On skid row, Rick hears the Holy Spirit

Rick is focusing on building his relationship with God.

“I was just surviving. I had no concept of the future,” Rick said when reflecting on his past.

Rick was 12 when his parents divorced. His father struggled with alcohol and drugs, and Rick was raised by his mother.

The divorce brought a new sense of freedom for Rick and, with it, he began testing the boundaries.

“My first thought was that I could do whatever I wanted now without getting my butt whooped,” he said. “So, I started drinking and smoking pot.”

Rick also began hanging out with neighborhood gang members. By his teenage years, he was frequently in trouble and eventually spent two years “locked up” in juvenile hall.

After his release, his parents supported him as he tried to rebuild his life, but addiction soon took hold. Rick began using crystal meth, and what started as weekend use gradually became part of his everyday life.

Rick struggled through years of addiction and multiple periods of incarceration. In 2012, a DUI led his stepdad to help him find the Mission.

Rick came but eventually left. Looking back, Rick remembers that time as a difficult one.

“After I left here, I felt like I was getting spiritually attacked,” he said.

Eventually, Rick was sleeping on the streets on Skid Row.

It was there that he began reading the Bible, often sitting outside at night with only a flashlight. Then something “amazing” happened.

“I heard a voice tell me, ‘Go let Jesus heal you up,’ and I felt that it was the Holy Spirit,” he said.

Rick immediately thought of the Mission. It took him five months to save enough money for a bus ticket, but he was determined to return.

This time, Rick said, he is approaching the program differently.

He is learning to focus not on simply surviving, but on loving others, trusting God, and allowing Him to lead.

“The biggest thing God is speaking to me right now is to love people,” he said. “And to let God dwell in me. I want Him to use me for His good. The Holy Spirit is in me, so I am abiding in Him.”

For Rick, recovery is rooted in his relationship with God and the peace he has found in trusting Him.

His main priority is to “keep my relationship with God going,” Rick said.

“I’m trusting in Him and continuing to build my relationship with Him.”