Daren - November 2021

I was recently in Huntsville, Alabama with a few of our teammates taking around one-hundred leaders through our True Charity Foundations Workshop. At one of the sessions where we process learning, one of those leaders asked me a tough question: “How do you measure hope?”

Tough question. Can hope be measured? Maybe by asking people to describe a better future we could determine whether hope is present or absent. Certainly, had I asked Daren to do that before he came into our Forge program, he would have returned to me a blank of piece of paper. Fortunately, Hope found Daren in the person of Jesus Christ and not only saved his life, but changed it forever.

“Addiction had taken everything from me—and almost took my life. At my lowest point, I was under a bridge ready to die. I had just gotten out of the hospital with a prescription for hydrocodone, and I was going to take the whole bottle. In that moment, I cried out to God, and He showed up. As soon as I walked out from under the bridge, a woman stopped her truck, picked me up, and began preaching Jesus to me. I knew right then and there that God had saved my life.

He not only saved my life, but changed it through the Forge program. I went from having no one and nothing to having a family and friends who care for me and build me up. Graduating from the program wasn’t the end, but the beginning of something brand new.”

Romans 15:13 encourages us, “May the God of fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Thank you for your continued support. I am forever grateful for your partnership that helps people just like Daren come into a new life and one that overflows with hope.

James Whitford,

Co-Founder and Executive Director

P.S. To hear more of Daren’s story visit WateredGardens.org/daren