From Drug Addict to Spiritual Advisor with Christian Edwards

Life is filled with setbacks, betrayal, and hurts that can cut deep. But where do you turn to when those hurts destroy your identity or how you define yourself? For many it’s substances, work, alcohol, or so many other things that are short lived. For our special guest today - he had turned to pills and drugs to cope with the setback of injury, family divorce, and a breakup with a girl he loved. This addiction led to some dark places that never filled the God sized void that he had in his life. Listen up to today’s episode for an amazing story of transformation from addict to a full-time spiritual advisor for others going through the same hurts.

More questions or looking to connect with Christian?
Find him on Instagram @christianedwards249

Questions for Dr. Dave? Follow on IG @drdavepac or shoot him a text at (760) 477-4361

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Men Made For More Episode 131: From Drug Addict to Spiritual Advisor with Christian Edwards

More questions or looking to connect with Christian? Find him on Instagram @christianedwards249

Questions for Dr. Dave? Follow on IG @drdavepac or shoot him a text at (760) 477-4361

Men Made For More Podcast Episode 131: From Drug Addict to Spiritual Advisor with Christian Edwards

[00:00:00] Dave: Hey there mighty man. I'm your host, Dr. Dave Paczkowski founder of Men Made for More coaching, our business helps husbands level up their life. Their leadership and their legacy in marriage and in business. The purpose of this podcast is to bring together like-minded men that feel destined for big things in their life and provide you the resources and community that you need to lead yourself, your family and your business.

[00:00:26] If you've ever felt overwhelmed, frustrated, lost, or alone on your journey to a better and more purposeful life, you're in the right spot. You weren't designed to be average. So it's time to quit living that way today. I'm giving you permission to unlock your true potential and step into all that you were made for. All right guys, welcome to today's guest episode of the men made for more podcasts. I am stoked to have such a good friend of mine on here. Christian Edwards for today's show Christian. Uh, so excited to have you on here, man. I've been, uh, there waiting for this one for a, for a while now. And [00:01:00] thanks for taking some time to come on and record it.

[00:01:02] Christian: [00:01:02] Yeah, Dr. Dave, man, it's an honor to be on your podcast. Uh, since I knew you, I knew you had a podcast, man, and I kind of always longed in my heart to be a part of it. So today's the day I'm looking forward to this.

[00:01:16] Dave: [00:01:16] yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be good. And we're going to get a good deep into your story here in a minute, but, uh, just a thousand foot view here of if, if a listener stepped down in the elevator with you, if they had, you know, 60 seconds to talk with you, what's a kind of what's going on in your life.

[00:01:30] What are you, what are you most excited about right now?

[00:01:34] Christian: [00:01:34] Right now my official vocation is spiritual advisor for the Kings Council coaching group, so that, um, By me just saying that somebody who doesn't know me or know my story yet, that may not mean much, but I'm a guy who was 39 years old. I was a hospital maintenance guy for the last 19 years, but midway through that [00:02:00] nine years ago, after being a drug addict for most of my adult life, I radically got hit by Jesus, man.

[00:02:10] I got. Change transformed, born again, renewed regenerated. And, uh, I've been a different man. So for me to say, I'm a spiritual advisor. Now, that's what I do for a living. It's awesome. Because as we're recording this podcast, I am still employed at the hospital. I'm like, I'm our two weeks notice, but I I'm not claiming that anymore.

[00:02:34] That, that is officially a part of the past.

[00:02:37] Dave: [00:02:37] Yeah. So this is fresh right now and it's a, it might not mean much to everyone listening, but we'll, uh, we'll rewind here in a minute and get to get to why that, why that story is significant. And I think, uh, you know, today, I just want to, your story is so, so powerful. I know you've, you've shared it with others than another podcast to be able to spread it.

[00:02:53] And I I'm just so excited to be able to dive into it here. Let's, uh, you know, I don't want to rewind too far back, but maybe [00:03:00] it would help to paint a picture of. Uh, life's back in, you know, back in your youth growing up, like getting into sports. And I know you suffered an injury. If you can kind of talk through, through that process briefly of, of what led up to, you know, some of the things that we're going to get into

[00:03:15] Christian: [00:03:15] Sure growing up, I had a pretty privileged life. Even growing up. I was able to appreciate it for what it was, which was kind of crazy. Kid. Never really takes. Really realize what they have as they're going through it. But growing up, I grew up on a Lake in Northwest New Jersey and parents were together. I was one of the few kids whose parents weren't divorced.

[00:03:40] And, you know, I took a little pride in that family was everything to me. Um, sports was also very meaningful for me. It's where I found my identity. Um, I didn't grow up in a home where there was any sort of talk of God. There was no church going to church. There was nothing of the sort. So [00:04:00] my, my foundation wasn't family, my foundation was in sports, my foundation wasn't things that could be all good one day and completely fall apart the next.

[00:04:12] And that's really what happened growing up. I wound up.

[00:04:15] Dave: [00:04:15] okay.

[00:04:16] Christian: [00:04:16] At the age of 16, um, being pretty decent at basketball, I transferred to the St. Benedict's prep from, uh, Jefferson township high school up in that rural, rural area. And it was, uh, you know, when I transferred there, my junior year life was good. I couldn't complain about anything.

[00:04:39] And within that, I guess it was just all within my junior year. I had a career ending basketball injury. My parents got divorced, which was completely out of the blue and my little sweetie girlfriend that I had, like my first love broke up with me because I was so down about the basketball [00:05:00] injury and my parents getting divorced.

[00:05:01] So it was like, it, it sounds kinda like juvenile now, but at the time when you're 16, when the three things that. Fulfill you and bring you any, any sort of satisfaction or joy, all leave, like boom, boom, boom. Um, just kinda that it will leave anybody unless they had a solid foundation in something else, something that's meaningful, something that's everlasting, which will be Jesus Christ.

