Testimonials

Finding Inspiration in Every Turn

Dustin Austin

I was born in June 1982 in Dotha, Alabama.

I lived in Florida until the summer I was three.

My family moved to Alaska. On the way, we stopped in Arkansas, and we went to a lake, I drowned, and my father almost did not reach me in time. He had to revive me.

My mother was not a good mother, and I was malnourished three times before my first birthday. She tried growing up through the years to become a better mother, but she fell short.

My father was abusive to his children, but not my mother.

They split up when I was 12. My dad went to prison. My aunt raped me from the time I was 13 until I was 16.

I had an uncle who molested me and performed oral sex on me from the age of 12 until I was 14.

I wanted to be different from my family, but you know what they say about the best laid plans. I tried to start a family, but it didn’t work out like I wanted.

I went to prison for 12 years and nine months.

I grew up in two different churches. I was raised Baptist and Mormon. I have known the Lord my entire life. It was never the Lord that turned away. It was me. Even when the devil took my family away by me going to prison and my family getting murdered, I never did blame the Lord. It brought me closer to Him. He is my rock. He is what has gotten me through and kept me going.

I learned about Hand Up Ministries from my case manager in prison. Hand Up has given me the tools I need to become a better person and to succeed in the new life.

My life now seems lost, and I am trying to find it. With God’s help, I know I will.

Thanks to Hand Up for this opportunity.

Thomas Madden

I had a normal childhood. Both of my parents worked full time, and they were good people who were honest. They did not use drugs, and they only drank occasionally.

I earned every ass whipping they gave me. I never used drugs until I was in my early twenties. Much of my twenties was a blur. I spent several years using heavy drugs and drinking before I committed my crime. I know the drugs played a part in my pain and suffering during those years, and I caused a lot grief in that time.

My parents didn’t raise me that way, so I can’t blame it on them. I can only blame myself, and I will regret it for the rest of my life.

When I was prosecuted for my crime in 2015, I learned that it happened in 2001. I was never sure when it happened. I never wanted to remember it. I used to pray for that woman so she could find peace. I went to prison for it 15 years after it happened. That was the worst day of my life. What I had done finally came to light. I was convicted of rape and burglary, and I was sentenced to 12 years of incarceration and three years of probation.

I found the Creator during my second year in prison. I found a faith that wasn’t negative. I know God is real. I am living proof of that. I prayed myself right in prison.

I hope my victim found some form of peace. I have been clean for 10 years this time. It was 12 or 13 years before that. I relapsed and used like a dummy. I am now 10 years clean, and I am trying to make the best choices I can make. I try to treat everyone well, but it is easier said than done. Now I am at Hand Up Ministries.

Kevin Peavy

I was born in Dallas, Texas, and raised by my dad and my step-mother. My mother wasn’t involved in my life, and I was excited to finally have a mom come into my life. She was abusive mentally and physically, and she showed me no love as a child.

I learned to vent my anger when I played football for my school. If you weren’t on my team, then you were the enemy, just like my step-mother. This led me down a wrong path, but sometimes the wrong path eventually turns into the right one.

I had to complete a rehab course just to graduate. I had to attend church in order to live in my mom’s house. I knew her previous lifestyle included going to bars, but she was sold out for God. I thought my mom was off her rocker. I did not accept what was being forced on me. I kept wondering where God was during all the years before I moved in with my real mother.

After graduation I moved to Texas to live with my real mother.

I eventually came to know Christ. He broke through the barriers I had harbored during my life. There was anger, loneliness, and the feeling that I was unworthy. The devil had filled me with all those lies.

Pastor Adkins had an altar call, and I felt compelled to go down to it. I was struggling with pride, which is one of the devil’s biggest tools. I looked into my mother’s eyes, and she was crying. I remembered the verse which says, “Jesus wept.” I could see Jesus calling me through my mother. I thought of His love and sacrifice, and I believed He was calling me into His arms. I gave my life to Him when I was 18 years old.

