When Mark at TCR asked me to give a testimony, I didn’t really know what I would say because God has done so much for me and is continuing to do so now.
A very long story, made short:
In 2018, I became suicidal after a very long toxic marriage and divorce, the failure of my business, my children were reporting being hurt and abused and I couldn’t get any help. I was exhausted.
I overdosed on two bottles of pills combined with lots of alcohol. I was scared but I was committed and so I sat down with my gun because I didn’t know what to expect and I was afraid- I just wanted to fall asleep.
I remember a voice that sounded like my dad’s voice when he was very serious about what he was saying, and it shook me for a moment “Move Brandon!” and I came awake, sober for just a moment and I moved quickly out of my seat. Then I heard a pop, and there was a hole in my blinds.
A text message I had made during this event had alerted an individual who then I found out later alerted the police.
During a welfare check I was shot at through my window and that was the last thing I can recall.
I had not only failed at everything in my life and I believed I had failed God, I had failed at killing myself and made things so much worse.
After being in the hospital, jail, state hospital, and back to jail- my brother and sister in law bailed me out and gave me a room in their house.
A verse that has a lot of meaning to me is
Proverbs 17:17: A friend loves at all times, and is born, as is a brother, for adversity.
I wish I could say my struggle ended there, but it really had just begun.
While facing charges that could put me in jail for a long time, I still had the suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, fear, panic attacks.
God left the 99 that day and came after the 1. I was that one.
So how did I end up at TCR?
4.5 years passed, and I have became much stronger, healed in many ways, but the time was approaching for me to deal with the charges.
My brother wasn’t in my life as much now as he had become the foster parent of my youngest child and with an order against me I am not allowed contact of any sort. There wasn’t a reliable support system in my life.
I was feeling the pressure again, isolated, and because of what I was facing in court— my mind often raced and went straight back to “my options.”
While God had brought me through so much already and my relationship was restored with Him, I had not yet been free of many life controlling problems.
I was determined to not go backwards and I needed a bible so I went to the Gospel Book store in Bristol and it must’ve been a divine appointment. Sue who worked there must’ve heard from the Lord. She didn’t just tell me about Tri-cities Recovery but she said that I “must go there”.
So it is unlike me to go to a group like this, the way she said it to me – it was more than a recommendation.
I went. Since I’ve been going God has healed my mind, he has set me free from much trauma, and habits I developed to cope. Controlling habits ended, and God gave me a group of people who didn’t judge me and didn’t care where I’ve been; who loved me and encouraged me when no other church would, and even my own church would not.
A verse that comes to mind when I think of how to summarize how Mark and the others have impacted my life is found in Acts 4 where we read about Peter and John in having been arrested and who upon their release it says:
After they were permitted to go, [the apostles] returned to their own [company] and told all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
The part I want to reference is, they “returned to their own company.” They had a company, a church, a group.
When I had nowhere to go, and nobody to stand with me.. Tri-cities Recovery, Mark Mitchell and the people involved have become “brothers and sisters born for adversity.” They have become my company, my church. Whether you actively take part in the group or you are a supporter in any way. God is doing great things through this ministry and families and people are being restored, including mine.