[00:05:27] And I absolutely didn't have it at the time. And to even tell you just how little I knew about Christianity or religion period. I used to watch jeopardy with my father and I, as I grew older, my father's a genius, so he's getting almost all of them. Right. And as I got older, I would pride myself in getting a couple more answers like year by year.

[00:05:51] And whenever the category was the Bible out, like I remember as a little kid, I would kind of be like that, like, like, like that. Oh my gosh. [00:06:00] Like, or. I I'm not gonna get anything. The only thing I actually knew out of the Bible growing up, even into my teens. And really even into my adulthood life was that Moses was in the Bible because my father, every Easter we'll watch the 10 commandments on TV.

[00:06:19] And I just saw on screen, they call that guy, Moses, I think this is from the Bible. So that guy must be in the Bible. I didn't even actually know that Jesus was in the Bible at that point. That's how little I knew. And I grew up on a Lake, but I didn't grow up under a rock. You know, I just wasn't around it at all.

[00:06:37] Dave: [00:06:37] And now you're now you're a spiritual advisor. So that's how, uh, that's how things change, man. And, uh, so, so you get this, you get this injury, you got a girlfriend breaks up with you. Your parents get divorced, a bunch of, uh, you know, devastating things for, for any kid. I know you say it sounds juvenile, but those are three pretty significant things.

[00:06:55] What, uh, what did you turn to? I know you said you didn't have the, the Savannah [00:07:00] salvation at that point. Like what, what did life look like after, after those things happen? It was, this was this immediately. Did you, you know, did you go looking for other things or was this a gradual build over time?

[00:07:09] Christian: [00:07:09] Well, what I turned to was something that was actually placed in my lap. And that was painkillers. After I injured my back at the age of 16, it was actually the last practice before our first game of the season. So it's like, here we are. I'm at St. Benedict's prep. And like I said, I found my identity in being a basketball player.

[00:07:31] So, you know, everybody back home, they knew me as a basketball player and really as much as I love basketball, I think I loved the attention I got from basketball even more because that's. That was my identity. That's who I am. I love people. Ooh. And I, and talk about me for, for that. So after I had that surgery, doctors gave me a prescription of painkillers and me, well, I injured my back.

[00:07:58] That, that [00:08:00] last practice before the first game of the season had a minor procedure, just, I think it was only a couple of weeks later. It was something that was supposed to get me back on the court pretty soon, salvage my junior year. And they gave me a prescription of painkillers and I didn't know what it was.

[00:08:17] I had never taken a drug in my life. I had stayed away from it. You know, the high school I had gone to, um, it was known as heroin high, like drugs were in the school and I stayed away from all of them. I didn't drink, I didn't do drugs. So. Doctor gives me this pill. And I think it's just gonna, all right.

[00:08:38] This is somehow going to magically heal my back. It's going to help fix my back. And all I know is I took that first one, swallowed it. And 20 minutes later, I'm feeling this high that I've never felt before now. My, I like it. I don't care so much that. I'm missing basketball right now. I don't care so much that my parents [00:09:00] are splitting up.

[00:09:01] I don't care so much that my girlfriend is not me. This feels pretty good. So wound up. All right. If I'm feeling low, which was often because those voids that were left in my heart from those three things happen to me. I didn't know what else to do to fill those voids, uh, that I get depressed and. Feel suicidal.

[00:09:26] Yeah, I did like, and when we look at teenagers that go through all the crap that so many kids and some, so many of our youth in this world go through, it's like, yeah, there's a lot on your shoulders. A lot of you grow up in jacked up homes. A lot of you aren't taught the truth of the Bible. You're not taught the truth of your creator.

[00:09:47] You're not taught the truth of a relationship and an intimacy with. The God of all creation. So they get caught up in different things. And that that's what I did. And all I knew was this makes me [00:10:00] feel good right now. It makes me not care about my problems. Um, I'm going to take it more and more and more.

[00:10:06] And that's what I did over the course of what wound up being the next 14 years of my life.

[00:10:13] Dave: [00:10:13] Hm. Yeah. And when did that, uh, when did that hits his peak? Like, was that, that was that the worst of it? Or what would you say, you know, when, uh, like, was there a moment of, of, of rock bottom, if you will, or of, of, uh, you know, a real low point that, uh, You know, that that, uh, happened either over time or, or in, in an instant that, that you kind of experienced that realize your need for that, that you had this problem.

[00:10:40] Christian: [00:10:40] Yeah, probably the. The the worst mental state I was in was in 2005. So now I'm six years out of high school. I went to a couple of different colleges. I even went to one where I talked to the coaches and I was like, listen, I played at St. Benedict's prep, and this is a [00:11:00] D one school at Florida Atlantic university.

[00:11:03] I injured my back by then. I had two back surgeries in the books already, and, you know, Full disclosure. I was an addict already. I didn't even realize I could label myself as an addict, but I was doing those drugs, those painkillers every day. Because especially back then, once you have a back injury, you're going to get your hands on whatever you want.

[00:11:27] And even by then, just a couple of years into my addiction, I was going to different doctors, just kind of showing them the scars that I had and they would give me whatever I wanted. And still, so I would just kinda, I didn't call myself an addict at the time because I would tell myself, Oh, I have a bad back.

[00:11:48] I need these things. I'm in pain. I don't know exactly how much pain I was ever in for those 14 years of addiction, because I, I took so many painkillers. Um, [00:12:00] but. So my father, when I say I was a hospital maintenance guy, after I left Florida Atlantic university, and I did spend a year trying to work out with the team and they took me on road trips.

[00:12:12] I had no official role with the team, but it was like, all right, get your back, healed up. You'll walk on. And maybe you're on a scholarship, but I was already, my back was never good enough. And I was already an addict. So when I dropped out from there, My father got me a job as a maintenance guy at a hospital.

