Russ – Learning the truth about God 

Russ Silver’s brother was in Union Gospel Mission’s LifeChange recovery community, but had left. It was on one terrifying night with his brother that Russ made a decision that changed his life.

Russ’s brother went on a meth-fueled rampage and attempted to murder a man with an axe.

It was around that time that Russ, battling his own meth addiction found an application for the LifeChange addiction recovery program in a kitchen drawer. A neighbor gave Russ a bus ticket to leave Florence, Oregon to go to LifeChange in Portland. Life for Russ before taking this step was a fog of drug use of all kinds: marijuana, alcohol, prescription painkillers, hallucinogens such as mushrooms and acid and, like his brother, Russ used meth.

Russ recalls his life was “a fog” which was no wonder since Russ’s method of coping with life had been drug use since he was a child. Russ looks back and realizes that drug use caused him to be a poor husband and father and stumble through life.

Coming from his crazy and drug-filled life, his first reaction to LifeChange, a Christian based addiction recovery community, Russ recalls, “I thought it was nice, even though at the time I was angry, hurt, lonely, rejected, and just mentally off-kilter. I had wrong ideas about God. I thought God was a punisher.”

In LifeChange, residents are encouraged to work on the issues that are the root of their addictions and destructive behaviors. For Russ, enduring a severely abusive childhood was the foundation of his destructive addiction. From the earliest ages Russ was subjected to severe emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse, and his parents gave Russ alcohol even as a small child.

The exposure to this extreme abuse and chaos caused Russ to be filled with rage and turn to alcohol and drugs to cope.

“It was very hard to just sift through that wreckage and all the lies. I had built up walls and didn’t want to talk about it,” Russ recalls.

Russ not only learned new coping skills, but thrived in LifeChange and turned his life around. Today Russ feels secure and no longer confused, and feels more confident, “I learned more and matured more in over 3 years in LifeChange than I did in the entire 32 years of living before I came here.”

Russ says the most positive things about his time in LifeChange are, “learning the truth about God, and relationships with the people in LifeChange and the staff.”

After graduation Russ hopes to pursue a career in ministry down the road and also plans to be closer to his children in Eugene.

What is LifeChange?

LifeChange is a community. Each member of LifeChange lives and works together at the Mission. The cornerstone of LifeChange is faith in the transforming power of Jesus Christ. LifeChange is a peer-based, each resident helps each other to identify issues and grow in their recovery. LifeChange is self-governed, as residents work together to make decisions as a community. LifeChange is long-term, and goal– oriented. Most residents spend two to four years to complete LifeChange.

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