Road to Recovery: Wesley Storz

Remember the Delta resident Wesley Storz who spotted the abandoned vehicle last week? In the covering of the news in real time, the focus is always the story at hand. The who, what, where, when, and why of the event in question. The people involved always have stories of their own that don’t necessarily relate to the news. Storz reached out to us with the desire to tell his story.

Different Paths

Addiction is a common word because of the ever-increasing and never-ending growth of those who abuse drugs and alcohol. Every family, every person, and each generation of America has in some indelible way been touched by the grasping tentacles of addiction and the addict. There are many preconceived notions on what an addict and addiction look like. However, there is no one commonality that links addicts/alcoholics other than the life and soul-destroying abuse of drugs and alcohol. We all come from different families, different education groups, different socio-economic groups, different races, and so too does our path to addiction.

My name is Wesley Storz and I am a healing addict. I am not here to take up your time with the how, what’s, and whys of my addiction. I am here to talk about what healing looks like. There is this common misconception that rehab is the cure-all and end-all of recovery. In reality, it’s only a small part of the beginning of healing and recovery.

I use the word healing because every addict was broken before the drugs and alcohol, as everyone says the problem wasn’t drugs or alcohol. It is the temporary fix to problems we can’t deal with, understand, or face. Rehab is a good place to find out the underlying problems but recovery (or as I like to say healing) is that journey that sometimes takes years or even a lifetime to complete.

A week ago  I came home and found a running car by my home with no one in it. A sick young lady had walked into the woods alone and confused. I called 911 and 30 hours later her rescuers pulled her out of the woods alive. It scared me seeing that car. In July of 2018, I left my car running and walked into the woods hoping never to come out. I tried every way to end my life but it ended in failure. No one called 911 for me, in fact they stole my car. I was so physically and mentally damaged that I spent a month in the hospital.

In the hospital, as I was overwhelmed with everything, I knew something had to change. I began praying that God wouldn’t just take the drugs away but put me in a place with people where I could learn to live as a man who loves GOD and lead a life-loving GOD. Be careful what you ask GOD for because he answers in ways you wouldn’t expect. When I left the hospital I didn’t know where I was going. 

I called anyone who would answer begging for a place to lay my head. Those who answered quickly said no, and those who didn’t answer gave their answer with silence. I don’t blame any of them. I had lied, hurt, manipulated, and mocked all of them. It was at this point something started changing.

Rescue Mission

In August 2018 I ended up at River City Rescue Mission, literally at the end of the road. Spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and financially spent. I had no one left to call on but GOD. I was a shell of a man. Broken is really the only way I can describe it. I arrived at the mission with all my worldly possession. That amounted to one change of clothes and what I had on. I started with drugs on top of the world and ended drugs on the bottom. 

This was my first time at a Rescue Mission, and I needed to be rescued not rehabbed. I needed to know what was wrong with me and how to fix it. There are many teachers at the Rescue Mission but they all teach from the same book, the Bible. As it says in Philippians 2:12 we have to work out our salvation, and that recovery or healing has to be worked. Each person’s road to recovery and being healed is different. the work is hard, but anything worth having is, isn’t it?  The road to death and destruction is entered by a wide gate, but the recovered life is entered by a narrow gate that Jesus talks about in Matthew 7:13

I spent nine months at River City Rescue Mission as a client, a year as a staff member, and the last year and a half as the Assistant Director. Today I have a good job, I have my own home, I am involved with my church, teach two bible studies, and with the ladies from my church, we feed  100 homeless and shut-ins each week. Earnie Hall is an amazing teacher and I owe him a debt I can’t repay. As grateful as I am to him, I owe a larger un-payable debt to my two mentors Robert Sanders and Bob Ford. GOD and these two men have kept me sober and taught me how to be a man. No man is an island. 

Over the coming weeks, I will be sharing with you my path of recovery as well as the encouraging stories of what life after drugs looks like. I hope to bring you encouragement from successfully recovered and healed addicts and alcoholics. We focus so much on the problem of addiction that we all know the negatives. We need to change the conversation to focus on what recovery and being healed looks like. That’s a beautiful gift of GODs grace. No matter what your problem or addiction, all you have to do is call on the name of the LORD and you will be saved.