[00:12:31] And I was like, all right, just be temporary until I get myself together. Well, as you heard in the intro that get myself together, um, took quite a long time. I've been there 19 years. I got myself together halfway through and really, I didn't get myself together at all. It's it wasn't by works. It was by faith that I got myself together.

[00:12:52] Uh, but in, in 2005, I'll never forget this. I was now by 2005, I was three surgeries [00:13:00] and the third one was a pretty, pretty decent sized surgery where, you know, like cut me open, like a pretty big incision in my back. And, um, No, they did what they had to do to remove all the fragments of this, that we're now like all over the place, which if I had never had the first back surgery, I would have been a lot better off, but you know that Dr.

[00:13:25] Bays,

[00:13:27] Dave: [00:13:27] Preaching the choir.

[00:13:30] Christian: [00:13:30] Um, but after that third one, they had said, you know, we took out your entire L five disc eventually. Your vertebrae is going to start to kind of collapse and you're going to need to get your spine fused, but that'll be later on in life. So in 2005, I'm already getting my hands on whatever pills I want while I'm just deep in my addiction.

[00:13:53] And I'm talking like Percosets Oxycontin, Wyke it in? I'm taking value [00:14:00] Xanax. I'm taking sleeping pills to fall asleep at night. Like why would I even need. Sleeping pills. I taken all those downers, but I was taking whatever I could get my hands on. And in 2005, I remember seeking out a doctor at the hospital that I worked at to ask him.

[00:14:18] If I could get the surgery done, where he fuses my spine together. And he said, we'll set an appointment in my office. So I went to see him and he describes what's really a gruesome surgery where he cuts me open, like cuts my belly open. And then he says, yeah, we'll have a vascular surgeon, you know, pull out like your guts, essentially get them out of the way.

[00:14:39] So, so I could get to your spine, we'll get a cadaver bone will fuse it together. And in two years you should start feeling better. And I was so deep and sick of my addiction. I said, sign me up. When can we get this scheduled and looking back on it now it's like, Oh my gosh, like. Why would I put myself [00:15:00] through that?

[00:15:00] It's because the, the hooks, the bondage of addiction just had me so tight. So that was, that was a terrible time. But my aha moment came once. My wife, who wasn't my wife at the time when she came into my life, um, she was the only one who. Was really in my life at the time, because I had alienated everybody else in my addiction over the years.

[00:15:31] And yeah, I was able to maintain this job at the hospital. I, I worked a lot of off shifts. Uh, I just basically had to show up and I was, I would literally be starting Oxycontin as like my relief would come at 11:00 PM or 7:00 AM if I worked the overnight shift and. You know, everybody kind of knew at a problem.

[00:15:58] And I had a couple of guys there that were trying to [00:16:00] help me as best as they could, but I, I could say, you know, they liked me enough to not turn me in, but I, I don't know. I don't want to give anybody a bad rap cause there's some people really try to be by my side, but none of them had the Lord at the time.

[00:16:17] So, um, it's one thing to try to help somebody by. Helping them get sober as another thing by helping them to salvation. And then when they become new creation, they could break that sobriety or, or, or be sober as quick as that reel me in. If I'm going gone too far or a little long-winded with these answers.

[00:16:43] Dave: [00:16:43] No, it's it's good. Yeah. And I want to get to when Lucy came in in a few minutes here, but, uh, the, so you mentioned relationships coming, right? It didn't sound like you had much of, much of any relationships, even when, when you were going to school though, did you. Going into college. Did you actually want to get back into [00:17:00] basketball?

[00:17:00] Like, cause you were pretty addicted to painkillers at that point? Was it, was it actually a dream to get back in play or were you kind of just going through the motions? Is that something you've you reflected on? Is that something that you really wanted to do or maybe you felt like you had to do or talk me through that a little bit.

[00:17:15] Christian: [00:17:15] It was just something that I thought would make me happy again. You know, that was a big boy that was in my heart. And I knew I was filling that void with the pills. It was just making me feel good. So I, if I could play basketball again, I would maybe get high off of that attention. And I thought it would be essential to like if other things started picking up in life.

[00:17:39] Like if I played the mega millions and hit it, I would have thought at the time, shoot, I don't need these drugs anymore. I'm rich. Now I could, you know, I could find happiness and other ways. So yeah, basketball, it was never. It was never like that. It was just, yeah, this might just fulfill a void in my heart and I didn't [00:18:00] realize it until Lucy came into my life, that we all have a giant void in our heart.

[00:18:05] It wasn't necessarily the void of not being able to play basketball or devoid of my. Parents splitting up or the Boyd of losing my first love, the way she broke up with me. She broke my heart. This girl, I, I'm not, I'm not even gonna mention her name on this podcast, but, um, the reality of it is, and you and I, you know, we, we talk about stuff like this in the past.

[00:18:32] The reality is is every single person has a God shaped void in their heart that only God could, could fill. Only God. So yeah, I tried to fill the voids with drugs. I tried to fill it with women sleeping with women like that wasn't even like, like my thing, I wasn't, it was just, Oh, I know a little feel good in the moment and I'll get that instant gratification, but then [00:19:00] I would just be left lower and lower and lower, but it's only God that could feel.

[00:19:06] That God's size, void and felt like God fills your heart. When he comes into our hearts, he fills it so much that any other void that, that you had in life, any other hurt, any other pain, God will fill that void with his love. And it could happen in a moment. The moment you receive Christ. It can happen when he's in your heart and you walk out that salvation, you know, I, and I don't, I'm not trying to set up here and say, Hey, surrender to Christ and everything is going to get better.

[00:19:40] I'm not saying that at all. Even though for me, it surely it surely did because, uh, a bad day with the Lord is still better than the best day I ever had without.

