability, and purpose. He faced serious court charges by trusting God instead of bargaining with Him, and walked away with freedom that made no earthly sense. He could see that God had been working even when he couldn’t recognize it.

But pride returned and one compromise led to a relapse. Within days, everything he idolized — transportation, comfort, relationships, job, access to his kids — disappeared. Broken again, Tommy reached out to Fountain of Hope Ministries, where he fully surrendered and allowed God to rebuild his life the right way. He faced new charges, turned himself in, and once again watched God step in with mercy he never could have earned.

Now Tommy sees love differently than he used to. Love isn’t about convenience, gifts, or covering up wrongdoing. Love is service, accountability, humility, and sacrifice. It looks like helping someone carry their burden, even when you’re tired too. It looks like correction that protects instead of condemns. It looks like putting others first because that’s what Jesus did for us.

Tommy’s testimony isn’t a highlight reel of mistakes; it’s a declaration that God can redeem any story. If you’re searching for peace, love, or hope, the answer isn’t to run — it’s to seek Jesus. There is no life so broken that He cannot restore it, and no heart so damaged that He cannot fill it. Tommy stands today as a reminder that it is never too late. God is patient. His love is real. And He is still in the business of saving lives.

Read more You Are Loved stories of recovery.