I’ve encountered other Native Americans who look at Jesus Christ as the Whiteman’s Gospel – as something that is harmful and hurtful to them. And so they try to leave you with a sense a guilt… “Well how can you be a Native – embrace something that is not Native, that is not of your culture, your background, and heritage? How can a person do that?

The road to recovery can be long. Everywhere he turned there was alcohol. If you’ve ever been there, you know what Chug is talking about. So how did he deal with the temptation and ultimately find victory? Thankfully, he tells us.

After spending the night in jail for a DWI, and with his wife in the hospital after giving birth to their son, the shame and pain of life had become to much for Chug. He began looking for a way to end his life. But something happened that changed his course.

“I remember sitting in the evening at the Silver Spur in Pierre. And I remember looking up and watching the crowd and hearing the music. I could see the smoke. I could see people laughing and dancing and everything going on around them. And I remember so distinctly saying, ‘God I don’t want to live this way anymore… I don’t want to live this way anymore’.”

After surviving abuse in residential school, growing up without a mother, and dealing with alcohol in her own home, Anne had been through a lot. One day, while listening to a Cree Gospel broadcast, she realized that she had a greater issue that needed to be resolved… her relationship with her Creator.

Anne’s mother left home when Anne was just a little girl. Years later, when Anne had a family of her own, her mother came to visit. Anne was shocked. But the big surprise was how she treated her mother after being abandoned by her in her childhood.

Anne’s mother left her and her dad when she was just a little girl. She was raised by her father until she was sent to residential school. It was there that she was abused. Later, she ends up marrying a man she didn’t know and then found out that he was an alcoholic. This is part one of an amazing story about rising above tragic circumstances and sufferings of this life.

“And all our life was, was drinking and alcohol and smoking, and yet in my heart the Holy Spirit told me that it was wrong, and I knew that it was wrong, and I continued on that way until I began getting in trouble with the law.”

Virginia recalls, “And I can remember from my childhood, that that stuff didn’t smell good, and so when I would be sitting outside the bar and was drinking that, I can remember sitting there knowing it was wrong and knowing I didn’t like it, but I wanted to be like my friends and so I drank.”