[00:19:54] Dave: [00:19:54] so that I love that you mentioned that too, because you never know if someone listening might be going [00:20:00] through some, some addiction might be sharing with pills or it could be alcohol, or it could be some of the other hurts. You mentioned too. It could be, you know, getting looked over for, for a job. It could be a sports thing.

[00:20:10] It could be, uh, you know, relationship issues. There's so many, so many holes that, uh, No rejections that we can face in life and we will face, it could be a business that didn't didn't succeed or didn't, you know, promise the way that a business partner that left. Like, there's, there's so many things that could create that feeling of that hole, but that's not in what you're saying.

[00:20:31] And if you can expand this, you're saying that's just a, uh, maybe a, a symptom of it. Like that's not the true hole that needs to get filled. That's just what, uh, what people think is, is the, the void that's there.

[00:20:44] Christian: [00:20:44] Yeah. Um, cause if, if you look around whether you're rich or poor black or white, all of us, we have issues. And obviously, I mean, those are just basic general generalizations. [00:21:00] There's a lot more things we could put into that. Um, there's people who. Are billionaires or clinically depressed, you know, or, you know, they're told they're, they're depressed by a doctor and, but I believe God can, and I'm not downplaying mental illness, but I've seen not just for myself, but for many others, God come in.

[00:21:27] And all of a sudden the depression is lifted, uh, with addiction. I, I I've seen people who are down and out on the streets, received the Lord. And now all of a sudden they are, they still have nothing, but now they have a smile on their face and they have a joy. They have a peace and they have, uh, a purpose for life now.

[00:21:51] So I believe, yeah, those things are the symptoms and perhaps that's even what the enemy tries to trick us into thinking is the [00:22:00] problem. So, um, and I'm lonely. Uh, let me call this girl up and then have sex with her. Well, okay. That's not, that's not good. That's not solving any problems. That's not making you feel filled by any stretch of the imagination.

[00:22:17] Then the, the amount of time you're in the act.

[00:22:22] Dave: [00:22:22] Yeah, that's so true. So good. And I want to, I want to get to, so, so Lucy came into your life through, through work, it sounds like. And how did that, you know, how did, how was she able to break through the addictions? How was she able to break through, you know, some of those things that other people may be trying to support you on, but, uh, you know, didn't, didn't truly get, get through to you on.

[00:22:43] Christian: [00:22:43] Well, when I first met her, she, there was just something different about her. There was something that. I honestly, she was the only attractive woman in the hospital that I did not try to sleep with. And that's just being real with you. [00:23:00] There was something about her. And when I say this to you, I'm not trying to earn brownie points with my wife.

[00:23:05] She is by far the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on. So. I saw her. And there was just something different about her that she had a confidence within herself, but not in a boastful way. She, um, she was a strong, strong woman. Like you could just feel it, you could sense it. And. Little did I know upon first looking at her is everything that I felt from her was the Holy spirit, a hundred percent.

[00:23:37] And I didn't really know and appreciate that until I got saved and filled with the Holy spirit myself, because I didn't get that. Like I said before, I didn't know the Bible. I didn't go to church, so I didn't know what all that stuff was about, but. I found out quickly, she was a Christian, she was a single mom, but she was a Christian.

[00:24:00] [00:24:00] And as she and I got closer, I would hear her stories and it just blew me away more and more. And I just became more and awe with who she was, because it's like, why, why haven't you lost your mind? Why? Like, how can you compose yourself and conduct yourself in such a manner that. Everybody else will look at and say, Oh, I want to be like, Lucy, how is that possible?

[00:24:27] Well, that, that, that little compartment that I thought she had, which was Christianity and her time with the Lord and, you know, praying with her kids, well, it turns out it wasn't a compartment. It was her entire life. And then every other compartment of life filled within that giant box of her, her relationship with Christ.

[00:24:47]Dave: [00:24:47] how long did, uh, you know, how long did she have to. Yeah, be patient with you. And, and was that a, was that a relatively quick thing from, to talk me through when, when you finally ditched the drugs and, and gave your life to Christ

[00:25:00] [00:25:00] Christian: [00:25:00] Yeah, the end of it was about 2010 that she and I got pretty close. Um, I confided in her, there was something about her that. Just made me feel comfortable to let her know cause is as much as I was like, uh, a deadbeat junkie, essentially with the amount of drugs I was taking, I was still functioning enough to show up to work.

[00:25:25] And I, by this time I was working a couple shifts here and there during the day. And I met her. We, um, there were, there was something there. Um, I mean it's a hundred percent. Obvious now that God placed her in my life. And she knew it then at the time herself though, actually, um, because she told me that from the moment she met me, God was telling her regarding me through loving kindness, will I draw the, and she knew that God [00:26:00] was using her as a vessel to get to my heart.

[00:26:03] And she was 100% obedient to that. When she had every right to be like, I'm done with this dude. He's he's stubborn. He's angry all the time. He hates himself. He hates other people. Why, why am I doing this? And even if she knows it's from the Lord, it's like, I put her through some stuff. Cause we, like I said, we, uh, we jelled pretty quickly and we have nothing in common.

[00:26:31] I mean, I'm the six foot four white dude. She's as five foot, nothing black girl. You know, I was born and raised in New Jersey. She was born and raised in little Haiti, Miami. Like we came from two different worlds. She had her first baby at 15. Like she wanted her testimony is crazy. And that's how she surrendered to the Lord when she was actually a teenage runaway at 14, when she got pregnant wound up, finding some cousins in Northern [00:27:00] New Jersey, stayed with them, had had.

[00:27:04] Her baby boy, Isaiah who's now my oldest son. And when the doctor was handing her, the baby, that's when she surrendered her life to Christ, because it was, she felt like she had no options. Like who else could I turn to? I've got to turn to somebody. Let me turn to God. Um, so David, you might have to reel me in when I started talking about Lucy, man, I go.