My mom and dad passed away. I thought I had everything figured out, even though I was in and out of jail and prison. I learned to look toward God for reassurance of my faith. Drugs always played a big roll in my life. I allowed it to happen instead of being strong in the faith. I let the devil convince me I had everything under control. I thought I knew everything I needed to know about God.

I went back to prison after having custody of three out of four kids. Knowing the Bible and applying it to my life were two different things. My mother lived and breathed it. I laid it all down until this final time in prison.

I was in a faith based program in prison, and I was involved in Prison Fellowship. I learned I needed a support group in my life.

I needed a foundation and Christ. I heard of Hand Up Ministries. Everyone needs a hand up, especially when getting out of prison.

Hand Up gives you a foundation and provides shelter, and they worked with me till I was able to get my SSI approved.

With the help of God and Hand Up, I was able to become financially free.

I have a place to live. I have a cat named Cujo. I have built friendships with certain individuals.

God is good all the time. May God bless Hand Up for all they do!

I was once a DOC number, but now I am saved.

Johnny Brock

We lived in small house when I was boy. My parents got divorced, and I lived with my mom. She got a job. My grandma took my siblings and me to school.

We went to church. My mom got hurt at work, and she got a big check. We moved to Bethany, Oklahoma, where we lived in a big two story house.

I met my wife in school. We had a son, and we went to church. We were never happy, and we got divorced.

My parents and my brother passed away, and I started drinking a lot. I lost my job. I lost my gutter company. I strayed from God, and I started doing bad things.

I did dope, and I drank a lot. I went to prison.

I lived in a small trailer by a lake after I got out of prison. I drank heavy, and I did dope. I think I was trying to kill myself. I was drinking a half gallon a day.

I got into trouble again, and I went back to prison.

I found Hand Up Ministries. Hand Up helped me find a job, and they got me back into church.

I would be on the street drinking and doing dope if it wasn’t for Hand Up. I thank God for Hand Up.

I have not had any desire to drink or take drugs since I have been at Hand Up. I thank the people in the Hand Up office.

Wayne Hunt

I can’t blame anyone but myself for my present circumstances.

I can’t blame my family, my friends, or my past living conditions.

I was raised in a loving, middle class conservative home on a small farm in Oregon. My parents consistently set a godly example my four older brothers and me. This example was set not only through our involvement in a Pentecostal church, but also in their daily life. I was taught a very young age to accept Christ as my savior, serve others, and live by the Golden Rule. Discipline was strong, but I was never abused.

My parents were always there for me in my young adult life. They supported me through a Christian high school and community college. They were there when I married my faithful Christian wife, and they helped when our two wonderful children were born.

We had a son and a daughter. We were able to purchase a nice little home near Roseburg, Oregon. I worked at North Douglas Wood Products as a machine press operator. My wife was a stay-at-home mom who homeschooled our children. We managed to pay our bills, even though money was tight. God provided. We were a happy family, and we enjoyed serving in our local church.

Now that I am older and all alone, I look back with sadness and regret. I grieve over those in my family I have hurt, and I grieve over all I have lost.

My parents passed away many years ago. My wife and I divorced, and I haven’t seen my kids or other family members in Oregon since I was incarcerated in 2013.

My daughter wrote several letters to me several years ago. She gave updates on my family, and she expressed how much she missed me. I haven’t heard from my older brothers or anyone else. My aunts and uncles have all passed away.

Even though I was raised to love and serve God, I became addicted to pornographic magazines when I was a teenager. I wrongly convinced myself that it was okay to fantasize and think lustful thoughts as long as I didn’t act on them. Those thought patterns and addictions eventually led me to hitting rock bottom and going to prison. I lost everything I loved and valued. I lost everything I had worked so hard to obtain.

I have now repented, and I have completely surrendered my whole life to Jesus Christ. I have died to my selfish past, and I have dedicated my remaining life to serving God and serving others.

When I was incarcerated, I served as a chaplain’s assistant, the church librarian, and a class leader.

I know God still has plans for my life.

