Justin - May 2026

“Put the shovel down.” That may be a funny thing to say when someone “digs a hole” with a poor choice of words, but it’s no laughing matter when years of poor choices lands someone in a pit of his own digging. That was the case with Justin who, at a young age, “picked up a shovel” of drugs and alcohol, leading to decades digging a hole of addiction, crime, and imprisonment. In his darkest hour, he offered up a simple, desperate prayer of surrender: “God, I need some place where I can stop and learn to think about how I’m living.” 

God answered that prayer when Justin heard the director of Forge, our long-term recovery program for men, say, “If you join, we’re gonna put your life on pause so you can get yourself straightened out.”

“My life was completely unmanageable… I decided to just let God do what He was going to do—I was done trying to dictate how it was going to be. And I learned that if I just focused on doing the next right thing, I could trust God with everything else. Even when things don’t work out how I want, a sober day with God is so much better than a life of addiction.”

Now, a year and a half later, Justin will graduate Forge later this month. His transformation began when he put the shovel down, surrendering his life to the only One who could lift him out of the pit he had dug for himself. 

David wrote in Psalm 40:1-2, “I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.” Thank you for partnering with Watered Gardens’ programs, like Forge, where men put their shovels down so God can lift them to places of stability, security, and a hope-filled life, lived one "next right thing" at a time.