[00:27:30] Dave: [00:27:30] it's all good, man. I, I love the, uh, I mean, I just love how real the story is. And like I said, whether people are dealing with actual physical addictions to substances or, you know, whatever that might be for, for a lot of people listening, a lot of business owners it's pour themselves into work and they get, uh, they get recognition from.

[00:27:49] Their achievements the same way you did with, with sports, or maybe it's from their marriage, maybe it's from, you know, it could be from, from anything of where they, where they seek that, uh, where they seek [00:28:00] that fulfillment from. But I think a good, uh, you know, uh, a good point I want to touch on here and I want to have you explain, is.

[00:28:07] For a lot of people listening. I know we have some people listening that are Christians, some people, uh, many, many that aren't a lot of people hear these, these terms though. And these things of, you know, salvation and God and all this, these talks of those things. And it's, it can be a turnoff for a lot of people from, from bad experiences.

[00:28:24] Uh, and I think a lot of it is, you know, maybe due to what people see as, as religion, but what would you say to someone listening like that? What's, what's the biggest difference between religion as a lot of people. Picture, it may be the, you know, those, those bad experiences of religion. And I grew up Catholic and I had zero relationship with God.

[00:28:42] W what would you say to someone like that who hears these things? And it's just a turnoff or it isn't something that, uh, they may be, have a good, uh, you know, a good feeling when they hear those things.

[00:28:55] Christian: [00:28:55] When Lucy started slowly introducing me to [00:29:00] Christianity. Uh, it didn't feel like religion at all. I saw that she had a personal relationship with the Lord and I, she would allow me to come to our apartment and meet her kids like her caseload. I was this like cool white dude. That's my little mommy. And then, um, I saw. Anything, like, I didn't have a big, um, opinion of religion myself, because I really didn't even know religion, you know, whatever flaws or stigmas were there. I didn't even really know them at that time. So I was able to just kind of see her relationship with God. And I was like, okay, so this is what it's like, like, this is what religion is like.

[00:29:45] And she wound up slowly leading me. To the Lord. And when I say that was, if she had given me scriptures or beaten the Bible of in my head, I would have fled for the Hills. Um, but she just [00:30:00] showed me what it was like to pray to God, just talk to them that that's what praying is just communicating with God.

[00:30:06] And she had me do that every day. Um, leading up to, uh, Go into rehab. She had taken me to a Christian counselor to set me up with a rehab in Florida and me typical addict mentality. I was like, no, I can't go today. I can't go. Next week, I got too much going on. It was like, I was dying in my addiction and I put it off for three weeks and she had me pray every day and just thank God for waking me up that morning.

[00:30:36] And I didn't even. Like really care to wake up most mornings, I was still, I mean, when I was having suicidal thoughts, when I was a teenager, teenager, best believe I felt, um, all my twenties when my addiction was just getting out of control. So she had me do that for a couple of weeks. And I remember the [00:31:00] day where I said it and actually felt something.

[00:31:04] I felt like somebody was on the other end hearing it. And I was like, okay, this is interesting. So I would just kind of find myself just talking to God at random times. And I, I felt him listening. And then I felt him kind of like pouring into me, kind of like speaking to me. And I can't even tell you like, explicitly what he was saying, but I was just kinda feeling his love.

[00:31:26] I was just kind of feel and feeling something different now. And that led to, um, Really the day that I got saved the day before I went to rehab and, um, Um, this is the, the long answer to this question because, um, I could get in depth about that day that I surrender to Christ. And when I say that, like you said, there's probably somebody here in this and the minute they hear Christ, they're like, uh, you know, uh, and I would have been the same way.

[00:31:59] Trust [00:32:00] me up until I met Lucy, because if you had told me, I'm like, God bless you. Up until the day I got saved, I had it. I was hoping somebody told me, God, bless you, because I had a whole ramp or pre prepare for them as to why God's not real. And if he is he's, he's the one who injured my back. He's the one who made me an addict.

[00:32:24] He was the one I blamed for everything. So I would literally my relationship with God before that day, I fully surrendered to. So Jesus Christ was, I would go into these fits of rage and I'd be putting, like, put my fist through the walls in my apartment. And I would literally have my middle fingers in the air saying F you, God, I hate you.

[00:32:48] If you're real, you did this to me. It was like, I, I hated on, but didn't even know if he was real or not. So when I got saved, um, and [00:33:00] that day, uh, I mean, This is in a two hour podcast. I'm not going to go in-depth about that day. I got saved, but it was a radical transformation. All I knew at that point was I was absolutely desperate.

[00:33:15] And at this point it wasn't just to get sober. It was to just live. I just want to live. I want to be free. And Lucy. Taught me the gospel. She taught me enough about our relationship with the Lord, where I knew I just had to let every wall down, add to believe with everything that I had, that Jesus is my Lord and savior.

[00:33:39] Just put all of my faith in him. And when I did that on that day, and it was a powerful moment, um, Lucy and the kids and myself, we gathered in a circle and the Holy spirit enter me in that moment. And I didn't know, as Lucy was leading me to the Lord, I didn't know what it meant to be [00:34:00] saved, really. Like, I didn't know all these Christian words that I'm using probably now, without even realizing I'm using them so much.

[00:34:06] I didn't know what it meant. And if you had told me you're filled with the Holy spirit before that moment, I wouldn't say you need to be locked up in a mental institution because that's just weird. Right. And then of course, like the people, the couple of Christians I ever met in my life that were like talking about Holy spirit or something, they were just like, at least in my mind, just so far out there, maybe they weren't.

[00:34:28] But in my mind, my judgmental mind, like they were like way out there. filled with the Holy spirit. I got saved born again, which you know, it's funny. Like people talk about born again, Christians like it's its own denomination. No. Well, if you read the Bible, John chapter three, you know, if anybody calls themselves a Christian.

