By Ray and Pat, parents of a Teen Challenge graduate:

Sean was our chosen son. He was just ten weeks old when we brought him home. We loved him with all our hearts. He was a cute, pudgy bundle of joy. God had answered our prayers and we were so excited to finally have our son.

Sean grew up playing sports and attending Boy Scouts, always popular and surrounded by friends. We loved him so much – maybe too much to notice the problems that began to appear.

On our 25th wedding anniversary we went on a special vacation, just the two of us. While sitting aboard the airplane, we began to read an article about the signs of drug problems. With a shock we realized that our son didn't have just three of the warning signs – he had all twelve! Upon our return we began to see things we hadn't observed before, noticing that Sean was despondent and withdrawn, and his personality was changing. When we asked him about it, he admitted to smoking pot. Not our son! How could this be happening? Where had we gone wrong? We felt so terribly guilty!

Over the next few months we began to notice even more changes. Sean had changed friends, he'd sleep for long periods of time, had mood swings, and had become disrespectful. When he came home his eyes would be bloodshot, and we caught him in many lies. He seemed to be lying all the time. Things went missing from our home, but we didn't want to believe that our own son would steal from us!

We realized that something very bad was threatening our family. We felt so helpless, we were hurting so badly. Sean would disappear for days at a time. We would find ourselves pacing in front of the window, crying, wondering if he was safe. Many times we wondered if the police would be coming to our door with bad news. We'd even go out and drive around the city in the middle of the night, looking for him.

There were tears in our home almost every day. What was once a happy home was now in severe crisis. We decided we couldn't allow our family to be destroyed any more. We told Sean that he had to live by the rules of our home and go for help, or he would have to leave. This was one of the most difficult decisions we ever had to make as parents. We told our son that we would always love him, and that God loved him, but we did not approve of his lifestyle.

The heartache and pain became almost unbearable at times. Leaning more and more on our faith and the prayers of our family and friends, we became determined to get our son back. We also began to realize that there were many families hurting and being torn apart by drugs and alcohol. Some of their stories tore at our hearts. We knew there was no magic formula, but with God's help we would get through this.

Over the next few years our son withdrew further and further from us.

When we went to visit him one Christmas in his dirty, dreary apartment, he hid from us in the broom closet! He was like a scared animal, cowering in the corner of the closet, curled up in a ball, crying. We were crying as well, but couldn't get through to him.

Then, one Saturday morning at 6:30 am, Sean found his way to our front step. At first he wouldn't come in and said he just wanted his clothes. We could tell he was hurting, and convinced him to come in and take a shower. He couldn't look us in the eyes. He was cold, wet and dirty, and was coughing up blood. Our hearts were broken. We remembered the first day he came to our home, so sweet and innocent; our baby. How could this have happened to our little boy?

Going down the stairs, we found him sitting down with his head buried in his hands, crying. He said he couldn't go on the way he was going any more. Sean finally wanted help. We held each other and cried.

We had heard about Teen Challenge from our daughter's pastor. He had gone through the program himself, and told her all about it. Could that be the answer? We called Teen Challenge and then encouraged Sean to call. He called and arranged an interview and a tour, and we drove him over. We thought that this could be the answer, but it had to be Sean's commitment, not ours.

After a week of waiting, Sean was accepted. He was in! We breathed a sigh of relief, but the hard work was ahead of him. We really prayed that day that Sean would stay and that God would help him beat this addiction.

That first phone call from Sean was unforgettable. He said he had never heard so much about God in all his life! We just listened and kept on encouraging him. As the months went by, we began to see glimpses of our son come back. After 12 months in the program we could truly say that God had freed Sean of his addiction. Today, we have our son back. We are so proud of him! Following his graduation from the Teen Challenge program, Sean has gone on to work a full-time job.

God working through Teen Challenge has been the answer to our prayers! We are so grateful. We share our story for one reason – to give hope to others. We thank Teen Challenge and praise God for our very own miracle!