Sometimes the most effective lessons in life are those learned through experience. The voices we listen to and follow have a bearing on our direction in life. Carla dismissed the concerns of her parents and it didn’t go well. But then, she heard a different voice, which caused her to consider her ways.

Carla was greatly impacted by her grandfather. He was a man who loved God and wanted his family to do the same. And although Carla’s early life was marked by pain and regret, her grandfather’s influence on her would bear fruit one day.

Dino moved to the reservation when he was 13. After living in a mixed community, he discovered that he didn’t fit in on the rez. He was rejected and abused by classmates. This left him wondering who he really was and where he really belonged. His quest led him to discover his true identity.

I’ve seen it, I’ve been there, I did it, I know because I know what I’m talking about, because if I wasn’t, I’d be in a bar telling you about the times I was drunk and stuff. But today, I don’t have to go there, I don’t have to talk about sitting in a bar spending my money being drunk. I don’t have to no more; I’m free, I’ve been free, God said I am free.

Charlie’s battle with alcohol was intense and sobriety was allusive. He said, “I didn’t know how I got sober, I couldn’t figure it out; I guess it was never meant to be for me to figure it out. But it was a mystery, still is, when I speak at places where I go and when I see people, I say, ‘I don’t know how I sobered up.’ And I just have to, I just have to say the Lord just come into my life one day and this is what came out of it.”

Charlie’s childhood experiences of physical, mental and sexual abuse left him a hating, cold and violent person who for forty years succumbed to a life of alcohol, drugs, crime and self destruction. Then, one day God got his attention.

The drinking and drugs so easily could have taken her life… and then there were the thoughts of suicide. But everything is different now. Darla tells about how God changed her – he took away the drinking and drugs, the anger and hatred… and now she’s a new person.