Severe Alcoholic Never Drinks Again

“I never knew what social drinking was. I never thought you could have fun by drinking one or two drinks. Drinking was about efficiency. I'd rather get that drunk by drinking 10 to 12 shots,” says Daniel.

For Daniel, drinking was also about proving himself. “Drinking to me, in my high school years and incorporating it into my college years, were more of like, you know, a macho thing for me.”

Some of Daniel’s insecurities began when he was held back after first grade. “You know, that was such a key point to me, was to make sure that I can prove that, through my grades, that I shouldn’t have been held back.”
 
Daniel had his first drink at a friend’s house when he was 15. By the time he went to college, things were spiraling out of control. “I just thought this is a college experience,” he says. That's pretty much one of the top things students do is party.”

He was raised Catholic and his father had a born-again experience when Daniel was in high school. but God was still a vague concept for Daniel. “When I was going to Catholic church. I knew that there may have been something there, but I just wasn't too sure at that time.”

He started working while in college but one Christmas Daniel’s drinking nearly sabotaged his professional career, before it even started. “I worked part time in a local bank in Morgantown here. I went to the Christmas party, you know, consumed too much alcohol, and, you know, made a lot of bad mistakes, and the state police show up,” he recalls. “I was arrested.”

The next morning, Daniel’s dad came to bail him out. “The only thing he did is, he turned over looked at me and said, ‘I love you.’ And that was such a powerful impact. There was no judgment, there was no look of failure, of disgust. It was a truly compassionate moment between a father and son.”

Daniel received probation, but eventually began drinking again. “I'm not going to be able to get an internship, because I have this record now. I didn’t have a Plan B. So after the arrest, I was on unsupervised probation. I have three years to really wait, sit and wait,” he says. “So what am I going to do? I just began to focus more on drinking.”

During this time, Daniel’s co-worker Carla, who was a Christian, could sense his struggle.
He says, “She pretty much just told me, ‘God's laying on my heart that you have a problem with alcohol. And that if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here for you. So it's kind of like blowing me away. I'm like, ‘Okay, I've never experienced that.’"

One day Daniel was sent to the ER with alcohol poisoning. “I sat in the same chair for over nine hours. Didn't move. But I just felt like, there's a purpose, God keeping me in that chair for nine hours,” Daniel says. “Then the doctor came in and, you know, I expressed to him that I'm, you know, a severe alcoholic and then he asked if I would like some help. And I told him, yep. And they sent me to a detox center there at the hospital.’”

After just three days in detox, Daniel never drank again. “I was released, and never had a desire to ever touch alcohol again.”

When Daniel found out a favorite uncle was dying of cancer, it caused him to reflect on his life.  

“He was living with my grandmother at the time. He was doing well, but we knew that he had a terminal illness and that it was going to be a matter of time,” he says. “So I drive across town to go to Hobby Lobby, and as soon as I go to the card section, I was almost in tears when I read this card, because it was, it was a prayer. I mail it out, and a couple of days later I get a call from my mom, and she's calling me crying, saying that ’Your uncle had just passed away. And my dad sends me a text message a little bit later saying, ‘Hey, son, this isn't by chance. By you sending that card to Grandma was such a blessing to Grandma's soul and such a blessing to mine. And at that point, that was like my salvation moment. It's like I've pushed God away enough. And that's where He revealed Himself to me, and that's where I got on my knees and I asked God, I said, ‘Father, I need you. I want to know more about you, and I'll do whatever it takes at this point to begin to build that relationship with you.’”

Looking back, Daniel realizes that it was God who delivered him from alcohol. “He just gave it to me. And I was like why? Why would you want to save me?’ I have a friend who's a doctor and she has told me that she has never experienced someone as severe as an alcoholic as I was, being able just to quit. And I was said, ‘Well, it wasn't me. It was God.’”

Daniel credits his salvation to people like his father and Carla. “If it weren't for the fervent prayers of my father, the fervent prayers of my co-workers, the fervent prayers of Carla, I would not be here today. I would be dead,” Daniel says.

Today, Daniel is free from alcohol, and is serving god faithfully. “Jesus provided a purpose in my life. I'm here for a reason,” Daniel says. “I need to show everyone, and give my experiences and give my deliverance, and say, ‘This isn't me, guys. This was God. I seek Him every day in prayer, like, ‘Father, what is your will today?’ His purpose is greater than anything I can accomplish in this life. As long as I have my focus on Him, then I'm content wherever He has me here.”