I Started Meth at 15... But God Wasn’t Done With Me

Setting The Stage: Justin’s Testimony

Justin: My name is Justin Franich, co-host of Rebuilding Life After Addiction. And today I'm going to share my story with you. It's wild, man. I've sat down to try to share my testimony on camera about 15 times. It's been 20 years since I've been trapped in addiction. And I've tried to be intentional over the course of my sobriety, over the course of my ministry to never forget what I felt before getting my life together. You know, I grew up in a good Christian home. I grew up with a good Christian family. We were super

Teen Identity And First Drug Use

Justin: active in church. It wasn't until I was 14 or 15 that I started to deal with the practical identity issues that a lot of people deal with in their teenage years. I began to experiment with the party lifestyle, began to hang out with people who were doing drugs, who were, you know, smoking cigarettes, drinking on the weekends, stuff like that. And I found that while I was searching for identity, trying to figure out who I was, cocaine was the first drug that I tried that was a little harder. And it really didn't do it for me until somebody introduced me to crystal meth. And honestly, man, that drug, the first time I did it, it grabbed a hold of me in an instant. 14

Meth Addiction Escalates

Justin: years old. We would smoke it, we would shoot it. Over the next year, it began to get worse. So much so that by the time I was 15, I would venture to say that I was a full-blown meth addict. And I had gone into using needles for the first time. Something I never thought I would do. You know, during that age, like all my infinite wisdom as a 14-year-old drug addict, I thought, I'll be okay as long as I just smoke it and snort it. I'll get older and I'll eventually shake this off. It won't matter that much. Over the next few years, my addiction began to spiral and I did all the things. I mean, I could go into war stories of the moments of overdose, the moments that I should have been in jail, and tensions started to grow in my family. I dropped out of high school, ended up going to get my GED while I

Army Detour And Relapse

Justin: was coming down off of math. 17 years old, I got in some trouble with a friend. I had stolen some stuff from somebody's house, and I ended up talking my way into going into the military instead of somebody pressing charges on me. I did the whole thing. I signed up for basic training, went off to Fort Bidding, Georgia. And man, I did really good for a little while. My time in the Army cleaned me up. I was sober the entire time. I was going to chapel again. But the minute I came back home after finishing basic training, AIT, my family was so proud of me. I came back home and ran into some old friends, and I blew every dollar that I had saved while in basic training and was right back on meth. Well, that didn't last very long until I finally stopped showing up. And by the grace of God, there was a sergeant that just processed a quiet discharge. I don't know how it didn't become worse, but he just kind of pushed me out of the army at that point.

Spiraling Life And Family Strain

Justin: And things really began to get bad from there. Over the next year and a half, my life just spiraled. I was doing the I was out most of the time, hanging out with friends, going home only to crash in my parents' house when things would really get bad, or I needed somewhere to sleep, or I was out of money or out of drugs until eventually I would come up with a scheme to get more, you know, this pattern that just continues hanging out with people who were manufacturing the drug and honestly putting myself in a lot of really sticky situations that should have put me in prison for a long time. Things got bad. My mom and dad had moved out of the house that they were living in to go live with my grandparents. And one of the things I didn't realize was happening behind the scenes was that they had had plans that when they moved into my grandmother's house, I wasn't going to be allowed to. And so they had moved. And that week I was out, I think, partying and doing my thing with people.

The Intervention At Grandma’s House

Justin: And then I finally showed up at grandma's house looking for a couch to sleep on. I'll never forget the moment that I showed up at my grandmother's house. I had a friend drop me off out front, and there was a couple extra cars in the driveway. And when I went inside, there was some family members there. And what I didn't realize was that I was walking into an intervention. I didn't even know what an intervention was at this time. And I walk in the living room, and you know, it was emotional and you're confrontational and all that stuff that goes with it. But long story short, just that we love you, we care about you, but you can either go get help or get out. You know, my mom and dad had said that to me before. And honestly, they never followed through on that before this moment. They had made all the threats and said that they wouldn't allow me to live there anymore, all the stuff that goes with it. But man, in this moment, my grandmother had stood behind it. And initially I responded, I didn't get angry, just kind of rejected the whole idea that I needed help. And I went into the backyard of my grandmother's house. Yeah, I had some drugs on me that day. I had about an eight ball of crystal meth, you know, in my in my pocket and a needle in my shoe. And I went out into the yard