[00:34:53] They need to be born again. Right? So born again, Christianity isn't its own [00:35:00] denomination. That's what Christianity is. It's the God who created us actually coming into our bodies and making our, our vessels, his dwelling place, the Holy spirit lives inside of us. God lives inside of us when we're saved. And from that moment, I knew, I knew I was a new person.

[00:35:24] I knew like, I didn't know at that moment I was delivered from drugs, but I didn't take drugs after that. I didn't know that it was that powerful because I would, I even went down to rehab. They wanted to put me on Suboxone and all that stuff. I was like, no, I was like, Let me tell you about what just happened yesterday.

[00:35:46] Like I had this moment with God and like I said, like, I didn't know all the Christian knees terms that I'm using right now. Um, what I was able to spend 30 days at a rehab. Spend time [00:36:00] with the Lord, just sit with them every night, sit with them every morning. And Lucy didn't even send me down with a Bible because she didn't want to overwhelm me.

[00:36:06] She just wrote down a handful of scriptures for me to just meditate and God would speak to me through these verses. And I spent 30 days getting to know God. So. When I came home, I dug into the Bible cause I was like, all right, I'm hungry. Let me do this. And I came to find like, Oh shoot, like if there's anybody who ever walked this planet who was against religion, it was Jesus Christ himself.

[00:36:37] You know, like if we actually read the Bible, it's clear. That Christianity, this faith, it's about a relationship with creator period. It's about Jesus Christ coming to this earth so that man could be reconciled to the father, right? Like Jesus Christ endured what he [00:37:00] endured on the cross. And even before like, like being mocked spit on his beard, being plucked out. Did he endured it all for us. So we could have that relationship with the father, like come on. And so I, if anybody, it still made it this long on the podcast like they may have checked out as soon as I suddenly spiritual advisor, but if they're still here, um, man, uh, I. Hit up, Dave hit me up. If you want to know more about just simply having a relationship with the Lord.

[00:37:38] And that's what it's about. There's a lot of great churches that just believe the Bible teach the Bible and they teach about having that relationship with Jesus. And then you have a lot that don't and it is like this just organized religion where people think it's about works [00:38:00] well. Yeah, our religion, we don't get saved by our works.

[00:38:03] We get saved by grace through faith. That's how we would saved.

[00:38:08] Dave: [00:38:08] Yeah. And it's it's so it's so applicable for, you know, a lot of people said there is a stigma around church and I, I know that cause I grew up despising church because of it being so, so work-based, and you had to show up this and wear this and say this this many times and it's like, that's, that's not at all what it, what it's about either.

[00:38:27] And, you know, uh, You know, God speaks to people in different ways. And through mine was in a, in a gym with a couple of guys who were the first quote, normal, you know, Christian people that I, that I had met because, you know, you have the, the stigma of what you see maybe in the church, which isn't, I don't by any means, say the church is all bad.

[00:38:46] Like, I think that's a necessary part of it, but the, the bad connotations people have around it are usually around that. But when you say, when you say something like when you let your walls down and do those things, why is it so hard for people to. Like [00:39:00] to, to really release on that to really let those, let those barriers down those walls down, let their guard down.

[00:39:08] Christian: [00:39:08] Everybody understands to some degree that your heart needs to be protected. Nobody wants to get hurt. So it's natural for us to just put walls up around our heart, to protect ourselves from being hurt when we surrender, especially as men like you and I work, we're met, like it's not manly to just completely be vulnerable, to completely be transparent to.

[00:39:35] To not hide any secrets, you know, like, and, and maybe that's not a manly thing, but people, people don't want to let it all go. You know, there's a lot of guilt. There's a lot of shame that people have from things that they've done. So to actually just let it all go say, listen, um, I'm [00:40:00] sorry that I've done all this.

[00:40:01] I, and that's why a lot of people, they don't surrender and they don't get that relationship with the Lord. They're not, they don't even seek that relationship and told they're at the end of the rope, because when you're at the end, the end of your rope, like me, I knew I was going to die in my addiction. I realized now it was God telling me I was going to die in my addiction at the time I would have chalked it up to gut feeling, but I just knew I was going to die in my addiction. So I'm at the end of my rope and it almost makes it easier because I'm desperate. Like I tried everything else and I like, as much as I was suicidal at times, it was like, I don't want to die. You know, like that, like, this is what it's about. You you're, you're born into this earth. You have no choice or stay over that.

[00:40:47] And then it sucks and then you die. And like, that's it like, come on. So to, to let your walls down, it's, it's hard. And that's why it's easier sometimes [00:41:00] for somebody who's down and out, that person who is on the streets with no money, because when you have, uh, a nice home food on the table, maybe you find a comfort in that you feel like, Oh, I don't need to just let everything go.

[00:41:14] I don't need to be vulnerable. I don't need to let my guard down, but that's the only way. when I surrender to Christ it, I remember this so vividly. I had this realization that Jesus was standing right in front of me and not like physical Jesus, but he was there in front of me the entire time I was cursing him out.

[00:41:40] He was there the entire time with outstretched arms, just waiting for me to jump into them. And when I did, when I say yes, I felt a warm embrace. I felt a love. I felt that peace. I felt the joy fulfillment that I had never felt in my life. I felt that, high listen, I did a lot of drugs. [00:42:00] There was time. I mean, the back end of my, my addiction, I didn't get very high.

[00:42:04] It was just like trying to get through the day. But I had a lot of highs, not one of them ever made me feel so good that I cried. I been crying for the last nine years, man, just on this high of Jesus Christ and having this relationship and, you know, to say today I'm a spiritual advisor for Kings council for God, to a place this group in my life.

[00:42:29] And that financially I can serve out, serve God and serve others. You know, we were talking before we just came back from an event in Tampa where eight people got saved and to just be there and. You know, I was there part of the group. It was a two day seminar that we did. And, but eight people got saved.

