On Skid Row, I never really saw life anywhere,” says Anthony, 38. “But I saw a lot of death—a whole lot of people walking around, all disintegrating into different stages of death. For three years, I was one of them.”
Growing up, Anthony’s father was a drug dealer who cycled in and out of prison. When his father was home, Anthony was surrounded by drugs and drinking. “For me it was normal,” he says. “I didn’t know anything else.”
By the time Anthony was 21, “life started happening.” He had his first child, bills started piling up, and his relationship with his daughter’s mother worsened. Unable to cope with the stress, Anthony turned to alcohol. He learned that drinking took him out of taking any responsibility for his life
“By my 30s, I was drinking every day. My life was a rollercoaster of ups and downs,” he recalls. “By the time I was about 33, I was living in a tent on Skid Row. Then I started smoking meth. I already struggle with anxiety and depression, but the meth led to growing mental health problems. Rock bottom was when I learned my father and my nephew had both died of drug overdoses. I knew then… I had to make a decision whether I was going to live or die. I chose to live and came to Union Rescue Mission.”
Here, Anthony learned to let go of controlling his own life and surrender it to God. Every day, he grows closer to God as his faith grows—and he knows his life depends on it.
“I know I have to keep doing what I’m doing for the rest of my life,” he says. “The peace I have today depends on it. That’s why I lean on Psalm 13: ‘Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death… But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.’”
Anthony adds that he knows who he is today: “A son of God. A servant. The son my mother wants, and the father my daughter needs.”