Breaking Point And A Simple Prayer

Justin: and like, you know, I got drugs. I can call people. Somebody will come pick me up. Nobody could seem to find the time to come pick me up and help me out. And in that moment, like my world started to unravel around me. My parents wanted nothing to do with me. My grandmother, the one who had always allowed an open door, always cared for me. Man, she had shut her door. And I remember standing in that backyard and the weight just settling on me. What have I become? Like, what has happened in my life that those who should love and care for me no matter what want nothing to do with me anymore? And there was this mixture of sorrow and hopelessness and despair that can only come in realizing that you've messed everything up. And I had a moment there. I was like, maybe I should just do all the drugs. Maybe there's really no way out of this. I remember looking up into the sky that night, and honestly, I knew about God. I had grew up with a relationship with Christ, but we didn't have one in that moment. I was so far from God. And I remember just saying to God simply, Lord, if you can do something with this mess, I'm asking your help. I'm asking for help. And honestly, in that moment, for the first time in years, I felt emotion. I broke down in tears. I began to cry. And it was just a few days later that my parents would throw

Long Island Rehab And A Prophetic Word

Justin: me in the back of a van. It was just a few days later that my parents and my grandmother would throw me in a vehicle and drive me seven hours to a recovery program in Long Island, New York. I'll never forget the moment that I showed up at that center. If there's one recurring theme of my life and thing that I share in every single testimony, it's this line. Because I remember walking up to that center. I was about 110 pounds at the time. I had the bruises and the sores, you know, on my mouth, starting to detox a little bit. You know, at that time in my life, I was wearing long sleeves everywhere because I had to cover the marks that were up and down my arm. And um, we got to the Teen Challenge Center, and I remember getting out of the vehicle and, you know, being prepared to go inside, take my bags in, do the paperwork. And this gentleman walked over from across the parking lot and introduced himself to me. And in that moment, he looked at me and he said, Justin, God has a plan for your life. Now, friends, I told you that I had grown up in church and I had heard people tell me that my entire life, but something about this moment hit different. Maybe it's a combination of the Holy Spirit working, all of that going on at the same time. But for some reason, this man looking at a 110-pound meth addict with needle marks up and down his arms and being able to look him in the eyes and tell him that God had a plan for him and actually believe it, it just broke through.

Fighting Through Recovery And Finding Purpose

Justin: Something began to shift inside of me. I like to say that it was easy from that moment on, you know. Those few words were just simply a prophetic declaration. And ever since that moment, my ministry, my mission, my purpose in life has been driven by believing simply and maybe even foolishly that God had a plan for my life. And I've tried to do my best over the last 20 years to echo those words to anybody that I'm given an opportunity to share them with. Things started changing. I tried to leave the program 20 times. But God did a work in me in New York. And I came home with a passion and a desire to try to share that same thing with other people all

Twenty Years Of Ministry And Family

Justin: through the years. Honestly, I could stop there, but like, man, this decision that you make to put your faith and trust in Jesus and walk away from the drug addiction and walk away from the past lifestyle, it is not the destination. And I know sometimes we can't see it when we're in the middle of the mess. That's probably why those words were so important to me, because I've always been somebody that needs to see the future. I like to dream, I like to have visions and for somebody to tell me that there was indeed a plan, that not all of this was accidental, that even though I had made a mess, there was a way out of that mess. And it wasn't just a way back to just, oh, I'm just sober now, but that there was something greater on the other side of this mess. It was those words that began to become the foundation for everything else that God would give me in my life over the last 20 years. I've been privileged to serve in ministry now for 20 years. We ran a teen challenge program

The Core Message: God Has A Plan

Justin: for years. I met my wife, um, who, man, wasn't a drug addict. God gave me an amazing family. And honestly, I'm telling you that all of that began because I was simply willing to believe that God did have a plan. But I've been so fortunate and blessed to have the life that I have today in Jesus. And I don't take it for granted. But everything began at that moment that I started to actually believe that there was a purpose for my life. A lot of the times, man, we start to get into these places of depression and discontent and discomfort and all of that stuff because we know that we're not living up to our potential. But yet when we're trapped in those moments, it takes somebody to speak into the things that we can't even see in ourselves. It takes somebody that's willing to run into the mess, run out to the prodigal on the road and meet them and clothe them with identity, with authority, and with purpose. And I'm telling you that over the last 20 years, it's been that theme over and over and over. God has a plan for you. God has a plan for you. And people are like, Man, that's not complicated. Sometimes you don't need complicated, but sometimes the most transformative truths are the most simple ones. And the simple truth that I want to leave you with in this video, no matter where you're at in life, God has a plan for your life. Thank you so much for listening.