[00:42:50] Two people got baptized. So for me to say, this is who I am, this is what I do, that I could pay the bills by doing this. And now [00:43:00] 24 hours of my day, I'm available where I don't have to be punching a time card at a job that I really don't like, I appreciated it, but I really do like being there. Cause I knew God had something different for me.

[00:43:12] Some greater than that. Um, I'm just blessed. Yeah.

[00:43:17] Dave: [00:43:17] It's amazing, man. And I want to circle back on that too, cause I know you mentioned earlier of. It's not that that happens. And then all is good after, because there was still how many years between where you were still at this job where you were still, you know, can you, I know we don't have a ton of time, but can you kind of go into that a little bit too, of how you had to be patient through that, even though, you know, your, your life had radically transformed, but you still found yourself in the same job doing the same type of work.

[00:43:45] I mean, on the outside, maybe life didn't look. As, as different, maybe as it, as it felt inside. Could you speak on that for a little bit?

[00:43:52] Christian: [00:43:52] Yeah, definitely. So that was 2011 that I got saved. Eight months later, it was October. So eight months later in 2012, Lucy [00:44:00] and I got married and. became the father to her four kids now. And I was still a hospital maintenance guy. I never liked the job to begin with, but now it's like, all right, it's a job where, what am I going to do?

[00:44:14] Quit, try something new. I was familiar with it and now had a wife and four kids at a provide for, um, so. I don't even want to say that just having that job was a struggle. It wasn't the desire of my heart, but it was a time of maturation, a time of building endurance a time of, of probably what it was, was testing of God to see if I will be obedient in what he was calling me to.

[00:44:43] Be an obedient and what he was calling me to do because I started the ministry right after I got saved. I started going to Lucy's church in, well, after I came home from rehab, started going to our church. I jumped into serving and I've, I've served the ministry in different capacities over these nine [00:45:00] years, but I never got paid a dime from it.

[00:45:04] Even when I was asked to speak places to share my testimony. And I was kinda expecting like a little love offered nothing. So. It never changed who I was though. Um, when I first met you, you know, I wasn't the spiritual advisor to King's Council I was just a dude who loved the Lord. I was all in with him.

[00:45:22] I loved others. And I think you notice that about me, you know? Um, so the endurance and the, the trials that we go through, we have to just remember that God's watching us at all times and we have to. Be diligent in everything that we do. We have to operate in excellence in all that we do, because in everything that we do in everything that I do, I'm glorifying God in everything.

[00:45:54] So if he puts something on my plate, even if I don't like it at the time, I know [00:46:00] something's better. I have to be all in with that. Because I just want to be obedient to God and God is faithful to bless. He's faithful to open up more doors for those who are obedient.

[00:46:13] Dave: [00:46:13] Yeah, that's uh, incredible to see how that comes full circle, because I think a lot of people. You know, they, there's this expectation of like, okay, well, why isn't I did this and why isn't, why isn't success happening sooner? Why isn't, you know, our, our version of success, but that can be, you know, in, in maybe, you know, w what are your thoughts on what our version of success is and what God might have in store for us?

[00:46:39] Christian: [00:46:39] Well, Our version of success. One of the most inspirational men to ever walk the planet was the apostle Paul. And he went through some hardships, you know, stoned beaten robbed as he was going on his missionary journeys, shipwrecked, like the dude went through it all and he was [00:47:00] eventually martyred. So success, I would say he was a success because he was obedient.

[00:47:08] to the calling that was on his life and as hard as it was, if you read second Timothy, the last chapter wishes, the last letter that he wrote in the, in the Bible, the joy that you feel just jumping off the pages, as he knows, he said, Hey, I run, I've run a good race. I've kept the faith. And just, you, you feel his joy.

[00:47:36] So would anybody want to go through what he went through? Absolutely not, but the best place to be the safest place to be the most peaceful place to be on earth is directly in God's will wherever that may be. If God had called me to be a hospital maintenance guy until the day he called me home. Then I would have been content in that job and I would have felt it, but I [00:48:00] knew God was calling me for something else.

[00:48:02] That's why I wasn't content in it. I was obedient to it, but I'm, I wasn't content there and I never would have been. And if I hadn't prepared myself, if I had just said, Oh, I know God's got a call on my life to, um, be more impact in the kingdom and just kind of took it for granted and then spend the time.

[00:48:21] In the word didn't spend the time leading in Bible studies, didn't spend the time leading my family, leading my wife, pouring into them first and foremost. And this door probably would have never opened because I wouldn't have been ready for the calling that was on my life.

[00:48:37] Dave: [00:48:37] yeah, I think obedient subs it up so well for you. And even in our, you know, it feels like, it feels like I've known you much longer, and I know the impact you've had on my life and my, uh, My, my spiritual journey and strengthening, strengthened my faith. And I know so many others fall in that same category with, with how people speak to you and they see your heart.

[00:48:56] And, uh, man, I spent, it's been a pleasure having you on here [00:49:00] and sharing your story. And I want to take a, you know, a bold step in terms of some that makes me uncomfortable on in who knows how many listeners you always, you might lose listeners from. You know, putting out a message so strongly like this, where it's, it's not, uh, it's not a Christian podcast by, by any means, but, uh, man, if anyone's still listening, I would love to have you pray for anyone that might be, find themselves in a situation like, like you did of maybe not as extreme, but you know, someone who.

[00:49:29] Doesn't doesn't yet know God and wants to, wants to accept, uh, a relationship. And I think that'd be, uh, awesome to have you just speak to that. And, and we'd, uh, we'd both make ourselves available after as well, but, uh, man, if you wouldn't mind, I'd love to have you take it away on that.

[00:49:45] Christian: [00:49:45] Yeah, absolutely. Paul says in Corinthians now is the acceptable time. Today's the day of salvation and that was written 2000 years ago, but it applies every single day to anyone who hasn't received the [00:50:00] Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior. There's an urgency because God created it. It's not in God's will that any man shall perish.