My case manager and members of my church told me about Hand Up Ministries.

I feel blessed for having this second chance, and I thank God for it. I was recently released from prison, and I have had countless people at Hand Up Ministries help me get back on my feet.

God has blessed me with wise counsel, shelter, food, and clothes. Office staff Greg, Billy, and Dalton, as well as our chaplain Steve, have all reached out as Christian brothers and provided me with help.

Other Hand Up residents have befriended me in the short time I have been here. God has continued to provide for me now that I am living at the Hand Up Ministries location near Wewoka.

I know God will continue to lead me and provide for me. He has my future in His hands.

Michael Helfrich

I was born in a small town in Kansas.

I grew up with two sisters and no brothers. I never knew my mom. She left me abandoned in the hospital, but my dad stepped up and raised me and my two sisters.

We moved to Oklahoma in 1995, and that is where we started over with a fresh new life.

I was run over when I was eight years old, and I spent a little over a year in and out of the hospital.

I got into trouble with the law when I was 16, but the record is sealed in my juvenile file.

My dad helped me get through it. That was when I learned about friends. They say they are your friends, but they throw you under the bus so they won’t get into trouble. That was a great lesson I learned, and I kept that in mind. I kept to myself, and I focused on school.

I graduated in 2005, and I went to college. I got an associate degree in computer networking. My adult life was really a wake up because I had to learn about life.

My life crashed when my dad passed away. I had no one I could trust, nor did I have someone to give me advice. I had to learn a lot on my own.

I got a job at Walmart, and I held that job for two years. I would have kept it longer if I hadn’t gotten locked up.

I learned how to manage money, and I always paid my bills first. I prayed to God and asked Him to help me with my struggles every time I needed help.

My dad was an ordained minister, and I grew up knowing the Lord. My dad had a church called Open Bible Ministry, and he taught me a lot about the Bible and Jesus. I never went astray from God, but sometimes I felt like God had forgotten me.

I learned that He had never forgotten me, and I started to get closer to Him. I asked Him for help and advice.

Going to prison was a shock for me. I never knew family and greed would send me to prison, but it did. All it took was a little lie and money. If you don’t have any money to clear your name, you are beat.

I got closer to God in prison, and God changed my life. I learned about Hand Up Ministries from a good friend in prison. He said Hand Up had helped him stay on the right path.

I take one day at a time now, and I grow closer to God every day. Hand Up has been a blessing to me. I had no place to go, and I am very thankful Hand Up gave me a chance for a fresh start in life.

I can move forward in life and grow closer to God. God has helped me through my struggles in life, and He has put people in my life to help me improve myself. I thank Hand Up helping me get a fresh start in life.

Steward Bode

My early childhood was filled with fighting and drinking. All my mom and dad did was fight or drink. Divorce was the best thing that happened. They were both happier.

My teen years were much better until I discovered alcohol at age 15. I started drinking almost daily. I lived with my grandparents from the age of six to the age of 14. Those years made me who I am today.

My grandma was a Sunday school teacher, and my grandpa was the church superintendent, so I grew up in church. I thought I knew God and was safe.

When I found beer and pornography at age 15, life got harder. My dad remarried. I quit school when I was 18, and I signed up for the Army. The drug test for the Army is still the only drug test I have ever failed.

I met my ex-wife when I was 18. She was 22 and could buy beer, so I was in love. She already had two kids, so I was an instant dad of two. I was an 18 year old drunk and unemployed kid raising two kids.

I had my first encounter with the law when I was 19. It was a DUI. From the time I left my grandparents’ house until I went to prison at age 33 I was probably in church four or five times.

I was very active sexually, and it got worse quickly. I did some stupid things, and I went to prison for 20 years and seven months. I truly met God when I was locked up. I went through a program at Cushing that really changed my life. God loved me so much that He had to send me to prison so I would stop and listen to Him.

I learned about Hand Up Ministries when I was at John Lilley Correctional Center, and Hand Up sounded great. I sent an application, and it was approved in less than two hours. It was clear that God wanted me here.

