“Before I came to Christ, I was an addict, alcoholic, womanizer and an ongoing absent father.  I experienced violence towards me and all around me at a very young age.  Since then I have resorted to violence over and over, even when it was in no means necessary.  For a long time, it was the way I communicated.  My first felony resulted in a two-year sentence, affiliation with a brotherhood and an addiction to heroin.  I experienced more drugs in prison that I did in my own neighborhood.  I can recall many instances where God has tried to intervene in my life.  After my first-born child was born, my daughter, I had always felt that I would never serve a purpose in this world. She was my whole world. Then I lost custody of her and again I gave up.

I didn’t know what to expect when I came back to prison and applied to the Transformation Living Community Program (TLC).  All I knew is that I was tired of losing everything and everyone I cared for.  Prison had become easy for me but getting right with God was hard.  Daily I have to deny myself from morning to night, putting my Father before me.  Doing so I found peace, joy and my new identity through Christ.  I tell all the new brothers that come here that Christ gave me a comfort that I would only find being surrounded by my children.  To this day, Christ keeps me wrapped in that comfort, enabling me to walk in faith and in love.  The closer I get to Christ the more I believe that this is the person I was always meant to be.  I have been to behavior modification, drug and alcohol programs since adolescence and nothing has made sense until coming to the TLC Program.  This time around, instead of drugs and violence, I turn to God, His Word and the strong brothers He has anointed over me for all my needs.  TLC has opened many doors of recovery for me.  I am learning to make this a lifestyle and how to make the Serenity Prayer more effective in my life.”

Clarence (Inupiat)