The only thing I ‘self made’ in my life was a mess, true story. I believe we were given ‘freedom of choice’ to choose our own life paths and long story short I took the road of least resistance, when things got hard I turned to the drugs & alcohol to escape. Ironically, all things come with a price and that ‘escape’ was no escape because at the end of the day the problems that I was trying to avoid were still there waiting, with interest! Most of you that followed my ‘journey’ can remember the hardships that I had to face head on, but what I may not have written about is how my Faith was strengthened in the process. The day I surrendered and put my trust in God was the day my life changed. I remember waiting to be arrested, and the ‘battle’ that was raging inside me, part of me was screaming to run while I had the chance but the strangest feeling was the part of me that felt the ‘peace’ that quieted the noise that told me I would be ok if I did the right thing. I remember telling God that I was tired of running and that I was ready to accept whatever was coming my way. I was ready to surrender my freedom on the basis that God would provide everything I needed. Here’s what I believe to be the beautiful truth but it has a way of being distorted by people, God will break chains to free you, but He only gives you the strength, we have to be ready to use the tools He provides because it all falls back on that freedom of choice, He won’t heal you directly but He will give you everything needed to heal yourself. You are the one that must learn to face life on life’s terms, and deal with whatever haunts you from your past, your demons don’t want you to man up or woman up, they need you afraid to keep you a prisoner. God will free you but you must be ready to receive what He has to offer. Today my life is different because of my Faith, people may believe that I did it all on my own but the truth is none of it was possible without God. Self made? Not even close, I am God made 