My life has been so much easier since God found me. I am sober, employed, and saved.

Hand Up helps me stay sober. God took much from me, but He has given me so much back.

I am truly a better man than I was 20 years ago. The rest of my life will be great, because God is here. He will be here as long as I allow.

I don’t worry about much. If I have time to worry, I have time to pray. Truly, prison and Hand Up are God’s way of attention and constant help for me.

I am blessed with so much more than I ever thought I would ever have again. Peace and contentment are here for us all if we want it and allow it.

Jason Little

I didn’t know much about God when I was growing up. I never went to church when I was a kid. I went to a Baptist church for a while when I was 12, but I stopped going after a short time. After that, I didn’t really have any kind of relationship with God, nor did I have an understanding of what it meant to follow Him.

I lived however I wanted when I became an adult, and I didn’t think about the consequences. I didn’t think about the direction my life was going. I made my choices without much guidance, and over time those choices started to catch up with me.

Eventually, the way I was living led me into trouble, and I went to prison. I had a lot of time to think when I was I prison. I thought about my life and the decisions I had made. I realized I needed a new direction.

I began to realize the way I had been living wasn’t working, nor would it lead anywhere good.

For the first time, I began to think seriously about changing my life. I became more open to the idea of God. I realized I could not keep doing things on my own. I couldn’t keep doing things as I had always done. I needed guidance and help. I needed a foundation in my life. I began to feel like God was giving me another chance to do things differently.

I learned about Hand Up Ministries from former Hand Up residents who were in prison. When I heard about their experience, I knew change was possible.

Since coming to Hand Up, I have been given an opportunity to get back on my feet. No one else would have given me a chance. Hand Up has provided me with structure I didn’t have before. My life now is different. I am more aware of my choices, and I am trying to move in a better direction. I am not perfect, but am working on it. I am staying focused on doing better.

Hand Up has given me a second chance and a way forward.

God has given me a new direction and a chance to change.

I am still growing in my faith, but I know I don’t have to do everything on my own anymore. I am thankful for where I am today, and I am thankful for the opportunity to be here.

Greg Burgess

I grew up in Oklahoma City, and I attended church every Sunday when I was younger. My parents were not into religion, but neighbors and close friends would invite me to church. I didn’t go to church often during my teenage years.

Friends came and went in my life. I grew up knowing the Lord, but I didn’t have a relationship with Him until now. I was always in God’s hands as I became closer and closer to Him.

I have endured some long life lessons, and there were times I thought my life was over completely. I prayed God would put people and things into my life so I could have another chance.

Every night in prison I prayed God would help me, and God started to work right there and then.

Someone brought a month old newspaper for me to read. The guy said I looked bored, and he thought I should have something to read. I was wondering what I was going to do with my life. I needed to do something, and in the classified ads I saw an ad for a CDL school. I had my case worker call and apply for me. It was set up so I could attend the school when I discharged from prison.

A friend invited me to church, and I attended church every day. The same friend asked me if I had ever heard of Hand Up Ministries. He said Hand Up could help me get back on my feet. I applied to Hand Up, and I was accepted.

God was giving me a path back to life. God showed me there was hope when I thought there was no hope. God set up things so I could have success.

When I was at Hand Up I was able to finish CDL training, and I have a job driving a semi-truck.

I have been at Hand Up for a little over a year, and I honestly don’t know what I would have done without them and the many people at Hand Up.

Hand Up is a blessing. God will always be in my life, and He has shown me to never give up. I thank Hand Up Ministries for everything they have provided for me to keep going forward.

I recently learned that my friend who invited me to church in prison passed away. He was homeless after prison. He was struck by a car, and he died.

I believe people are put into our life for a reason, and my friend’s reason was to guide me to Hand Up Ministries. I am very thankful for that friend.

Life is precious. You are here one day and gone the next. I don’t take anything for granted, and I am very thankful for what I have now. Hand Up Ministries has helped me in many ways.

WELCOME TO HAND UP MINISTRIES, INC.