Matt's Story - Life after Hope House

Since leaving Hope House in September and going to the Teen Challenge, Leadership Academy  I have really been blessed. I really thank God for the time I have had here. God provided by His grace for my next season after having such a significant time at Hope House, being able to get secure in my recovery and grow in my faith after leaving Yeldall Manor.

The Leadership Academy has been really good as I have been able to grow in my understanding of the Word of God and then being able to apply it to my life. We are very blessed with the pastors we have here who hold up the word of God with real integrity and sound teaching. They are men of God who have a lot of experience of walking with the Lord and being in ministry and they are able to impart a lot of understanding on a broad range of topics in our time here.

We also have the blessing of growing in sharing and communicating the word of God, taking chapel every two weeks which I have found really beneficial. I’ve also been able to share in chapel with the guys on the rehab side which was great. We have done outreach in Doncaster, Nottingham and Wellingborough and I have also started volunteering on the rehab side. I finish at the end of June and I am just so grateful that I have had this opportunity as it has been life changing for me.

Apart from this, over our Easter end of term holiday, I had the amazing blessing of going to Kigoma, Tanzania on a gospel mission with Hope for Nations International Ministries (HONIM). A ministry of some friends of mine, who invited me to go with them on this mission. This was also amazing  and just a great opportunity. I hadn’t been abroad since I was 18 and never experienced anything like going to Africa on mission! It was a great time, we had the blessing of ministering in the churches, to the youth, in orphanages, widows centres, hospitals and on the streets. Being able to share the gospel there was amazing and seeing their openness to Jesus and the gospel was amazing too! It was such a blessing to serve the Lord there and see lives affected and changed for Jesus.

In all this I give my Lord Jesus Christ all the glory because He knows that about this time 5 years ago I went into a detox not far from where I’m at now at Teen challenge and started my journey of pursuing recovery, after a terrible time struggling with addiction and mental health issues, suffering many consequences and carrying lots of baggage and trauma. I didn’t know what to expect getting clean, but Jesus Christ has given me so much more in a life of knowing His grace, freedom and forgiveness and love and the amazing life I can live with Him. 

I finish by saying that I am very grateful for everyone at Hope House as it was so great for me in my time there.