[00:50:10] But the fact of the matter is, is if we choose not to have a relationship with. The Lord, our creator here on earth, then we're not going to have one for eternity. And that's, that's the difference between heaven and hell. So God doesn't want anybody to go to hell, but he loves us so much that if that's what we choose, he will allow us to go there.

[00:50:33] Um, the Bible says that if we confess with our mouth, that Jesus is Lord and we believe in our hearts that God raised him from the, from the grave that we will be saved. And the Bible also says in revelation that Jesus stands and knocks at the door of every man's heart, every man's heart, every person to walk this earth, God knocks on our heart.

[00:50:55] So nobody could say that, you know, God wasn't seeking me [00:51:00] out because in Luke it says that God didn't just come to save the lost. He came to seek and save the lost. So he's searching for our hearts. He desires even more. So like that, that day I was so desperate that I jumped into his arms. He's desperate to have a relationship with each and every one of us.

[00:51:18] So with that said, I'd love to just pray for anybody listening, listening to this right now. Heavenly father, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for Dr. Dave. Thank you for this podcast and God, if there's even one ear that's hearing this, we just asked right now in the name of Jesus, that they may take that step Lord that they may believe that they may let all the walls down in their heart.

[00:51:43] God, you are a God who never leaves us. You never forsake us. You tell us to be bold and courageous because you are real. You are with us and God, we are not to fear God, you are a faithful God, you are a God who loves us with that. Agape a [00:52:00] love it's beyond our understanding. It's a love, that's not based on our loveliness, but based on who you are as the creator of love of the one who is love.

[00:52:11] So God, I pray that there are souls that enter your kingdom upon hearing this. I pray that there are seeds that are being planted, that maybe one day will lead the salvation. We thank you for this time. We thank you for this experience and Lord, we just thank you for this day. We thank you so much, Lord.

[00:52:31] We love you and honor you in Jesus name. We pray. Amen.

[00:52:35] Dave: [00:52:35] mm, appreciate that brother. Uh, where can, uh, if someone is curious about chatting more and said, who knows how many, uh, how many make it to the, make it to the end of each show? But, uh, man, I would love to, is there a place people can reach out to you if they, uh, email or place they can contact you if they want to just chat more or they connect with your story and want to connect with you?

[00:52:57] Christian: [00:52:57] Yeah, you could hit me up on Instagram [00:53:00] DME, uh, Christian Edwards, two, four nine. Um, you'll be able to contact me through our King's council coaching website, which is King's Council coaching.com. It's our faith-based coaching program where, um, it's so much more than. Just, uh, Jesus talk. But at the same time, we know what's most important.

[00:53:22] So, uh, it's a lot of Jesus talk. And even through you, man, if anybody contacts Dr. Dave asked him if they could get in touch with me, I know he'll send you my way. And this is real, you know, this is real stuff. So if, if you're. Interested. If you have questions, I had so many questions and Lucy was the one that was able to answer them for me.

[00:53:49] So maybe you don't have anybody who's in your life that could answer those questions. Maybe you didn't know the gospel, maybe you're in your twenties, thirties, forties, and have never actually [00:54:00] heard the gospel before. You don't know why you need a savior, contact us. We'll help you. We'll walk you through that. No judgment zone here. Um, we're just spreading love.

[00:54:13] Dave: [00:54:13] Yeah. And you guys know where to find me, but yeah, I found myself in a similar situation to have no one to really bounce questions around with. I, I didn't really know what, uh, I didn't know what a lot of things meant in, in this, you know, this podcast and I'll. Trent in all transparency. If I had listened to this say 10 years ago would have probably made me uncomfortable in some ways.

[00:54:32] And who knows if I would've made it to the, uh, to the end of it. So, uh, you know, props whoever's listening and just leaning into it and, and curious, like you don't have to have all the answers. It, it took, uh, it took me a long time to really. Really figure out what, what any of this meant or why it was important and to move my mind from like religion and, and what that meant to having an actual, uh, relationship with God.

[00:54:56] So we would, uh, you know, we would, we would love to, to, uh, [00:55:00] hear from anyone and be happy to just chat more about it. Any last parting words, Christian, before we, uh, wrap this thing up,

[00:55:07] Christian: [00:55:07] That's it, man. And we don't have all the answers, you know what. We're not perfect. I'm not perfect, but we, we have the, the means for you to receive eternal salvation and that's Jesus Christ. So may I make the jump? We talked so much about making that jump, like be bold with it, make that jump into the arms of Jesus like I did.

[00:55:28] And it'll be the best decision you ever made.

[00:55:31] Dave: [00:55:31] And you mentioned her urgency. That was my word of a 2021. So it's a, it's going to keep popping up, man. So good. Appreciate you. Coming on Christian. I had a blast. This your story is so powerful and I'm a, I'm so excited for, for people to hear it. So thanks for coming on, man.

[00:55:46] Christian: [00:55:46] Thanks for having me, man. I love you brother.

[00:55:48]Dave: [00:55:48] Thanks for listening today, guys, unbelieving that even if you apply one thing from today's show, you're taking one step closer to living as the man you were made to be meaningful change doesn't happen overnight. [00:56:00] So keep showing up and keep consistent every single day until good things start to happen.

[00:56:05] If you haven't already taken 60 seconds to write a review on whatever platform you're listening on, it goes a long way in growing this podcast and reaching other men just like you, that are hungry for more in their life. Do you have any questions on today's show feedback or content you want to see more of shoot me a text.

[00:56:22] Yeah, text me (760) 477-4361 at (760) 477-4361. Let me know that you're listening to it. And so I can personally thank you for your support of myself and the show. That's it for today, guys, it's time to raise your standard for yourself. Stop settling for just getting by, go all in on your passions in the Lightroom made for a lot of you guys and talk to you soon.

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From Drug Addict to Spiritual Advisor with Christian Edwards

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